The Burka - Update
It snowed again on Tuesday, but no one really cares anymore. We're numb from the ongoing stress of shoveling, transportation delays, school closings, cancellations of everything, alternately severely cold air outside and dry hot air inside, trash piling up on the sidewalks, and minimal groceries. But of course, this is just a temporary inconvenience, not an earthquake, or a tidal wave or any major calamity. Just exhaustion, and the realization that a slight alteration in daily habits produces bodily stress and psychological fatigue. We are quite spoiled.
In my inertia, I put off going back to the situation in France which worsens every day. If the old notion that "something has to give" has any meaning, it does not apply to France. Not yet anyway. France is like me - inert, stuck in a rut, and headed for some kind of implosion unless the adrenal glands are reactivated.
Yves Daoudal has been publishing some excellent articles in his weekly newsletter, available through subscription. Some of them are quite long, but what I like about them is that they cover a whole story from start to the most recent developments, rather than the bits and pieces one gets on a daily basis. The story of banning the burka is one such story. I have spoken of this issue before and I maintain my original opinion that banning the burka means nothing. It is merely an outward symbol of Islamic conquest. Unless Islam itself is banned from French territory, a ban on the burka will serve only to make Nicolas Sarkozy appear to be "tough" on Islam. The world will say he is being true to the principle of laïcité, that he is placing the well-being of the Republic above all else, that he is determined to show the Muslims who is boss, that he cares about the dignity of women, and other similar inaccuracies (i.e., inanities).
In fact, he is deviously working to recast his country, through a new law, not only as a land where Islam will be totally protected from "discrimination", but as a country where the freedom of conscience provided for by the law of 1905 is totally and in totalitarian manner subjugated to laïcité. Where religion itself is subjugated to a "higher" principle, that of laïcité. Today, freedom of worship is guaranteed by the law of 1905 on the condition that public order is respected. Under the new law, hypothetically, freedom of worship will be guaranteed only if laïcité is respected. Changing the wording slightly changes the degree of power invested in the concept of laïcité. It becomes almost the official State religion, superior to any religion. If atheists have no problem with this, how will traditional Catholics feel?
The answer, so far, is that Catholics are not being consulted, nor are they voicing any objection to not being consulted. They are slowly being factored out of any consideration on the values that govern French society. What they think or feel is of no consequence to Sarkozy.
All of this and much more is contained in a new report issued by the parliamentary commission studying a possible law that would ban the burka. (The commission, for your edification, heard testimony from well-known Islamic militant Tariq Ramadan, and from numerous members of the masonic Grand Orient, but not from any representative of the Catholic Church!) If you have read in the English-language press that the burka is banned in France (I have seen such articles), be advised that it is not yet law - it is still in the discussion stages. Sarkozy, using a well-tested tactic, will not allow the question to advance further until after the regional elections this spring.
On a slightly different note, one of the most troubling aspects of the report is the revelation that any ban of the burka will be in fact a quid pro quo that will compensate the Muslims for the inconvenience of having to accept the ban. Their reward? More mosques, more Arabic taught in the schools, hence, more power...
The report mentioned above is available online at the official website.
Meanwhile, this Daily Mail article from January 26, the day the report was issued, gives the surface facts.
I will try to have a resumé of Daoudal's article (with a little help from Le Salon Beige that has done its own resumé) within a day or two.
Note: There are two spellings of burka, the other being "burqa". I had to make a decision about this. In my previous articles I used the "q", but it seems that the "k" version is more commonly used by the English-language press, so I yield to the law of the majority.
posted by tiberge @ 9:41 PM
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10 Comments:
"The answer, so far, is that Catholics are not being consulted, nor are they voicing any objection to not being consulted."
Why is this? Why is the Catholic Church simply rolling over on everything related to the future of France? Where is the faith of the French episcopate? What of the man in the pew? France is called "the elder daughter of the Church." Something is very wrong with this picture.
@ Dr.D
I can't answer the question. But the following thoughts come to mind. For the past several decades the Catholic clergy have been subjected to continuous scorn and mockery. I have heard that some priests and nuns do not want to walk down the street in their habit, lest they attract the attention of anti-clerical hecklers (I do not necessarily mean Muslims, but French atheists). They have surely become disheartened.
Another reason though, is that many priests have convinced themselves that the Muslim belief in God is better than the prevalent atheism; that ANY belief is better than no belief at all. I have even seen this idea expressed in comments at Le Salon Beige. The horror of the promiscuous atheist culture with its various forms of death wish, to the Catholics, is infinitely worse than Islam. They are deluded of course. But we have to realize that if Islam were to be driven out of France, there would still be a serious problem in that the atheist society would still be in place and would have to be dealt with somehow.
