Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Is this Dutch politician correct in warning that the demands of Muslim immigrants are eroding Western democratic and social institutions?

At this website by various means we seek to defend life, to encourage Christian faith, to promote Catholic tradition, to edify Marriage in its link to the Creator, to encourage families and individuals, and to support missionary disciples of Jesus.  G.S.

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Geert Wilders is a Dutch Member of Parliament.

America as the last man standing

 http://copperraildepot.com/America-Last%20One%20Standing.htm

In a generation or two, the US will ask itself: "who lost Europe ?"

Here is the speech of Geert Wilders, Chairman, Party for Freedom, the Netherlands , at the Four Seasons, New York , introducing an Alliance of Patriots and announcing the Facing Jihad Conference in Jerusalem .

Dear friends,

Thank you very much for inviting me.

I come to America with a mission. All is not well in the old world. There is a tremendous danger looming, and it is very difficult to be optimistic. We might be in the final stages of the Islamization of Europe. This not only is a clear and present danger to the future of Europe itself, it is a threat to America and the sheer survival of the West. The United States as the last bastion of Western civilization, facing an Islamic Europe.

First I will describe the situation on the ground in Europe . Then, I will say a few things about Islam.. To close I will tell you about a meeting in Jerusalem .

The Europe you know is changing.

You have probably seen the landmarks. But in all of these cities, sometimes a few blocks away from your tourist destination, there is another world. It is the world of the parallel society created by Muslim mass-migration.

All throughout Europe a new reality is rising: entire Muslim neighborhoods where very few indigenous people reside or are even seen. And if they are, they might regret it. This goes for the police as well. It's the world of head scarves, where women walk around in figureless tents, with baby strollers and a group of children. Their husbands, or slaveholders if you prefer, walk three steps ahead. With mosques on many street corners. The shops have signs you and I cannot read. You will be hard-pressed to find any economic activity. These are Muslim ghettos controlled by religious fanatics. These are Muslim neighborhoods, and they are mushrooming in every city across Europe . These are the building-blocks for territorial control of increasingly larger portions of Europe , street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood, city by city.

There are now thousands of mosques throughout Europe . With larger congregations than there are in churches. And in every European city there are plans to build super-mosques that will dwarf every church in the region. Clearly, the signal is: we rule.

Many European cities are already one-quarter Muslim: just take Amsterdam , Marseille and Malmo in Sweden . In many cities the majority of the under-18 population is Muslim. Paris is now surrounded by a ring of Muslim neighborhoods. Mohammed is the most popular name among boys in many cities.

In some elementary schools in Amsterdam the farm can no longer be mentioned, because that would also mean mentioning the pig, and that would be an insult to Muslims.

Many state schools in Belgium and Denmark only serve halal food to all pupils. In once-tolerant Amsterdam gays are beaten up almost exclusively by Muslims. Non-Muslim women routinely hear 'whore, whore'. Satellite dishes are not pointed to local TV stations, but to stations in the country of origin.

In France school teachers are advised to avoid authors deemed offensive to Muslims, including Voltaire and Diderot; the same is increasingly true of Darwin . The history of the Holocaust can no longer be taught because of Muslim sensitivity.

In England sharia courts are now officially part of the British legal system.. Many neighborhoods in France are no-go areas for women without head scarves. Last week a man almost died after being beaten up by Muslims in Brussels , because he was drinking during the Ramadan.

Jews are fleeing France in record numbers, on the run for the worst wave of anti-Semitism since World War II. French is now commonly spoken on the streets of Tel Aviv and Netanya , Israel . I could go on forever with stories like this.. Stories about Islamization.

A total of fifty-four million Muslims now live in Europe . San Diego University recently calculated that a staggering 25 percent of the population in Europe will be Muslim just 12 years from now. Bernhard Lewis has predicted a Muslim majority by the end of this century.

