The Portage Daily Graphic has an interesting piece on Imam Bilal
Philips, accused by the Philippines of “recruiting and inciting people to
commit terrorism”.
Philips runs an online Islamic university he says has
180,000 students — out of Qatar, of all places — and has been banned at various times from the U.S., the U.K.,
Kenya, Germany and Australia. His YouTube videos explain the penalties for
homosexuality under Islamic law. Needless to say, he has generated his share of
controversy.
Oh, by the way, he’s back in Canada. From a citizenship standpoint at least, he’s one of ours. Which of course is neither my call, nor is it really any of
my business.
“He said he is controversial because he preaches that Islam supercedes [sic] everything else.
‘Our message says to people, be Muslim first,’ he explained. ‘Meaning you are Muslim before you are Canadian. This is your faith. You are Muslim first and you are Canadian second.’
He said Western countries want religion to be subordinate to nationality.
‘We are saying no,’ he said. ‘We are Muslim by choice and we are Canadian by accident.’ ”
I can’t prove Philips is right about Western countries
wanting religion to be subordinate to nationality, but I certainly wouldn’t
accuse him of paranoia. It seems to be in the interest of governments everywhere (at least on the face of it) to have their citizens view themselves as patriots first and believers
second.
Obedience to something bigger than the will of the Canadian government might create headaches for our politicians but from a belief standpoint, it’s far from illogical. In fact, assuming God exists, whether you think his name is Jesus,
Yahweh, Allah or something else entirely, it’s the folks who put king and
country first that have the cart before the horse, not Muslims.
Mind you, I have a sneaking suspicion that there are more Muslims
at work finding the quickest and most efficient way to impose sharia law on
Canadians than there are Christians working at imposing our values on Canadians
against their will — a whole lot more. When Philips says he does not advocate for
the execution of homosexuals in Germany because “Germany doesn’t have Islamic
law”, you can almost hear him add under his breath, “but it soon will”.
And there’s the obvious detail that while many Canadian laws
are quite un-Christian (those concerned with abortion come to mind, for
instance), most are not explicitly anti-Christian (in the sense that while they
permit abortion, the laws themselves do not compel Canadian women to have them). Because of this, the
number of potential conflicts of interest
between faith in Christ and Canadian law is currently minuscule.
Islam, on the other hand? Let’s just say that
feminists, homosexuals and religious people of all sorts can reasonably
anticipate some significant changes to their freedoms (or the state of their
health) under sharia law.
And of course, I’m not sure people who believe in God’s
sovereignty would say we are anything in life “by accident”. (Also, since Mr.
Philips was born in Jamaica, calling himself “Canadian by accident” is just a
tiny bit disingenuous.)
But hey, at least Philips has something right: if they must
come into conflict, faith trumps citizenship every time.
So hats off to the Imam.
This sounds like misdirected reason. It is amazing how rationality and reason, even though considered to be valuable assets, traits and abilities can lead us down the wrong path when used in isolation from faith and belief in a moral God. Below are some informative and fascinating links dealing with that problem.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryA8PafooQ4&list=PLIBtb_NuIJ1w9rrlXRueM3opfoV0rUenS&index=4