Timothy R. Furnish: On Osama Bin Laden’s ‘Letter to America’

Tim Furnish pens a sober critique of Osama bin Laden's 'Letter to America', and reveals how OBL's western supporters don't realize what they're cheering for.  

A Letter to My Sons And Their College Classmates on Osama Bin Laden’s ‘Letter to America’

Or, Why My Sons Won't Buy TikTok's Bin Laden Worship

By TIMOTHY FURNISH , The Stream

Published on November 21, 2023


To my sons (and their fellow college students):

By now you’ll have seen Osama Bin Laden’s 2002 “Letter to America” being promoted on TikTok. I don’t use that platform, so I learned of it from news stories. This morning I watched some TikTokers’ responses. Then I re-read OBL’s dispatch. Allow me to share my reactions to both.

TikTokers’ Takes

The clips I saw were the ones posted on X by Yashar Ali on November 15, 7:08 PM. A blonde woman led off, saying she was “ashamed” she’d never known of or read UBL’s letter before now. It left her “disillusioned,” feeling the same way she did when “deconstructing Christianity.” Like all the other TikTokers, she recommended everyone read it.

Next up was a black woman who said UBL’s words caused her an “existential crisis.” And that after reading it she “would never look at life the same way again.” Her entire worldview “changed in the last 20 minutes.”

Another black woman followed, expressing much the same sentiments. Then a wild-haired white man raged against “settler colonialism.” And how anyone resisting it was deemed a terrorist. The next TikTokker was another black woman. She dropped numerous f-bombs, then ended with blaming the mass murders of 9/11 on “our nation” having “failed other nations.” And said that UBL showed her how “deeply propaganda is embedded in our DNA.”

Another black woman simply recommended, between deep sighs, that everyone “go read it.” A pensive white woman was then shown, with the label “mood since reading Osama’s ‘Letter to America:’ rethinking things I grew up learning.” A black man then declaimed, simply, “I read Osama bin Laden’s letter to America.”

Then a Muslim woman appeared. “The way this letter is going viral right now is giving me the greatest sense of relief.” Also, “if you’re Muslim and you’ve lived in the US since 9/11, you know more truth than the typical citizen.” The last clip was of another white woman, under the heading “you just read Bin Laden’s letter to America and notice the media is trying to bury it.”

Why Race Matters Here

Why did I note the races of these OBL enthusiasts? Remember, one of you asked me recently why college professors obsess about race. I told you that it’s because so many of them are so far left. And such Marxists have replaced class struggle with race conflict. Which they have turned into a global issue, not just an American one.

And the biggest component of that is their “Red-Green Alliance,” Marxists allying with Muslims, both here (mainly in universities) and abroad. Although the former would be promptly dispatched, legally and probably literally, if the latter took power. So the professors pretend that isn’t true. And their students never learn any different. But trotting out a diverse cast of sympathetic TikTokers is part of the “progressive” plan in this regard. Differing skin hues cover over a multitude of Marxist-Muslim cognitive dissonance.

So are these al-Qaeda admirers on to something? Has the West really been ignoring OBL’s pearls of wisdom for two decades? Let’s take a look.

Leading, and Closing, With the Quran

First, note that OBL opens and closes with Quranic passages. Five of them mandate fighting against “disbelievers.” The other three predict the victory of Islam over all other religions, via “martyrdom.” Which actually means dying to kill others, not the Christian idea of accepting death in the name of Christ. I wonder why TikToker #1 can’t deconstruct Islam, as she says she did Christianity. OBL then gives his version of why “we are fighting and opposing you.” Followed by “what do we want from you?”

The Christian Response to Hamas' Jihad Terror: Jerusalem Patriarch offers to be exchanged for Gaza hostages

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (JN 15:13)

Jerusalem Catholic Patriarch offers to be exchanged for Gaza hostages

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa made his comment in response to a question during a video conference with journalists in Italy.