Now these are just numbers. And the numbers would not be threatening if the Muslim-immigrants had a strong desire to assimilate. But there are few signs of that. The Pew Research Center reported that half of French Muslims see their loyalty to Islam as greater than their loyalty to France ... One-third of French Muslims do not object to suicide attacks.. The British Centre for Social Cohesion reported that one-third of British Muslim students are in favor of a worldwide caliphate. Muslims demand what they call 'respect'. And this is how we give them respect. We have Muslim official state holidays.

The Christian-Democratic attorney general is willing to accept sharia in the Netherlands if there is a Muslim majority. We have cabinet members with passports from Morocco and Turkey .

Muslim demands are supported by unlawful behavior, ranging from petty crimes and random violence, for example against ambulance workers and bus drivers, to small-scale riots. Paris has seen its uprising in the low-income suburbs, the banlieus. I call the perpetrators 'settlers'. Because that is what they are. They do not come to integrate into our societies; they come to integrate our society into their Dar-al-Islam. Therefore, they are settlers.

Much of this street violence I mentioned is directed exclusively against non-Muslims, forcing many native people to leave their neighborhoods, their cities, their countries. Moreover, Muslims are now a swing vote not to be ignored.

The second thing you need to know is the importance of Mohammed the prophet. His behavior is an example to all Muslims and cannot be criticized. Now, if Mohammed had been a man of peace, let us say like Ghandi and Mother Theresa wrapped in one, there would be no problem. But Mohammed was a warlord, a mass murderer, a pedophile, and had several marriages - at the same time. Islamic tradition tells us how he fought in battles, how he had his enemies murdered and even had prisoners of war executed. Mohammed himself slaughtered the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza. If it is good for Islam, it is good. If it is bad for Islam, it is bad.

Let no one fool you about Islam being a religion. Sure, it has a god, and a here-after, and 72 virgins. But in its essence Islam is a political ideology. It is a system that lays down detailed rules for society and the life of every person. Islam wants to dictate every aspect of life. Islam means 'submission'. Islam is not compatible with freedom and democracy, because what it strives for is sharia. If you want to compare Islam to anything, compare it to communism or national-socialism, these are all totalitarian ideologies.

Now you know why Winston Churchill called Islam 'the most retrograde force in the world', and why he compared Mein Kampf to the Quran. The public has wholeheartedly accepted the Palestinian narrative, and sees Israel as the aggressor.. I have lived in this country and visited it dozens of times. I support Israel . First, because it is the Jewish homeland after two thousand years of exile up to and including Auschwitz, second because it is a democracy, and third because Israel is our first line of defense.

This tiny country is situated on the fault line of jihad, frustrating Islam's territorial advance. Israel is facing the front lines of jihad, like Kashmir, Kosovo, the Philippines , Southern Thailand, Darfur in Sudan , Lebanon , and Aceh in Indonesia . Israel is simply in the way. The same way West-Berlin was during the Cold War.

The war against Israel is not a war against Israel . It is a war against the West. It is jihad. Israel is simply receiving the blows that are meant for all of us. If there would have been no Israel , Islamic imperialism would have found other venues to release its energy and its desire for conquest. Thanks to Israeli parents who send their children to the army and lay awake at night, parents in Europe and America can sleep well and dream, unaware of the dangers looming.

Many in Europe argue in favor of abandoning Israel in order to address the grievances of our Muslim minorities. But if Israel were, God forbid, to go down, it would not bring any solace to the West It would not mean our Muslim minorities would all of a sudden change their behavior, and accept our values. On the contrary, the end of Israel would give enormous encouragement to the forces of Islam. They would, and rightly so, see the demise of Israel as proof that the West is weak, and doomed. The end of Israel would not mean the end of our problems with Islam, but only the beginning. It would mean the start of the final battle for world domination. If they can get Israel , they can get everything. So-called journalists volunteer to label any and all critics of Islamization as a 'right-wing extremists' or 'racists'. In my country, the Netherlands , 60 percent of the population now sees the mass immigration of Muslims as the number one policy mistake since World War II. And another 60 percent sees Islam as the biggest threat. Yet there is a danger greater danger than terrorist attacks, the scenario of America as the last man standing. The lights may go out in Europe faster than you can imagine. An Islamic Europe means a Europe without freedom and democracy, an economic wasteland, an intellectual nightmare, and a loss of military might for America - as its allies will turn into enemies, enemies with atomic bombs. With an Islamic Europe, it would be up to America alone to preserve the heritage of Rome , Athens and Jerusalem .

