When the truth shall not be uttered!

There are signs aplenty that a new dark age has started to dawn; and they are there for the observing! Our age is characterized by weakness, since the West is no longer sure of itself. It knows not whither it goes! We are engaged in belly-aching and navel-contemplation! Why? Because we doubt our own superiority as a civilization, doubt the faith upon which that civilization is underpinned, doubt that our long-held beliefs are valid anymore.

No civilization will survive like this; and we are the architects of our own destruction! This is the sad thing! We are creating our own weakness, so we, ourselves, are bringing forward the downfall of our own civilization. This is folly if ever I recognized it! We have become self-deprecating; so we apologize for ourselves! And in so doing, we try - oh, how we try! - to be fair to all. But beware! Churchill once said: The whole history of the world is summed up in the fact that when nations are strong, they are not always just, and when they wish to be just, they are no longer strong.

Closing down freedom of speech in the United Kingdom with the government's ill-conceived Race and Religious Hatred Bill will be one further step towards that age of darkness, since the truth shall no longer be utterable.

Yet, there is another sign of the impending dark age: Europe has abandoned its faith! Church pews are empty. Church leaders no longer proclaim their monopoly on their version of the truth of everlasting life. They spend their time discussing the rights and wrongs of homosexuality, and engage in interfaith conferences -conferences which can, in the long-run, only lead to a further dilution of the Christian faith. For there is no compromise to be with other faiths if you are sure of the truth, especially with Islam, since Islam is so uncompromising!

Islam is a confident religion, sure-footed, and determined: determined to rule the world! It is a competing civilization with ours, competing in every way imaginable. The advent of the petro-dollar has given the Islamic world a new lease on life. The result: The Islamic world is now in the ascendancy; and we are helping it along! We are in the descendency; and they are helping us along!

Because we have long since started the process of abandoning the religion that gave us so much, the religion that brought us to this level of civilization, the religion that brought us the art, the music, the science, the medical breakthroughs, the technology, the machinery, the high standards of living, the enlightenment (the list goes on and on and on!), people are searching - searching for meaning in their lives, searching for the spiritual, searching for fulfilment.

And where are they searching? They are searching where they will find nothingness - a void! For they are searching in New Age beliefs: horoscopes, the occult, the mysterious. There is a growth industry in Europe in these alternative belief systems. In Europe, it is not unusual to believe in the power of the moon! In the power of the stars! And in the power of much else besides.

Hokus pokus!

Many of us are a guilty of having a sneak peek at our horoscope reading for the day, week, month, or even the year ahead. But, when people are sensible, they should take these with a good pinch of salt. The alarming thing in Europe is this: many do not!

The decline of Christianity in Europe has brought with it a void which people are trying to fill. These New Age beliefs may tied people over for a time, but only until they come to realize that they are simply delving into entertaining nonsense! Drivel!

The great fear is that with Islam growing apace here in Europe, through immigration, a much-higher-than-average birthrate among the Muslim community, and through some inter-marriages and conversions, it will fill that void, and will then come to dominate the landscape. The signs of this happening are there now for all to observe. The numbers of Muslims in Europe are large, but, till now, they are still very much the minority; but oh how they have come to dominate the news! Scarcely a day goes by without some big story or other about Islam spread across the pages of our newspapers. If Islam gets this much coverage now, imagine what it is going to be like in twenty years' time! Imagine, too, how much coverage it's going to get if Turkey is allowed in to the EU!

But what will the growth of Islam in Europe and the West bring with it? This is the burning and important question!

Well, to start with, the growth of Islam will close down critical thinking. Why? Because people will not be allowed to search for the truth. In Islamic countries, anything that goes against Islam, or is said against Islam, is strictly forbidden, and punishable. This creates an atmosphere of fear, so people remain silent. Furthermore, if people are disallowed from uttering the truth, then they cease searching for it. What's the point in searching for the truth if you cannot utter it?

Searching for truth and inquiry are the basis of science. It is no coincidence that the Islamic world has contributed nothing much of lasting value to the scientific community for centuries. Nor has it contributed to art, because most forms of art are forbidden in Islam.

Discoveries in the Islamic world must prove the verity of Islam as the true faith. If anything is discovered that doesn't, it is hushed up and swept under the carpet.

This is no way for a society to be enlightened. This is the road to benightedness!

Then we have the ritual of prayer five times a day. Is this conducive to productivity and economic growth? In Saudi Arabia, at the present time, there are many, many graduates who wish for nothing other than to devote themselves to religious life! (Compare this with the numbers entering seminaries!) They wish to be state-funded imams. Will this be the next thing to come here to the West? Already, Sarkozy in France is advocating the state-funding of mosques!

These are troubling times indeed. Troubling, because we aren't vigilant, aren't confident, aren't convinced of our strong future.

Diffidence will be the arhitect of our destruction; self-confidence, the architect of the Islamic age!

©Mark Alexander