By The Jerusalem Post via REUTERS  |  OCTOBER 16, 2023

Pope Francis' representative in the Holy Land said on Monday he was willing to exchange himself for Israeli children taken hostage by Hamas and held in Gaza.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, made his comment in response to a question during a video conference with journalists in Italy.

"I am ready for an exchange, anything, if this can lead to freedom, to bring the children home. No problem. There is total willingness on my part," he said.

"The first thing to do is to try to win the release of the hostages, otherwise there will be no way of stopping (an escalation). We are willing to help, even me personally," he said.

He stressed, however, that he and his office had not yet had any direct contact with Hamas, the terrorist group that attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,300 people.

"You can't talk to Hamas. It is very difficult," he said.

About 200 people were taken hostage and about a dozen of them are believed to be children.

Pizzaballa oversees Roman Catholic activities in Israel and the Palestinian territories as well as Jordan and Cyprus, a region which is home to an estimated 300,000 Roman Catholics.

Read the full article... 

PHOTO CREDIT:

• Msgr. Pierbattista Pizzaballa the day of his episcopal consecration
• Giovanni Zennaro, via Wikimedia Commons

NEVER FORGET? The Holocaust yearns to return, by Hamas and its Jew-hating Western allies

The world has been shocked and ripped raw in grief and horror as Hamas Muslim jihadists attacked and killed, raped, and kidnapped Israelis, targeting women and children. The beheading of many of them, a central fixture in Islamic terrorism, has been confirmed. Islam is revealed once again in its full depravity, the spawn of Muhammad, the deviant false prophet and warlord.

By their own words: Muslim groups and Leftists support Hamas and Jihad Terrorism against Israel and Jews

Hamas top dog quotes Qur’an, tells Muslims to ‘kill them wherever you find them’

Fatah quotes Qur’an as it calls on ‘Palestinians’ to ‘slaughter everyone who is Israeli, by Allah, this is jihad’

Leftists Come Out in Support of Hamas Massacres, Send Money to Palestinians

CNN’s Tapper: Last Few Days Really Eye-Opening to ‘Antisemitism on the Left’

Black Lives Matter Organization Shows Support for Hamas Amid Terror Attack on Israel

‘Free Palestine’ Rally in Dearborn, Michigan, Cheers Hamas

Rod Dreher, from his Substack:

The mindless and simplistic Oppressor/Oppressed binary has led so many of that generation [Gen Z], steeped in wokeness, to lose their moral compass. The same people who took to the streets to protest the police killing of a drug addict named George Floyd have no problem with people taking to the streets to cheer on the terrorist killing of 1,300 Jewish civilians in the highest one-day Jewish death toll since the closing of the Nazi death camps.

Think about that.

Dr. Timothy Furnish: 'Hamas, Iran’s Bloodthirsty Sock Puppet'

Here is an excellent primer on Hamas' bloody, barbaric Islamic Jihad terrorist attack against Israel, from noted Islam scholar and author Timothy Furnish:


Hamas, Iran’s Bloodthirsty Sock Puppet

By TIMOTHY FURNISH | The Stream | October 9, 2023

Hamas has murdered, so far, over 600 Israeli civilians in its new war. Only the War of Independence (1948-49) and the Second Intifada (2000-05) killed more non-combatants. In addition, over 400 Palestinians have died. Both sides are sure to lose more. Especially the Gaza Palestinians. Because Israel’s wrath is kindled. And with good reason.

Hamas: Elected Terrorists

What is Hamas? It’s the Palestinian branch of the global Muslim Brotherhood. The name is actually an acronym from Arabic. Harakat al-Muqawamah al-Islamiyah, “Movement of the Islamic Resistance.” Founded in 1987, Hamas won the Palestinian elections in 2006. But it lost control of the West Bank to the non-jihadist Palestinian National Authority (PNA). Relegated to the tiny Gaza Strip, Hamas has spent the past 17 years periodically attacking Israel. It’s one of the 55 Islamic terrorist groups in the world (81% of the total). The vast majority of which are Sunni.

