So the way to his soul was through his stomach? Well, as motives go, better food is not the worst. And you can't get beer in prison, so he had nothing to lose by picking a teetotal religion.

He may have got the idea from the wonderful prison sitcom "Porridge", staring the late, great Ronnie Barker. His character, the indomitable Fletcher cynically recommended to his young cellmate Godber that he convert to Islam because the food was better.

I hope he's OK when he gets out and goes back to the pork chops and beer.

Posted by: Interested at May 9, 2006 6:50 AM

Of course, he's already out. Here are some of his "thoughts" on religion:

He makes no apology for the fact that spirituality is a big part of his life, in quite an amorphous way: he reads the Bible, "for the stories". He believes in a "higher force" and that "all the great people have worshipped one god - Aborigines, American Indians, Muhammad Ali, Bob Marley, Jesus." And he prays. In Japan he'll go to a temple, in Morocco a mosque, in Mexico he'll pray to the Virgin of Guadalupe. And Rastafarianism? "It's full of joy."

Let's hope he stays amorphous. Some of those Muslims are too morphous for my liking.

Posted by: Interested at May 9, 2006 7:14 AM

One of my favorite musicians, Richard Thompson, has been a Muslim, Sufi variety, since about 1970. His four albums with Linda spray a lot of it about, but thank goodness their divorce seems to have wrenched that out of him, and most of his music since then has been cockney tales of drunks, cars and fast women, or British folk-based melodies. You couldn't listen to a Richard Thompson CD and know he's a practicing muslim, but after 9/11 he went out of his way to try to show that muslims posed no threat. Like I said, I've never seen a photo of him with any others, he doesn't chum around with other converts like Cat Stevens, and on tour his band are hardly teetotalers.

Were I thrown into a British prison, going Muslim might make a lot of sense. Better food, no tattoos, a protection league of goons readily available, probably not much forced buggery relative to the prison population as a whole, a reputation with the wardens for being responsible and self-policing. It's that after-prison thing that sticks in the craw.

Posted by: longtime lurker at May 9, 2006 7:32 AM

He was in jail for threatening a stewardess. Sounds like a muslim to me.

Posted by: JanuaryMan at May 9, 2006 7:42 AM

Another Richard Thompson fan here:) Fairport and Sandy Denny too. I'm in America. I've always loved English folk and folk-rock. I love this heritage and the cultural values, one more reason I don't like the Muslims taking over England and Europe. They say it in their PR they will take over Europe.

Posted by: dennisw at May 9, 2006 7:54 AM

He believes in a "higher force" and that "all the great people have worshipped one god - Aborigines, American Indians, Muhammad Ali, Bob Marley, Jesus."

He doesn't mind equating what further investigation would have shown him cannot be equated. He doesn't mind characterizing a man as a "great man" merely on the basis of his impressive sports skills. He doesn't mind casting aspersions on pagans (Horace?) and atheists (Einstein?) who ipso facto cannot be "great people", because "all the great people" think otherwise. He doesn't mind making vague statements about American Indians (who are we talking about here? The Zuni? the Pima? the Huron? a shaman in the Amazon?) or Australian Aborigines, without knowing much about the content of their beliefs.

He's a self-satisfied idiot, IOW.

Posted by: Yojimbo at May 9, 2006 7:56 AM

"I saw what everyone else was eating. I didn't know what the f**k was in the pies, but the lads said if you were Muslim you got chickpeas, lentils, rice, chicken curry on a Friday"

This is absolute dhimmitude. Even worse, it is prison authorities engaging in coercive dawa.

Imagine if Christians got good, tasty, home-cooked meals while all the other inmates had to eat prison slop. How fast do you think that every leftist human-rights group would be filing lawsuits and having a media blitz about how the prison discriminates against non-Christians?

But special treatment for Muslims is considered mandatory. And we wonder why so many inmates "revert" to Islam?

Posted by: Provoslavni at May 9, 2006 8:02 AM

English composers - Ralph Vaughan Williams, for example - used to collect folksongs and write them up into their own settings before social changes in England killed off traditional folk music.

I had a quick look here to see if there were any free downloads of some I had in mind, but I couldn't see any.

http://www.classiccat.net/

Posted by: Yojimbo at May 9, 2006 8:15 AM

Poking around the links from that classical music site, I've found some free downloads of Anglican church music.

Two formats to choose from MP3 or Ogg Vorbis:

http://www.stpetersnottingham.org/music1.html

Posted by: Yojimbo at May 9, 2006 8:20 AM

"Brown says, "My sister bought me the Koran in 1990. I always thought the stories in it were magical." --quoted from the article.

