Maverick Philosopher

Footnotes to Plato from the foothills of the Superstition Mountains

Category: Islamism

  • “No Religious Test”

    In Article VI of the U. S. Constitution we read: . . . no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States. Does it follow that the U. S. Constitution allows a Muslim citizen who supports sharia (Islamic law) to run for public office?…

  • Time for a Moratorium on Immigration from Muslim Lands?

    And now San Bernardino.  It is surely 'interesting' that in supposedly conservative media venues such as Fox News there has been no discussion, in the wake of this latest instance of Islamic terrorism, of the obvious question whether immigration from Muslim lands should be put on hold.  Instead, time is wasted refuting silly liberal calls…

  • Islam: The Religion of Submission

    If there is conflict between us, and I submit to your will to power, there will be peace between us.  But is that a peace worth having?  There is a sense in which Islam is the religion of peace, but it is more honestly described as the religion of submission. I've added some emphases to…

  • A Reason to Curtail Immigration from Muslim Lands

    "Overwhelming percentages of Muslims in many countries want Islamic law (sharia) to be the official law of the land, according to a worldwide survey by the Pew Research Center." Inform yourself.

  • Political Correctness Can Get You Killed

    Roger L. Simon: The truth is PC doesn't hack it in war.  PC is a rich liberal's plaything, a luxury item. It works best as a subject for ridicule on South Park.  And it's not the way we really think.  It's the way we pretend we think.   So  just who is it that is blowing innocent…

  • Are Values Objective? Can Values be Universal but Non-Objective?

    Commenting on a recent post of mine, Malcolm Pollack takes issue with the notion that values are objective.  While granting that there are objective truths, he denies that there are objective values because of a theory of value that he holds according to which values have their origin in valuing beings and merely reflect the…

  • Rabid Dogs, Syrian Terrorists, and Ben Carson

    Dr. Ben Carson, the pediatric neurosurgeon who is running for president, is now in trouble with the politically correct for referring to Syrian terrorists as rabid dogs.  The comparison is perfectly apt, and only a fool or a liberal could take offense at it.  A Syrian terrorist is not 'rabid' in that he is Syrian;…

  • The Problem: Islam or a Construction of Islam?

    Diana West: Meanwhile, Islamic society is whitewashed by pretending the dangers it poses to Western societies are non-Islamic (the Left with talk of "extremism"), or so outside the Islamic norm as to render Islam itself beyond debate, beyond concern (the Right with talk of "Islamism"). Take a recent essay on Paris by Andrew C. McCarthy.  “Allahu Akbar!”…

  • ‘Politicization,’ National Debt, and the Paris Attacks

    The Republicans have been accused of 'politicizing' the debt crisis.  But how can you politicize what is  inherently political?  The debt in question is the debt of the federal government.  Since a government is a political entity, questions concerning federal debts are political questions.  As inherently political, such questions cannot be politicized. If to reify…

  • What is to be Done?

    Malcolm Pollack has a fine and courageous post, hot off the keyboard, about the allowance by the West of mass immigration from Muslim countries.  You should study it.  It begins like this: I have said this before, and I will say it again: allowing mass Muslim immigration is the stupidest and most irreversibly self-destructive thing…

  • The Barbarians are Inside and There are No Gates

    Mark Steyn is a profile in civil courage unlike the 'safe space' administrative and professorial pussies who now infest the universities.  Where have all the John Silbers gone, long time passing?  Some delightful excerpts: When the Allahu Akbar boys opened fire, Paris was talking about the climate-change conference due to start later this month, when the…

  • France Needs Stricter Gun Control . . .

    . . . so that events like yesterday's massacre in Paris never happen again. Yes, I am being sarcastic, and doubly so.  First, stricter gun laws would have had no effect on yesterday's events.  Second, the silly phrase "so that it never happens again," beloved of politicians, insults our intelligence and erodes their credibility even further.…

  • In Defense of Christendom

    Though flawed, Bret Stephens' In Defense of Christendom sounds an alarm that ought not be ignored: Could Europe’s liberal political traditions, its religious and cultural heritage, long survive a massive influx of Muslim immigrants, in the order of tens of millions of people? No. Not given Europe’s frequently unhappy experience with much of its Muslim…

  • Raymond Ibrahim on Islamic Taqiyya

    Did presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson get it right when he said that taqiyya "allows, and even encourages, you to lie to achieve your goals"?  Ibrahim argues that he did.

  • Could I Support a Muslim for President?

    It would depend on the Muslim. Consider first a parallel question: Could I support a Christian for president?  Yes, other things being equal, but not if he or she is a theocrat.  Why not?  Because theocracy is incompatible with the principles, values, and founding documents of the United States of America. Similarly, I could easily…