I was waiting to see a column by Cal Thomas on the Paris rioting. It was just a matter of time. In his article, “Is Paris Burning” he connects several dots which certainly will be of concern to all Americans who have watched the rioting sparked in Europe.
France is experiencing what other Western nations are, or will soon, experience: millions of Muslim youth who identify with the larger and borderless “Muslim World” and less, or not at all, with their host countries. Mosques erected in these countries are growing as rapidly as Starbucks or McDonald’s franchises. The same is true in the United States. According to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research’s recent Faith Communities Today study, the total number of mosques in the United States increased 42 percent between 1990 and 2000, second only to the growth of Christian “mega churches.” Many of these mosques are built with the help of Saudi Arabia, which adheres to the Wahhabi sect of Islam, the religion’s most puritanical and violent wing.
This borderless Muslim World is code for the violent evangelistic efforts of these groups. Liberals have compared Christian evangelicals as being dangerous, filled with hate (ex. see hatecrime.org). Little is mentioned about the violent nature of the radical Muslims who are speaking the same messages of the middle east here in America.
Certainly, America is a land of religioius freedom. But one must recognize that some groups are looking for not freedom to worship but to create an Islamic culture. If that should happen in America, there will be no real freedom of religion again. Hard to believe, but this will be a concern for both Christians and Atheists. As the riots spread, will Western Europe learn from Paris? Will America?
