Monday, December 10, 2007

Quackin' Into the Truth About Islam

Everyone is beginning to notice that if it walks like a duck, if it talks like a duck, if it looks like a duck, then, by jove, it must be a duck.

I may grow tired of saying it, but Islam is structurally part and parcel with the primitive Sacred limned with great alacrity by René Girard, Gil Bailie, and others. Ostensibly it claims revelation that supersedes both Judaism and Christianity; surreptitiously, Islam is a petulant, chip-on-its-shoulder "negative imitation" of both, always cocking an eye to see its model-rival in near-hilarious attraction/revulsion ... if it weren't so murderous.

But like all conventional expressions of the primitive Sacred, Islam cannot let go of its primary motivating force: the religious dread and awe of needing victims -- yes, human victims. Girard calls this essential element of conventional religion, anthropologically speaking, the "single victim mechanism" (Robert Hamerton-Kelly calls it the "Generative Mimetic Scapegoating Mechanism," and with good reason, but I won't get into all that now).

Needless to say, if the duck walks and talks and looks like a practitioner of human sacrifice, it is a form of quacking paganism. Period. Judaism long ago had to be pulled out of it -- ask the Major and Minor Prophets. Christianity has always ruefully dabbled in it, enjoying a good Sunday afternoon hangin' on the town square. But both listen to a biblical Spirit that says an unequivocal "NO!" to it as a raison d'etre.

There is too much gathering evidence that Islam is far, far away from such an unequivocal message. Especially when Mum and Dad want to take the daughter out back and slit her throat unless stopped by the authorities. UPDATE: And again, only a “successful” murder of a daughter.

2 comments:

David Nybakke said...

Dear Ath,

A quote from Dr Nazir-Ali in one of the links from your post sums it up pretty well: "...there has been a catastrophic collapse in Christian-based morality and spirituality in this country (Britain) over the past 40 or so years and that this has created a "moral vacuum" in society as a whole, which has been increasingly filled – at least in the minds of impressionable youth – by fundamentalist Islam."

What is/was at the heart of such a powerful vacuum that sucks nearly all Christian morals out of the people? I don't think it was by fundamentalist Islam. My bet is on the dictators of relativism and secularism (even though moving toward secular society is not always a bad thing).

The battle is being waged on many fronts - so I see your important point of calling a duck a duck.

Being in the cleaning business, I also think it is important to unplug the vacuum that is sucking the life out of "average" Christians, particularly those in the West, and that vacuum - that battle - is also a very messy one.

Aramis

Athos said...

Dear Aramis,

Britain's secular vacuum began started long ago with the ruin of the choirs in the English reformation. Since then, it has been all down hill allowing, finally, as your quote observes, the "moral vacuum" filled neatly by the Sacred in the form of fundamentalist Islam. Truly sad to see Merrie England go to pot.