Author: Cal Thomas
Publication: Jewish World Review
Date: May 20, 2003
URL: http://www.jewishworldreview.com
Government officials warn that America
remains in danger from Al Qaeda and other terrorist operatives who wish
to destroy us. This is not a one-front war, because we also face dangers
from within our democratic institutions.
Suppose our enemies have invaded
the United States through immigration for the express purpose of organizing
themselves politically? Suppose they present themselves as benign and seek
to register voters, becoming politically active in order to elect their
people to office and change U.S. policy in the Middle East? What if their
intentions are the eventual destruction of this nation through its democratic
processes and the imposition of a theocratic state? Would that be enough
to get our attention?
In at least 16 states, Muslim groups,
by their own admission, are organizing voter-registration drives and political
consciousness-raising events for this express purpose. One of the advantages
the United States has had over its enemies is that that they openly state
their goals. One of the advantages our enemies have over the United States
is that too many Americans don't take them seriously. We prefer the short-term
comfort that denial brings. We fear being labeled "bigots" more than we
fear the intentions of those who hate us, and so we are reluctant to speak
ill of another person's faith, unless it is the majority faith.
Last Saturday (May 17), the Council
on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) opened its newest office in Columbia,
S.C., a Southern city with strong Christian roots. The stated purpose of
organizers was to discuss "the obligation of Muslims to participate in
public affairs, CAIR's achievements and future goals of the organization."
Among those "future goals," according
to a CAIR press release, is the elimination of references to "Judeo-Christian"
when describing the heritage of the United States. Instead, CAIR and other
Muslim groups prefer "Judeo-Christian-Islamic" or "Abrahamic." CAIR wants
this new phrase used "in all venues where we normally talk about Judeo-Christian
values, starting with the media, academia, statements by politicians and
comments made in churches, synagogues and other places." Notice the absence
of the word "mosques "in this statement. Muslim groups want Jews and Christians
to tolerate them, but there is not a similar call for mosques to include
Jewish and Christian beliefs.
You do not have to believe in conspiracies
or be a bigot to realize something important is happening with this statement
and in these political meetings. As Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle
East Forum, wrote last month in JWR: "(CAIR is) on the wrong side in the
war on terrorism," consistently defending militant Islamic groups and dictators,
while "denouncing" terrorist acts. Pipes refers to a story reported in
the San Ramon Valley (Calif.) Herald about CAIR Chairman Omar M. Ahmad,
who told a crowd of California Muslims in July, 1998, "Islam isn't in America
to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran ... should
be the highest authority in America and Islam the only accepted religion
on Earth."
In Canada, census figures released
last week show that for the first time Muslims now outnumber Jews. The
Canadian Muslim population increased 128.9 percent in the decade beginning
in 1991, making Islam the fastest-growing faith in Canada. Muslims now
make up 2 percent of the Canadian population, while Jews have declined
from 1.2 to 1.1 percent, according to census data.
You don't have to be paranoid to
fear where this can lead in Canada and in the United States -where immigration
and births are dramatically increasing the Muslim population. Vote-hungry
politicians might easily bow to the political objectives of Muslim voters,
many of whom have agendas outside this country and, in fact, outside this
world. When Muslims gain political power, the historical and contemporary
record is not encouraging for people who hold democratic values and are
of the "Judeo-Christian" persuasion. If politicians succumb to pressure
from Muslim activist groups and equate Islam with the religious and political
heritage of this country, we will know that an important beachhead has
been attained by our enemies.
From their behavior in other parts
of the world, one can safely predict they will use this beachhead to advance
their cause.
