An Outward and Visible Sign ...

David Cameron is making very clear signals to the European Court of Human Rights, in a test case on the right of workers to wear symbols of their faith:

The ministerial line on the right of a worker to display a token of faith was laid down in a statement to European human rights judges. It gives the Government’s opinion in a key test case.

The document, prepared under the supervision of Lib Dem Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone and approved by Home Secretary Theresa May, says Muslims must be content to keep their religion for their own time. Those who are unwilling to do so are ‘free to resign and seek employment elsewhere’.

The Government submission to Strasbourg said ... ‘the applicants’ claim of discrimination is manifestly ill-founded’ and said that the legal rights of Muslims were satisfied ‘where the individual in question is free to resign and seek employment elsewhere or practise their religion unfettered outside their employment’.

That's telling 'em. Two small changes, of course.

Why I won't be voting Conservative any time soon

Today, I have received an email from Andrew Mitchell, Secretary of State for International development. This is what it says:

Dear Richard,

Today, hundreds of thousands of British Muslims will begin the holy month of Ramadan - a time of fasting, devotion, charity, and care. From sunset to sunrise, they will refrain from eating and drinking, and focus on reflection, self-discipline and prayer.

But for millions of Muslims in the Horn of Africa, this month of fasting will be more than a matter of religious devotion ...

There follows a few paragraphs explaining that my government is borrowing over £90m that we do not have in order to give aid to the unfortunate people in the Horn of Africa, and asking that we give more. It ends:

The British public have already been incredibly supportive but please, as we enter Ramadan, reach into your pockets and give what you can.

Thank you and with all good wishes for Ramadan.

Andrew Mitchell

I'm all for helping the less fortunate and even, in extreme cases, putting ourselves in debt to do so. But this kind of patronising shite is what has convinced me (along with a large number of policy U-turns and broken promises) that Cameron's lot are just multi-culti Labour in a new suit.

And, to be polite, they can fuck off.

Have a great Ramadan! Jesus.

Rant of the Decade

From Gates of Vienna, this most excellent rant in support of free speech.

The lady is Ann Barnhardt, and the video is in response to a remark by Senator Lindsey Graham. Sen. Graham said, in response to a question about the Koran-burning of Pastor Terry Jones:

Yeah, I wish there was some way we could hold people accountable. Free speech is a great idea, but we're in a war. During World War II you had limits on what you could say if it would inspire the enemy. Any time we can push back here in America against actions like this that put our troops at risk, we ought to do it.

Barnhardt takes this apart, sentence by sentence, and tears him a new one in the process. It's as fine a defence of free speech as I have heard, and an excellent example of sustained polemic. I doubt if Sen. Graham wants to hear the word 'jackass' ever again.

(There is a Part 2, in which she reads out quotations from the Koran, then rips the pages out and burns them, and I am less comfortable with this. You can find the link for yourself if you want to see it. I believe she has the right to do this if she wishes, and I wouldn't hold her responsible if someone somewhere else in the world was murdered as a result of her video, but I feel it is a rather unnecessary provocation and to some extent devalues the excellent case she makes in the first part. It's a bit yah-boo for my tastes, and doesn't advance free speech or the case against violent Islam one iota. The choice of bacon for the bookmarks was inspired, however.)

I won't make any comment on the video, as she says it all far better than I ever could. Balls of steel, if she had any, and we need more people like her in the West (and fewer like Cameron, busy apologising to Pakistan for Britain's sins while giving them £600m of our money that we really can't afford to give away).

Do as you are told and all will be well, Part the Second

Via the Dali Mail, another lump of proposterous steaming cowshit:

Fanatics from a banned Islamic hate group have launched a nationwide poster campaign denouncing Christmas as evil.

Organisers plan to put up thousands of placards around the UK claiming the season of goodwill is responsible for rape, teenage pregnancies, abortion, promiscuity, crime and paedophilia.

They hope the campaign will help 'destroy Christmas' in this country and lead to Britons converting to Islam instead.

And a new, must-see website, Xmas Is Evil. Heh.

