Conservative Truth - A Moral Society - Judeo-Christian or Bust - Brian W. Peterson

The Founding Fathers of our nation would not have taken moral collapse lightly, and they understood that without Judeo-Christian morality as support for the republic, our society would come unglued. This necessarily means that they valued certain cultural and moral values over other values. Unlike the insanity of today, they recognized that there are good habits and bad habits; good cultures and bad cultures. They did not, for example, model our society off the Ottoman Empire or Chinese Dynasties.

With this in mind, the politically correct are working overtime in an attempt to rehabilitate the American image of Islam. Never mind what you see with your eyes.

Occasionally, we are treated to the revisionism that many of the Founding Fathers either accepted, or even encouraged, Islam. One of these ideas was advanced by the current occupant of the White House when he repeated a myth that Thomas Jefferson was the first president to celebrate Iftaar- the daily meal after sunset during Ramadan. The fact is that President Jefferson was a considerate man, and out of respect for a Tunisian diplomat, he delayed a dinner meeting until the Muslim diplomat could participate, which was after sunset. That simple.

No good deed goes un-spun by liberals looking to recreate history.

On a couple of occasions, Benjamin Franklin made comments about Islam, putting it on par with Christianity and Judaism; however, it was plain from his word choice that he only understood the Islamic system to a limited, theoretical degree. The term “Muhammadanism,” which he frequently used, is considered an insult by many Muslims: they do not worship Muhammad.

As with all people, Franklin changed his mind on certain subjects. Just as Jefferson and John Quincy Adams arrived at harsh conclusions about the Islamic system, so too did Franklin, observing in a 1790 letter to the Federal Gazette, “Nor can the Plundering of Infidels be in that sacred Book [the Qur’an] forbidden, since it is well known from it, that God has given the World, and all that it contains, to his faithful Mussulmen [Muslims], who are to enjoy it of Right as fast as they conquer it.”

Franklin, who by that time had evolved away from the Deism of his youth, grew in understanding of Islam while not growing in esteem for the system that was and is so foreign to American values.

Americans have to learn, and accept, that Islam is not compatible with liberty; otherwise our country will go down the path of Europe. Nature abhors a vacuum; post-World War Europe eschewed Christianity, leaving a vacuum; multiculturalism filled the void, but only as a rainstorm fills an empty lake bed. With a population unable to identify Good from Bad, Islam is now moving in - a flood, not a mere rainstorm.

President Washington, while not the only forefather to do so, understood and preached that morality- by which he meant Judeo-Christian morality- was necessary for the new Republic to survive- the glue referenced in the first sentence of this commentary. A study of Islam makes clear that its values are not consistent with values needed to plant and grow a free society.

For starters, “Islam” means “submission” in Arabic. While liberty promises that individuals have free will whenever possible, in Islam there is no will but the will of Allah: submission to Allah’s will. This means that to exercise personal choice is to sin against Allah.

Some Americans- Christian and otherwise, public and private individuals- state that it is hateful against Muslims to define the Islamic system so starkly. Such people point out that their Muslim friends or acquaintances are not violent, so we are incorrectly lumping all Muslims in with terrorists. They miss the fact that our collision, as a free society, with Islam is not about Muslims- individuals; it is about Islam- the system itself. Islam is not, and this is a key point that most Americans do not seem to understand; Islam is not simply a religion. It is a political system and a legal system, as well. This ties into the Islamic fact that there is no will but the will of Allah.

As such, Islam is opposed to Western, Judeo-Christian values at its core. In Islam, there is no equal system, thus all non-Muslim systems are to be conquered and destroyed. Whether or not all Muslims, American Muslims, believe this or not is irrelevant. I thank God nearly every day that an overwhelming number of Muslims in the US do not completely follow the Qur’an or Hadith. That is a good thing; but I cannot celebrate them unless they work- actively work- to reform the Islamic system.

Unfortunately for the reformers, and there are indeed true reformers around the world, though tiny in number, to reform Islam is to do away with Islam. Imagine if true Christianity was practiced by David Koresh and his followers. In such a case, the only way to reform Christianity would be to not follow its principles.

It is simply irrelevant that not all Muslims are terrorists. What is relevant is that the Islamic system encourages- demands- violent action in the name of Allah. What is “jihad,” after all, if not the reward for violence? (A quick note about jihad: the notion that it is something other than holy war came along later in Islam’s history and is not of Muhammad’s Islam.)

One last thought about Islam: Just as Ben Franklin’s view of Islam evolved, so did Muhammad’s outlook on life evolve. When you hear of the Quran’s peaceful verses, understand that he started off as a preacher of peace. But after being run out of his hometown, he took his followers and, over time, became a raider and a warrior. Qur’anic verses followed suit.

None of the above is hateful; myopic; or any other negative adjective imaginable. The above is filled with observations based on the study of Islam over years. I am not an Islamic scholar, nor do I intend to be, just as I am a Christian but I am not a Christian scholar. That said, I understand liberty, and I recognize opposition to liberty when I see it. We, the United States of America, were founded on Judeo-Christian values. People may rewrite history, but that does not change the past.

The more we separate ourselves from our Judeo-Christian roots, the sooner we will, as a nation, wither and die. For the lack of knowledge about our own history, our own values, and what God Almighty Himself intended for America, the United States very well may perish.

A Moral Society - Judeo-Christian or Bust

January 4, 2016