US Predominatly Conservative

Report from Gallup issued 2 days ago "Conservatives Maintain Edge as Top Ideological Group" here

Conservatives continue to outnumber moderates and liberals in the American populace in 2009, confirming a finding that Gallup first noted in June. Forty percent of Americans describe their political views as conservative, 36% as moderate, and 20% as liberal. This marks a shift from 2005 through 2008, when moderates were tied with conservatives as the most prevalent group.

Toronto Imam - Preacher of Hate?

Last Wednesday the front page of the National Post (NP) had the picture of a Toronto Imam preaching what sounded like hate to Canadian ears. The on-line version posted the YouTube video of the finger-waving cleric's 36 minute-harangue of his 800 - 1,000 strong congregation.

 “Allah protect us from the fitna [sedition] of these people; Allah protect us from the evil agenda of these people; Allah destroy them from within themselves, and do not allow them to raise their heads in destroying Islam.”

The NP  reported that the cleric used the very derogatory term  "kuffar" for Jews and Christians:

Throughout the 35-minute speech he uses the word “kuffar” to describe non-Muslims.

Then follows all the usual whitewashing that we always get on these occasions from selected Muslim authorities; sugar-coating of the type: "Jihad is not armed struggle but an  'internal struggle' ", so the NP gives us a Muslim authority who thinks "destroy" should not be be interpreted in a "literal way". Yeah right - kuffars are stupid!

Professor Amir Hussain, who teaches theology at Loyola Marymount College in Los Angeles, but grew up in Toronto, said he does not read the word “destroy” in a literal way.

Canadians are getting wise to this tactic, and moderate and secular Muslims such as Tarek Fateh and the MCC (Muslim Canadian Congress) don't like this white-washing either.

Just a note here for liberal and leftist types which love to support radical Islam; moderate and secular Muslims would be the first to suffer if Islamism succeeds, and they also are concerned when terrorist activities are perpetrated by Islamists in the name of Islam.

Here's another dissembler of misinformation from the NP:

Walid Saleh, professor at the centre for the study of religion at the University of Toronto, said much of what Mr. Rageah said must be taken in the context of how Muslims may use terms in the midst of a religious service.

OK then! That's all right we just need to understand the "context". The thing is we do understand - well at least some do, but nevertheless in increasing numbers.

"Toronto Imam Preaching 'hate instead of harmony' "can be read here

According to Tarek Fateh's rebuttal in the NP "Bigotry Unchallenged" posted today. the "misunderstood" cleric spewed these words of hate:

We have to establish Islam [in Canada]. I wanna see Islam in every single corner of the city; I would like to see niqabis, and hijabis [women wearing face masks and head covering] everywhere in the city. I want to see ‘brothers' [Muslim men] in beards everywhere in the city. Because when they see more of us, they will have more respect for us. They will say, ‘look they are everywhere...we cannot go against them'."

The message is clear, this is not the religion of peace, but a religion whose main purpose is to dominate and take over. That is one of the main ideologies in traditional Islam.

Mr. Fateh states that "every Friday, at almost every mosque in Canada, the clerics make this prayer at the end of their sermon":

"Oh Allah, give victory to Muslims and Islam...Oh Allah, give defeat to the Kufaar and Mushriqeen," he prayed.

I have to applaud Tarek Fateh, he has the courage, the knowledge, and the standing to bring these points into the public view.

This is a particularly damming point, one that should not be forgotten, and nor should those Mosques where this takes place be allowed to forget it either.

It is not so surprising that young terrorists, such as the "Toronto 18" could be spawned if they are fed a diet of this kind of hatred.

Mr Fateh then proceeds to further illustrate the kind of misinformation and white-washing that always surrounds these discussions when radical Islam shows its face:

Since the disclosure, there has been orchestrated campaign by the mosque establishment to deny that the word "Kufaar" means "Jews and Christians".

There are several spellings for kuffar, kufaar, kufir, kafr and perhaps others too, but they refer to all unbelievers, all the ungrateful ones, not only Jews and Christians.

Kuffar make up the dhimmi class, these are the second-class inhabitants in an Islamic state under sharia. The sharia is very detailed how the dhimmi will live under Islamic domination and it is:

a formal agreement with Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, Samarians, Sabians, and those who adhere to the religion of Abraham of one of the other prophets.

It is not just the Jews and Christians, this is taken from a previous post Lux et Veritas: Pakistan Christian Parties Against Blasphemy Laws, which has some useful notes on shariah at the end of the article.

Mr. Fateh goes on to demolish the red-herring that kuffar does not include Jews and Christians.