Thing is, they have a point. Western society is in a crisis. We do have too much selfish and self-indulgent behaviour, people in thrall to mindless and vacuous 'entertainment', unsustainable debt, nasty and preventable social diseases, and a lack of respect for the integrity of others, as evidenced in the prevalence of rape and child abuse. We may disagree on the causes of these things, and on how and even whether they can be controlled, but they are the things that cause me great unease. In this respect, count me among those who are concerned, and who would like to see things done differently.

And then we get this, in the list of things that are wrong with Western society:

• Claiming that God has a son
• Blasphemy
  

Ah, right. My sky fairy is better than your sky fairy. My invented and evidence-free version of the nature of reality is RIGHT, and your invented and evidence-free version of the nature of reality is WRONG, and because of this you deserve to die. At this juncture, we part company.

Regular readers will know that I have little patience with any organised religion, and regard them as equally silly. But I do know one thing: the message of Christianity is love (however imperfectly translated into action), and that applies to believers, the 'us', as well as to everyone else, the 'them'. From what I have seen in my society over the last ten years, the religion being promoted by these posters is one of repression, intolerance, hatred of the 'other', and lethal violence. Christians might disagree on homosexuality, and opinions range from complete acceptance to an explicit and quite nasty disapproval, but no-one (as far as I am aware) is advocating stoning them to death. And it's a long time since Christians advocated a man's right to throw acid in his daughter's face for having the wrong kind of boyfriend. Count me as a non-Christian, but don't assume I am neutral on the matter.

This poster is a sign of growing confidence amongst the militant Islamic community, and I expect to see more things like this as time goes by. And some people will say it's all OK. The posters don't offend me (and it wouldn't matter if they did), but they worry me.

But that line about 'claiming that God has a son' - straight out of Monty Python.

Cardinal Fang - The Comfy Chair!

A Sign Of Things To Come?

I would be far more likely to accept the notion that Islam is a peaceful religion if I had heard loud and angry condemnation of terrorist atrocities from the many 'peaceful' Muslims that we are told constitute the majority. The fact that we don't hear anything of the sort leads me to believe, not that all Muslims are terrorists, but that most Muslims don't think that terrorism in the name of Islam is all that bad. Perhaps the bombers are mistaken, but the error is one of degree. Their crime is being too violent, rather then being violent at all. It's OK to hate the West, but these people are going about it the wrong way. I suspect that many Muslims will publicly disavow any Islamic terrorist attack, if pressed, but may secretly approve, at least slightly and in the privacy of their own minds. (If any Muslim reading this can show me evidence of widespread condemnation of terrorism from within the Muslim community, and thereby show me to be mistaken, I would genuinely like to hear it.)

What many peaceable Muslims don't realise, or choose to ignore, is that every time there is an atrocity in the name of the 'religion of peace', and a deafening silence from the Muslim community follows, it is building up a head of steam in the majority population which may one day- and very regrettably - bring the whole house of cards down on the heads of all Muslims, peaceable or not, and the results will not be pleasant. I want to hear Muslim condemnation of terrorism, loud and clear, because I don't want this to happen.

I was therefore encouraged to read this in the Telegraph, followed by this from the BBC:

"I talked to him and went through his arguments and countered all of them theologically and he accepted it. I thought that was the end of it but he carried on.

"So one day, before the end of Ramadan, when the mosque was full I directly challenged all his misinterpretations of Islam.

"He just stood up and stormed out. We never saw him again - but I heard he'd gone to the Islamic Society at the university and continued to preach his extremist views."

and

Mr Baksh said it was very rare for the Luton centre, which incorporates a mosque on its premises, to expel any members.

He said when people expressed ideas which were extreme "it's a matter of dealing with them, challenging their theological basis, and making them realise this is not the Islamic point of view, and is not the way we look at life and the situation of Muslims around the world."

In all cases, they had succeeded in persuading them not to further their ideas - "except in this particular one," he said, referring to Abdaly.

It's a start, and I am mildly encouraged. Well done, that man.