Islamists and Christianists

The head of the Muslim Canadian Congress has been forced to resign his post. The reason? He's not a radical Islamist bent on imposing sharia law in Canada. He has resigned for his and his family's safety, because he has had threats on his life as a result of his views.

What are his views, exactly?

He has opposed the NDP's "faith caucus" because he fears religious radicals taking over the party. He vehemently opposed the imposition of sharia law. He supports same-sex marriage.

This does highlight an ugly truth I have been pointing out for some time now, and that is that many (as in not all, as in I recognize that not every Muslim shares these views) western Muslims have a serious problem with modernity and with western culture, to the point that they will become violent about it.

This is a real shame, as Fatah was one of the few Muslim (or religious in general) leaders in Canada I had any real respect for.

And just so I can get a knock in at some nutjob Christians as well, a pastor in Minnesota has run into trouble with the flock of his megachurch. The reason? He refuses to give official "blessings" (read: endorsements) to Republican candidates and conservative causes. Now, this pastor is anti-gay, anti-abortion, all the usual junk. The only difference is, he won't mix his religious duties with politics. And his congregation apparently doesn't like that at all.

Is there any more perfect example of the fusing of Christianity and a political ideology into Christianism? To these people, religion is politics, and politics is about religion. It's a very dangerous ideology... and it will probably win the Republicans another election in 2006.

But just going back to Islamism for one second... you've gotta admit, this is pretty ridiculous. The pinnacle of acquiescence to archaic thought.