by Genevieve Kineke
Catholic Lane
On January 21st, I attended a terrific conference in Framingham, MA concerning “The Persecuted Church.” When I say terrific, I mean the full, riveting, appalling sense of the word. Sponsored by CAMERA, the speakers ranged from young participants of the “Arab Spring” protests to sage professors to political operatives. The event culminated in a keynote address by Dr. Walid Phares (The Coming Revolution: Struggle for Freedom in the Middle East). Each speaker hammered home two distressing points: first, Christians are routinely harassed, intimidated and slaughtered across the Middle East and deep into the African continent; second, Christians elsewhere are doing very little to help them. […]
The most valuable information presented to those who wonder how to respond to the growing Muslim presence in the west was offered Raymond Ibrahim, who spoke of the constant statistical realities that governed Islamic political behavior over the centuries. Reflecting on the two stages of Muhammed’s life—the Meccan (peaceful) period, when his followers were in the minority and so peaceful; and the Medinan (aggressive) period, when growing numbers allowed them to rule through force—the present situation fits the standard historical model. Currently, radical Muslims are hampered by their faith’s relatively small presence in the west. However, this is quickly changing. Soon, they might transition from the mentality of Mecca to the mentality of Medina.
The question was asked whether the Muslims around us are actually as peaceful in their pursuit of their faith as they say, or whether they are deliberately part of a duplicitous scheme. Mr. Ibrahim answered that the sincerity of individual Muslims does not matter. What matters are the larger designs of the imams, whose task it is to gain converts, spread the umma, and thereby expand the dar al-Islam.
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