Italy

Europeans Increasingly Converting to Islam

Hudson New York 30 January 2012
By Soeren Kern

Irish actor Liam Neeson says he is thinking about becoming a Muslim after undergoing a spiritual awakening in Turkey.

Neeson, who was born into a Roman Catholic family in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, told the London-based newspaper The Sun that he was impressed by the religious atmosphere in Istanbul while filming a movie in the city.

He said: "The [Islamic] call to prayer happens five times a day, and for the first week, it drives you crazy, and then it just gets into your spirit, and it's the most beautiful, beautiful thing. There are 4,000 mosques in the city. Some are just stunning, and it really makes me think about becoming a Muslim."

 

International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation

worldandmedia.com 30 January 2012

6 February 2012

The International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation is observed each year to raise awareness about this practice.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) refers to all procedures involving partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons

 

"Clash Of Civilizations”: Spiritual, Not Intellectual

The Brussels Journal 20 January 2012
By A. Millar

The words "The Clash of Ideas” are splashed across the cover of the special anniversary issue of Foreign Affairs this month. This is of course a play on the "clash of civilizations” narrative that

 

International Freedom Organizations Unite to Create Stop Islamization of Nations (SION)

British Freedom 19 January 2012

The human rights organizations Stop Islamization of America (SIOA) and Stop Islamisation of Europe (SIOE) are joining together to create a new global force determined to defend free societies globally: Stop Islamization of Nations (SION).

 

"Are You a Hatemonger? I Don't Believe in Promoting Hatred"

Citizen Warrior 18 January 2012

This is another installation in our series, Answers to Objections. When you criticize Islam, you may very well be accused of being a "hater," as if telling people about basic Islamic doctrines means you advocate hatred toward Muslims as the solution. And nobody likes a hater, or wants to be one.

This objection is fairly easy to answer. Here are three possible ways to respond:

 

Are you an Islamophobe?

British Freedom 18 January 2012

Are you an Islamophobe? Take this simple test designed by Lorna Salzman.

Do you favor equal rights and treatment of women and men?
Do you oppose stoning of women accused of adultery?
Do you favor mandatory education of girls everywhere?

 

In Europe, free speech ends where Islam begins

The Korea Times 17 January 2012
By Clifford D. May

It's funny in an Orwellian way that in Europe there are now militant groups with such cutesy names as Sharia4Belgium and Sharia4Holland. Less funny, but perhaps more Orwellian: Last month, the European Foundation for Democracy (EFD) held an event in Amsterdam featuring two speakers who favor liberalizing Islam.

 

Criminalizing Religious Criticism: UN Resolution Threatens Freedom of Speech

Crosswalk.com 16 January 2012
By Kristin Butler

A new resolution introduced at the United Nations Human Rights Council has free speech advocates concerned about a potential backlash against religious minority groups. Previously introduced as Resolution 62/154, "Combating defamation of religion,” the piece was originally written to criminalize the criticism of religion. Advocates worried that the resolution would, at best, limit freedom of speech, and at worst, jeopardize religious minorities in countries carrying heavy punishments for blasphemy and apostasy.

 

Kosovo: Risk of radical Islam, says ambassador to Italy

EMG 12 January 2012
By Cristiana Missori

Four years on from its independence, Kosovo is attempting to reaffirm its native traditions and is calling on the West for help to avoid being swallowed by the slow advance of radical Islam, which is

 

Counterterrorism Tools: How To Report Violent Jihad Videos on YouTube

British Freedom 9 January 2012

Conservative opinions? Be careful what you say… Islamic jihad? That’ll do nicely.

The weekend’s in full swing and so are the jihadi video makers. Time for our regular visit to the Google/ YouTube Hall of Shame, checking out the Islamic terrorist video war porn that the Mountain View gazillionaires allow to proliferate on the world’s number one video sharing site.

 

The hidden blueprint of freedom: Free societies don't appear out of thin air

teamfreedom 5 January 2012
By Anton Pototschnik and Thomas Pototschnik

Why do we have unique personal freedoms and opportunities in Europe?