Iran: the Puppeteer

However, Hamas and some Sunni groups, like the related Palestinian Islamic Jihad, are supported by staunchly Twelver Shi`i Iran. Since the 1979 “Islamic Revolution” the ayatollahs fancy themselves leading a global Islamic insurgency. Not merely sponsoring terrorism. But insurgency against what, exactly? Against the West in general. And the United States in particular. Why? Because European-American civilization has dominated the globe for 500 years. In the past, Muslims saw the West as pushing Christianity on others. Now, it’s seen as imposing godless secularism and the LGBTQIA+ agenda. (Orthodox Christian Russia and officially Communist China also see the post-modern West as overbearing. Which is why the three civilizational blocs often cooperate against the U.S.)

The Little Satan is Closer

So what’s that have to do with Israel? Fundamentalist Sunnis and Shi`is agree on one thing, at least. That the Jewish state is the tip of the Western spear, embedded in the Muslim Middle East. A “foreign body” that must be expelled. Sunni Usama bin Ladin often referred to the “Crusader-Zionist” alliance. The Shi`i ayatollahs now say the same. But unlike UBL, they’re loathe to directly attack the Great Satan. Besides, it’s the Far (Away) Enemy. So they provide funding and weapons — especially rockets—to attack the Little Satan. Which is a convenient Near Enemy.

How Hamas’ War Benefits Iran

What do Iranian zealots get out of goading, if not directing, such horrible Hamas attacks at this juncture? Five benefits, in ascending order of importance.

First, a thumb in the eye of the Biden Administration, which recently “released” $6 billion to the Islamic Republic, to ransom hostages. Earmarked, say Bidenistas, only for “humanitarian purposes.” The ayatollahs are laughing all the way to the weapons market.

Second, sparking a major conflict in the Middle East gets Ukraine off the front page. This helps Russia, one of Iran’s patrons.

Third, the war makes the planned Turkish-Israeli rapproachment untenable.

Fourth, it scuttles the possible Saudi-Israeli normalization. Neither Turkish President Erdoğan nor Saudi ruler Muhammad bin Salman can meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Not when the IDF is leveling Palestinian buildings. With people inside.

Finally, there are some in Tehran obsessed with eschatology. These want to hotwire the apocalypse. Which means what? Destroying Israel in order to spark the return of the Twelfth Imam, the messianic Mahdi. In this view “the annihilation of the Zionist regime is one of the preconditions for the arrival of the Mahdi.” Iran’s President, and probable next Supreme Leader, is almost certainly of this mindset, too.

Hamas: Jihadist or Joker?

What does Hamas get out of this bloodletting? Many of its members will get a one-way ticket to the afterlife. Unfortunately, many of them have been convinced that they will be rewarded by Allah there with sensual delights. Instead, they will be punished by the true God for their evil deeds. Hamas’ jihadists truly exemplify that “some men just want to watch the world burn.”

Much more in the full article at The Stream...

Leo Hohmann: 'Attack on Israel activates ‘zero hour’ around the world, and America is not immune'

From noted independent journalist Leo Hohmann:

"This single event in Israel has triggered [Muslim rallies in support of Hamas] in America’s largest cities, New York City, Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Muslims are also celebrating in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran and Turkey (a NATO member), and they will launch more attacks on Jews and Christians around the world."

"...It would be a mistake to view what happened in Israel as something 'over there'. It can and will happen here. In the U.S. and many European countries, the hordes are not standing at the gates, they’re inside the gates, waiting for their zero-hour event. This may be it."

Globalists open second front in World War III: Attack on Israel activates ‘zero hour’ around the world, and America is not immune

LeoHohmann.com  |  10/8/2023

In the realm of geopolitical events, things are almost never as they appear.

The messaging being sent by the media is no longer mere “news.” What we receive from them are carefully crafted narratives meant to advance certain agendas. The same event, in fact, can carry multiple narratives often diametrically opposed to each other because the narratives are tailored to specific audiences and loaded with explosive words and images meant to trigger emotions in those audiences depending on their prior conditioning.