9:14. "Fight against them so that Allâh will punish them by your hands and disgrace them and give you victory over them and heal the breasts of a believing people,"

Is that what he means by "magical"?

Posted by: Archimedes at May 9, 2006 8:22 AM

Yojimbo, thanks for the links. Alas, it is the music I miss the most since abandoning the sinking ship formerly known as the Protestant Episcopal Church. I don't miss the hectoring from the pulpit, though. Thanks for this most agreeable substitution.

Posted by: longtime lurker at May 9, 2006 8:27 AM

Proslovani:

Presumably, were there Jewish cons in there who requested it, they'd be accommodated with Kosher food and likewise Hindus or Sikhs. I guess those religious minorities just don't form such a sizable proportion of the British prison population for this moonbat to have the opportunity to check their menus out.

Posted by: waterdragon52 at May 9, 2006 8:27 AM

Provoslavni,

Point well made.

Out of this story it is the special treatment of muslim prisoners that is the issue not the self preserving practicality of a moderately succcessful pop star who is well past his best days. He wasn't, isn't and won't be the only savvy con to act in this manner for the sake of convenience - until dietry equality for all prisoners is reintroduced and how that would be determined?....well, I don't know!

People claim fake dietry requirements on airlines. If the system is open to abuse it will be abused. It's only human nature. In his case it's not a commitment to a religion and it isn't a crime. However, if some Islamist nutter wants to take it up with him then he should have thought about that at the time.

Posted by: Turbinehead at May 9, 2006 8:28 AM

I agree with Yojimbo - he's a self-satisfied idiot. The big question is why is the food better for moslems in UK prisons than for others. This is discrimination no matter how one looks at it.

Musically speaking, has anyone heard the Roy Harper album 'Once'. There is a track on there which could be the anthem for this site - it's called 'The Black Cloud of Islam'. It's worth buying the CD just for that one track alone - he sings it like it is.

Dominic.

Posted by: necessitasnonhabetlegem at May 9, 2006 8:30 AM

"Ralph Vaughan Williams..."
-- from a posting above

Query to the English Delegation:

In England does one pronounce the name "Ralph" as "Rafe"

1) only in the name "Rafe" Vaughan Williams
2) only in the names of those whose names are Welsh, such as #1 and possibly "Rafe" Fiennes
3) sometimes
4) always

Ralph Kramden, American busdriver, wants to know.

Posted by: Hugh at May 9, 2006 8:36 AM

Is that a recent album? I haven't heard Harper in years.

BTW, I've been thinking of making an anti-jihad CD, have two other nominees in mind: Al Stewart's Constantinople, and the Scorpions' Alien Nation.

Any other nominees?

Posted by: longtime lurker at May 9, 2006 8:38 AM

Hugh, can't speak for our English or Welsh compatriots, but all the pretentious NPR disc-slingers down here in Florida pronounce it repeatedly and delightedly, as if they know something no one else knows and can club us with it, as "Rafe." Seems he used to summer here, and lacking any other cultural attribute, Florida's NPR affiliates like to claim him as their own.

Posted by: longtime lurker at May 9, 2006 8:40 AM

why is the food better for moslems in UK prisons than for others. This is discrimination no matter how one looks at it.

Dietary requirements of most religions are accommodated in prisons. Like Halal food, Kosher food is probably better than ordinary prison food because it is prepared for small numbers of people. Institution food - whether prison, school or works canteen - is generally bad because it is difficult to cook well for a large number of people.

Posted by: Interested at May 9, 2006 8:43 AM

He is lying. He never read the Koran, not a word, and the evidence is in his own account. If he had, he would know that, whatever other literary merits it may have - apparently it sounds beautiful in Arabic - it certainly does not abound in storytelling, and what little there is is highly unimpressive. Why did nobody notice his obvious mendacity?

Posted by: Paolo at May 9, 2006 8:43 AM

The answer to the Ralph question is "sometimes".

I've seen Ralph Fiennes at the Hackney Empire. I've seen his Hamlet, but I've never seen his Bottom.

Posted by: Interested at May 9, 2006 8:47 AM

Hugh/

It seems to depend upon the owner of the name. I know of both a 'Ralf'and a 'Rafe'. To add chaos to confusion I also know of a family that has the surname Ralph and they pronounce it 'Relf'.

..................

longtime lurker/

No, it's not recent as far as I can see. Mine is a second hand copy and the cover notes bear the date 1990. Would you like me to try to track down another copy for you? There are several great second-hand CD and record shops in London and I usually spend an hour or so in them every few weeks.

