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HonestThinking is dedicated to topics related to culture, politics, science, and philosophy. Our focus is currently on human rights, democracy, and the relationship between Islam and the Western civilization. To understand what HonestThinking is all about, please read our manifesto. Western Muslims' Racist Rape Spree 27.12.2005: In Australia, Norway, Sweden and other Western nations, there is a distinct race-based crime in motion being ignored by the diversity police: Islamic men are raping Western women for ethnic reasons. We know this because the rapists have openly declared their sectarian motivations. Read the entire article by Sharon Lapkin in FrontPage Magazine >>>
What sort of Frenchmen are they?
Haaretz.com, 17.11.2005, by Dror Mishani and Aurelia Smotriez "PARIS - The first thing the French-Jewish philosopher Alain Finkielkraut said to us when we met one evening at Paris' elegant Le Rostand cafe, where the interior is decorated with Oriental-style pictures and the terrace faces the Luxembourg Gardens, was "I heard that even Haaretz published an article identifying with the riots." This remark, uttered with some vehemence, pretty much sums up the feelings of Finkielkraut - one of the most prominent philosophers in France in the past 30 years - ever since the violent riots began on October 27 [...] [He] has been appalled at every article that shows understanding for or identification with "the rebels". He has a lot to say, but it appears that France isn't ready to listen - that his France has already surrendered to a blinding, "false discourse" that conceals the stark truth of its situation. The things he is saying to us in the course of our conversation, he repeatedly emphasizes, are not things he can say in France anymore. It's impossible, perhaps even dangerous, to say these things in France now." Read the entire article in haaretz.com >>> 01.12.2005: HonestThinking has compiled (and translated into English) some material from the French debate that has thus far followed the Haaretz interview. Some of the critics of Finkielkraut:
More material about Finkielkraut and his critics can be found by searching on the net.
The Writing on the Wall
The Brussels Journal, 18.11.2005, by Dr. Alexandra Colen: "The world has had its fill of French riots, the press is looking for something new to write about, Europe wants to believe that the social realities exposed by the French riots are typically French and no concern of theirs. [...] Things will never be the same, however. The fact the European Union is giving exorbitant sums of money to buy the peace of France’s Muslim population betrays that they are uncomfortable about the unrest spreading to other European cities. Not only in France but all over Europe, tensions in society are rising. [...] It is time to ask where this hatred comes from. Is this Islam waging Jihad? Is it social breakdown caused by welfare dependency? Or are the young Muslims filled with contempt for the secular Western culture of intolerance and indecency, a hedonist society that does not believe in God, that no longer procreates and merely consumes to the detriment of its own future generations – a civilization which discusses gay marriage and adoption while its girls and women dress as whores and are displayed as such on the pictures and in the songs that fill the streets and shops of European cities? Though Islamic fundamentalism and the stifling French social welfare system are partly to blame, I suspect that many immigrants hate the West not because they see it as an enemy – that may be true of the United States – but because they despise it – especially liberal, secular Western Europe. They are filled with hatred for the arrogance of the Europeans, who regard themselves as enlightened and tolerant, but in their sense of infinite superiority fail to see that they are merely imposing their own culture upon others. [...] What we witnessed in France in the first half of November 2005 was the writing on the wall: Europe’s Mene Tekel Upharsin – Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting." Read the entire article from The Brussels Journal >>>
Readers may want to compare the analysis of Dr. Colen with HonestThinking's Multicultural societies - respect for Muslims and Islam.