Also, a word or two from Benedict XVI would help. He gives many inspiring and profoundly civilized speeches wherever he goes. He is always the source of great solace to the Catholics, but he never mentions Islam. He is certainly afraid of triggering terrorism, but what about the terrorism we have anyway?
Just some thoughts. I've said them before. The conversations at Le Salon Beige are very helpful.
@ Tiberge
Thank you for those comments. I noticed in your original post that you mentioned the Grand Orient of France, the Free Masons, who are profoundly atheistic.
You said, "...many priests have convinced themselves that the Muslim belief in God is better than the prevalent atheism..." I find that simply amazing (I am not disputing your word, simply saying that I am amazed). I would far rather try to reason with an atheist than a muzlim. With an atheist, I have some hope of reasoning with him, but with a muzlim there is no hope; he is completely irrational. I realize, of course, that many of the ardent atheist, such as Richard Dawkins, et. al, certainly have not been persuaded to become believers, yet. But I think they are much more likely to believe than is any muzlim, at least in my experience.
You mention the need for a word from B16. I certainly agree there. He has not come out nearly as strongly on this as I would like to see him speak, but I think that is a two way street. I think he realizes that the people of Europe will not back him if he does speak out, they are already so completely dhimmified. He is on a bit of a tight rope there.
I read elsewhere of some rather disturbing actions from some of the French bishops, particularly closing successful parishes seemingly so that they will suffer like most of the others in their diocese. I know that sounds like nonsense, and I lack the details to fully substantiate it, but I was shocked when I read of this. It almost seems as if the French episcopate is a part of the problem.
DrD and Tiberge,
The French(?) Episcopate IS the problem ; very few bishops will face an atheist and try to convince him, whereas they are always "à l'écoute" (willing to listen to?) for Muslims ; when a bishop says something logical -for instance that the Scriptures should be taught in a Catholic School -, he gets no more than scornful glances from most of his colleagues!
I have not yet met anybody saying that any faith is better than no faith, but I am sure Tiberge is right ; that must be the explanation for the cowardly and slavish attitude of those I call the "official Catholics", the heirs to Vatican II ....And don't forget that "laicity" has grown into a creed, with its dogma and rites.
zazie
I noticed in your original post that you mentioned the Grand Orient of France, the Free Masons, who are profoundly atheistic.
how do you know that Tiberge?
bastards:
Un prêtre finance la construction de la plus grande mosquée d’Allemagne
Alors que le vote suisse sur l’interdiction des minarets marquait un signe de rejet identitaire, les manifestations de solidarité interreligieuse tendent à se multiplier en Europe.
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En Allemagne, deux hommes de confessions différentes ont entrepris de financer la construction de la plus grande mosquée du pays. Un dialogue interreligieux qui va, dans les actes, bien au-delà de l’échange de vœux pieux. Prêtre catholique, le père Franz Meurer habite un quartier défavorisé de Cologne, où vit une importante communauté étrangère, essentiellement musulmane. Récemment, il a lancé au sein de sa paroisse une collecte de fonds pour la construction d’une mosquée, la plus grande d’Allemagne, dans une ville notamment célèbre pour sa cathédrale. Navid Kermani est lui aussi un habitant de Cologne. D’origine iranienne, cet écrivain de talent s’est vu récemment décerner un prix national pour ses efforts visant à promouvoir le dialogue interreligieux. Lors de la cérémonie, l’écrivain a annoncé qu’il ferait don au père Meurer d’une partie des 45 000 € qui lui ont été remis.
Fraternité abrahamique
L’écrivain partage le Prix allemand de la Culture avec le cardinal Karl Lehmann, Peter Steinacker, ancien chef de l’Eglise luthérienne de la région de Hesse, et Salomon Korn, vice-président du Conseil des juifs allemands. S’adressant au père Meurer, Navid Kemani a déclaré : « Non seulement votre Eglise catholique est tolérante et accepte des musulmans désireux de construire une mosquée […], mais encore vos paroissiens donnent-ils de leur argent pour que des hommes d’une autre foi que la leur puissent eux aussi pratiquer leur religion ». Le jury a voulu récompenser des personnes qui ont œuvré à la promotion de « la coexistence pacifique des trois grandes religions abrahamiques — le christianisme, le judaïsme et l'islam », a souligné le Premier ministre de Hesse, Roland Koch.