And the devastating attack on Israel Friday night was no exception.

The “what” cannot be debated – over 600 Israeli citizens were slaughtered and more than 2,000 injured in a brazen and brutal attack by Hamas terrorists. More than 100 other Israelis, including an Israeli military general, were captured and are being held as hostages.

But the “why” and the “how” – as in why now and how did they get away with it – will be less understood by the average American who’s more interested in who wins the Packers’ game this Sunday or how long Taylor Swift will retain her latest boyfriend.

Raymond Ibrahim: "The genocide of Armenians at the hands of Turkic peoples has reached a new level"

Several genocide watchdog organizations are accusing Azerbaijan of committing genocide against the 120,000 Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Read the below article on the horrific and multilayered background story of this genocide, and contact your congressman and senator to express support for the Armenians.

Starvation: ‘The Invisible Genocide Weapon’

by Raymond Ibrahim, originally published at the Gatestone Institute

The thousand-year-old genocide of Armenians at the hands of Turkic peoples has reached a new level.

Several watchdog organizations—including the Association of Genocide Scholars,  Genocide Watch, and the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention—are accusing Azerbaijan of committing genocide against the 120,000 Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh.  Historically known as Artsakh, this ancient Armenian region was annexed by and brought under Azerbaijani rule in 2020.

Modern day hostilities between Armenia, an ancient nation and the first to adopt Christianity, and Azerbaijan, a Muslim nation that was created in 1918, began in September 2020, when Azerbaijan launched a war to claim Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).  Although it had been Armenian for over two thousand years, and still remains 90% Armenian, after the dissolution of the USSR, the “border makers” granted it to Azerbaijan, hence the constant warring over this region. (See “15 Artsakh War Myths Perpetuated By Mainstream Media.”)

Once the September 2020 war began, Turkey quickly joined its Azerbaijani co-religionists against Armenia, though the dispute clearly did not concern it.  It dispatched  sharia-enforcing “jihadist groups” from Syria and Libya—including the pro-Muslim Brotherhood Hamza Division, which once kept naked women chained and imprisoned—to terrorize and slaughter the Armenians.

One of these captured mercenaries later confessed that he was “promised a monthly $2,000 payment for fighting against ‘kafirs’ in Artsakh, and an extra 100 dollar[s] for each beheaded kafir.” (Kafir, often translated as “infidel,” is Arabic for any non-Muslim who fails to submit to Islam, which makes them de facto enemies.)

All these Muslim groups committed massive atrocities (see here and here), including by raping an Armenian female soldier and mother of three, before hacking off all four of her limbs, gouging her eyes, and mockingly sticking one of her severed fingers inside her private parts.

The war ended in November 2020, with Azerbaijan claiming a significant portion of Artsakh.

Then, on December 12, 2022, Azerbaijan sealed off the humanitarian Lachin Corridor—the only route between Artsakh and the outside world.  A recent report by Dutch journalist, Sonja Dahlmans, summarizes the situation since:

Dr. Timothy R. Furnish: 'There You Go Again with “White Supremacy,” Joe Biden'

A helpful selection of articles by Timothy Furnish, contributing author at The Stream, proving the complete falsehood of President Biden's revisionist narrative of homeland security and terrorist threats. Hint, the real threat is not cis-heteronormative white males playing guitar in the woods.


There You Go Again with “White Supremacy,” Joe Biden

Dr. Timothy R. Furnish, The Occidental Jihadist, May 21, 2023

Ronald Reagan had many great lines. “There you go again” was one of his best, and most-used. Against Carter in 1980, Mondale in 1984, and probably every time Sam Donaldson shouted one of his inane questions.

We Reagan epigones can find no better target for The Great Communicator’s velvety barb than the current POTUS and his incessant, inveterate yammering about “white supremacy.” Just last week, at Howard University, The Grey Prevaricator once again claimed that “the most dangerous terrorist threat to our homeland is white supremacy.”