Ramadan Rioting in Europe's No-Go Areas IntellectualConservative.com, 03.11.2005, by Paul Belien: "For some years now West European city folk and police officers have been familiar with the reality that certain areas of major European cities are no-go areas, especially at night and certainly if you are white or wearing a uniform. [...] Where, however, is the boundary between carefully walking the tightrope and falling victim to the Stockholm syndrome? The latter would mean that Western politicians act as hostages of the Muslim extremists. A second reason why some politicians try to appease the Muslims is that these are now a substantial segment of the voting population. Demographics are deciding the fate of Europe’s democracy. Time is running out. If Sarkozy cannot win the battle today, it is unlikely that he or anyone else will be able to do so tomorrow. If Clichy turns out to be Sarkozy’s Waterloo, it will be a catastrophe not just for France." Read the enitre article >>>
The Suicide Bombers Among Us The City Journal, Autumn 2005, by Theodore Dalrymple: "Surveys suggest that between 6 and 13 percent of British Muslims—that is, between 98,000 and 208,000 people—are sympathetic toward Islamic terrorists and their efforts. Theoretical sympathy expressed in a survey is not the same thing as active support or a wish to emulate the “martyrs” in person, of course. But it is nevertheless a sufficient proportion and absolute number of sympathizers to make suspicion and hostility toward Muslims by the rest of society not entirely irrational, though such suspicion and hostility could easily increase support for extremism. This is the tightrope that the British state and population will now have to walk for the foreseeable future; and the sweet dream of universal cultural compatibility has been replaced, in a single day, by the nightmare of permanent conflict." Read the entire article >>>
Jihad Precursor in Paris IntellectualConservative.com, 08.11.2005, by Sir Vernon Richards: "France is not lost yet …but it is well on its way; [...] In true dhimmi style, political leaders are beating a path to the feet of Muslim community leaders to beg for forgiveness and guidance. In case you missed the point, here are the demands of Frances Muslim community to the proud French people: 1. Should a Muslim decide to take the property of a Franco infidel, no non-Muslim may attempt to pursue or capture the alleged perpetrator, who is engaging in acts deemed halal (permitted) by the prophet Muhammad. (i.e. robbery, pillage, assault, murder, rape of non-believers). 2. Muslim communities shall have the right to run their own affairs in accordance with Sharia laws and self-anointed thugs ...er …enforcers. 3. Law enforcement shall not enter nor impose any restrictions in Muslim areas. Violating this provision will subject the infidel imperial forces to any and all means to expel them. 4. In accordance to the principals of jizya, law-abiding working French citizens and businesses shall provide adequate education, jobs, subsidized housing, and welfare payments which are rightly due to Muslims by infidels (from now to eternity). 5. Civil rights and free speech shall be subservient to Islamic demands for respect and ultra-sensitivity to even the slightest hint of criticism. Of course, the raison d'être for all this is not really so much about repression, jobs, or poverty as mainstream media would have us believe …rather its all about Islamic pride and raw power. Muslims look forward to the day when, instead of the law forbidding it, France is aligned with other Islamic nations where all female students are required to wear the hijab (head scarf). [...] No one should gloat over the dilemma faced by the French; their plight today will be ours tomorrow." Read the entire article >>>
Not all Muslims want to integrate
By Bruce Bawer OSLO – The recent rioting in Paris suburbs and elsewhere in Europe should not have surprised anyone. Europe's Muslim communities are powder kegs, brimming with an alienation born of both an assiduously inculcated antagonism toward infidel society and an infidel society whose integration policies - which should actually be called segregation policies - have perversely encouraged this ire. Naively, [the authorities] imagined they could preserve their nations' cultural homogeneity while letting in millions of foreigners and smiling on their preservation and perpetuation of values drastically different from their own. What they've reaped, alas, is a generation of Muslims, many of whom view their neighborhoods as colonies amid enemy territory - and who demand this autonomy be recognized. [...] No surprise, then, that a Muslim rioter in Århus, Denmark, the other day cried out: "This area belongs to us!" Amir Taheri, editor of Politique Internationale, noted that the main reason for the French riots is not that two youths died hiding from cops in a transformer station; it's that the state responded to the initial unrest by sending police into an area that many locals saw as their own inviolate domain. These riots, in short, are early battles in a continent-wide turf war. It's a war authorities can't afford to lose. By accepting separatism, Europe is becoming a house divided against itself. Governments must take a firm, aggressive, integration-oriented line - must, among other things, end separate treatment in schools and turn welfare recipients into workers. Above all, they must stand alongside Muslims who wish to integrate - not those who seek to colonize. And they must hope - and pray - that it isn't already too late. Read the entire article by Bawer here >>> • Bruce Bawer's book, "While Europe Slept," will be published by Doubleday in February. A native New Yorker, he now lives in Oslo.