The dhimmis pay a special tax for the protection of their Muslim masters, but they do not have equal rights - quite the opposite. In fact dhimmis are very vulnerable under sharia, and any accusation, even false accusations, by a Muslim against a dhimmi, are sure to go against the dhimmi, because he is not equal to the Muslim.

Mr. Fateh continues:

Why then would so many Muslims in Canada be willing to whitewash the truth about the hateful sermons in almost every mosque in Canada?

One would hope that by exposing one imam caught on video praying for the defeat of Christians, Jews, and other non-Muslims, would spur ordinary Muslims to protest this type of bigotry.

Once again I have to applaud the work of Tarek Fateh and commend his excellent piece "Bigotry Unchallenged", which can be read here.

I will close about a fundamental freedom we have in Canada according to the Canadian Charter Of Rights and Freedoms. Under Article 2, fundamental freedoms the Charter provides that:

Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms (a) freedom of conscience and religion

The kind of preaching Toronto Imam Said Rageah engages in, and the kind of prayer that asks for "Oh Allah, give defeat to the Kufaar" is not consistent with the Canadian Charter, because it promotes one religion (Islam) to dominate over the other religions of Canada either by coercion or ultimately by physical force or threat .No other religions seek to do that.

It is contrary to our Charter and a presents a risk not only to Jews, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, but also to moderate Muslims.


Gurth Whitaker
Calgary, Alberta

Child Warriors - A Moving Letter

On Monday the National Post (NP) published a deeply disturbing article: "Taliban Deploy Children, Military Says"

"... three separate explosions in Kandahar in the past few weeks in which as many as 12 Afghan children were blown up as they were being taught how to make or place improvised explosive devices in what one Canadian officer described as an "IED training camp."

 "IED training camp" (Improvised Explosive Devices), what an obscenity. The depths of evil that Islamic terrorists have descended to; the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India; Al-Qaeda in Iraq; Hamas and Hezbollah in Gaza and Syria, the list of evil goes on.

Today the NP published a letter in response titled "Child Warriors"; I was very moved by this letter so I am posting it in its entirety, and let it speak for itself.

The Taliban's use of children on their front lines is a tactic taken straight from the pages of the Palestinians' jihad manual. For years, Palestinian terrorist groups have used children as human shields, launched rockets at Israel from preschools in Gaza, and sent children out to do the most dangerous jobs, in the hopes that they would die and the Israelis would be labelled "baby killers."

As former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir noted:

"Peace will come when the Arabs love their children more than they hate us."

She also stated,

"We can forgive you for killing our sons. But we will never forgive you for making us kill yours".

Elana Aptowitzer, Ottawa.

It must be said that the Palestinian tactic of using their children to fight a war by indoctrinating them to become suicide bombers has been rewarded by other Arab and Muslim nations by gifts of money, praise and ideological support. Hamas & Hezbollah, are the proxies for Iran and its chief export which is hatred, and the rockets to to kill civilians.

My thanks to Mrs. Aptowitzer for her letter and bringing the quotes of Gold Meir to light, the letter can be read here.


Lux et Veritas: The Couragious Golda Meir: "The Couragious Golda Meir
A wonderful story about the courage of Golda Meir and the cowardice of Austrian Chancellor Kreisky."


Gurth Whitaker
Calgary, Alberta

Liverpool win 3 in a row against Man U.

Liverpool win at home to Manchester United 2 - 0.

A complete team effort by Liverpool without their injured captain Gerrard, to out-play a full-strength Manchester United squad.

A sterling performance from every member of the Liverpool team at Anfield put a lot of joy in to the hearts of the Reds fans after some recent poor showings.

This makes the third time in a row that Liverpool have beaten their rivals from across the county.

It has to be said, that the great Liverpool fans came full of expectation and full of heart; they were in fine voice and gave great support to their beloved team, who repaid their faithfulness with a great team performance as they outworked and outplayed their illustrious opposition.

It has to be said that the Liverpool fans are amongst the best - none better in my book. 

According to the BBC UK Sports:

Liverpool ended their worst sequence of results since 1987 and eased the pressure on manager Rafael Benitez in the most satisfying manner possible as Manchester United were deservedly beaten at Anfield.

Read the BBC's glowing report here.

Liverpool's bench looks weak compared to Man U. and Chelsea, so despite this great victory today, it does not mean there should be excessive confidence.

But to win under these circumstances shows that the Reds have heart and can play a complete all-round game. The team had the balance and shape they need today.

But, despite their injury problems, and lack of depth, there is some good news; the ex Roma mid-fielder Alberto Aquilani played for the reserves this last week, so it is likely he will make his debut with the team soon, and give them some well-needed help in that area.

