PC Zealots and Dhimmis

Nikki draws a scary comparison between minorities living in countries run by zealous Muslims and minorities living in countries run by PC zealots of any persuasion -- especially climate change and non-smoking zealots -- and believes that sharia-type dhimmitude is being used by these zealots to force conversion in the same way that Islam gained ground and draws upon the history of western and Islamic civilizations, as well as the Abrahamic legacy, to make her point.

"Under sharia law," explains Nikki, "a dhimmi is a non-Muslim subject who, in return for paying a special tax designed to force acknowledgment of Muslim superiority, is allowed to practice another religion, subject to certain conditions."

"I know climate change and smoking are not exactly religions -- although to some indigenous people smoking is very much a part of their culture, and for the rest of us it is a way of life," says Nikki, "yet the analogy is pertinent because it is about an unfair tax and a zealous campaign to convert non-believers into believers."

"Like zealous Muslims who want to save non-Muslims from hell and a deluded, evil and unclean life spent without knowing the message of the true God -- the god of Abraham that the Jews and the Christians had corrupted -- climate change and non-smoking zealots want to save us from a similar fate," explains Nikki. "Conversion to Islam or a green or non-smoking life is good for us, you see. The modus operandi of the zealots is every bit as religious as that used by the Islamic fanatics."

"As more and more western nations come under the control of zealots, minority groups become dhimmis in these countries when they refuse to cut their carbon footprint or quit smoking or whatever, but, in return for paying a special tax designed to force acknowledgment of the superiority of non-smokers, they are generously allowed to continue their evil ways, subject to certain conditions."

"The object of dhimmitude was to put non-Muslims into such a precarious position -- financially and socially -- that they would willingly convert," explains Nikki. "As well as paying an exorbitant tax -- to bring them low, into a state of submission -- they were also subjected to social humiliation. So, if the tax didn't cripple them first then the social humiliation that went with it was sufficient to ultimately bring most non-Muslims into the Islamic fold."

"Doesn't this remind you of the current climate change and anti-smoking campaigns?"

"Special taxation was seen by Muslim rulers as a material proof of the dhimmi's submission," says Nikki, "but it was the various restrictions placed on dhimmis that made their lives unbearable."

"Most of these restrictions were designed to be symbolic, a constant reminder to the dhimmis that they were inferior to their Muslim peers -- like restricting where vehicles can park or where smokers can smoke," says Nikki. "And, because of these symbolic restrictions, their Muslim peers were encouraged to treat them with contempt -- like contemptuous defacing of SUVs or coughing around smokers."

"Unlike the early Christians who won converts by love, acceptance and incorporation of certain pagan customs, the early Muslims gave people three choices -- convert, pay a tribute, or die by the sword," says Nikki, "and that's exactly the sort of blackmail we're hearing from our zealous governments -- cut your carbon footprint, quit smoking or pay an exorbitant taxes -- but without an opportunity to fight for our rights and die by the sword if necessary!"

"Actually, the later Christians did enact dhimmitude laws against Jews so they were not exactly loving and accepting towards members of their parent religion," sighs Nikki. "Under Byzantine law, the Christians forbade Jews from praying too loudly, building new synagogues, criticizing Christianity, marrying a Christian, or owning a Christian slave and they were banned from all public offices and the army -- and were required to pay a special tax for being Jews, too."

"It was a poetic justice, perhaps, that all of these restrictions were then placed upon Christians when Byzantine lands became occupied by Muslim forces," says Nikki, "and, considering the likelihood that Europe will one day become Eurabia, our zealous Christian leaders should bear this fact in mind -- especially those who want alcohol on tap 24/7, at every street corner, because this just won't be allowed under Muslim rule."

"As I tried to explain before, religion and culture are so intertwined that it is not always possible to separate them," says Nikki. "Christianity and alcohol consumption go together like Islam and hookah smoking, right? I'm not exactly sure when the Arabs took up hookah smoking, but wine drinking was part of ancient Jewish culture and became an integral part of Christian ritual in respect of wine representing the blood of Jesus. Whereas smoking may be taken up by Muslims when they are young adults and is not related to religious ritual in any shape or form, the drinking of wine is introduced to Christians as little children as an integral part of the religious ritual."

"No wonder so many Christians end up drunks!"

"Early Islamic jurists took a relatively humane and practical attitude towards dhimmis compared to later jurists -- especially those after the 11th century when Islam was under threat both at home and abroad," says Nikki, "and if their later treatment of dhimmis is what we evil carbon emitters and smokers have to look forward to then God help us!"

