Bush: Just a Scary Fundamentalist
Or so
asserts Gerhard Schrodiger, whom the Germans, thank God, replaced with Angela Merkel last spring.
The former Chancellor, an agnostic, seems to consider President Bush to be a Christian fundamentalist, and as such less likely to make the compromises needed to end the conflict in Iraq.
“We rightly criticise that in most Islamic states there is no clear separation between religion and the rule of law,” he says. “But we fail to recognise that, in the US, the Christian fundamentalists and their interpretation of the Bible have similar tendencies.
“If both sides claim to be in possession of the only valid truth, then there is no room for manoeuvre.”
Ah, yes. Relativism is all. America and the Islamic fundamentalists are precise moral equivalents relative to the false truths they believe in.
Unfortunately, I have a good friend in Germany - who happens to be a Green - and as she expressed this exact same sentiment to me about Bush's scary religious fundamentalism - I imagine this impression is rather endemic and, at the moment, ineradicable on the German left.
How awkward that it comes out at the same time that David Kuo latterly informed "the American Christianist movement" that Bushco. doesn't take the fundamentalists seriously at all and often makes fun of them.
Well which is it?
Labels: fundamentalism, Germany, Iraq, multiculturalism, relativism
The Labour Party Starts To Get A Clue!
This policy represents a major change in Britain! The Government there is finally getting a clue on dealing equitably and rationally with parts of its Muslim population - they are not going to support and pay lip service to the terrorist supporters - at least not as overtly and to the same extent that they were.
THE Government withdrew its support from Britain’s largest Muslim organisation yesterday after accusing it of failing to lead the fight against religious extremism.
Ruth Kelly, the Communities Secretary, attacked the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) for boycotting Holocaust Memorial Day, criticising police anti-terrorist operations and “sitting on the sidelines” in the campaign against extremists.
Muhammad Abdul Bari, the secretary-general of the MCB, was invited to hear Ms Kelly’s speech, which was delivered to a Muslim audience, but refused to attend.
Ms Kelly said that she was embarking on “a fundamental rebalancing” of the Government’s relationship with Muslim organisations...
Not only that, the Anglican Church has changed its attitude to "multiculturalism" as well.
Privileging the Muslim CommunityThe Church of England has launched an astonishing attack on the Government's drive to turn Britain into a multi-faith society.
In a wide-ranging condemnation of policy, it says that the attempt to make minority "faith" communities more integrated has backfired, leaving society "more separated than ever before". The criticisms are made in a confidential Church document, leaked to The Sunday Telegraph, that challenges the "widespread description" of Britain as a multi-faith society and even calls for the term "multi-faith" to be reconsidered.
The Church says 'privileged attention' has been given to the Islamic faith.
It claims that divisions between communities have been deepened by the Government's "schizophrenic" approach to tackling multiculturalism. While trying to encourage interfaith relations, it has actually given "privileged attention" to the Islamic faith and Muslim communities.
See also
this article that describes the horrible situation of some (mostly Muslim) girls in Britain who are at risk of forced marriages or honour killings, if they act in a way that displeases the male members of their family.
Earlier this year, before the Labour Party put this new approach into action, they had the opportunity, but
did not pass a law banning forced marriages in Britain.
It was reported at the time that the rejection of this law - which had been sought for some time - would encourage communities, in which this behavior is prevalent, to believe that this practice, thereby, was not, strictly speaking, unacceptable. And that therefore, the practice of forced marriages would continue, and perhaps even be strengthened by this lack of will in tackling the problem by making it illegal.
Labels: Britain, honor killings, multiculturalism, Muslims