New report on Saudi Government publications
Freedom House’s Center for Religious Freedom has released a stunning report exposing the dissemination of hate propaganda in America by the government of Saudi Arabia. The 89-page report, “Saudi Publications on Hate Ideology Fill American Mosques,” is based on a year-long study of over two hundred original documents, all disseminated, published or otherwise generated by the government of Saudi Arabia and collected from more than a dozen mosques in the United States. Among the key findings of the report: • Various Saudi government publications gathered for this study, most of which are in Arabic, assert that it is a religious obligation for Muslims to hate Christians and Jews and warn against imitating, befriending, or helping them in any way, or taking part in their festivities and celebrations; • The documents promote contempt for the United States because it is ruled by legislated civil law rather than by totalitarian Wahhabi-style Islamic law. They condemn democracy as un-Islamic; • The documents stress that when Muslims are in the lands of the unbelievers, they must behave as if on a mission behind enemy lines. Either they are there to acquire new knowledge and make money to be later employed in the jihad against the infidels, or they are there to proselytize the infidels until at least some convert to Islam. Any other reason for lingering among the unbelievers in their lands is illegitimate, [...] Read more about the report from Center for Religious Freedom >>>
The Sudan campaign
Sudan is not only a terrorist nation that has triggered United Nations and U.S. government sanctions, it is also a genocidal one. In Sudan's 20 year-old civil conflict, two million people —
mostly African Christians and traditional believers from south and central Sudan — have already perished. Read more about the report from Center for Religious Freedom >>> UK: Immigrants will raise population faster than forecast
The predictions are even greater than those made by the Migrationwatch UK think-tank, whose forecasts have been dismissed in the past as alarmist. Sir Andrew Green, the chairman of Migrationwatch, said the figures were ''staggering''. He added: ''They totally demolish the Government's claim that it has a 'managed migration' policy. In fact they show that immigration into the UK is out of control.'' [...] ''This enormous level of immigration is directly contrary to the wishes of the vast majority of the population and has been allowed to develop without any real discussion about the long term consequences in terms of community cohesion, quality of life and practical matters such as housing where we already have major problems of supply,'' Sir Andrew said. Read more in The Telegraph >>>
False news from Palestine? International news media extract a few convincing instants of staged scenes, so-called 'sight-bytes', and present them as news... This claim is put forward by The 2nd Draft, who offers an 18 minute video as evidence. HonestThinking hereby solicits reactions from readers who are able to comment on this authoritatively. If so, please write to postmaster (at) honestThinking.org
How I Was Raised for Jihad
Ontario: A Shari'a-Free Zone
FrontPageMagazine.com | September 20, 2005. When Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty announced on Sunday September 11 that Ontario would outlaw all forms of religious arbitration, including Islamic law or Shari'a, Western civilization won a great victory >>>
Analysis: Segregated Britain? By Dominic Casciani, BBC News community affairs. The head of the Commission for Racial Equality Trevor Phillips is warning of increased segregation >>>
Anti-Christian Pogrom in the West Bank
"The western media corps largely ignores Muslim violence against Christians in the Holy Land. For years, media outlets have largely refused to report one of the most troubling aspects of the Mideast conflict ? Muslim intimidation and violence against Christians in Palestinian-controlled areas. [...] Something tells us this incident would have made international headlines had Jews been responsible for this type of violence." Read more at HonestReporting.com >>> See also report from the Jerusalem Post as well as comments by Daniel Pipes on the violent incidents of 3 September 2005.
Dying to kill
Hassan Butt, a 25 year old from Manchester, helped recruit Muslims to fight in Afghanistan. Like most of the London bombers, he is a British Pakistani who journeyed from rootlessness to radical Islam. He dismisses as "rubbish" the idea that the rise of extremism among British Muslims is rooted in economic disadvantage and discrimination. He is confident that the world will come "under the banner of Islam", but suspects that this will not happen without "a lot of killing". Read more in Prospect Magazine >>>
In a confidential report, "Young Muslims and Extremism", prepared jointly by the Home and Foreign offices in mid-2004 and presented to Prime Minister Tony Blair, we learn something about the inner thinking of the British government. [...] That the British authorities do not recognize that they should worry about thousands of terrorists in their midst is reason to worry what planet they inhabit. Their waffling, myopia, and general incompetence make one despair for their country. Read more >>> By Daniel Pipes, FrontPageMagazine.com, July 11, 2005. Islamists, Get Out
As the full implications of the London terrorist attacks by domestic jihadis sink in, Westerners are speaking out about the problem of radical Islam with new clarity and boldness. By Daniel Pipes, New York Sun, August 30, 2005. Read more >>>
What About Our Human Rights?