Got to go. End of lunch break. Will check back in four hours.

Dominic.

Posted by: necessitasnonhabetlegem at May 9, 2006 8:52 AM

Lyrics to 'Black Cloud of Islam' by Roy Harper mentioned above. This was written in 1990. I doubt if it would have been released if it was written today.

Just one (somewhat pedantic correction). Muslims cannot be the witnesses of Jehova since the Hebrew name of God Jehovah or Jahweh (based on the consonants JHWH meaning 'I am') is totally absent from the Qur'an and Islam.

I'm sick to the teeth of the news on the screen
of hisbullah scum and jihad the obscene
whose men plant the bombs and then live feeling free
to watch women and children be killed on T.V.

which satan delivers a child a death curse
in the name of a worn out collection of verse
I've not read the book so I cannot recite
but I'd bet Salman Rushdie is just about right
underneath the black cloud of islam

What kind of publicity needs so much blood
that's not for some sad diablical god
selling himself as a two-bit Macbeth
as the expect in sentencing cousins to death

and what kind of god can this be anyway
that you have to prostrate to him five times a day
with hate in your heart and a gun in your hand
is force the only thing to understand
underneath the black cloud of islam?

and the butchers who've got all this blood on their hands
are the ones who need god to be stood where he stands
blessing this kidnapping, murder and war
with books written hundreds of ages before

and woman in veils walking paces behind
doesn't sit easy in my mind
it speaks of oppression and no other choice
that rigid compliance with the loudest voice
underneath the black cloud of islam

You can put a lead bullet clean through this guitar
'cos I'm not overjoyed with the story so far
sharing a world with the nutters of god
is as good as being six feet under the sod

words that are written are all here to say
and these are the latest there are anyway
and I am the prophet so don't believe me
I'm the same as the old ones expect that I'm free
to give you a piece of my mind which is this
you're the worst of jehovas blind witlessnesses
with your feet in the door of the deepest abyss
which is underneath the black cloud of islam

Posted by: PJS1 at May 9, 2006 8:56 AM

It's another of those pronunciations that's become entangled with class, isn't it? By using the "spelling pronunciation" you show that you "just don't know" that such and such a word isn't pronounced as it's spelt - until so many people "just don't know" that the traditional pronunciation becomes something of an affectation.

Posted by: Yojimbo at May 9, 2006 8:59 AM

PJS1/

I hope you've heard it sung by the man himself. It has real power!

Really got to go now.

Dominic.

Posted by: necessitasnonhabetlegem at May 9, 2006 9:01 AM

Ralph Fiennes pronounces his name as Rafe Fines.

I don't think he's Welsh. He doesn't sound it, but then he is an actor.

Posted by: Interested at May 9, 2006 9:06 AM

Mr. Brown is just doing what, over 1350 years, wherever non-Muslim Smiths, Joneses, and Browns had to endure the set of economic, political, and social disabilities imposed on them by Muslim masters in Muslim-ruled (though not at first, or even for a long time, Muslim-majority societies) It was not a case of seeing the light of Islam. It was, rather, a case of wishing not to pay the Jizyah, not to be able to testify against Muslims, not be able to ride a horse (equivalent, today, to being banned from driving a car).

In this particular case, it didn't take much. "Just for a handful of silver he left us." In this case, far less was needed. Some chicken. Some chickpeas. Some lentils. Some rice.

Perhaps an improvement in the offerings for the non-Muslim prisoners -- possibly a mixed grill, or roast loin of pork followed by some chocolate desert that the Queen Mum favored -- might do the trick. What kind of things that are haram in Islam would be, could be, made available to prisoners, and not just at meal-time?

And what's in the prison library? Make sure that government-subsidized cheap copies of "Why I Am Not a Muslim" and "Islam the Arab National Religion" and "Leaving Islam" are all available, and replace any copies that are removed and destroyed.

And how else, in what clever ways, that prisons in the Infidel lands be made places where the appeal of Christianity can be heightened, and that of Islam countered at every step?

Any publicity given in American and British prisons to the Arab massacres in Darfur? To black Africans enslaved in Mauritania and the southern Sudan? No one has thought fit to make this as well-known as possible? What about publicizing the destruction or seizure or takeover of Christian sites (in Italy, in France, in Belgium), of Buddhist sites (the Bamiyan Buddhas), of Hindu sites (Ayodha), of Jain sites (the first mosque known to have been built in India was over a Jain temple that the Muslims destroyed), of the remains of pagan antiquity (what did the Arabs do to the Sphinx? To the Colossi at Memnon? What did the Turks do to the Parthenon, and why did Lord Elgin actually save them from total destruction, by Muslim Turks, by buying them and removing them to the British Museum?