Argentinian mid-fielder Javier Mascherano received a red from his second yellow card of the game and will miss the next game. A big loss for Liverpool to be without this brilliant defensive mid-fielder; an unfortunate infraction as he slid in for a loose ball but caught the Manchester goal-keeper who had came a long way out to clear. A slight collision but a fair call by the ref.

Fortunately the Brazilian left-back Fabio Aurelio proves that he is more than capable of the mid-field role as he returns from injury to give an outstanding show of two-way play; his free-kicks and corners were superb and it took a colossal save by Edwin van der Sar to stop Aurelio's curling free-kick over the wall from going into the top right corner.

Read about the teams history here at the Premier League site: Liverpool FC

Gurth Whitaker

Calgary, AB

Pakistan Christian Parties Against Blasphemy Laws

Via the "Pakistan Christian Post" today comes this news: 

All Christian Parties Conference set to launch (a) movement to end the Pakistan Blasphemy law, Islamabad: October 18, 2009. 

Blasphemy laws in Pakistan are not only extremely harsh and unjust, but they are used  in nefarious ways "against Christians (for the purposes of) business rivalry and personnel grudges."

"Blasphemy is subject to capital punishment in Pakistan law - it caries a death penalty". And we know that in many Islamic environments the "kafir" (infidel, unbeliever) has no defence against a Muslim; in fact it is enshrined in sharia law, so it is very easy for a Muslim in such societies to do mortal harm to an enemy by accusing him of blasphemy.

The mobs are so volatile that any such accusation will usually end in the murder of the accused - whether there is any justification or not. If for some reason that doesn't happen, the Christian or Jew will have little chance in a sharia court, and a fatwa by an Imam will ensure that someone will carry it out.

By doing the Imam's bidding, to execute the blasphemer, they believe that they are doing Allah's will .

We have to understand that sharia law is harsh to the dhimmi, or people under the "protection" of Islam. This is a euphemism by our standards, it means that the Islamic regime will not kill them for being non-believers as long as they submit and accept the role of second-class citizens.

Sharia is completely contrary to the law we have in the west which is based on our Judea-Christian principles.  For example, our Canadian Charter Of Rights and Freedoms states that "Every individual is equal before and under the law" this is not so under sharia, for example women do not have equality with men under the law, and kafir do not have equality with Muslims.

The Charter continues that all people have the "right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law ... without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability". This is not so under sharia for the reasons already stated - men are in ascendancy over women, as is the Muslim is in ascendancy over the kafir.

The nature of sharia law is contrary to the mind-set for a reader with a western upbringing, however we have to have some appreciation of sharia to understand how the persecution of Christians in a country such as Pakistan can occur so easily; I have included some notes as an Addendum at the end of this post..

The dire urgency for blasphemy reform is apparent when we consider the brutality of Christian persecutions on blasphemy charges, as the "Pakistan Christian Post" reports:

On accusations of blasphemy Islamic militants have destroyed hundreds of homes and killed dozens in year 2009 (alone), while children, women and elders were burnt alive.

The federal government of Pakistan and Punjab provincial government failed to secure life and property of Christians and to adopt necessary measure to stop violence against Christians.

The extent of the cruelty to Christians in Pakistan has been truly horrific, and not restricted to a few isolated cases. Christian persecution in general receives relatively little attention in the western media, falling outside the favoured liberal topic of the Palestinian question, and of course the Islamic world is not disposed to criticise persecution by Islamic regimes (silence on Darfur for example).

Islamic persecution of Christians has certainly not received the attention it deserves in the western media, and so I intend to cover this topic in more detail in future posts; here I will just note one such horrific incident as reported by the Daily Mail UK in August of this year:

Pope Benedict XVI has condemned the 'senseless attack' in Pakistan in which seven Christians were burned alive.

Hundreds of Muslims torched and looted Christian homes in Gorja. A man, a woman and four children were burned to death in their house, and two other men were shot dead by the rioters.

The killings began after false rumours that the Koran had been defaced spread through a city in Pakistan.

~~!~~

Blasphemy in Canada

How should we consider blasphemy in Canada?

What would be blasphemy under Islam? It would be blasphemy to state that "Mohamed is not the prophet of Allah", or to state that "Mohamed is a false prophet".

Similarly it would be blasphemy to state that "the Koran is flawed" or "the Koran is not the word of God."

I was brought up to give respect for other peoples beliefs and religions, and I still adhere to that today, but respect does not mean I agree with them, nor should I pay lip-service. We have to speak honestly and clearly, otherwise how can we have a reasoned discussion leading to a better understanding of the issue at hand. 

So now let's look at this issue of the prophet Mohamed, and the matter of Koran a little further, and let's also add Islam's teaching on Jesus Christ.

