Europe not in danger of becoming Eurabia

Or so says Philip Jenkins, Penn State professor and author of God's Continent: Christianity, Islam, and Europe's Religious Crisis.

As he writes in Foreign Policy :

The West is awash with fear of the Islamization of Europe. The rise of Islam, many warn, could transform the continent into “Eurabia,” a term popularized by Harvard historian Niall Ferguson and other pundits. “A youthful Muslim society to the south and east of the Mediterranean is poised to colonize—the term is not too strong—a senescent Europe,” Ferguson has predicted. Such grim prophecies may sell books, but they ignore reality. For all we hear about Islam, Europe remains a stronger Christian fortress than people realize. What’s more, it is showing little sign of giving ground to Islam or any other faith for that matter.

The evidence for this thesis, Professor Jenkins writes, is that:

Ironically, after centuries of rebelling against religious authority, the coming of Islam is also reviving political issues most thought extinct in Europe, including debates about the limits of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the right to proselytize. And in all these areas, controversies that originate in a Muslim context inexorably expand or limit the rights of Christians, too. If Muslim preachers who denounce gays must be silenced, then so must charismatic Christians. At the same time, any laws that limit blasphemous assaults on the image of Mohammed must take account of the sensibilities of those who venerate Jesus.

The result has been a rediscovery of the continent’s Christian roots, even among those who have long disregarded it, and a renewed sense of European cultural Christianity. Jürgen Habermas, a veteran leftist German philosopher stunned his admirers not long ago by proclaiming, “Christianity, and nothing else, is the ultimate foundation of liberty, conscience, human rights, and democracy, the benchmarks of Western civilization. To this day, we have no other options [than Christianity]. We continue to nourish ourselves from this source. Everything else is postmodern chatter.” Europe may be confronting the dilemmas of a truly multifaith society, but with Christianity poised for a comeback, it is hardly on the verge of becoming an Islamic colony.

A reality check from Afghanistan

Still no paradise for women.

From yesterday's New York Times:

An Afghan journalist was shot dead by unknown gunmen in her home north of Kabul on Tuesday night as she slept beside her 10-month-old baby, Afghan officials said Wednesday.

The journalist, Zakia Zaki, 38, was the director of a private local radio station in Jabal-us-Siraj, an hour’s drive north of the capital, Kabul. She was shot seven times, said Abdul Jabar Taqwa, the governor of Parwan Province. The baby survived.

Ms. Zaki, the mother of six children, had been receiving threats for the last few months demanding that she take the station off the air, Mr. Taqwa said. The nature of the threats was unclear, but she had been involved in women’s rights advocacy and political activity.

No one has claimed responsibility for her killing but her colleagues suspect, as the Times puts it, "wartime factions and militias."

The killing of Ms. Zaki follows another murder. Six days earlier, a local anchorwoman on a private television station in Kabul was also shot and killed - and in her home too.

In the case of the television reporter, Shekiba Sanga Amaaj, 22, the motive may have been personal.

Her father told the Times that one of her sisters had earlier escaped from an attempted kidnapping by an uncle and cousin who he claims were interested in obtaining a ransom.

In the case of his other daughter, again the cousin seems to be involved. Two men linked to this man have reportedly been arrested in connection with her death. Newscasters have speculated that she may have been killed because she refused to consent to a forced marriage.

Lovely.

Bahrainis debate freedom of expression in the context of Islam

The Middle East Media Research Institute reports on the debate about freedom of expression going on in Bahrain and spreading to other Gulf countries.

In reaction to Islamists protestations in response to "immoral acts" in a dance performance at the country's annual Spring Cultural Festival that contradicted the laws of Islam and Bahraini customs and morals, Bahrain's parliament voted to formally investigate the matter.

The Islamist position on the issue was summed up by MP Abd Al-Halim Murad. As he explained:

What happened at some of the activities of the Spring Cultural Festival was not part of [our] culture!... The MPs saw the scenes in which the male and female dancers were in perverted positions.... Our country is Bahrain, not France or America! Bahrain is a Muslim country, and its identity is Islamic and Arab; its principles are Islamic, and its character is Islamic...

But other Bahrainis were outraged that the Islamists would even try to ban such artistic expression. According to Memri, the editor-in-chief of the Bahraini daily Akhbar Al-Khaleej, Anwar Abd Al-Rahman, had this to say:

Since the 1930s, Bahraini society has been a model looked to by all the peoples of the region. [Bahrainis were known as] a respectable people that knows its path from the outset – a path of culture and respect for the other, a path of tolerance and love... Unfortunately, however, we are [currently] witnessing a dangerous turning point, [one that is] counter to the political openness and the era of freedoms of modern Bahrain.

[This is happening] because of... groups that are insisting on controlling others and on imposing their views on them. Furthermore, [these groups] are aspiring to abolish the views of the citizens [who think differently from them]. Unfortunately, these groups are choosing for all people what they [should] read or what they [should] watch, and even what they [should] eat and wear!

These groups have forgotten... that Bahrain heads the [Arab] countries in terms of literacy, and has the highest percentage of educated individuals, physicians, engineers, lawyers, computer experts, [university] lecturers, university graduates, and literate people in general – and the attempt to abolish the views of all these [people] is undoubtedly an ignominious crime...

As he concluded his editorial:

Only dictatorial countries tell their people what to read, what to watch, what to eat, and what to drink. It will be a disgrace to you if you permit our democracy to become a 'thought dictatorship,' and to brainwash [the citizens]...

In a Qatari daily, Bahrain Cultural Dialogue Center Chairman Dhiya Al-Mousawi wrote:

I do not know why every time I see a young Muslim man I feel sorrow, because I feel that they [i.e. young Muslim men] have a mistaken understanding of the religion. Islam is not a narrow alley, and it is not a dank, repugnant dungeon.

Islam is life, love, and respect for individual rights... Islam means love and beauty, humanity and openness to life. It does not mean rage and hatred of the world, misery, and presenting yourself as pitiable...

This young man must know that Allah created him so that he may live, rejoice, be energetic, and carry out activities of a beautiful life, without this being against Islam...

"I know that some of the Islamic groups in the Arab world forbid young people aged 20 to go to cafes, to the beach, or to sports stadiums, claiming that they fear that the young people will be exposed to negative influences... Our young people are trapped in the dungeons of political parties; they cannot express their views and they cannot even maintain [normal] personal relationships with relatives and friends, even from childhood, because they are not from the same party... They must not love, they must not make friends with anyone except with [those who are in] the same political party...

Unfortunately, Islam has wrongly explained to the Muslim that the life of this world is a prison for the believer and Paradise for the non-believer. That is, he must not laugh and amuse himself with friends. He must not wear fancy clothes or cologne, and he is trapped in the formalism [of Muslim religious law]... In fact, the Muslim does not know the value of life, to the extent that he [is incapable of] distinguishing between a kiss and a bomb, a flower and a bullet, the sea and a dungeon, a waterfall and an electric pole.

I say to our [extremist] groups and their preachers – Have mercy on these young people – after all, Allah spoke of the fires of Hell, but He also spoke of the fruits of Paradise...

Yes, please.