Yes, even given that agreeing on lies is how the Democrats do history now, this constant untruth is not only appalling but injurious to the body politic. And rather than deconstruct Biden’s mendacious malarkey yet again, allow me to list, and link to, my numerous previous articles over at The Stream which do so. In these you’ll find not just opinion, but terrorism data that demonstrates the ludicrousness of Biden’s propaganda.

“The False Shadow of Domestic Extremism” (September 14, 2022)

“Our Government: Gone to the Dogs?” (April 11, 2022)

“Gaslighting the Gullible: the Latest Biden Administration Counter-Terrorism Plan” (January 18 2022)

“Biden’s New Counter-Terrorism Strategy: A Lying, Dog-faced, Pony Soldier of a Document” (June 30, 2021)

“White Supremacists Our Most Dangerous Threat? A Whiter Shade of Tall Tale” (May 4, 2021)

“The Boulder Blunder: Ignoring Real Terror Sources to Chase Phantom Threats” (March 25, 2021)

“The Daft Bigotry of Woke Expectations about Islam” (January 26, 2021)

And the first, and probably best, one I wrote on this topic: “White Terrorists v. the Sultans of Slaughter” (August 13, 2019)

Raymond Ibrahim: 'Can We Ally with Muslims against the Sexual Indoctrination of Children?'

Raymond Ibrahim looks at recent Muslim protests against LGBT and Leftist/Democrat Groomers trying to sexualize and corrupt children, and asks: "Are Muslims, due to some 'inherent' conservatism, the natural leaders of any U.S. resistance to state-sanctioned sexual indoctrination? Or is there more to all this than meets the eye?"

The answer is complicated and requires caution.


Can We Ally with Muslims against the Sexual Indoctrination of Children?

by Raymond Ibrahim, 7/10/2023, The Stream

Muslims are clearly resistant to the indoctrination of children in sexual deviancy—a phenomenon that goes under various euphemisms and acronyms I deign not employ (“pride,” “inclusivity,” lgb-whatever).

As such, are Muslims the long-awaited heroes who will save America’s children? Many conservatives seem to think so—and for good reason.

For example, last October, 2022, havoc broke out during a schoolboard meeting in Dearborn, when hundreds of mostly Muslim parents protested the circulation of sexually deviant books in the city’s school system. Many protesters carried signs in both English and Arabic, some saying: “Keep Your Dirty Books in the Closet,” “Stop Grooming Our Kids,” and “Homosexuality Big Sin.”

More recently, in Ottawa, Canada, soon after it was revealed that a schoolteacher had berateda Muslim student for merely trying to skip classes dedicated to celebrating sexual deviancy (“pride activities”), a group of Muslim children, encouraged by a woman in hijab, appeared in a protest stomping on so-called “pride” flags. When asked what message they wanted to send, the hijabed woman said, “Leave our kids alone!” The shirt of one of the boys had an even more ominous warning: “Now or Never.”

On June 6, yet another Muslim-led protest of some 400 people took place in Montgomery County, Maryland, where schools recently decided that children can no longer opt out of sexual indoctrination.

Clearly, then, if most American—including Christian—parents are passively open to the sexual grooming of their children, Muslims are not.

That said, on June 6, the same day of the Montgomery protest, but on the other coast of America, the most dramatic of all protests—one that spiraled into an all-out brawl against Antifa—broke out in Glendale, California. There, more parents—with more signs saying “Leave Our Children Alone!”—protested this same new law that prevents them from opting their children out of sexual indoctrination.

Those parents, however, were not Muslim—far from it—but rather Armenians, Orthodox Christians, who, due to their proximity to and experiences with Muslim neighbors, have little love for Islam.

What to make of all this? Are Muslims, due to some “inherent” conservatism, the natural leaders of any U.S. resistance to state-sanctioned sexual indoctrination? Or is there more to all this than meets the eye?

Islam and Western Civilization: Pillar or Pillager?