Where's the damn counteer-Da'wa all over the place? The material is there. It exits. It's been building up for 1350 years. Can someone in charge start to make use of it?

Is someone in charge?

Posted by: Hugh at May 9, 2006 9:09 AM

I hope you've heard it sung by the man himself. It has real power!

Someone posted a link to the audio a short while ago:

http://media.putfile.com/Black-Cloud-of-Islam---Roy-Harper

Posted by: Yojimbo at May 9, 2006 9:10 AM

Hugh, my wife's parents are father Malay / mother Chinese (baba nonya). They married sometime back in the 1950s, and when I asked how they met, ignorantly wondering how such odd ethnic types could have met, fell in love and married (yes, I was a very damp-nosed puppy), I was surprised at the coldness of the response: it's not polite to ask questions like that, and we don't know, because it never comes up.

Now, I strongly suspect that Nenek converted for purposes of advancement, if not to escape Chinese second-class status. Datuk had a fairly successful political and business career until he ran afoul of Mahathir in the late 1990s, and he reportedly had a fair amount of influence in the Chinese community on account of the marriage. He's still carried by the Chinese bankers, despite the damage done by Mahathir's minions. Her sisters are all muslimah, too.

I should add that, like many converts to Catholicism, Nenek is more Muslim than the Muslims, but she's actually very open-minded regarding the paths others take to God. Were they all like Datuk and Nenek, we'd have little to fear.

Posted by: longtime lurker at May 9, 2006 9:32 AM

I don't think this is about giving Muslims special treatment. Other religions with dietary rules are catered for too. Ian Brown was just taking advantage of the situation.

I imagine you don't get too many converts to Jainism in prison. Not much for the food lover there.

Posted by: Interested at May 9, 2006 9:40 AM

How's this for a "magical" sura?

Qur’an 8:12 “Your Lord inspired the angels with the message: ‘I will terrorize the unbelievers. Therefore smite them on their necks and every joint and incapacitate them. Strike off their heads and cut off each of their fingers and toes.”

Posted by: Carolyn2 at May 9, 2006 10:34 AM

I have no problem with prisons, schools, the military, or any other government institution accomodating the special dietary requirements of the people involved. However, I strongly object to the food for one group being of superior quality or tastier for one group than for others.

From Brown's comments, this is clearly the case for Muslims in the this prison. As such, this discrimination is not only unjust to everyone else, but is a subtle promotion of one religion over others.

If the prison officials simply decreed that the halal lentels, kosher food, or Hindu vegetarian cuisine would be available to any prisoner who requested it, without regard to their religion, then I would have no objection.

Unfortunately, it appears that the better food is limited to those who declare themselves Muslim. Therefore this prison is engaged in Dawa.

Posted by: Provoslavni at May 9, 2006 10:43 AM

"I don't think he's [Ralph Fiennes]Welsh.."
-- from a posting above

No, he's a Balliol man. Like all the Fienneses.

Posted by: Hugh at May 9, 2006 10:52 AM

All I could think of when I read this piece was not about food or music but about the sad state of Christian catechesis in Britain and Europe. I guess like Esau they are willing to sell their inheritance for a bowl of porridge but sadly, these Europeans don't even seem to understand WHAT they owe to the Christian ancestors of Europe. They walk by magnificent cathedrals without a clue as to WHY their ancestors sacrificed so to build them pointing to a heaven to which I guess men like this rocker do not aspire. Syncretism rules.

Posted by: bevc at May 9, 2006 10:55 AM

the better food is limited to those who declare themselves Muslim. Therefore this prison is engaged in Dawa.

Nonsense. If that were the case, you would get far more prisoners converting. Also, as I've said about five times already, prisons are required to cater for the dietary requirements of all religions, not just Muslims, so if it is engaged in Dawa, then it is also engaged in preaching Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism and possibly vegetarianism.

What a total overreaction this is.

for a bowl of porridge

Wasn't it a mess of pottage? If you're going to sell your birthright you want something a bit more substantial than porridge.

Posted by: Interested at May 9, 2006 11:01 AM

The music of anti-Jihad is massed bagpipes. (The Campbells are Coming!) And I'm not even Scottish.

