C.S. Lewis, in an essay called “What Christmas Means to Me,” declared that there are three Christmases that are celebrated simultaneously: the incarnation of God the Son in the person of Jesus Christ, the merrymaking around the solstice, and the […]
Islam
Did the New Testament Prophesy Islam?
Muslims sometimes claim that the coming of Muhammad is prophesied in John 14 under the name of the Helper. I doubt this; there is not a lot of similarity between the actual work of Muhammad and how the Helper is […]
Camel Driver to Taxi Drivers
The Prophet Muhammad started out as a camel driver, and apparently varieties of the name are now the most common first name for taxi drivers in New York City.
Comment on WSJ – Walter Russell Mead – On the Future of Middle East Christians
Walter Russell Mead really hits the nail on the head, here. He explains that the four older empires, Ottoman, Russian, German, and Austro-Hungarian, were, whatever their weaknesses, “multiethnic and multi confessional states.” After the fall of these empires, all these […]
If I Were Muslim: Why Do Muslims Hate Jews Nowadays?
Our friend Hillel Fradkin has sent out a fascinating article on the relationship between Islam and German nationalism. In two world wars both types of German nationalists, both the relatively mild sort of the Second Reich and the pathological ones […]
SAUCE FOR THE CHRISTIAN GOOSE, SAUCE FOR THE MUSLIM GANDER?
Recently it was revealed in a column by Mustafa Akyol, a Turkish liberal Muslim, that Newt Gingrich is a fan of none other than Mustafa Kemal Atatuerk. Say what? Kemal Atatuerk was one of the most radical secularists of the […]
9/11, Ten Years Later
When the 9/11 attacks happened, ten years ago, we knew that we didn’t like it. But we in the Western World were forced to think about the delicate question of, if we were against this, what were we for? Were […]
What a Seemingly Innocuous Request But Such a Triumphal Statement
Why don’t the Muslims just buy the churches, if they want them? The Catholics need the money. Related: “Muslims in France Ask to Use Empty Churches” by Soeren Kern at Hudson New York
The Garbage City
That the Zabaleen are mostly ethnic Copts, because Muslims don”t handle garbage. For all that, they were not very good Christians, being sunk in drugs and alcohol and the like, until a preacher named Abu Samaan came in and helped […]
Driven to Extinction, Indeed
Well, that leaves 140 countries where religions (I prefer to use the plural, because there’s no such thing as ‘religion,’ only religions) are doing fine. What’s going to be interesting about the nine is that when ‘religion’ goes extinct, a […]