Islam’s forced conversions

If you have read the news at all lately, you know there’s a furor going on in the Muslim world due to the Pope quoting a 14th-century emperor about Islam’s converting people by the sword. (The full text of the Pope’s speech is at that link; I read it, and it’s quite a speech. The quote is a tiny portion of it and by no means the most important part.)

The Muslim world is busy protesting that there is no such thing as forced conversions. Muslims simply don’t do that, you understand.

Funny how short the world’s memory is. Or did you already forget the two kidnapped Fox reporters who were forced by their captors to convert to Islam?

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Two FOX News journalists were released by their kidnappers Sunday, nearly two weeks after they were taken hostage in the Gaza Strip.

[…] Both of the men were forced to convert to Islam at gunpoint, Centanni said.

“We were forced to convert to Islam at gunpoint,” Centanni told FOX News. “Don’t get me wrong here. I have the highest respect for Islam, and I learned a lot of good things about it, but it was something we felt we had to do because they had the guns, and we didn’t know what the hell was going on.”

The New York Times covered it.

CNN covered it.

Forbes covered it.

USA Today covered it.

The AP covered it.

Time covered it.

The Christian Science Monitor covered it.

Reuters covered it. They even quote the “conversion” video.

The two men were shown separately sitting cross-legged, reading statements announcing that they had converted to Islam. At times in the video they were wearing long Muslim robes.

“I changed my name to Khaled. I have embraced Islam and say the word Allah,” Centanni said.

Funny how people seem to forget the details of this case, which ended a little more than two weeks ago.

At the same time, before the journalists’ release, a new video was released, showing Wiig and Centanni dressed in beige Arab-style robes. Wiig, of New Zealand, delivered an anti-Western speech, his face expressionless and his tone halting. The kidnappers claimed both men had converted to Islam.

The journalists had been seized in Gaza City on Aug. 14 by a previously unknown group calling itself the Holy Jihad Brigades. However, senior Palestinian security officials said Sunday the name was a front for local militants, and that Palestinian authorities had known the identity of the kidnappers from the start.

The Muslim world, which is now loudly proclaiming that there is no coercion in Islam, stayed silent when the two Fox reporters were freed. They stayed silent when the reporters told the world that they were forced to convert to Islam at gunpoint.

The Muslim world also seems unable to notice things like Al Qaeda telling Americans to convert to Islam or die. Oh, true, Adam Goddam, or whatever his last name is, didn’t exactly say we’d die, but the implication was clear:

“Instead of killing yourself for Bush … why not surrender to the truth (of Islam), escape from the unbedlieving army and join the winning side. Time is running out so make the right choice before it’s too late,” he said.

[…] “You know that if you die as an unbeliever in battle against the Muslims you’re going straight to Hell without passing ‘Go,”‘ Gadahn said, addressing American soldiers. “You know you’re considered by Bush and his bunch of warmongers as nothing more than expendible cannon fodder … You know they couldn’t care less about your safety and well-being.”

“We send a special invitation (to convert to Islam) to all of you fighting Bush’s crusader pipedream in Afghanistan, Iraq and wherever else ‘W’ has sent you to die. You know the war can’t be won,” he said, using Bush’s nickname.

And again, the Muslim world proves it is impervious to irony, as it protests—violently—that Islam is not a violent religion. In the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, five churches have come under attack. These are the people the PC(USA) and other churches support, insisting these palestinians would be the most peaceful of people, if it weren’t for the “occupation.” Yes, we see how peaceful and tolerant they are to their Christian neighbors when push comes to shove.

Palestinians wielding guns and firebombs attacked five churches in the West Bank and Gaza on Saturday, following remarks by Pope Benedict XVI that angered many Muslims.

Firebombings left black scorch marks on the walls and windows of Nablus’ Anglican and Greek Orthodox churches. At least five firebombs hit the Anglican church and its door was later set ablaze. Smoke billowed from the church as firefighters put out the flames.

For a religion of peace, it sure has a lot of violent demonstrations. Or maybe that’s just my Western blindness to other cultures kicking in.