So can Sharia be far behind? But Sweden’s consul general in Istanbul, Ingmar Karlsson, is not concerned about that. No, he is sure that a tolerant, Europeanized Islam will somehow magically appear. He is much more exercised about “xenophobia” than about the Islamization of Europe. “Islam is and will be a European religion,” from Today’s Zaman:
“The birthrate among Muslim immigrants in Europe is three times higher than that of the non-Muslim European population. According to Sweden’s consul general in ?stanbul, Ingmar Karlsson, if this trend continues, the Muslim population will be doubled by 2015, while Europe’s non-Muslim population will decrease by 3.5 percent. Some estimates indicate that in 30 years the number of Muslims in Europe could be as high as 65 million.
The outspoken consul general, who is a doctor of divinity and the author of more than 10 books on the subjects of Europe’s relationship with faith, terrorism, Islam and minorities, has said that the trend towards a multi-racial and multi-confessional Europe is unstoppable; therefore, Islam must be recognized and regarded as a “domestic” European religion.
Therefore? Domestic?
Karlsson, whose latest book will be available in Sweden today, titled “Europe and the Turk,” said that Turkey’s membership in the European Union would demonstrate the falsity of the argument that Islam and democracy cannot mix, also helping to bring about favorable changes in the Islamic world’s attitude towards Europe.
Neither of these follow. All that Turkey’s entry into the EU would prove would be the suicidal short-sightedness of the Europeans, and it would make the Islamic world regard Europe favorably the way one may view his lunch favorably.
“There is nothing which intrinsically prevents a Muslim from being as good a Swede as a member of the Pentecostal Bretheren or an adherent of the Jewish faith, nor is there anything that prevents mosques from becoming as natural a feature of Swedish cities as churches have always been in ?stanbul, Aleppo, Damascus, Mosul or Cairo,” Karlsson said.
Wishful thinking. Karlsson ignores the fact that traditionally Islam has never recognized a sacred/secular distinction, and that Muslims come to Europe with a ready-made model of society — a model that many, if not most, believe superior to the European model, and which many, if not most, would be happy to see replace European society and laws as they are currently constituted. Pentecostals and Jews never went anywhere with anything comparable to that.
For EU membership, religion is not among the criteria, therefore, refusing Turkey’s admission on religious grounds would send a dangerous signal, especially after Sept.11, 2001, Karlsson noted, adding that Turkey’s rejection by the EU would have a radicalizing effect both in the Muslim world and in Turkey itself.
Did you catch that? Islam is benign, so let Turkey into the EU, because if we don’t, these benign folks will kill us. Karlsson just goes on in this vein. Read it all, if you have the stomach.
April 5, 2007 at 3:25 pm
I linked to your post from my article It’s the demographics, stupid – the Flight from Islam, Excerpt: I expect to see in my lifetime a number of formerly Christian countries in Europe turning Muslim. There are five reasons for this dismal, frightening prognosis…
April 5, 2007 at 3:26 pm
It’s the demographics, stupid – the Flight from Islam
I expect to see in my lifetime a number of formerly Christian countries in Europe turning Muslim. There are five reasons for this dismal, frightening prognosis:
April 6, 2007 at 11:28 am
America should watch what is happening in Europe VERY carefully. In many respects it is very much like looking into a crystal ball and seeing the future of this country. Just watch as those countries struggle to maintain their ‘freedoms’ in the face of the rising ‘Radicalism’ that is the strength of the extremists of this religion. Take a look at what too much acceptance is allowing to occur. However as scary as that prospect is, our America may no longer be of any interest to those ‘radicals’ if the trend we see developing now of the ‘third-world’ing of America is allowed to continue. The ‘no border enforcement’ attitude being forced down the throat of all it’s citizens by the ‘radical left’ that are in our country today will sooner rather than later condemn this country to a permanent ‘third world status’. What appears to the rest of the world as America’s inability to win the war in Iraq (which is only being highlighted by the Democrat’s ‘timetable to defeat’ action) coupled with the ‘if we can’t win the war as easily as it is done on TV’ and ‘peace at any cost’ attitude of many Americans encourages those who already hate this country to lose their respect for it. This loss of respect includes the loss of ‘fear’ that our country WILL do whatever is needed to protect itself and the loss of that fear is what makes us so vulnerable to attack. There was a time when that ‘fear factor’ was the ‘big stick’ America held in reserve. We didn’t flaunt it, we didn’t have to. Then there was Vietnam. Another war it was possible to win…only we didn’t. Everyone should know the history. We can argue all day long about whether it was a ‘justifiable’ war. Like Iraq, the reasons for engagement were many. Believed at the time to be warranted, though as in most wars where hindsight is 20/20, the reasons may not stand up to glaring light that history casts on them. At the time the war was begun the reasons appeared to be adequate, which is frequently the best thing that can be said for any war. Once started though, any war must be fought to a conclusion. Victory or Defeat. Anything less makes the tragedy of war inexcusable. During Vietnam, like today, a vocal group of people were pressuring the government into a conclusion, any conclusion. Once again it appears that the Democrats are going to only hear the defeatist’s voices and force America to ‘lose face’ and suffer defeat in another war. Mind you, the war itself is winnable. There is no better military in the world. America’s might is the reason most of those European countries enjoy the freedoms they do. The Iraqi people deserve the chance to secure democracy. But over there, like here, there is a vocal group who are ‘shouting down’ those many Iraqis who desire that democracy. Our media in this country are playing into the defeatist’s (and terrorists’) hands. In fact, the vast majority of the media is owned and directed by the radical left. They are printing the “out at any costs” propaganda. None of the good that is being accomplished in Iraq, just the evil. Even this terrible bias could be overcome with time and effort. But when the rest of the world sees that this country WILL NOT even enforce its own border laws; when it sees ILLEGAL aliens marching in the streets demanding their “RIGHTS” with NO fear of deportation or even prosecution for crossing it’s borders without permission; when the rest of the world (including radical Islam) hears about American citizens being sued for reporting many of the same type of activities that the terrorists who flew two airplanes into the World Trade Center buildings engaged in before flight and “Rosie” and her cohorts (The View) stating our government bombed it’s own citizens and is just blaming it on the ‘poor’ terrorists; when they hear our own legislators demand a scheduled “quitting time” for the war and BUYING the votes that are needed to pass it, they are LAUGHING at us. Why would they respect any country that is digging it’s own grave? Fear us?? The only fear they might have is that they might become like us. Some Iraqis must look at this country and see what is happening at this time in its history as something ‘less than shining’. America can just look south of the border, however, for a view of it’s own “dismal” future in Mexico if we continue to allow the slow invasion of this nation. If the majority of Americans do not see (or even more frightening, refuse to admit) what is now occurring to a lesser degree overseas with the increase in ‘radical’ Islamic incursion, there is a real possibility that we will be doomed to either being a nation with no clear identity, no common language, no enforceable borders, and no respect for its own laws or the equally frightening possibility of becoming the Western version of the ‘extremist’ radical country that is currently Iran. I, myself, find neither prospect very appealing.
February 1, 2008 at 2:01 am
I worry about other minorities who’s hard won freedoms will become just a distant memory. The jews, non-Muslim women, and homosexuals. I can see a flight out of Europe happening of many of these groups – if that is not happening already.
These groups will suffer especially under Islam.
December 6, 2008 at 8:06 pm
Poor europe, but we have to blame ourself for having been weak toward multiracial societies dreamed by that good idiot like Karlsson.
As far as I know, my conscience is right but that of most of our western societies guys is as much?
Aronne
a northern italian