Islam versus St. Valentine

February 17, 2002

by John F. Schmidt

It would be hilarious, if they were not so serious about stamping out Valentine’s Day as a danger to their culture.

Yes, the Defenders of Islam are at it again. This time, they are banning the celebration of St. Valentine’s Day in, of all places, the sultanate of Brunei. Even the Hindus have jumped into the fray, banning the holiday’s celebration in Thailand.

Sending Valentine’s cards is illegal in some areas, and the celebration itself has been denounced in Muslim pulpits nationwide in Brunei. There, couples can be arrested if they are unmarried and in the same room together. The idea of two unmarried people expressing love for one another sends some of these folks over the top.

These interesting facts came to light in a WorldNetDaily article, titled Muslims decry influence of Valentines Day, by Anthony C. LoBaido, published Friday, February 8, 2002.

Most of us, myself included, don’t even know where this benighted place is. But the people living there are being warned not to indulge in a holiday that, in the West, has so lost its connection to Christianity - if it ever truly had any to begin with - that the average American is at a loss to describe the relation. To us, it is just a harmless day on which you send romantic well-wishes to other people. And it is a big industry to the greeting card people. Aside from that, nobody thinks of religion on St. Valentine’s Day.

So what is the big deal?

The Muslims and some Hindus are so hysterical over even a whiff of Christianity (real or imagined), that they fly into an uproar over this most pale of religious holidays. Doesn’t that kind of sound like an over-reaction?

To an impartial judge, the person who first loses control of his emotions in a debate is usually deemed to be the one who has the weakest arguments. People who fly off the handle at the very hint of Christianity behave like they don’t have much confidence in their own ideas. Can Islam stand the test of rational examination and free debate in contrast to Christianity?

When you consider that they outlaw their opponent’s right to even speak about their beliefs, one must admit that they are telegraphing to others that they can’t defend themselves or their ideas. Their actions show that they know it, too.

This principle is true in so many ways. Take, for instance, the fact that teaching the Bible is now ruled to be unconstitutional in the same county that years ago banned the teaching of evolution. A federal judge issued a preliminary ruling in Chattanooga, Tennessee on Friday, February 8, 2002 forbidding elementary school Bible classes in Rhea County, Tennessee. Seventy-seven years ago, the famous Scopes “Monkey Trial” occurred in Dayton, Tennessee over the issue of teaching the then-heretical doctrine of evolution - that man is descended from apes and is not the creation of God - in the public schools. Up to that time, the schools taught what was not unconstitutional at all: that God made us. The uproar was over the issue of whether a public school teacher could teach an alternative view of origins. The court convicted Scopes, but the conviction was thrown out on a technicality.

Evolution gradually displaced Creation as the official religious dogma explaining origins. Today, the historical circle is almost complete - except that it is the belief in God now being thrown out. That belief is now denied any respectful hearing in the halls of the schools where our children learn, unless it is taught as a cultural anachronism - a museum oddity - not to be confused with the truth.

The Christians grumbled in 1925, but they continued teaching in the Rhea County schools about the true origin of man. They continued until last Friday, that is. According to the made-up doctrine of the “separation of church and state” only science ‘fact’ can now be taught, and no ‘specific religion’ is allowed in the public schools. That, of course, is a sham argument, since the framers of the Constitution knew perfectly well what they meant when they banned any specific Christian sect from being enshrined as the Federal religion. They never intended to ban God.

But times have changed, and the present interpreters of the Constitution have forgotten (rather conveniently) what the words originally meant. Today they take the words to forbid the mention of “God” in public. That is amendment by interpretation.

What is the connection between the Islamic and Hindu oppression of Valentine’s Day and the modern day Scopes issue? Just this: all of them engage in blatant and dishonest handling of the facts and a refusal to engage the other side in honest debate. The Muslims and Hindus also readily resort to violence and heavy-handed legal actions instead of dialog. The America Liberals do the same thing, but they don’t need to resort to violence. They have the courts and major institutions in their corner.

Why are Christians and Jews generally politically tolerant of those who disagree with them? And why are the Muslims and American Liberals generally politically intolerant? The answer is obvious: they don’t have the truth and they know it. The Bible affirms that these are they who “suppress the truth in unrighteousness,” and refuse to acknowledge the living God as Creator, or Savior. (Rom 1:18-20; 10:13)

So send your Valentine’s day cards to one another, and be glad that you live in a culture that got its ideas of freedom from the Bible, not the Koran or the Atheist’s creed.

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John F. Schmidt has written numerous articles over the last decade. Politically, he is an Alan Keyes-type Republican. Along with his wife, he has organized voter drives in Pennsylvania, and been active politically since the 1990 elections. His livelihood, until recently, was spent in automation engineering for a large global equipment manufacturing company, specializing in coal mining. WANB in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania hosted Schmidt's weekly talk radio program "Issues and Answers." His writing is intended to relate the headlines of today to the foundation of eternal truth - the Scriptures. He currently resides in Palm Beach County, Florida. Visit his website at: Inalienable-Rights.org

Send the author an E mail at Schmidt@ConservativeTruth.org.

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