For years Britain has allowed dangerous men to stay here as asylum seekers. There is only one way to end this madness – to withdraw from the Convention on Human Rights. By Sir Andrew Green, Chairman, Migration Watch UK
European demography
Europe is on its way to becoming part of Dar al-Islam. Many are still in denial of this, but unless major changes are implemented, the question is only when, not if, this is going to happen. We have already published an article, and also some background material, concerning the situation in Norway. Many European countries (e.g. France, Holland, Sweden, England, and Germany) are in deeper trouble than Norway. Readers who think we are wrong on this, are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the following material (in order of suggested priority):
The myth of moderate Islam
VirtueOnline, 01.08.2005: The funeral of British suicide bomber Shehzad Tanweer was held in absentia in his family's ancestral village [...] Thousands of people attended, [...] The 22-year old from Leeds, whose bomb at Aldgate station killed seven people, was hailed by the crowd as "a hero of Islam". Read more >>> The above article by Patrick Sookhdeo draws some of its material from Islam, faith and power, by Abid Ullah Jan, an islamist who argues strongly against moderate and secularized Muslims. International Campaign Against Shari'a Court in Canada To prevent Sharia court in Canada some people want to build a coalition in every province of Canada. Read more >>>
The Islamic principle of Kitman Kitman comes from the Arabic word katama and means "to hide" or "to conceal". There are eight different hadiths which, in slightly different versions, attribute the following saying to the prophet Muhammed ... Read more >>> CAIR Founded by "Islamic Terrorists"? By Daniel Pipes and Sharon Chadha, FrontPageMagazine.com, July 28, 2005: The Council on American-Islamic Relations, Inc., filed a defamation lawsuit against Andrew Whitehead, of Anti-CAIR (or ACAIR), a grass-roots project whose name explains its mission: to expose the largest, most vocal, and dangerous Islamist organization in North America. Read more >>>
What Do the Terrorists Want? By Daniel Pipes, New York Sun, July 26, 2005: Although terrorists state their jihadi motives loudly and clearly, Westerners and Muslims alike too often fail to hear them. Islamic organizations, Canadian author Irshad Manji observes, pretend that "Islam is an innocent bystander in today's terrorism." What the terrorists want is abundantly clear. It requires monumental denial not to acknowledge it, but we Westerners have risen to the challenge. Read more >>> Where next? International Herald Tribune, JULY 15, 2005: Most disturbing, some surveys find that the younger generation of Turkish Germans express surprising hostility toward Europe and the West. In one study, the sociologist Wilhelm Heitmeyer and his colleagues at the University of Bielefeld found that almost one-third of those polled agreed that Islam must become the state religion in every country. Even though they live in Europe, 56 percent declared that they should not adapt too much to Western ways, but should live by Islam. More than a third insisted that if it serves the Islamic community, they are ready to use violence against nonbelievers. Almost 40 percent said that Zionism, the European Union and the United States threaten Islam. Read more >>>
Disturbing Opinion Surveys By Daniel Pipes, FrontPageMagazine.com, July 25, 2005: Estimating how many potential terrorists reside in one's country is a highly inexact business, but there's a striking correlation between a British government report recently leaked to London's Times and a new opinion survey commissioned by the Daily Telegraph. Read more >>> Friedman on Hatemongers (NY Times) "We need to shine a spotlight on hate speech wherever it appears." New York Times, 22 July. Read more >>>
Terror in Europe Terror has again struck a major city in Europe. Last time it was Madrid, this time it was London, next time could be anywhere. In this situation a lot of hatred an indiscriminate criticism of Muslims is surfacing. However, most Muslims have nothing to do with terror. Thus, rather than aiming criticism at Muslims, we suggest that it is time for politicians, intellectuals and media people to be held accountable. For decades they have done their best to hinder democratic processes, prevent free flow of truthful information, and stifle debate. Their lack of honesty is a - if not the - major cause of Europe currently being in dire straits. Recommended reading:
Cheating with immigration numbers Norwegian authorities have cheated with prognoses for the number of immigrants. Read article and background article (with supporting material and discussions). Reactions from others (in English): The Challenge of Islamism in Europe & Middle East by Daniel Pipes, The First International Coptic Symposium, September 23, 2004. Read more >>>