"The early Islamic jurists insisted that dhimmis must not be burdened beyond their capacity to pay their special tax or be caused to suffer humiliation," says Nikki. "Later on, however, dhimmis were deliberately humiliated when paying their special tax -- they were disgraced, humiliated and belittled in order to support the goal of making Islam prevail over all other religions."

"They were kept in a perpetual state of worry by not being told about the exact amount of tax they had to pay (sounds familiar?); they were required to pay the tax standing, head bowed, while the Muslim tax collector sat and struck them on both cheeks, followed by a strike on the neck with his fist and then they were chased away -- and all Muslims were encouraged to watch and enjoy this spectacle."

"Watch out for this sort of thing coming soon at your local gas or tobacco outlet!"

"By the 11th century, discrimination against non-Muslims was deemed necessary and because dhimmis were not allowed to testify against a Muslim in court they became open slather for violence and robbery," sighs Nikki. "Non-Muslims were considered only worth a fraction of a Muslim's life, and if you weren't murdered or robbed of all possessions then you had to endure being pelted with stones, spat at and cursed at -- especially by Muslim children -- which is the sort of treatment a lot of non-PC minority groups like smokers are already reporting."

"Despite a prohibition on carrying weapons or joining the army, dhimmis were sometimes used as auxiliary soldiers, like a dog, and the use of derogatory names against non-Muslims was common and encouraged -- as it now is against non-PC minority groups."

"On top of the tax and the same restrictions that Christians placed upon Jews came extra conditions requiring non-Muslims to wear distinctive dress. Prohibitions were also placed on the visible display of religious symbols as well as wine and pork -- and they were also prohibited from riding on horses and camels, and had to ride donkeys instead (to highlight their inferiority)."

"Already in scientific circles the word of a smoker is considered less than that of a non-smoker; current hospital policy ensures that slim, non-smokers get better treatment than overweight people and smokers; and the EU -- the ostensible bastion of equal opportunity -- actually bans smokers from employment," sighs Nikki. "It won't be long before non-PC minorities are forced to wear a distinctive badge (like a Star of Marlboro, or a Carbon Footprint), forbidden to display a cigarette packet in public and prohibited from riding on public transport (just because we are smokers, not because we are smoking)."

"While Christians converted to Islam relatively quickly, most Jews remained obstinate and as a result suffered horribly under Islamic rule," says Nikki. "In Spain, Central Asia, and southern Arabia Christianity died out completely because transition from a superior to an inferior status was too much for the Christians to endure."

"This is so relevant to the climate change and smoking issues -- and so true in every respect -- that it almost makes me want to convert to Judaism (if they accept non-PC minorities?) in order to identify with a group of people who have the courage of their convictions and would rather die than submit to tyranny."

"Finally, forced conversions became mandatory when Islamic jurists began to realize that many Muslim communities were being wholly financed by dhimmi tax and as a result were becoming lazy, inept and corrupt," explains Nikki. "Just like big carbon footprint consumers and smokers are a vital source of revenue for our governments, so were the dhimmis to the Muslims -- and the result is the same. Easy tax makes fat cats, drunk on unearned power."

"From the 12th century until the Ottoman Empire was wiped out during WWI, Jews and Christians were being forcibly converted to Islam or killed," says Nikki, "and while non-PC minorities may never have to face the firing squad, being forced to convert to the zealot's beliefs is something we will ultimately have to face, too, unless some enlightened nation steps in and protects our rights as Britain and France did in 1866 in respect of the Jews of Barforoush."

"Beware, too, all non-PC minorities who have children because some Islamic rulers took non-Muslim children from their parents and raised them as Muslims -- and you can see that sort of thing being talked about already in respect of smoking mothers."

"Also, dhimmis were prohibited from proselytizing, publishing and selling non-Muslim literature and obstructing the spread of Islam -- which is similar to prohibitions on advertising tobacco products, forced anti-smoking propaganda on cigarette packs and a complete ban in the media of pro-smoking stories. Wonder when they will crack down on non-PC blogs about climate change and smoking?"

"With rare exceptions, dhimmis were not prohibited from living in certain places -- but there was the same antagonism between Muslim and non-Muslim neighbors as there now is between PC and non-PC neighbors," says Nikki. "We may not be required -- yet -- to attach distinctive signs to our houses to distinguish them from those of our zealous PC neighbors, but already the PC zealots are adopting Islamic social customs to make out that smokers, for instance, like non-Muslims, are 'unclean' and disgusting. The smell of wine and pork being as disgusting to a Muslim as cigarette smoke is to a non-smoker."

