‘War on error’ – Merryl Wyn Davies on ‘Kingdom of Heaven’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“It is a film with no historic context because it is all about today. As usual, Scott attempts to import a confused liberal’s wish fulfilment into history. But along the way what Hollywood actually gets is what it always sells: a vindication of the American Dream, which, in this instance, provides a fig leaf for pre-emptive democracy building.”

Merryl Wyn Davies reviews “Kingdom of Heaven”.

Scotsman, 7 May 2005

Robert Spencer, however, denounces it as “a dream movie for those guilt-ridden creatures who believe that all the trouble between the Islamic world and the West has been caused by Western imperialism, racism, and colonialism, and that the glorious paradigm of Islamic tolerance, which was once a beacon to the world, could be reestablished if only the nasty white men of America and Europe would back off”.

Front Page Magazine, 3 May 2005

Update: Spencer denounces what he calls “the dhimmi Merryl Wyn Davies piece” – evidently oblivious to the fact that Merryl Wyn Davies is a Muslim.

Lib Dems form alliance with ‘anti-Semitic fringe groups’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Along with transforming themselves into the antiwar party, the Liberal Democrats have attempted to seduce British Muslims away from the Labour party by allying themselves with fringe Sunni Muslim fundamentalist groups. The Liberal Democrat calculation is that British Muslims have been radicalized, and that the views of sectarian, anti-Semitic fringe groups have a resonance in the Muslim community.”

National Review, 5 May 2005

This is the sort of nonsense the right-wing media in the US publishes about British electoral politics.

Four British Muslims make it to parliament

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Four Muslim candidates won British elections, in what many of the three-million strong minority hailed as a considerable victory that could lead to a more political role in the heavy-weight European country.”

Islam Online, 6 May 2005

“Only four Muslims were elected to the House of Commons. The three main political parties fielded 48 Muslim candidates at the general elections, most in unwinnable seats, and altogether a record 74 Muslim candidates stood for elections. There should be at least 20 Muslims in the House of Commons to reflect its population.”

Muslim News, 6 May 2005

Posted in UK

Election results indicate influence of Muslim vote and issue of war

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The Muslim Association of Britain welcomes the role of the Muslim vote in numerous constituencies which affected clearly either the outcome of the vote or the share thereof. It was absolutely clear that the Muslim community decided to utilise their numbers in several dozen constituencies to bring about a recognition of the issues of concern to them, particularly the anti-terror laws and the war in Iraq.”

MAB press release, 6 May 2005

See also BBC News, 6 May 2005

Posted in UK

Galloway’s victory shows that all Muslims are extremists

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The Bethnal Green and Bow result is the single most damaging threat to race – properly, religious – relations since Enoch Powell’s river of blood speech and the rise of the NF in the 1970s. Those of us who seek to show that Muslim extremists are the exception, not the rule, and that mainstream Muslims pose no threat to Western democracy, have been dealt a severe blow.

“Until Galloway’s result – based on demagoguery and the idea that there is indeed a fundamental split between the Muslim way of thinking and that of non-Muslims – it was possible to argue convincingly, as I have sought to do, that maintream Muslims had nothing in common with the extremists.

“But the Bethnal Green and Bow result makes that argument very difficult. Galloway did not win because he was supported by a small number of Muslim extremists – those who clearly pose a threat to the West and have to be imprisoned. He won because of support from precisely those mainstream Muslims whom I, and others, have argued did not support their militant brothers.”

A hysterical rant by Stephen Pollard against Muslim voters in Bethnal Green & Bow.

Stephen Pollard’s weblog, 6 May 2005

Needless to say, this assessment is endorsed by Melanie Phillips.

Melanie Phillips’s Diary, 6 May 2005

Islamism and democracy

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“Many moderate Islamists accept the legitimacy of democratic procedures (although many doubt their sincerity). They’re willing to participate, unlike the bin Ladenist types who reject democracy on principle. Having someone like the controversial al-Jazeera cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi consistently preaching the virtues of democracy to a vast al-Jazeera audience is worth a thousand marginal pro-American figures saying the same thing. Still, liberals (at least) can’t help but be disturbed by their socially conservative views on homosexuality, gender relations, the relationship between religion and state – to say nothing of their hostility to Israel.”

Marc Lynch (Abu Aardvark) offers some thoughts the US response to on democratic Islamism.

Washington Monthly, 5 May 2005

Pastor: no apology to Muslims

Posted on by Bob Pitt

One of two Christian pastors found guilty of vilifying Muslims has vowed to go to prison rather than apologise.

The Islamic Council of Victoria want the offending pastors to acknowledge a finding that their comments incited hatred and severe ridicule of Muslims.

But the pastors’ ministry, Catch the Fire, rejects the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal finding. They are appealing to the Supreme Court on the basis that VCAT deputy president Michael Higgins was biased against the evangelical group.

David Perkins, for Catch the Fire Ministries, yesterday submitted to Judge Higgins that he had “ridiculed” pastor Daniel Scot’s religious beliefs.

“We have a pending action in the Supreme Court to which your Honour is a party,” he told the judge. Judge Higgins replied that he regarded his being made a party as “inappropriate.”

Mr Scot told the Herald Sun yesterday he could not and would not give any acknowledgment or apology that his conscience would not allow, and was prepared for jail.

He said his nephew was killed in Pakistan by Islamic extremists. “This is what Muslims do when they follow their religion,” he said, before suggesting he was the subject of Christian victimisation.

Religion News Blog, 4 May 2005

Robert Spencer rallies to the defence of this hero of free speech: “He was convicted on false pretenses. He has nothing for which to apologize.”

Dhimmi Watch, 5 May 2005

For the background to the case, see here.

Religious leaders denounce Robertson comments

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Religious leaders, left-leaning political activists and victims of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York joined Wednesday (May 4) to denounce recent comments Pat Robertson made about the escalating battle over the federal judiciary.

MoveOnPAC, a progressive group that provides financial backing to congressional candidates, said it’s launching a TV ad campaign repudiating the religious broadcaster’s Sunday (May 1) comments on ABC’s “This Week.”

Robertson, who had a brief 1988 GOP presidential bid, told “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos that federal jurists were a more serious threat to America than “a few bearded terrorists who fly into buildings” and that Muslims were unfit to hold federal judgeships.

“And they have said in the Quran there’s a war against all infidels,” Robertson said. “Do you want somebody like that sitting as a judge? I wouldn’t.”

Religion News Servide, 4 May 2005