The Islamization of Europe? DAVID PRYCE-JONES, the British political analyst, is a senior editor of National Review and the author of, among other books, The Closed Circle and The Strange Death of the Soviet Empire. An earlier version of the present essay was delivered at a conference at Boston University in October 2004. Read more >>> Saudis Import Slaves to America By Daniel Pipes, New York Sun, June 16, 2005. Why is this problem so acute for affluent Saudis? Four reasons come to mind. Although slavery was abolished in the kingdom in 1962, the practice still flourishes there. Ranking Saudi religious authorities endorse slavery; for example, Sheikh Saleh Al-Fawzan insisted recently that "Slavery is a part of Islam" and whoever wants it abolished is "an infidel." Read more >>> Is France on the way to becoming an Islamic state? Given current birth rates, it is not impossible that in 25 years France will have a Muslim majority. The consequences are dynamic: is it possible that secular France might become an Islamic state? Read the article at telegraph.co.uk >>>
The New French Revolution When people talk about ghettos in France, they're talking about high-rise complexes that have been built far away from the city center to house African and Arab immigrants. [...] With little hope of making it outside the projects, many of these young men try to dominate their own neighborhoods, resorting to violence, especially against young women. Christiane Amanpour, CBS 60 Minutes (from May 2004). Read more >>>
From Palestinian TV Imam Ibrahim Mudayris on on national Palestinian TV on 13 May 2005. Mudayris is preaching about the famous Hadith of al-Bukhari about the Muslims' struggle against the Jews in the end times. View the 1 minute video >>
The Islamization of French Schools A disturbing report is leaked,
by Olivier Guitta. AN OFFICIAL REPORT DEALING WITH religious expression in French schools has become a must read for anyone interested in the Islamization of France. Written under the auspices of the top national education official, Jean-Pierre Obin, the report was not initially released by the Ministry of Education. But it was leaked on the Internet in March and now can be found in its entirety at www.proche-orient.info and other websites. Read more >>
Radicalisation of Muslims in the Netherlands RN Security and Defence editor Hans de Vreij, 2 May 2005. The radicalisation of Muslims in the Netherlands continues and is now reaching out to young people of Turkish origin. Despite a series of arrests, [...] the process of radicalisation among Muslim youth in the Netherlands continues unabated. [...] The AIVD report identifies 16-25 year olds as the main risk, with some in that age group having come to regard Mohammed Bouyeri (accused of killing Theo van Gogh) and Samir Azzouz (suspected of terrorist activities) as heroes. Read the article at Radio Netherlands. International Humanist and Ethical Union Statement by Main Representative Roy Brown, Monday 18 April 2005
The unreported race riot in France FREDERIC ENCEL, PROFESSOR OF international relations at the prestigious Ecole Nationale d'Administration in Paris and a man not known for crying wolf, recently stated that France is becoming a new Lebanon. The implication, far-fetched though it may seem, was that civil upheaval might be no more than a few years off, sparked by growing ethnic and religious polarization. In recent weeks, a series of events has underlined this ominous trend. Read the entire article in The Weekly Standard (2005.04.11).
Is France on the way to becoming an Islamic state? "France is facing the problem that dare not speak its name. Though French law prohibits the census from any reference to ethnic background or religion, many demographers estimate that as much as 20-30 per cent of the population under 25 is now Muslim. The streets, the traditional haunt of younger people, now belong to Muslim youths. In France, the phrase "les jeunes" is a politically correct way of referring to young Muslims. Given current birth rates, it is not impossible that in 25 years France will have a Muslim majority. The consequences are dynamic: is it possible that secular France might become an Islamic state?" Read the entire article in The Telegraph. Can we criticize Islam? - Enemy images and Peace Visions Article b y Jan Rantrud, theologian and associate professor at Norsk Lærerakademi (Norwegian Teachers’ Academy). Two new books in Norwegian translation about Islam have attracted some attention. Islam and Terrorism by Mark Gabriel and Why I am not a Muslim by Ibn Warraq. Together they offer a presentation of Islam where the Jihad-concept, which indeed means holy war, is an integral and inevitable part, and as a religion which has as its final goal the conquest of the world by all available means; e.g. war, proselytizing, bribes, marriage, threats, immigration, and propaganda. Further, they state quite categorically that Islam is incompatible with human rights and democracy as these are understood in the western world, and further that this religion is suppressing women, intolerant towards freedom and without possibilities for sufficient change to smoothly being integrated into western societies. Read the entire article.