From noted Roman Catholic author and Tolkien scholar, Joseph Pearce, comes a sharp rebuttal of the fallacious belief that Islam is somehow compatible with, and even central to, Western Civilization. Excerpt:

The seven pillars of Western Civilization are the edifying edifices which tower over the landscape of the centuries as a fortress of faith and a beacon of reason. Islam has served throughout the centuries as an outside force which has repeatedly laid siege to the fortress, seeking its overthrow.

Islam and Western Civilization

By Joseph Pearce| The Imaginative Conservative |January 28th, 2023


Several weeks ago I wrote an essay for this illustrious journal entitled “The Seven Pillars of Western Civilization” in which I listed the seven seminal tomes which form the textual foundation of the civilization of the West. These are The Iliad, The Odyssey, The Aeneid, The Bible, The City of God, the Summa Theologica and The Divine Comedy. Collectively, these texts epitomize why Western Civilization is founded on the three civilizations of Athens, Jerusalem and Rome.

This is not the place to offer explanations with respect to the rationale for why these seven texts were selected instead of other contenders. Those interested in understanding the reason for the selection are invited to read the original essay.

What surprised me was that several readers of the original essay admonished me for failing to include the Qur’an as one of the seven pillars of wisdom on which Western Civilization is built. This seems to beg the obvious question which I thought my essay had answered implicitly. What exactly is Western Civilization? If it is anything at all, it must be something rooted in a cohesive and coherent set of common values, which are themselves the fruit of cohesive and coherent theological and philosophical principles.

In brief and in sum, Western Civilization in its fullness and fruitfulness is a synonym for Christendom. [Emphasis added -ed.] It is the consummation of the mythological and philosophical musings of the Greeks and the fulfilment of the theological covenant of the Jews in the Person of Jesus Christ as made manifest in the Church He founded throughout the centuries since His Incarnation. The quest and questions of Athens and Jerusalem are fulfilled and answered in the Gospel as enunciated by the One who proclaims Himself to be the Way, the Truth and the Life. Christ incarnates the transcendental trinity of the Good, the True and the Beautiful in who He is.

If this is so, the Qur’an is not one of the foundational pillars of wisdom on which the West is built but is a subversive text which undermines those very foundations. If Christ is who He says He is, Muhammed is a false prophet. This is as logically inescapable as it is theologically obvious.

Raymond Ibrahim: 'The Never Ending ‘Pandemic’: 360 Million Christians Persecuted Worldwide'

 "Perhaps the most disturbing trend is that, since the inception of the World Watch List, the persecution of Christians has nearly doubled..."

The Never Ending ‘Pandemic’: 360 Million Christians Persecuted Worldwide

by Raymond Ibrahim, 2/8/2023

originally published at Gatestone Institute

In 2022, 5,621 Christian around the world were “killed for faith related reasons.”  Another 4,542 Christians were illegally detained or arrested, and 2,110 churches were attacked, many destroyed.  Over all, the global persecution of Christians remains higher than ever, with 360 million believers suffering high levels of discrimination and violence.

These are among some of the findings of the World Watch List-2023, which was recently published by the international humanitarian organization, Open Doors. Each year the report ranks the top 50 nations where Christians are most persecuted for their faith by using data from approximately 4,000 field workers and external experts to quantify and analyze persecution worldwide.

Crunching some numbers, the report finds that, on average, one in seven Christians (14%) are persecuted around the world. In Africa, that number grows to one in five (20%), while in Asia it is as much as two in five—meaning a whopping 40% of all Christians are persecuted there.

Christians suffer “extreme levels of persecution” in the top 11 of the 50 nations.  This ranges from being assaulted, raped, imprisoned or slaughtered on being identified as a Christian or attending (usually underground) churches.

Those nations and their respective rankings are: 1)      North Korea, 2) Somalia, 3) Yemen, 4) Eritrea, 5) Libya, 6) Nigeria, 7) Pakistan, 8) Iran, 9) Afghanistan, 10) Sudan, 11) India.