"As I see it, the climate change and anti-smoking campaigns have nothing to do with survival and everything to do with power and money and possibly a subtle backlash against Muslim immigrants, too" says Nikki. "Dhimmi carbon and tobacco taxes and dhimmi humiliation of non-PC minorities imposed by our so-called civilized Christian western governments makes them as intolerant, brutal and venal as the old Islamic nations but try pointing out these similarities to the average compliant citizen with an IQ of 100 or under and they are congenitally unable to get it."

"As all nations are based on some fanatical religion or ideology -- none of which appeal to me -- I am at a loss to know where non-PC minorities who refuse to capitulate to this blackmail can live in peace, prosperity and dignity."

how the west became christian, not jewish

Accepted by all religions is the fact that the first humans created had no religion, and as such any godly plans for humanity were meant for a unified family, not just limited to a chosen few.

Abraham's revolutionary notion of monotheism, a belief in one God, meant that God was not just a God of the Israelites but of all people. God revealed to Abrahamthat his people were to be messengers chosen to bring universal moral instructions to all humanity, not just the Jews.

The Torah was the revelation and the Mitzvot are the divine commandments defining a godly life, and God chose the landless and powerless Jewsas messengers because humans would be free to accept or reject the message on its merits. It was a message delivered without political and economic coercion.

In return for fulfilling their divine mission, God would make the Jews a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

However, most Talmudic Rabbis do not interpret 'a kingdom of priests' as having universal implications. They believe that the covenant given by God not only provided the core religious content of the message the Jewish people were to convey to humanity but also a separate and distinctcontent designed to force Jews to maintain a separate culture. Being chosen to convey the message implied, to them, a superior position.

By superiority, the Talmudic Rabbis meant that Jews as a separate people were to be a 'light' unto the other nations. In offering the message, they cannot mandate its acceptance. Those who accepted the message choose to become chosen.

The Talmudic Rabbis saw the Jewish mission to convey the message of God, not to convert everyone to Judaism. They did not call for the annihiliation of gentile or non-Jewish religions. They saw salvation as dependent on moral behavior not on accepting Judaism, and accepted that the righteous of all faiths have an equal chance to be saved.

In this sense, the Talmudic Rabbis maintained a separate 'superiority'. They were into delivering the message to all but most certaininly do not believe in wholescale conversions.

However, in the early days of Judaism missionary activity was necessary for the growth of this revolutionary notion of monotheism to take place. In his journey from Haran to Canaan Abraham made many converts. In Deuteronomy 32:10, Abraham is described as so successful a missionary that God became known as King of the earth as well as King of heaven.

However, the word 'convert' is used loosely when referring to Abraham's missionary zeal. The formal notion of religious conversion did not emerge until much later in history. Abraham invited non-Israelites to join the Israelites, as did Isaac and Jacob.

By the time of Moses, the Torah was being expounded in seventy languages, andit provides numerous injunctions to the Jewish people to welcome strangers. It is believed, too, that God exiled Jews from their homeland for only one reason, to increase the number of converts!

Conversions came about through synagogues inviting guests and visitors -- there were thousands of houses of instruction in all towns serving as learning centers for gentiles; Jews were exhorted to personally approach potential converts; gentiles living among Jewish people were invited to assimilate; abandoned gentile children were adopted; and many gentiles converted to Judaism through marriage with a Jew.

The Jewish mission of conversion was also codifed in laws. It is not clear when these legal rules developed, but they most certainly existed after the destruction of the Second Temple when there was a need for clear religious rules to maintain the Jewish identity. So, from 400- 500 AD the existence of these laws indicates that converts were allowed, welcomed and had specific rites to undergo in their conversion.

As expected, conversions were increased during important periods of Jewish history. The Jews grew from 150,000 in 586 BC to more than eight million by the first century of the common era and, in the case of the conversion of the Idumaeans and the Ituraeans, force was uncharacteriscally used.

So widespread was Jewish missionary activty that Greek, Roman, and Christian authors wrote disparagingly about it. In Rome, for example, Tacitus, a rhetorical historian, Cicero, a lawyer, and Juvenal, a satirist, are bitter and serious about denouncing Jewish proselytizing activities, and Horace makes fun of them.