Remember that scene in the movie Straw Dogs when Dustin Hoffman puts on the bagpipe music when its time to fight to the death?

Come to think of it, the gorgeous Susan George could stand in for our political masters (flirting and sleeping with our enemies!).

Posted by: poetcomic1 at May 9, 2006 11:17 AM

(sigh) Bagpipes. Sudden memories of sitting in a summer class for Intensive German, when rising through the air from the nearby commons came the call of the pipes. And call it was, like a summons to leave the books behind, gird up my loins and grab my spear and sword and run to the battle. Unfortunately, the summons of the bagpipes has usually been followed by a disastrous defeat for the Scotsmen who answered. Still, talk about a sound to drive out the saracens, and pretty much anything else.

bevc, from the beginning I have always thought of western converts to Islam in terms of Esau, selling their birthright for a mess of pottage. It is such a short-sighted deal.

Posted by: longtime lurker at May 9, 2006 11:26 AM

A gentleman is said to be someone who knows how to play the bagpipes but doesn't.

I don't agree. We had a piper at a Burns Night Supper I went to ("Some hae meat and canna eat, And some wad eat that want it; But we hae meat and we can eat, And sae the Lord be thankit"), along with haggis and whisky. Burns Night, with its attendant mixing, mingling, piping, quaffing and speculation as to whether anything is worn under the kilt - or in perfect working order - is almost certainly haram.

Posted by: Interested at May 9, 2006 11:36 AM

If a person is so concerned about jail food, they should make an effort to stay OUT of jail.

Back to the point. Most jails have a budget for food and try to stick to it. IMHO if a person has a true dietary requirement such as diabeties or allergies, most definitely the jail should try to follow a guideline. But just because they want food KILLED in a certain way, that's ridiculous. If a person is vegan, don't eat the meat. If the person doesn't like balogney, don't eat the sandwich. If you get ham and beans, pick out the ham. Simple.

I'm sure most smaller jails don't keep certain foods for certain groups unless those people are going to be in for a while. The sheriffs I used to know would laugh if a mohammedon wanted halal meat. They would probably say "shut up and eat your pork chop. You're lucky to have it".

Posted by: freewoman at May 9, 2006 11:55 AM

Or keep the evangelization to the Christians because at least those in jail can have TRUE life-changing experiences when they come to faith in Chist.

Posted by: bigcatgirl13106 at May 9, 2006 12:23 PM

Man, what I miss when I sleep in.

At least, as far as I've heard, US prisons haven't gone this nutty yet. I remember reading that the co-sniper, John Malvo, is limited to the "vegetarian loaf" in jail because the meat isn't halal. I assume this is the case in most places, and hopefully in Moussaoui's new home in Colorado.

That said, here's a brief account of what the inmates at Guantanamo Bay get:

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/6/12/110234.shtml

Vegetarian loaf, anyone?

Posted by: Shinoliite at May 9, 2006 12:48 PM

Lesson to be Learned:

It would be nice if everyone on the planet were a deep thinker that studied history, theology and such, but, frankly, most people are either non-thinkers or superficial thinkers.

It is shocking to think that something as important as a religious affiliation can be influenced by food, but, we (the jihadwatch crowd) need to recognize that this is the truth for many people.

The jihadis are fully aware of the influence of small things in life. They understand how lazy so many people in the West are. Muslims insist and insist and insist on their way and the West appeases. After a while, it is only the Muslims that have an OPEN and ACTIVE religious activity.

The "mainline Churches" in America have become soft-Left political clubs, the Catholic Church is laboring under its sex scandals and just a few Christian churches are prosyletizing (spelling?). The Muslims are out there all the time all day. The "call to prayer" in Dearborn is a form of domination of airspace, and consequently, domination of "thoughtspace" practiced by Muslims. It works and we need to make note of it and we need to counter it.

Theologically I have may disagreements with the Christian evangelicals, but, they do participate in religious debate, they do advance Christianity as a religious option. They are "out there" in the arena where the Muslims are.

If you are a secularist you can argue all you want about how "religion" is the problem, but, the fact is that there has never been majority atheist culture or nation. People WILL believe something, the majority of human beings will not go through life without some variety of religious faith and if the Christians have stopped prosyletizing, same with Jews, Hindus, Buddhists or whomever and the Muslims are prosyletizing, the it is the Muslim message that "religious seekers" get when they inquire.

Posted by: Athena at May 9, 2006 12:53 PM

Interested: you are right. "Mess of pottage" Pottage is a thick soup or stew but, I still contend that like a bowl of oatmeal it is NOT worthy of sacrificing one's heritage for. Nor is it a worthy trade-off for TRUTH. But then as Pilate asked Jesus: "What is truth?"