Coming in at #1, the absolute worst nation is North Korea, “with the highest levels of persecution ever seen,” says the report:

If discovered by the authorities, believers are either sent to labour camps as political prisoners where the conditions are atrocious, or killed on the spot—and their families will share their fate as well. Christians have absolutely no freedom….  A new ‘anti-reactionary thought law’ makes it amply clear that being a Christian or possessing a Bible is a serious crime and will be severely punished.

Most of the “extreme persecution” meted out to Christians in nine of the top 11 worst nations continues, however, to come either from Islamic oppression, or takes place in Muslim-majority nations. This means that approximately 80% of the absolute worst persecution around the globe takes place in the name of Islam.

Announcing a New Book on Islam from an Orthodox Christian Perspective

Respected writer and Orthodox Christian priest, Fr. Lawrence Farley, has announced his new book on Islam: Exploring Islam: A Christian Perspective on the Life of Muhammad and the Qur'an, available now from Sebastian Press.

Regular readers of this blog may remember Fr Lawrence from previous posts:

• Worshipping with Muslims? - "Our ultimate goal and divine mandate is not co-existence with Muslims but their conversion—as it is for all the children of men." 
• Saying 'AMEN' to the Canonization of the 21 Coptic Martyrs of Libya

In the article below, Fr Lawrence presents an introduction to his book, at one point stating his purpose: 

Scholarly research and impartial detailed examination of the history of Muhammad and his movement, and of the sayings he transmitted (eventually collected and published as “the Qur’an”) prove that the claims Islam makes for itself cannot be sustained. Wherever the truth about God lies, it is not here.

I have ordered a copy, and plan to provide a review after reading it. Given Fr Lawrence's previous articles, and his stated purpose in the below article, I look forward to what may be a helpful resource for Christians in presenting the Saving Gospel of Jesus Christ to our Muslim neighbors. 

Exploring Islam

February 16, 2023 | Fr. Lawrence Farley | No Other Foundation

I would like you all to meet a young woman, raised a devout Roman Catholic, who converted to Islam. Her online story reads in part as follows:

“I’m one of the many western converts out there… I grew up in a very traditional orthodox Christian household. My family was going to church and respecting all traditions, but it was mostly something they did out of habit, not something they actually felt… I could never agree with many concepts Christianity supports. I did try to accept it, I did want to be firm in my convictions, but it never happened…I had the best intentions in the world for any religion that came to me, but the one and only that stuck in my heart was Islam…The moment I started reading the Qur’an, I felt this incredible wave of love surrounding me and all the weight from my shoulders was lifted off. I will never be able to put it in words…Here I am after years, still a Muslim, and an incredibly grateful one. I was 18 when I converted.”

One can only feel for this young woman who by her own testimony never managed to find Christ. And one does wonder about the paths she trod as a Roman Catholic, especially since she also said that when she converted to Islam it was her priest who gave her a copy of the Qur’an. But I share her story in order to focus upon the need for the Church to deal with Islam here in the West. Though perhaps not typical, her story is hardly unique, and includes some big name converts such as Cat Stevens, who converted to Islam in 1976.

Islam is, to say the least, a very controversial religion. For some people, especially since the tragedy of 9-11, all Muslims are either terrorists or potential terrorists. For others, Islam is a religion of peace, and is unjustly slandered by Neanderthal “Islamophobes”. Obviously Islam, like any large religion, contains of number of very diverse people, and sweeping generalizations make things difficult. Where does the truth lie?

William Kilpatrick and Raymond Ibrahim: 'Defenders of Faith and Family'

William Kilpatrick's stirring, in-depth review of Raymond Ibrahim's newest book, is itself a vigorous rallying cry to defenders of Western Christian Culture against not merely Islamic supremacy or terrorism, but against the anti-Christian, anti-family and anti-human Progressive, Leftist agenda.

Defenders of Faith and Family

Like today’s leftists, the Ottoman Turks wanted to turn Christian children against their parents; but one man turned the tables on them.

by William Kilpatrick, Crisis Magazine

Christianity was saved in Europe solely because the peoples of Europe fought. If [Europeans]…had not possessed a military equality with, and gradually a growing superiority over the Mohammedans who invaded Europe, Europe would at this moment be Mohammedan and the Christian religion would be exterminated. 