Dear friends, liberty is the most precious of gifts. My generation never had to fight for this freedom, it was offered to us on a silver platter, by people who fought for it with their lives. All throughout Europe , American cemeteries remind us of the young boys who never made it home, and whose memory we cherish. My generation does not own this freedom; we are merely its custodians. We can only hand over this hard won liberty to Europe 's children in the same state in which it was offered to us. We cannot strike a deal with mullahs and imams. Future generations would never forgive us. We cannot squander our liberties. We simply do not have the right to do so.

http://copperraildepot.com/America-Last%20One%20Standing.htm

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Dutch politician fights for free speech By DEROY MURDOCK 
 Scripps Howard News Service 
Posted Mar 1, 2009 

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POWERBASE - Public Interest Investigations - Geert Wilders 

https://powerbase.info/index.php/Geert_Wilders

Geert Wilders is a right wing Dutch politician. Although initially a member of the liberal VVD, he first came to prominence in 2002, following his appointment as foreign affairs spokesman, in which role he established a reputation as a critic of radical Islam. His hardline views, particularly his opposition to Turkish accession to the EU, led to his departure from the VVD in 2004, to set up his own political group.

Shortly afterwards, the murder of Theo Van Gogh boosted support for Wilders' message, which would come to include calls for a ban on the Koran, and an end to non-Western immigration. In 2006, his Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV) won 9 seats in the Dutch parliament. Elections in 2010 saw a dramatic increase in support that won 24 seats in the 150-seat second chamber in The Hague.[1]

In 2008, Wilders released Fitna, an anti-Islam film which mixed footage of terrorist attacks with readings from the Koran. He subsequently spoke at screenings of the film organised by neoconservative and right-wing groups in the US, Israel and a number of European countries. On 11 September 2010 Wilders was a keynote speaker at a rally against the so-called Ground Zero Mosque in New York[2] organised by anti-Islam blogger Pamela Geller, who introduced him as her 'hero'. [3]

For complete article go to: https://powerbase.info/index.php/Geert_Wilders

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BROOKINGS REPORT “The biggest problem in the Netherlands”: Understanding the Party for Freedom’s politicization of IslamKoen Damhuis - Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Koen Damhuis - Assistant Professor - Utrecht University

Editor's Note: 

This working paper is part of a multi-year Brookings project—"The One Percent Problem: Muslims in the West and the Rise of the New Populists." Other papers in the series are available here.


When Geert Wilders, founder and front man of the Party for Freedom (PVV), explained his “Plan for the Netherlands” in the build-up to the Dutch general election of 2017, he declared that “the biggest problem in this country is Islamization.” This process, Wilders claimed, constitutes an “existential threat” to “our identity, our freedom. Who we are. Everything.”[1] For close observers of Dutch politics, similar statements, made by the leader of the then third-largest party of the country (second-largest after the elections), were stale—over the preceding decade they had grown accustomed to Wilders’ Islam-alarmist messages. His claims may sound rather radical, however, to foreign ears. After all, most of Wilders’ political friends in European Parliament do not denounce Islam as directly or explicitly;[2] nor is the issue as salient for them as it is for PVV leader. Besides, didn’t Wilders come from and operate in the Netherlands, a country that has long been prided for its cultural openness and religious tolerance?

This paper aims to contribute toward a better understanding of the ways in which immigration in general, and Islam in particular, are politicized in the Netherlands—a history in which Wilders plays a key role, though he is not the only protagonist. I will do so by focusing, first, on the societal background against which these issues surfaced on the political agenda during the past decades. I will then analyze how the issues of immigration and Islam are depicted by Wilders’ PVV and how these representations evolved over time. The final section will situate this politicization in the contemporary Dutch political landscape and discuss its societal implications.

