2.19.2006 | A not-so-merry minuet

Back in the 1960s, the Kingston Trio, along with many others, sang a delightful little social commentary entitled "The Merry Minuet." Which begins, of course, with these lines:

They're rioting in Africa
They're starving in Spain
There's hurricanes in Florida
And Texas needs rain.

The whole world is festering
With unhappy souls...

From here, the song tells us a few who-hates-who (or is that whom?). Well, now we've got rioting in Africa. We've got rioting in Indonesia. We've got rioting in the Middle East. And, I think there would be rioting in Antartica, too, under the right conditions.

Those conditions? A government that wishes to deflect attention away from its shortcomings, and a discontented populace easily manipulated. For which one may read ignorant and stupid, some measure of both. So, it is muslims who are rioting, world-wide. Yet another insult to their apparently fragile religion, which can take anything -- except criticism.

A Christian may die an honorable death defending his faith. A Christian may, even, die an honorable death extending his faith, as in a crusade, but this has become politically incorrect to state. In today's world, it's much, much, more likely that a Christian will simply become an innocent victim of a crazed muslim mob.

Although, of course, it turns out that most of the "victims" of the Islamic rioting around the world are...Muslims. And quite a few otherwise innocent Danish flags. Note the scare quotes around "victims." Those who allow their passions against free speech arouse them to set fire to motorbikes and embassies and Christian churches, and what-all don't deserve much sympathy. While we should not take joy in the suffering of others, it's hard not to make the observation that most who die, do so at the hands of their co-religionists.

Keep it up, boyos. That's fewer of you to come after us. Perhaps, if enough muslims kill each other, then they'll stop and take a deep breath, and ask themselves, "why are we doing this insane thing?"

Don't hold your breath waiting for reason to overtake Islam. Especially don't wait until the so-called "moderate" muslims convince the bulk of muslims that Islam is actually compatible with freedom.

The evidence to date, after over 1300 years, is that it most certainly can not compete in the marketplace of ideas. Absent conquest by the sword, one must wonder how many fewer muslims there would be in today's world.

[As a side note: the same thing could have been said about Christianity up until relatively modern times. In today's world, Christianity is growing as an idea, and, if one is a believer, by the grace of God. Without the sword.]