—Theodore Roosevelt

I came across Roosevelt’s observation in Raymond Ibrahim’s recent book, Defenders of the West: The Christian Heroes who stood against Islam. At a time when Islam once again seems poised to conquer Europe—this time by dint of immigration and higher birthrates—Ibrahim’s book serves as a timely reminder that this clash of civilizations is far from over.

Defenders of the West focuses on eight individuals who fought against Islamic armies at various times in past centuries. Interestingly, Ibrahim himself can be considered a modern-day “defender of the West” or, more accurately, “defender of the faith.”

I say this because the faith can’t be effectively defended unless Christians first realize that it needs defending. Much of Ibrahim’s work concerns the oppression of Christians by Muslims all over the world but particularly in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East—a story that relatively few Western Christians are familiar with.

Ibrahim, of course, also writes about the continuing threat to the West—to Europe and the Americas. 

Links to provide Relief Aid to Victims of the Earthquakes in Turkey & Syria

From the Communication Office of the Assembly of Canonical Bishops,

h/t Monomakhos

The Assembly of Bishops’ international humanitarian relief agency, International Orthodox Christian Charities (“IOCC”), is mobilizing direct relief on the ground. They have set a goal of $250,000 to provide immediate emergency relief. Here are their direct links:

IOCC Main Website - Donation Portal

https://www.facebook.com/IOCCRelief/

https://www.instagram.com/ioccrelief/?hl=en

https://twitter.com/IOCCRelief/status/1622701679731679232?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet.

Raymond Ibrahim: 'Pope Benedict Told the Grim Truth about Islam'

"As if to validate the claim that Muhammad had only taught “evil and inhuman” things, when Benedict quoted this assertion, anti-Christian riots erupted around the Muslim world, churches were set aflame, and an Italian nun who had devoted her life to serving the sick and needy of Somalia was murdered there."

Pope Benedict Told the Grim Truth about Islam

01/16/2023 by Raymond Ibrahim

Originally published by The Stream

“Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”

In certain respects, this is the sentence that Pope Benedict XVI will be most remembered for. And while those who cite it do so to disparage and dishonor his memory—to portray him as an “Islamophobe”—that notorious assertion is of profound significance, and in more ways than one.

Pope Benedict read the above assertion on Sept. 12, 2006, during his Regensburg address on faith and reason. He was quoting Eastern Roman (or “Byzantine”) Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos (b. 1350-1425). An erudite and pious man, Manuel knew much about Islam, both abstractly and experientially.

In 1390, Manuel’s father, John V, submitted to becoming a vassal to, and sent his son, Manuel, as a hostage of, the Ottoman sultan, Bayezid I (1360-1403), whom the contemporary chronicler Doukas described as

"a feared man, precipitate in deeds of war, a persecutor of Christians as no other around him, and in the religion of the Arabs [Islam] a most ardent disciple of Muhammad, whose unlawful commandments were observed to the utmost, never sleeping, spending his nights contriving intrigues and machinations against the rational flock of Christ. . . . His purpose was to increase the nation of the Prophet and to decrease that of the Romans. Many cities and provinces did he add to the dominion of the Muslims."

Unsurprisingly, the sultan never seemed to miss an opportunity to humiliate the heir apparent of Constantinople. Bayezid even sadistically forced Manuel to accompany the Turks and witness the final destruction of Philadelphia, the last Christian bastion in Asia Minor. The “sight of destroyed Christian cities” produced much “intense suffering” and even “sickened” the prince, writes one historian.

One year later, in 1391, Emperor John V died, and his son, Manuel, became emperor—after escaping from the sultan’s court to Constantinople. It was not long before Bayezid declared a fresh jihad, put Constantinople to siege (1394-1402), and once again began slaughtering Christians.

Earlier, during his time with the Turks, Manuel had regularly debated religion with Muslims. It was then that he said to a learned Muslim, “Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”