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At this website by various means we seek to defend life, to encourage Christian faith, to promote Catholic tradition, to edify Marriage in its link to the Creator, to encourage families and individuals, and to support missionary disciples of Jesus.  G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
 

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Tuesday, August 18, 2009

What are we to make of “Conversations with God”? - Anyone declaring things that contradict of deny Jesus Christ the Son of God and his Gospel is against Him

At this website by various means we seek to defend life, to encourage Christian faith, to promote Catholic tradition, to edify Marriage in its link to the Creator, to encourage families and individuals, and to support missionary disciples of Jesus.  G.S.

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What are we to make of “Conversations with God”?

There are many cautions in the New Testament regarding "new teachings" that only serve to distract us from the truth of the Good News proclaimed by Jesus Christ.

"6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are confusing you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that one be accursed! 9 As we have said before, so now I repeat, if anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let that one be accursed!" Gal 1:6-9  

"12 And what I do I will also continue to do, in order to deny an opportunity to those who want an opportunity to be recognized as our equals in what they boast about. 13 For such boasters are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 So it is not strange if his ministers also disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness. Their end will match their deeds." 2 Cor 11:12-15

"3 I urge you, as I did when I was on my way to Macedonia, to remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach any different doctrine, 4 and not to occupy themselves with myths and endless genealogies that promote speculations rather than the divine training that is known by faith. 5 But the aim of such instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith. 6 Some people have deviated from these and turned to meaningless talk, 7 desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make assertions." 1 Tim 1:3-7 

"6 Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; 7 for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; 8 but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. 9 But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains."         "17 As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, 19 thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life." 1 Tim 6:6-10, 17-18

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What follows is not an attempt to critique the book series exhaustively, point by point, nor even in terms of its conclusions. One would have to be ready to invest as much time as the author to enter into a serious dialogue with someone who isn’t really finished making pronouncements.

Someone passed on to me the movie version of “Conversations with God” and I found the story quite touching for many reasons. First, I believe that God has, undoubtedly does, and will again speak to or inspire people. Our Roman Catholic family is a Christian tradition with a rich history of saints – female and male of all ages – who have had remarkable experiences of God that changed their lives and in turn impacted deeply on the lives of many others.

Second, the story the movie tells is very touching. A man has a serious accident and his life falls apart. He ends up on the street trying to survive and makes a few friends among others on the street. In time, in exasperation, he flings angry questions about life at God and has the impression God is answering him. Believable and inspiring story but it denies divinely revealed truth. So, I next went to Wikipedia. Here is what I found. First, though, I suggest you check it out yourself at:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversations_with_God

From Wikipedia:     “Conversations with God (CwG) is a sequence of books written by Neale Donald Walsch. It was written as a dialogue in which Walsch asks questions and God answers.[1] The first book of the Conversations with God series, Conversations with God, Book 1: An Uncommon Dialogue, was published in 1995 and became a publishing phenomenon, staying on The New York Times Best Sellers List for 137 weeks. The succeeding volumes in the ten book series also appeared prominently on the List.

In an interview with Larry King, Walsch described the inception of the books as follows: at a low period in his life, Walsch wrote an angry letter to God asking questions about why his life wasn't working. After writing down all of his questions, he heard a voice over his right shoulder say: "Do you really want an answer to all these questions or are you just venting?"[2] Though when he turned around he saw no one there, Walsch felt answers to his questions filling his mind and decided to write them down. The ensuing dialogue became the Conversations with God books. When asked in a recent interview how does he ‘open up’ to God these days, Neale stated “I am reaching out to touch others with this information. When I reach out and touch others with this information I reconnect immediately with the divine presence.”[3]

 “God's motive for creation (The following is a quote also taken from Wikipedia.)

“In Walsch's first dialogue, God notes that "knowing" and "experiencing" oneself are different things. Before creation there was only That-Which-Is, which cannot know or experience itself fully, without something it is not. It cannot know itself as love, since nothing exists but love. It cannot know itself as giving since nothing else exists to give to. It cannot experience itself in myriad ways because everything is one. This present creation then, in Walsch's viewpoint, is established by and within God, so that sentience can exist which does not directly remember its true nature as God.