This book reveals the hidden blueprint of freedom, which is the basis for every free society in human history. Are we losing our freedoms again? The book illustrates developments in history which led to the loss of personal freedom and rights.

It shows alarming similarities to our current situation: disenchantment with politics, the formation of parallel societies, continuous economic crises and so forth.With the hidden blueprint of freedom you hold the key to the understanding of these complex relations.

 

A Muslim Apostate’s Defense of the West

FrontPage Magazine 3 January 2012
By Bruce Bawer

Ibn Warraq? is the pseudonymous, Pakistani-born author of the modern classic Why I Am Not a Muslim and the writer or editor of several other estimable books about Muhammed, the Koran, Islamic culture, Muslim apostates, and Western civilization. Surely few people know as much as he does about both the West and Islam. Therefore I was more than eager to read his new book, Why the West Is Best: A Muslim Apostate’s Defense of Liberal Democracy.

Naturally, I expected something wise and incisive and steeped in learning – and I wasn’t disappointed. But what I hadn’t counted on was how fresh, original, delightfully inspired, and emotionally stirring Warraq’s approach to his topic would be. Take his first chapter, which is about New York, a city he views as "a testament to the robustness of Western culture and to its welcoming catholicity.” Warraq’s goal here is to help us to see a Western metropolis through the eyes of a person from, say, the Islamic world, and thus recognize the magnificence of things so familiar to us that we may take them for granted.

 

What Non-Muslims Can Do About Islam

Citizen Warrior 2 January 2012

NOT ONLY ARE are some people killing non-Muslims in the name of Islam (in impressive numbers) but some are doing something less newsworthy but potentially more disconcerting: Demanding and gaining concessions from non-Muslims, and slowly encroaching on democratic freedoms with the end-goal of establishing Sharia law in Western democracies (and already succeeding). This must be stopped and your help is needed.

 
 

Political Correctness - Our Titanic

Family Security Matters 2 January 2012
By Leslie Sacks

Pandering will sink us, will weaken our foundations and our unique culture; a culture of tolerance yet of logic, of equality but also of independence. It is our behavior (and not our thoughts)

 

Multiculturalism is the wrong concept

Lancaster Eagle Gazette 2 January 2012
By Richard Scamehorn

This is the first of a two-part series about inter-civilizational immigration There is a global migration, particularly from poorer nations to the wealthier -- usually to western countries -- that

 

Why the West Is Best: A Muslim Apostate’s Defense of Liberal Democracy

PJ Media 16 December 2011
By Phyllis Chesler

The legendary Ibn Warraq is my dear friend. I decided to review his new and very excellent book Why the West is Best: A Muslim Apostate’s Defense of Liberal Democracy and to interview him here as well.

But let’s be clear from the outset. I am reviewing his book not because he is my friend. Rather, he is my friend because he writes great and important books. He is someone with whom I can share serious and witty conversations; he may very well be the best-read man I know. His familiarity with a vast array of fields is truly astounding and a great consolation (at least to me) in our world of apps and pads and short attention spans. He is supremely knowledgeable about philosophy, Islamic and Western art, music, theater, architecture, and literature, both sacred and secular.

 

Italy, Austria team up against undocumented migrants

timesofmalta.com 5 December 2011

Italy and Austria plan to step up the fight against undocumented migrants and crime along their shared border, their interior ministers said after a meeting in Rome today. "Both ministers agreed

 

Support for Establishing Islamic Schools in Europe

ABNA.co 28 November 2011

At the close of its proceedings in Madrid, the academic meeting on developing Quranic institutes curricula in Europe recommended the establishment of Islamic schools in Europe under European

 

Scholars look to Bosnian Islam as a potential model for Europe

Deutsche Welle 28 November 2011

Since the September 11 terrorist attacks, a debate in Europe has heated up over the compatibility of Islam with secular, Western society. Scholars meeting in Stuttgart took a fresh look at the

 
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