Come to think of it, that probably should be the motto emblazoned across most modern Europeans' coats of arms, except for Fallaci's and Pope Benny 16's.

Posted by: bevc at May 9, 2006 1:25 PM

Susan George...haven't thought about her in years. Will have to Google her name to see whatever happened to her.

Posted by: SCV at May 9, 2006 1:40 PM

longtime lurker, your compilation could include Paul McCartney's Freedom (which he wrote as a response to 911 and performed a few weeks after 911 as part of a benefit concert for New York City):

This is my right
A right given by God
To live a free life
To live in freedom

Talkin' about freedom
I'm talkin' 'bout freedom
We will fight
For the right
To live in freedom.

Posted by: Television at May 9, 2006 1:58 PM

Or if you had the technical knowhow, you could alter (audio-wise) the lyrics of a classic:

Imagine

Imagine there's no Islam:
It's easy if you try
No prayer rugs below us
Above us only sky.
Imagine all the Kuffar
Living for today...

Imagine there's no Korans:
It isn't hard to see
Nothing to kill or die for
And no "religion of peace".
Imagine all the Kuffar
Living life in peace...

You may say we are "Islamophobes"
But we are the only hope
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be free to cope.

Imagine no obsessions:
I wonder if you can
No need for halal or haram
A brotherhood of man.
Imagine all the Kuffar
Sharing all the world...

You may say that I'm a Watcher
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one.

Posted by: Television at May 9, 2006 2:25 PM

A minor revision:

The last stanza could begin:

"You may say I'm a Jihad Watcher"

(eliminating the "that" as well as Lennon's multiply syllabic "say-hey-hey-hey" will free up syllables)

Posted by: Television at May 9, 2006 2:53 PM

Interested wrote:

"Nonsense. If that were the case, you would get far more prisoners converting. Also, as I've said about five times already, prisons are required to cater for the dietary requirements of all religions, not just Muslims"

I don't think it is nonsense.

"if you were Muslim you got chickpeas, lentils, rice, chicken curry"

Again the Muslims can have their food but it shouldn't be limited to just them. If a Christian, Jew, Athiest, or any other prisoner wanted the lentils and curry instead of prison slop, why should they have to declare themselves Muslim in order to get it.

This is, by any definition, encouraging conversion. And, by the way, there ARE far more prisoners converting. Prisons are the most fertile locations for the growth of Islam.

Posted by: Provoslavni at May 9, 2006 3:14 PM

Provoslavni, it's because islam fits the criminal lifestyle.

Posted by: freewoman at May 9, 2006 3:25 PM

What do you expect from a guy who was with a group named Stone Roses"? They should have named it "Stoned Roses".

Posted by: HaMalach at May 9, 2006 3:26 PM

A Jew would be able to get Kosher food. A Hindu would be able to get veggie/beef-free food. If others wanted it they'd have to convert to the religion.

The only difference with Muslims is that there are more of them in prison, so it gets noticed. It isn't that their religion is being given special treatment.

What's so great about chickpeas, lentils and rice anyway? Give me a meat pie. This guy is a nutter as you can tell from is new age drivel quoted above. Lentils, chickpeas and rice might be up his street, but it doesn't mean they're good.

Posted by: Interested at May 9, 2006 3:31 PM

"new age drivel..."

For millions of Westerners throughout the West, including the USA, Islam is part of the great multi-cultural rainbow of the New Age.

Posted by: Television at May 9, 2006 3:42 PM

And that's why it would be unimaginable for Lennon, were he alive, to sing "Imagine there's no Islam..."

Posted by: Television at May 9, 2006 3:43 PM

20+ years ago I worked in a criminal court and I always ate in the cells canteen. Home made steak and kidney pie, lashings of gravy, bacon and egg, proper British food, all prepared by a West Indian dock officer (I have forgotten his name but not his apple crumble) and his trusties. I think it's privatised now. I believe (but will accept correction from anyone with more up to date knowledge) that there are so few Jews in prison that Kosher food is brought in from outside.

Meanwhile on the subject of Fairport Convention and music this might be of interest to fellow fans.
Richard Thompson (who I can never forget wrote Now Be Thankful, whatever the wrongs of what happened to him afterwards) is so discreet about Islam lately that I did wonder if he had lost his faith but is reluctant to say anything because of the safety of his family.

