Why do we allow fanatics to abuse our services of respect?

Todays memorial service at the US Embassy, in London's Grosvenor Square, was marred by loud music attempting to drown out proceedings together with a 100 strong mob of Muslim fanatics brandishing banners claiming 'Islam will dominate the world'.

It certainly is dominating British political opinion!

OK - a minority of nutters trying to disturb the peace, we should not get too worked up over this...but I am worked up and I do believe that it is right to do so. Where British men and women, together with their overseas allies, gather in a service of some reverence (even if somewhat secular in character) they should be allowed to pay their respects unhindered. The first offical mourner at the ceremony was a 16 year old girl who stepped up to the microphone to say that she was there to honour her 'Darling Mummy' who died in the Twin Towers tragedy. That child should not have had to listen to or witness the scuffles that were taking place 100 yards away.

What is David Cameron thinking of? He is the Prime Minister - couldn't he have directed the police to remove them for causing a potential breach of the peace?
Boris Johnson was also there doing nothing to direct the police, his police force.

Among the 3,000 9/11 victims were some 67 British citizens and it is tragic that we cannot remember all of those who died that day without suffering gross disresepect from splinter groups (the EDL were also trying their best to disrupt things).

Would such behaviour be allowed on Remembrance Sunday at the Cenotaph? Not at present but...it may not be too far off before we experience it.

Two tales of a scorpion, one Catholic, one Muslim

I was inspired to recollect a story about a scorpion from the account posted on Virtuous Planet yesterday, please visit their site and read the story of the Monk and the Scorpion and then compare it with my Muslim one.

The Arabs tell this tale (although we claim it as an Aesop's Fable) to illustrate the manner in which they think, it is, perhaps, a bit of a jibe at their own nature, here it is.....

                                   The Frog and the Scorpion

A scorpion came to the edge of a river and desperately wanted to get to the far bank but was unable to swim. Very soon a frog approached and the scorpion, seizing the opportunity, addressed him thus: "Dear and esteemed frog would you please be kind enough to carry me across this river on your back?"

The frog responded: "But you must think me a fool for if I carried you on my back across the river you would surely sting me and then I would die"

"Not at all, my dear friend" said the scorpion. "For if I was to sting you then we would both die, you from my sting and me from drowning"

The frog thought that this was eminently logical and, being a kindly soul, agreed to carry the scorpion.

All went well until they were halfway across the river when the scorpion suddenly dealt the frog a fatal sting.

"Aaah" cried the frog, "Now we are both done for, why did you sting me?"

"Because" said the scorpion "It is my nature."

I much prefer the Catholic version on Virtuous Planet but the other does give an interesting insight into the Arab psyche.

And more on the Burka!

This time it is an excellent article by William Langley in The Daily Telegraph, extracts below.

Of course, it is always  comforting when someone else upholds the same view as your own but I am sure there are many articles out there with oppsite views.
In the interest of fairness and balance I shall not link to them :)

"Despite some high-profile protests, France’s banning of the burka is enormously popular with the public. Unfortunately, as in Britain, almost anything politicians do that the voters approve of tends to be denounced as populisme – a particularly dread charge among the over-earnest French political class – and instead of enjoying the deserved benefits, President Nicolas Sarkozy has found himself on the defensive.

Sarko’s modest measure (the burka is forbidden only in public places, the fines are piffling and the enforcement procedures incomprehensible) has led to much talk of sledgehammers and nuts, warnings of an apocalyptic Muslim backlash and claims that the Republican tradition of liberté is being compromised in a seedy ploy to combat the resurgence of the hard-Right Front National under its new leader Marine Le Pen......

...... Approval runs right across the spectrum, with Fadela Amara, the Algerian-born former housing minister in Sarkozy’s government, calling the burka “a kind of tomb, a horror for those trapped within it”, and André Gerin, the Communist MP who headed the commission investigating the grounds for a ban, describing it as “the tip of an iceberg of oppression”.

So what do we get in Britain? Theresa May, the Home Secretary, rules out a ban because “it would be out of keeping with our nation’s longstanding record of tolerance”, while the Leftist commentariat continues – with apparent seriousness – to suggest that the face veil is a “lifestyle choice” and essentially no different from a balaclavas worn by middle-class types on the ski slopes of Courcheval. I suspect this thinking is going to have to change".

Burning the Koran was wrong, very wrong

I doubt that anyone who reads this blog would disagree with my headline; I intensely dislike the extremes of Islam, I believe it to be a harsh and brutal faith but I believe that it was wrong of Pastor Terry Jones to burn a copy of the Koran. We owe respect to all faiths and should indulge in debate rather than abuse.
Pastor Jones (I hope he's not of Welsh extraction) has done what he has been threatening to do for a long time. This week he held a mock "trial", dressed himself up as a judge and declared the Muslim Faith guilty of crimes against humanity. The sentence of burning was then carried out.

Photo: CBS News

Terry Jones has offended Muslims and
condemned Christians to more persecutions

One cannot help but feel that it was the media attention that fed this bizarre character to the extent that he finally carried out what he has been threatening for many months. What result has it produced? So far 12 plus innocent people have been blown up by a bomber in Afghanistan, you can be sure that there will be more to come. Pastor Jones will accept no responsibility.
How fragile our existence appears to be when one man with a following of around 50 people can set in motion a sequence of events that will result in an increase in the persecution and even death of Christians in Muslim countries.

Fundamentalist Muslims around the world seem beyond the law and appear to act violently towards the west as the mood takes them. I use the word "Fundamentalist" when speaking about the Islamic minority that surface at times such as these, but I fear the Pastor's actions will make fundamentalists out of many erstwhile ordinary Muslims - all will respond with anger and violence to the burning. Pity their poor Christian neighbours who will suffer the result of bigotry and crass stupidity.