ProStockJunkie
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Backlash Overdue
Posted Tuesday, August 14, 2007 4:30 PM PT
Surrender: Scotland's National Health Services employees have been told not to eat at their desks next month so they won't offend fasting Muslims. We regret to report this is not an isolated case of Euro cave-in.
In an e-mail "to all senior managers, giving guidance on religious tolerance," the Scotsman said Monday, the NHS Equality and Diversity Officer — a title that alone tells a story — has asked that staff members refrain from eating at their desks, forgo working lunches and make sure that food trolleys are not left in areas where Muslims work.
Why? It will soon be Ramadan, an Islamic observance beginning in September during which Muslims fast for 30 days.
We have a hard time imagining the NHS or any other European government agency carving out special dispensations for Christians who don't eat meat on Fridays or fast during Lent.
What about prayer time for Christians in this nominal Christian nation? Muslims, whose feelings are being protected as if they are an endangered species, have been granted breaks to pray.
Despite appearances to the contrary, sensible people can still be found in Europe.
"Frankly, this advice, well meaning as it may be, is total nonsense," Bill Aitken, speaking for the Scottish Conservative Justice Party, told the Scotsman. "This is the sort of thing that can stir up resentments rather than result in good relations."
That is exactly what the forces of diversity, tolerance and political correctness, so busy feeling morally superior, don't understand.
As we said, this is not an isolated case. While the Scottish NHS grovels before Islam, across the North Sea in Belgium the mayor of Brussels is refusing to let a group demonstrate on Sept. 11 — remember that date? — against the introduction of Sharia laws in Europe.
This is not Nazis marching on Skokie, Ill., but Europeans from Great Britain, Germany and Denmark who are alarmed by the Islamization of their homelands. They want to take their protest through the streets of Brussels to the European Parliament, where they will stop and honor the 9/11 victims with a moment of silence.
Clearly, they are being singled out.
The Brussels Journal, a blog of European journalists and writers, reports that Brussels receives 500 and 600 protest applications a year and "with very few exceptions permission is always granted. In the past five years only six applications were turned down."
Mayor Freddy Thielemans, however, is saying no; he fears there will be violence between marchers and local Muslims, which isn't exactly a confirmation that Islam is the "religion of peace."
There might be more to the story, though. The Brussels Journal says Thielemans "is an atheist who is fond of Muslims, not because he respects religious people, but because he hates Christians."
He even publicly celebrated the news of Pope John Paul II's death, the Journal reports.
But Brussels' socialist mayor doesn't have the last word. He can be overruled by the Belgian Council of State. For the sake of free speech, the right to assemble and Europe's future, we hope he is.
Posted Tuesday, August 14, 2007 4:30 PM PT
Surrender: Scotland's National Health Services employees have been told not to eat at their desks next month so they won't offend fasting Muslims. We regret to report this is not an isolated case of Euro cave-in.
In an e-mail "to all senior managers, giving guidance on religious tolerance," the Scotsman said Monday, the NHS Equality and Diversity Officer — a title that alone tells a story — has asked that staff members refrain from eating at their desks, forgo working lunches and make sure that food trolleys are not left in areas where Muslims work.
Why? It will soon be Ramadan, an Islamic observance beginning in September during which Muslims fast for 30 days.
We have a hard time imagining the NHS or any other European government agency carving out special dispensations for Christians who don't eat meat on Fridays or fast during Lent.
What about prayer time for Christians in this nominal Christian nation? Muslims, whose feelings are being protected as if they are an endangered species, have been granted breaks to pray.
Despite appearances to the contrary, sensible people can still be found in Europe.
"Frankly, this advice, well meaning as it may be, is total nonsense," Bill Aitken, speaking for the Scottish Conservative Justice Party, told the Scotsman. "This is the sort of thing that can stir up resentments rather than result in good relations."
That is exactly what the forces of diversity, tolerance and political correctness, so busy feeling morally superior, don't understand.
As we said, this is not an isolated case. While the Scottish NHS grovels before Islam, across the North Sea in Belgium the mayor of Brussels is refusing to let a group demonstrate on Sept. 11 — remember that date? — against the introduction of Sharia laws in Europe.
This is not Nazis marching on Skokie, Ill., but Europeans from Great Britain, Germany and Denmark who are alarmed by the Islamization of their homelands. They want to take their protest through the streets of Brussels to the European Parliament, where they will stop and honor the 9/11 victims with a moment of silence.
Clearly, they are being singled out.
The Brussels Journal, a blog of European journalists and writers, reports that Brussels receives 500 and 600 protest applications a year and "with very few exceptions permission is always granted. In the past five years only six applications were turned down."
Mayor Freddy Thielemans, however, is saying no; he fears there will be violence between marchers and local Muslims, which isn't exactly a confirmation that Islam is the "religion of peace."
There might be more to the story, though. The Brussels Journal says Thielemans "is an atheist who is fond of Muslims, not because he respects religious people, but because he hates Christians."
He even publicly celebrated the news of Pope John Paul II's death, the Journal reports.
But Brussels' socialist mayor doesn't have the last word. He can be overruled by the Belgian Council of State. For the sake of free speech, the right to assemble and Europe's future, we hope he is.