Orthodox teaching in Islam states that Jesus Christ was not crucified, and he did not rise from the dead as the Bible relates.This is what Imams teach their congregations from the pulpit.

Furthermore according to orthodox Islamic teaching, the Imam will also teach that the Bible is a Holy Book but it was tampered with, and therefore it is not the accurate word of God. Furthermore they are dogmatic that Jesus Christ is not the Son of God, they say He is a prophet but he is not deity, he is not both God and man, as the Bible teaches.

Let's step back and consider this matter logically. Looking at this dispassionately we see that the orthodox teaching of Islam is actually a blasphemy to Christianity. We usually do not consider blasphemy charges in Canada, especially against Christianity, but in fact that is what it is - blasphemy.  

Stepping back again let's look at Christianity from a Jewish perspective. Consider Jesus' words in the Bible in the Gospel of John chapter 8:  

"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!"

But this statement by Jesus, was actually blasphemy to the Jews, because he was claiming to be God. For orthodox Jewish teaching it is blasphemy for a man to claim that he is equal to God.

Summarising: 

• The fundamental belief in Christianity, the core of the faith, is actually blasphemy according to orthodox teachings of the Jewish faith
• A fundamental belief and teaching of Islam is a blasphemy according to orthodox teachings of the Christian faith. 

But under our Charter we are all free to practice our religion; just as Jews and Christians live together and respect each other's faiths without blasphemy charges, so Muslims must conform to the same norm if they want to live in Canada.
If an Imam can legally declare from the pulpit that Jesus is not who He says He is, and a Rabbi can say that Jesus is not the Son of God, then a Pastor can say that Islam has it wrong. It is one rule for all ... or for none.

We are all guaranteed the right to practice our religions in Canada under the Charter

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.

As we see core teachings of some religions are blasphemy to others, and therefore blasphemy laws are incompatible with the Candian Charter.

So Canadians in our quest to be fair and just should not give a special privilege to Islam, or for that matter to Christians or Jews; but under according to our Charter we are all equal under the law.

Fundamental justice is a concept that comes from Judeo-Christian principles and it is enshrined in our Charter, therefore let us all remember that this applies to all faiths, all races, and genders; we do not have a special treatment for blasphemy for Islam. (I include atheism as a faith too)

"right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability"

We can practice our religions free from persecution under the law and we can rejoice that we are protected  by our Charter

Gurth Whitaker
Calgary, AB

++++++++++++++++

ADDENDUM: Notes on Sharia Law in general and dhimmi or kafir in particular

Sharia is subject that should get further attention and will be covered in future posts at Lux et Veritas.

The source of the Sharia is the Koran and the Sunna (found in the Sira and the Hadith). Since the Sunni Muslims and Shia Muslims do not agree on which Hadith to use, they have slightly different Sharia systems.


Sharia law covers all aspects of life, including how a man and woman should have sex, for instance. Roughly there are five areas of Sharia law:

1. Belief-Allah, His angels, His books, His prophets, the Day of Judgment and the decrees of God.
2. Moralities-giving good counsel, humility, patience and so forth.
3. Devotions-the Five Pillars, alms, pilgrimage to Mecca, and jihad.
4. Transactions-business law, marriage, divorce and disputes.
5. Punishments-stoning, amputation, lashings, and retaliation

Dhimmis
The Sharia is very detailed how the dhimmi will live under Islamic domination.

O11.1 a formal agreement with Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, Samarians, Sabians, and those who adhere to the religion of Abraham of one of the other prophets.

O11.3 such an agreement is only valid when the subject peoples:

(a) follow the rules of Islam(b) and pay the kafir poll tax (jizya) Note: this is a tax that applies to kafir and is designed to show that he is greatfull for the protection of Islam - i.e. they don't kill him for being a non-believer

O11.5 Kafir subjects are obliged to comply with Islamic rules that pertain to the safety and indemnity of life, reputation, and property. In addition, they:

(4) Must keep to the side of the street ; Note to show that they are below the Muslim population

(6) Are forbidden to openly display wine or pork. ( or to ring church bells or display crosses) recite the Torah or Gospels aloud, or make public display of funerals and feast days.  Note: prayers by Jews are forbidden on the Temple Mount (Dome of the Rock) by the Islamic authorities, and this is stated by the Israeli police to all Jews before they are allowed to go up to the Temple Mount. Mouthing silent prayers is strictly forbidden. Muslims are passionate about this rule because Muhamed said that the prayers of Muslims are nullified if a Christian or Jew prays in the vicinity. A curious concept that God is limited by such a law.

(7) And are forbidden to build new churches.