Posted by: Granny Weatherwax at May 9, 2006 4:30 PM

Everyone's welcome in the goat-hair inter-faith tent whether their religion is really peaceful or not:

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/060504/1/40kbb.html

Goodness, it's lucky there are no followers of Moloch left or they'd be invited to attend and "cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire". (Jer. 32:35).

Then again, some Aztecs could have livened things up with a human sacrifice or two. Rip out a bleeding and still beating heart with an obsidian dagger to appease the hunger of Huitzilopochtli.

But it's OK; we have at least got the most maniacal and most violent religion (or rather religio-political system) that's ever been on the face of the planet in the tent. No prizes for guessing which it is.

Posted by: Yojimbo at May 9, 2006 4:32 PM

From Yojimbo's link:

"Prince Charles told his interfaith audience seated in a circle inside the tent... there was a need for understanding as different religions attempt to 'explain the nature of mystery... We are all trying to explain the nature of mystery and in a sense it is almost impossible to explain," he said.

" 'If only we could understand each other's gropings to understand the mystery, not try to overdo the way in which we decide that we know everything, we might perhaps reduce the level of conflict and violence and misunderstanding.' "

No, Prince Charles: Islam has already completely and absolutely solved the mystery of existence: and that is precisely why they are waging violent Jihad against everyone else.

Posted by: Television at May 9, 2006 4:47 PM

I remember the original St Ethelburgas (Yojimbo's link) one of the few city churches to survive the great fire. It was a little jewel.
Prince Charles would be right, were there not this insistence on Islam (a political ideology that has hijacked God) being defined as a religion.
I doubt that he will ever be king.

Posted by: Granny Weatherwax at May 9, 2006 4:54 PM

Richard Thompson probably converted to Sufi Islam because of "new age drivel"; it certainly wasn't out of knowledge.

Posted by: Television at May 9, 2006 5:41 PM

They converted in 1975.

Posted by: Granny Weatherwax at May 9, 2006 5:56 PM

Only to get better food? Worshipping at animist temples in Japan or India? DEATH TO THE APOSTATE.

Posted by: brian_smaller at May 9, 2006 6:03 PM

Dont blame him. I guess he has shown how foolish the PC establishment is. Good for him. The more people show how absurd Political correctness is, the better for all of us.

Posted by: pissedoffcanadian at May 9, 2006 6:39 PM

"They converted in 1975."

The Age of (multiculturalist) Drivel began quite a few years before that.

Posted by: Television at May 9, 2006 8:16 PM

The Muslim Prison Menu:

Sheeps' Eyeballs.

Brown Rice.

Vitamin additive, in tap water.

Period...

Posted by: profitsbeard at May 9, 2006 9:27 PM

Television-

"Imagine no religion..."

-covers Islam.

Lennon wasn't a fan of any kind of patriarchy. That he didn't sing: "I don't believe in Mohammed" (along with "Buddha", etc.) only shows how little anyone in the civilized world, circa 1970-80, even had to think- about quaint Islam, or arcane Mohammed, or dismal jihad.

(Lennon was also not fond of "carrying pictures of Chairman Mao", and would have probably be assassinated -and not just murdered by a jealous fan- in the political footsteps of Theo Van Gogh, either after 9/11, as a "New Yorker", or since his fellow artist's slaughter, as an pro-woman's rights activist, championing Hirsi Ali.

He was sensibly cynical about the men in 'magic suits'.

And deserved to see his kids grow up.

(He gave bulletproof vests to the NYC cops, but never thought to keep one for himself...)

Posted by: profitsbeard at May 9, 2006 9:38 PM

Television,

Popular French-Algerian singer Cheb Khalid teamed up with Israeli singer Noa and released a version of John Lennon's "Imagine" in Hebrew, Arabic and English.

Khalid happened to sing the line "and no religion too" which earned him several fatwas of death aimed at him. To his credit, he ignored them and continues to make music.

Posted by: Provoslavni at May 9, 2006 11:13 PM

"Lennon wasn't a fan of any kind of patriarchy."

That's the whole point: we have millions of Leftists and Feminists who hate patriarchy (let alone multi-cultural intolerance, oppression of minorities, corporal punishment of women and minors, censorship of thought, etc.), yet continue to turn a blind eye to Islam.

I don't hold much hope that if Lennon alive, he would be any different.