Split into infinite forms, all life can live, experience, and recreate its nature as God, rather than just "know" itself as the creator in theory. It is essentially a game, entered into by agreement, to remember who and what we are and enjoy and create, knowing that ultimately there is no finish line that some will not reach, no understanding that is not without value, no act that does not add meaning to the future or for others. In Walsch's view we have a common interest in keeping the game going, for there is nothing else to do except to experience our existence and then experience more of it, to uncover deeper layers of truth and understanding. There are no external rules, because all experience is subjective, and is chosen. But within this, there are ways that (it is stated and implied) people will gradually come to see their thoughts, words, actions are either working or they are not working. A thing is either functional or dysfunctional. These remembering’s take place over "time" and can take hundreds and thousands of lifetimes.”

My impression about the content of these books is that the author posits god as all the impersonal stuff of the universe. They call that pantheism, the belief that god is everything, including us. This is as far in the opposite direction as can be from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, of Moses and Joshua, of King David and the Psalmists, of Tobit, Tobias, and Sara, of the Maccabees, and the God of Joachim and Anne, of Elizabeth and Zechariah, of John the Baptist and finally, of Jesus, who called God “Abba!” that is, “Papa!”.

For this reason alone, I would caution anyone feeling carried away by the eloquence of this author and the seductive quality of his words – often accompanied by mood music on the internet – and remind you that our own feelings and thoughts are actually not our best guide after Adam and Eve. The whole point of the Jewish Scriptures and for the coming of the Son of God into the world is that humanity got lost, could not find or save itself, needed and still needs a Saviour.

In the following short video we can see and hear Neale as a motivational speaker and life coach set the context in the personal realm of “making a life rather than making a living”. These are seductive words because they claim to address the existential anxiety which confronts every human being.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x49ydc_neale-donald-walsch-3-abundance-con_politics

My chief concern about this author and with the geometric multiplication of personal life coaches and gurus is that people are spontaneously inclined to believe them for a few significant reasons.

1.     They may surprise us by declaring the obvious which so many people no longer notice.

2.     They confirm our own judgements about ourselves that we could do better and feel better.

3.     They focus on personal goals, ignoring anything and anyone that stands in the way.

4.     They do not include any moral frame of reference aside from achieving one’s goals.

5.     They sound like what Jesus would have become had he succumbed to the devil’s three temptations in the desert: to become powerful, influential, and godless or in God’s place.

Read the Wikipedia piece yourself and see how these relatively impartial anonymous authors and contributors have gleaned from the books that the author has no trouble accommodating all kinds of contradictory ideas and beliefs. The operating principle seems to be that if it feels right and good for you, then go with it. There is no absolute truth, there are no consequences, and you have an unlimited number of lifetimes to get it right. Again, that is not at all who God is as the follower of Jesus comes to know Him and to believe in Him and follow Him. Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life.” No one has life unless they come to Him. We have only one life here and in eternity.

That means that anyone else coming along proposing another truth is a liar and a thief, either the father of lies himself or someone being “inspired” and deceived by him. You, dear Reader, are on your own with your own mind, heart, and conscience, and the choice you have is between what “spirit” or “voice” you will decide to trust with your life and follow. St. Ignatius of Loyola in his “Rules for the Discernment of Spirits” taught like St. Paul to “test everything” and like St. John to “test the spirits”. Like them, I’m for Jesus of Nazareth, the Lord of Creation, the Risen King, the Victor over death and the “father of lies and prince of this world, prince of darkness.”

All glory be to God our Creator, in Jesus his only begotten Son, in the power of their love called the Holy Spirit. Amen! 

Originally composed August 18th, 2009

March 8th, 2021 

Gilles A. Surprenant, priest of Montreal, Associate of Madonna House Apostolate, & poustinik

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At this website by various means we seek to defend life, to encourage Christian faith, to promote Catholic tradition, to edify Marriage in its link to the Creator, to encourage families and individuals, and to support missionary disciples of Jesus.  G.S.

----------------------------------------------------------------

© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC
 

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