L’initiative du père Meurer vient rappeler qu’en Europe cette manifestation de solidarité interreligieuse n’est pas un phénomène isolé. Par la voix de leurs dignitaires, les religions abrahamiques semblent se soutenir les unes les autres, unies dans un même but : manifester la présence du religieux dans des sociétés de plus en plus sécularisées. En octobre 2008, l’Eglise écossaise anglicane soutenait officiellement la création de tribunaux islamiques dans le pays. Peu avant le vote suisse, les deux plus importantes organisations juives de Suisse s’étaient déclarées « résolument » opposées à l’interdiction des minarets. Enfin, Mgr Michel Santier, évêque de Créteil, a dénoncé ce 1er février le caractère inique du projet de loi sur la burqa, et mis en garde contre l’adoption de « décisions » qui pourraient « conduire à stigmatiser les croyants musulmans ».
http://fr.zaman.com.tr/fr/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=1525
«
Freemasonry is a hidden fraternal order, and defined by them as a system of morality. The first three steps are the Blue Lodge. The first degree is called Entered Apprentice. The second degree is called Fellow Craft. The Third degree is called Master Mason. Most men only go to the third degree, but if one chooses, he may advance either through the York Rite or the Scottish Rite. The Scottish Rite has thirty-two degrees. In each degree, the Mason pledges himself to a different Egyptian deity. There is a thirty-third degree that is largely honorary, but the thirty-two degrees give you access to becoming a Shriner. As a Shriner you will pledge yourself to the pagan "god" Allah; who by the way lies that Jesus did not even die on a cross,...»
http://bibleprobe.com/freemasonry.htm
«Shriners - anti republic:
Shriners are officially known as the Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. They glorify the pagan Islamic religion.
We must also remember that the Shriners are no more and no less than very high degree Masonry--no matter how many funny cars they ride around in with their funny hats on; and no matter how they try to fit into the community with benevolent fund raisers, etc..
Shriners are the Islamic branch of Masonry linking this occultist, satanist, God hating "institution" and conspiracy to another enslavement movement known as Islam. While generally known as a social organization, the Shriners branch in the U.S.A. act as a fund raising organization for worthy causes. That is a ploy, however. The Shriner goal is no less than political control of all governments with the ultimate idea of the formation of a one world currency and then a one world government endorsed by docile domesticated religious leaders. The memberships of their organizations supply the financial backing, either directly or indirectly, for political action. Their focus is primarily upon the election of members to political office at all levels of government. Shriners promote democracy in place of republicanism, the original legal form of government developed by the founding fathers of the U.S.A. The concept is for the government – controlled by freemasons – to dominate the population rather than having a government restricted as to its actions as intended by the American Constitution. Many powerful corporations are dominated by Freemasons and contribute to political causes that elect such men as William Clinton, an acknowledged supporter of sodomy and abortion, and John Kerry.»
http://bibleprobe.com/freemasonry.htm
I will respond briefly to the above four comments from anonymous - I presume the same person penned all four comments. Unless you choose pseudos I have no way of distinguishing one from another.
1) I did not say that the Free Masons are profoundly atheistic. Dr. D said it in his comment. However, if you consult this Wikipedia page, you will see that the Grand Orient over time became more and more atheistic, departing from other lodges and even from its own original principles. While it claims to advocate "freedom of conscience", its current membership consists of most of the prominent Socialist, Communist, Sarkozy-ist politicians of the day. I know of no practicing, devout Catholic or Christian who belongs, but there may be some. They would be completely out of line if they joined the GO - it is atheistic in spirit, if nothing else, and I believe I read (I cannot be sure) that it now requires a statement of non-belief in a supreme being.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Orient_de_France
2) I'm familiar with the story about the German priest. Time permitting, I'll mention it in a post. I'm long overdue for some update on Islam in Germany, but I just don't have the time. I'm also familiar with the story about Monsignor Santier. My next post will mention his remark on stigmatizing Muslims.
3 and 4) I know nothing about the Shriners. But if I find some free time, I'll research it. It is not relevant to the blog, but the information is interesting - awful, but interesting. These groups have always been around. I've heard about them since childhood, but I never was inspired to do any research on them. I found the whole world of Masonry too bizarre for my taste. Nonetheless I love Mozart's Magic Flute, which, like all great works, transcends its libretto and becomes something much greater than a mere apology for Masonry.
I did a study of Free Masonry in the Church of England some time back (simply reading what I could get my hands on), and I learned that there is no fellowship between the Grand Lodge of England and the Grand Orient because of the atheism of the GO. Regrettably, there are a number of clergy of the Church of England who are Masons, but they will have nothing to do with the Grand Orient. (They should have nothing to do with the Free Masons either, and that was the conclusion of a CoE study of the matter in the 1990s, although it was not a binding result.)
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