Mark Steyn has a right to be wrong

A quote from Canadian magazine Macleans:

Slowly but surely, the progressive narrative within Islam is gaining ground. An increasing number of young Muslims are turning to alternative understandings of their faith. It is therefore not a given that an increase in the Canadian Muslim population will automatically usher in an age of Islamic radicalism in Canada, or that democratic values will be supplanted by a theocracy. The European experience in fact indicates the opposite: secular centre-left and centre-right members of the community have succeeded overwhelmingly, while Islamists have failed to win even in constituencies where Muslims form large voting groups.


In Denmark, for example, four Muslims were recently elected: two women and two men, of Turkish, Kurdish, Palestinian and Pakistani extraction—all of them secularists. In contrast, all the Islamist candidates lost. In Britain, the first Muslim MP was elected in Glasgow in 1992, and several more have since been elected to the Commons; not one of them was from the Islamist camp. The same is true in France, Germany and Scandinavia. So where is the evidence that if Muslims doubled or tripled in population size, they would not embrace the values of Rousseau or Locke?


Source: Macleans (English) h/t Ali Eteraz (English)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sure, Everyone has a right to be
wrong. I do believe that Mark Steyn is correct - but only to the extent that people allow themselves to be duped apologist authors such as these. Look at any predominantly Muslim country. Would you want to live there?

But Mark Steyn has a lot of history reinforcing his argument. Where Islam goes progress, science, and human rights stagnate and decline. We've already seen demands calls for Sharia law in Ontario. They will try again. And there will be more honor killings also.

If Islam were good, why is there such an exodus from Islamic countries? Mark Steyn is right, Europe will take on more of the characteristics of Lebanon at time goes on.

What are you going to believe? Muslim public relations articles like this - or your own eyes?

Taqiya.

Esther said...

Hi chalons,

When a Muslim says that somebody has a right to voice their opinions regardless of whether they are critical of Islam or not, then it is newsworthy. This is because many Muslims don't agree on this point. Muslims who come out with such statements should be encouraged. You say this is taqiya, but if taqiya means agreeing with and fighting for Western values, I'll take taqiya any day.

Anonymous said...

Muslims in the west are forced to live a contradiction. Either they believe all people are equal and subject to the exact same laws or they do not. There really is no compromise or middle ground there. So why delude yourself to think there is? We're talking about fundamentals here. They are either loyal to Western ideals or they are loyal to Islam. Some may try to play it both ways, but they are fundamentally dishonest with themselves for doing so.

I do not see how reform is possible without a wholesale rewrite of the koran. A good start point would be rewriting the part where 'infidels' are second class citizens and to be treated as such. Islam is an institutionalized apartheid.

And you'll take lies to mask that fact any day? hmmm.