Posted by: Television at May 10, 2006 12:20 AM

A few years ago, a teacher in Belurghat district in West Bengal province of India narrated an anecdote to me. A Hindu butcher in a nearby town emraced Islam voluntarily. When asked by the teacher about the reason for doing so, the naive buther said that he had purchased a plot, measuring not more than 100 sq. yard to build a house on the periphery of the town.While laying the foundation work, the Hindu butcher found a number of idols. Since as a Hindu he could not invite the wrath of gods by breaking the idols, he preferred to read the 'Kalma' (faith in the Allah) thrice and changed his faith and name. It was so simple for that innocent soul. When asked if the exigencies demanded would he reembrace Hinduism, the poor chap said 'yes'.

Therefore, I find similarities in the tale of the person who , for the sake of good food, preferred to be clubbed with Muslims in a prison. The same gentleman won't mind to call himself a Christian or a Hindu, if need required so.

Posted by: AnilM at May 10, 2006 4:46 AM

AnilM, thanks for the story above. Now fast forward a couple of generation. The Hindu butcher who converted to Islam has children and grandchildren who are all Muslims, but his siblings continue to be Hindus and so have Hindu descendants. In about 30 or 40 years, the Muslim descendants of the previously Hindu butcher are going about butchering (sic) their own Hindu relatives.

This is the story of every part of India where Muslims are killing Hindus. The Muslims of India (and most of whom are in Pakistan) were Hindus not too long ago. Now their main goal is the annihilation of India and Hindus.

AnilM's story is sort of cute and apparently harmless. But it has a terrible ending if we follow it to its logical conclusion.

Actually, Hindus are f**king stupid (disclosure: I am a Hindu) that they got f**ked over for centuries by Muslims. It is not a very nice thing to say but then truth does not come with a guarantee that it will be sweet.

Posted by: atanu at May 10, 2006 5:09 AM

So, when you get arrested tell them you have created a new religion called steaklam, which means that you can only eat fillet steak. Oh, and you could call yourself Mooooohammed...........no?

Posted by: DaveMate at May 10, 2006 7:01 AM

atanu,
I lived in India for several years and your analysis is correct. However, I don't think it is stupidity.

Hinduism, like Buddhism, Christianity, and Judaism are life-affirming religions (aka they really are "Religions of Peace"). As such, it is not natural for them to understand the visciousness of an ideology like Islam, that masquerades as a religion. Of course, there are violent exceptions in Hindu and Christian history but these are contrary to the basic nature of our religions.

It took four hundred years of Muslim attacks and oppression before Christians finally responded with the Crusades and even then, they did not carry their resistance to its conclusion.

Likewise, Hindus suffered hundreds of years of Muslim domination and oppression before Shivaji the Great finally rallied Hindus to resistance.

The question is: how long will we peacefully wait this time, before we finally resist?

Posted by: Provoslavni at May 10, 2006 10:00 AM

Granny Weatherwax,

After 9/11 Thompson did some TV show in which he performed wudu and prayers in an attempt to show that Islam was not so unusual. I have the link somewhere in my thousands-long Favorites, not sure even if it's still good. That was my first inkling that he was still Muslim, for all one could tell from his music he ditched Islam when Linda walked out.

During the run-up to OIF, he began making mindless statements to the effect that the money we'd spend on war with Iraq would be better spent on a huge PR campaign with the Ummah, who if they only knew us better would love us. He added old tunes like Dylan's "Masters of War" to his sets, and according to reviews was getting kind of preachy. Much as I love his music, I really stopped paying attention to him at that point. I still listen to the CDs, but could care less about what he has to say on anything else.

Posted by: longtime lurker at May 10, 2006 11:26 AM

Maybe we can lure Ian Brown back by slipping him a copy of "Green Eggs & Ham."

Posted by: Shy Guy at May 10, 2006 12:31 PM

Since as a Hindu he could not invite the wrath of gods by breaking the idols, he preferred to read the 'Kalma' (faith in the Allah) thrice and changed his faith and name. Posted by: AnilM

Couldn't he have simply sold the idols, or given them away to someone, without going through the rigmarole of conversion? Besides, why couldn't he have switched to something else, like Buddhism, or Christianity? Or Marxism - the religion of so many in that place?

P.S. Is the 'Kalima' the same as the Shehada, or something different?

Posted by: Infidel Pride at May 10, 2006 12:52 PM

Let's all become Muslims for a day, then renounce it, and dare them to kill all of us. We can call it Ian Brown Day.

Posted by: N Patrick at May 10, 2006 2:10 PM

For the kind of tratment Christian prisoners can currently expect to receive in Pakistani jails see:

http://www.pakistanchristianpost.com/newsviewsdetails.php?newsid=514

Posted by: wallyUK at May 10, 2006 4:33 PM