De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

Giving Amoris Laetitia a rest for a minute, let's go back to 2013 and Pope Francis' first Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium . I've posted before about this troubling passage in the text: "..for authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Koran are opposed to every form of violence.” E.G . n. 253 Is it? Samuel Gregg notes in the National Review that Pope Francis’s fellow Jesuit Samir Khalil Samir (who is no knee-jerk anti-Muslim), writes in his 111 Questions on Islam (2002), Westerners who assert that groups like the Taliban are acting in a manner contrary to the spirit of Islam “usually know little about Islam.” In the Egyptian-born Jesuit’s view, “On the sociohistorical level, from the Qur’an onward, the ordinary meaning of jihad is unequivocal. [It] indicates the Muslim war in the name of God to defend Islam.” Later in the same book, Father Samir underscores that, alongside one tradition in Islam of somewhat limited tolerance towards Jews and C...

Image: Mohamed Abd El Ghany / Reuters Coptic Christians gather outside Tanta's Mar Girgis Church after bomb disrupts Palm Sunday service. This is an interesting post  about the Coptic response to ISIS attacks in Egypt and the effect it is having on society there: Martrydom and forgiveness is fuelling curiosity among Muslims and repentance and revival of faith among Copts in Egypt. ...But even in death, the Copts forgive. "For example, the night of the bombings, Orthodox priest Boules George said he thanks and loves those who did this crime. Speaking to a congregation in Cairo’s Cleopatra neighborhood, his words were broadcast on the popular Coptic TV station Aghaby. “I long to talk to you about our Christ, and tell you how wonderful he is,” said George, addressing the terrorists. But then turning to the church, he said, “How about we make a commitment today to pray for them? “If they know that God is love and experience his love, they could not do these thing...

Andrew Neil started This Week last night with a refreshing and powerful tour de force on the Paris Attacks. Imagine how powerful it would have been if this had been delivered by David Cameron?

This is precisely what has been missing from the Muslim response to the ongoing atrocities of Daesh . Sadiq Khan, the most senior Muslim in Labour’s ranks, has spoken out  at a Westminster lunch for journalists, about his fears that his teenage daughters could be tricked into going to Syria by online jihadists and disclosed that he had grown up in south London with boys who went on to act in “terrible ways”. Khan is the first Muslim I have heard who has the courage to be honest about the reality of the situation, stating: “Extremism isn’t a theoretical risk. Most British Muslims have come across someone with extremist views at some point – and so have I. “It’s affected my personal life, my friendships and my career. People I knew as a boy have gone on to hold extremist views, and even to act on them in terrible ways.” Mr Khan recalled that when he worked as a lawyer he had the “horrible” task of representing people with extremist views: “I’ve lost count of the ...

I've had quite a black day today. Overwhelmingly, I feel uneasy about this. I feel uneasy that the world has just taken another scary step towards darkness and chaos. Looking at my Facebook timeline I am disturbed by the number of anti-religious comments in reaction to what has happened. I know that we immediately want to find someone to blame (this helps us to understand) and I can recognise that for many peaceful people, going about their day-to-day lives quite without malice or hatred, the sudden and brutal events of Friday night leave them looking for a reason why? How could any human being do something so irrational? The answer? To all intents and purposes, the only tangible explanation would appear to be a murderous ideology which demands fidelity and threatens death or at least, enslavement, for those who refuse to 'submit' ( Islam literally means 'submit'). To the modern secular mind, the only thing that matters is that the madness used to justify t...

Shocking news from France this morning as open persecution of Christians takes a terrifying step closer to becoming a reality in the West. French police say they have arrested a man armed with several weapons , including a Kalashnikov and a handgun, who was planning to launch an armed attack on two churches in Paris. A number of news agencies have described the man as an Islamic extremist. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the man is 24-year-old computer science student who has lived in France for several years and had been under surveillance for several months. He was arrested on Sunday in Paris. He was accused of killing a young woman shortly before he was detained on Sunday. The man, who had been flagged by security officials last year, was arrested after he apparently shot himself and called for an ambulance, according to AP. A worrying, but unsurprising development, given the wanton and deliberate attempts by Islamic organisations to obliterate Christianity f...

Cardinal Timothy Dolan has been someone I have really looked up to as a true Catholic leader for some time. Just search my previous posts. I have stuck up for him on numerous occasions, and defended him against attacks directly, for example after this post I was contacted by Michael Voris who wanted me to go on air with him and discuss it. Recently though...Well...If I'm being honest, since the dawn of the new papacy, I have been growing increasingly worried about my favourite American prelate and some of things he says. I have started wondering why his tone seems to have changed so much. If one were really cynical, one might say he is (wrongly) interpreting Pope Francis as someone who is going to change Church teaching, and jumping on the bandwagon. And so it seems with this latest bit of news , where, in an interview with CNN, Cardinal Dolan said Islamic State militants terrorising the Middle East are a distortion of “genuine” Islam much as the Irish Republican Army w...

Today, Aljazeera is running this story: UK Muslims gather to promote tolerance I'm rather cross that Ahmadiyya is being portrayed here as British Islam. It is not. I would argue it is probably what British Islam should be, but the reality is that the opinion among ALL Muslims as to the fact that Ahmadis/ Qadanis are NOT Muslim is unanimous. As such they are NOT allowed entry into any of Islam's holy places, nor participate in prayers or rituals. This is because one of the basic dogmas of Islam (agreed upon by ALL Muslims regardless of denomination) is that the prophet Muhammad (saws) was the LAST and FINAL prophet: the seal of the Prophets. This is in stark contradiction to the Ahmadi belief that Mizra Ghulam Ahmad was a prophet, a messiah, and the mahdi; another contradiction to the belief of ALL Muslims which is that the Messiah and Mahdi are two separate people. In reality, the sad truth is that Ahmadis are being tortured and martyred on a weekly basi...