Harvard Political ReviewBy Paul Davis and Daniel Krauthammer As cultural tensions mount, Europe's aging population must deal with an influx of Muslims. On the evening of Nov. 2, 2004, a murder took place in the bike lane of an Amsterdam street. The victim, Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, had just released a film criticizing Islamic fundamentalism and traditional Muslim culture. Among his many wounds, a knife pinned a note to his chest. Written in Dutch and Arabic, it contained an ominous warning: "Hair-raising screams will be squeezed from the lungs of the nonbelievers." The murderer was a second-generation Muslim immigrant. This murder, like that of the Dutch anti-immigration politician Pim Fortuyn two years prior, has awakened a sense of urgency in the Netherlands-and across much of Europe-that something must be done to confront increasing Muslim immigration and the problems of non-integration. With a native population on the decline, and with foreign replacements unwilling to embrace the liberal cultural values held by local populations, Europe's leaders are beginning to think more critically about toleration and the impact of immigration on national identities. Read the entire article on hpronline.org.
Islam and the Jews
Mark A. Gabriel is the controversial author of the book Islam and Terrorism, a book that now has got a follow-up: Islam and the Jews. Islam and the Jews is partly a personal story, partly a professional document. These two aspects of the book must be evaluated separately and by different criteria. On the personal level this book is the story about how the Egyptian and ex-Muslim Mark Gabriel changed attitude from vehemently hating Jews to feeling friendship, affection and sympathy towards the Jewish people. According to Mr. Gabriel himself, this came about by Jesus Christ performing a miracle within him so that hatred yielded to love. This aspect of his book must be taken for precisely what it is: a personal testimony. On the professional level Islam and the Jews is an introduction to the Koran’s and the Hadiths’s teachings with respect to the status of the Jews, written by a former Imam and professor in Islamic history at the Al Azhar University. Read the entire review. Islam and Terrorism A review of Mark A. Gabriel’s book: Islam and Terrorism, by Jan Rantrud, theologian and associate professor at Norsk Lærerakademi (Norwegian Teachers’ Academy). If we should attempt to comprise in a few words the perceptions and impressions that dominate our world’s public universe of opinions, it can conveniently be expressed as follows: There are good Muslim and there are bad Muslims. The good ones are those who smoothly allow themselves to be integrated into our society and with our values. The bad ones are those who do not. Among them we find repulsive phenomena like repression of women, so-called circumcision of women, forced marriages, and murder for the sake of honor. Towards the extreme edges we will find holy warriors and terrorists; crazy psychopaths doing unbelievable actions. We explain them and their actions as a result of desperation and repression by other Muslims, and that they are not representative of Islam at all. According to Mark Gabriel, this view is totally wrong. Read the entire review.
Theology of Terror in The Islamic Federation
Mr. Ghozlan’s position on suicide bombers is in agreement with the position of the majority of Sunni-Muslim leaders world wide. The position is a result of theological-political deliberations, not just emotions and rage, and it is well worth to have a closer look at its theological foundation.
Mr. Yusuf al-Qaradawi is widely considered to be the most powerful Muslim leader in the world, and at any rate he is the most influential person in Sunni-Islam when it comes to questions of Islamic jurisdiction. Read the entire article. Also available: background information on Yusuf al-Qaradawi and more.
Demographic competition with Islam
People who are expressing concern over the rapid advance of Islam in Europe are often criticized. For example thus: “It is widely known that people with little knowledge of, and consequently little confidence in, their own religion and culture are those that most vehemently and in the most irrational ways are defensive about it. They are afraid of different ways of thinking and different assumptions, and they believe they have to defend their own religion as if it does not stand up against competition.”
However, one overlooks the crucial fact that the “competition” between Christianity and Western values on the one hand, and Islam and Muslim values on the other, takes place on unequal terms.
Simply put, the situation is such that we are a good four million Norwegians who are supposed to “compete” with several hundred million Muslims in the countries from which the majority of our immigrants continue to come, by systematically finding spouses in their own country of origin. There can be absolutely no doubt about what the long term outcome of this process is going to be, namely that Norwegians will become a minority in their own country. Read the entire article.
Is fear of Islam justified?
The very last thing Norway and the rest of the world need at this time is a hateful and undifferentiated perception of Islam. What we do need is a rational approach to this religion. It is, therefore, most timely that Dag Herbjørnsrud in Aftenposten (2004.09.10 and 2004.09.19) puts this issue on the agenda: Fear of Islam.
Mr. Herbjørnsrud points to some interesting statistics on progress of democracy and human rights in certain Muslim countries. On this background he draws the conclusion that Islam is consistent with democracy and human rights. Here it appears that Mr. Herbjørnsrud is guilty of a fallacious inference. Read the entire article.
What visions do our politicians have for Europe? In Aftenposten of 3 July 2003 Norway’s Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik provides information about various actions and principles incorporated in the Government’s immigration and asylum policies. In this article he implicitly admits that we are facing formidable problems in these areas, and that certain limitations and stricter rules need to be implemented. Even so, it is conspicuous that Mr. Bondevik touched only a subset of the problems that currently concern our top police officers and others, thus omitting some important issues. The major shortcoming of Prime Minister's article is its utter lack of long term perspective. Such a perspective should be expected when the head of our Government addresses what are currently our most pressing ethical dilemmas and political issues. Read the entire article.
An article about the demographic development of Europe, by Daniel Pipes (available in multiple languages). 'Europe becomes more and more a province of Islam, a colony of Islam.' So declares Oriana Fallaci in her new book, La Forza della Ragione, or, 'The Force of Reason.' And the famed Italian journalist is right: Christianity's ancient stronghold of Europe is rapidly giving way to Islam. Two factors mainly contribute to this world-shaking development.
Into the void are coming Islam and Muslims. As Christianity falters, Islam is robust, assertive, and ambitious. As Europeans underreproduce at advanced ages, Muslims do so in large numbers while young. Some 5% of the E.U., or nearly 20 million persons, presently identify themselves as Muslims; should current trends continue, that number will reach 10% by 2020. If non-Muslims flee the new Islamic order, as seems likely, the continent could be majority-Muslim within decades. Read the entire article at danielpipes.org.
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Norsk stoff - Norwegian material
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Einiges Material ist auf Deutsch zugänglich gemacht worden.
One day, millions of men will leave the Southern Hemisphere to go to the Northern Hemisphere. And they will not go there as friends. Because they will go there to conquer it. And they will conquer it with their sons. The wombs of our women will give us victory. Former Algerian President Houari Boumedienne
Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder. British historian Arnold J. Toynbee (1889 - 1975)
I believe in being free, acquiring knowledge, and telling the truth. American journalist H.L. Mencken (1880-1956)
With law shall the land be built, not with un-law destroyed. Håvamål (the Norse god Odin)
We are not opposed to immigration that is moderate and managed. At present it is neither. Our Manifesto |
HonestThinking is dedicated and committed to the art of thinking honestly. Yet honest thinking is not the same as true thinking, for it is possible to think honestly, but be mistaken. For the same reason, honest thinking is not identical with objective thinking either. Honest thinking is striving to get things right. This involves being truthful about whatever one publishes, but just as importantly, it involves an uncompromising dedication to never suppress relevant data, even when data collides with dearly held prejudices. Such an approach may sometimes cause hurtful revisions in one’s belief system. That’s what HonestThinking is all about! Read the entire manifesto.
Provoked or enthusiastic?
Please send e-mail to postmaster at honestThinking.org (replacing ' at ' with '@') if you would like to tip us about a web resource that we should link to, or if you wish to submit an article for publication here. Quality contributions are welcome from anyone.
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| Multicultural societies – respect for Muslims and Islam |
The current European immigration and integration policy is profoundly disrespectful of both Muslims and Islam, because it is built on the tacit assumption that the Muslims will become like us. One claims to have respect for Islam and for Muslims, but one also expects Muslims to give up their orthodox faith when they come here. At the same time one is assuming that Islam will be reformed and modernized as soon as the Muslims become integrated and understand and appreciate how superior our Western culture is compared to their own. This is cultural shauvinism and arrogance indeed! The unspoken premise for this scenario is that Western socities are superior to Islam. Read more.
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| Threats against democracy and human rights |
Human rights and democracy are under pressure. One threat comes from the Western world, in the form of lack of or dishonest thinking. There exists a peculiar Western "tolerance" which is so "tolerant" that it even tolerates totalitarian or anti-democratic ideologies. A tacit assumption underlying such an attitude is that all cultures, world views, and religions are really equally good. As a consequence of this assumption one is cut off from the possibility of critically examining the above mentioned ideologies. Read more.
A message to participants at Isfit |
Dear participants at Workshop 12 of the International student festival in Trondheim (Isfit). It was a pleasure and a privilege to spend a few hours together with you on Friday 18 February 2005! Read the entire message here.