The most famous Christian comment came from Matthew 23:15 in which competition for converts became nasty: "Alas for you scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over sea and land to make a single proselyte and anyone who becomes one you make twice as fit for hell as you are."

By the onset of the Christian era, 10% of the Roman Empire was Jewish and had the Romans and Jews not fought -- the Romans destroying the Temple in 70 AD, crushing the Bar Kochba rebellion in 135 AD and ultimately expelling the Jews from Jerusalem -- the Jews would have succeeded in winning more converts than the Christians and historywould have followed a different path.

While Jewish conversion efforts continued, the stateless and powerless Jews were restricted by Roman, and later Christian and Muslim laws regarding proselytism. In 131 AD, Hadrian prohibited circumcision and public instruction in the Jewish religion. In 198 and 199 the Emperor Severus passed laws forbiddinggentiles from embracing Judaism, and in 335 Constantine re-enacted Hadrian's law, forbidding Jews to circumcise non-Jewish slaves.

Cumulatively, these restrictions not only reversed the general Jewish attitude toward welcoming converts but also produced deep psychological change in the Jewish psyche. By the time of Constantine, many Jews would have embraced Christianity and those that remained faithful to Judaism became insular and messiahanic -- waiting for a messiahto raise them from a miserable existence made more miserable by the triumphant Christians accusing the Jews of Deicide -- killing Jesus -- and setting them up for mockery and persecution.

Christians took over the Jewish mission to welcome converts and transformed its meaning. Salvation was no longer dependent on moral behavior but on accepting Christ.The faiths of others were belittled, eternal rewards were promised for converting andeternal damnation was threated for refusing to convert. Bribery, threats, and ultimately violence and murder were used to expand the Christian faith. However, Christians did make it easier for pagans to convert by relaxing the Jewish need for male circumcision and the obligation to obey Jewish law.

Persecution and fear led, over time, to the transformation of the Jewish understanding of its mission. Spreading God's word came to be seen as against Jewish law.

(This article first appeared as god's chosen people, the jews and is reprinted with permission.)

will islam or judaic-christianity prevail?

If history is to repeat itself, then one religion will prevail in the West and it will not be the Judaic-Christian faiths. Jihadist Islam, like early Christianity, will sweep through Europe and the western nations and will be enforced by new leaders who have seen the 'light' of Islam.

Sounds far-fetched? Well, the Romans and their Emperors probably thought the same thing 2,000 years ago when the Jewish Peter, the disciple of Jesus, arrived in Rome and started preaching the virtues of his Abrahamic God in relation to the the depravities of the Roman Gods.

It took about 300 years and much pain and anger on both sides to convert an Emperor -- Constantine -- but once that momentous event had been accomplished the whole of the Roman Empire would later fall into line with the new religion of Christianity.

This time around, the conversion will not be so profound because, after all, Islam believes in the same Abrahamic God as the Christians and the Jews. It was for worse for the Romans in 330 because they had many Gods -- Jupiter, Zeus and Venus being the most well known -- and they worshipped at many temples dedicated to each God.

This time around, too, the conversion may not take as long as 300 years but assuming it does, the following is the likely scenario for how it will happen.

The Christians caused the Great Fire of Rome in 64 and the Islamists caused 9/11 in 2001. Like the Christians in Rome supported the uprising of their Judaen brothers against Roman rule two years later in 66, so the Moslems of Europe supported the uprising of their Moslem brothers against the American invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Sixty-five years later, in 2068, another Moslem revolt against the West will take place in the Middle East, possibly Jerusalem, led by a Moslem similar in character to Simon Bar Kokhba who led the second Jewish revolt against the Romans in 131. Its brutality will result in a great Moslem Diaspora in 2069 and a long period of persecution of both moderate and extremist Moslems during which the ideology becomes even more entrenched.

By 2230 the west will be so big and diverse and strife ridden that a leader like the Emperor Diocletian will divide his rule between an eastern and western emperor and attempt a policy of SOCIAL UNIFORMITY by imposing upon everyone -- Jews, Moslems, Hindus and Buddhists alike -- the observance of Christian traditions. His attempt fails. The Moslems revolt.

In 2267 a western leader like the Emperor Constantine will confound all by not only converting to Islam but also establishing a new state of power in Iran -- far away from Europe and the western nations. In doing so, this leader, like Constantine, will give the Islamic Mullahs more power in relation to the existing Christian Priests and precipitate the decline of the West's prestige which will make it more vulnerable to Russian invasion.

The old Christian West's neighbors, the atheist Russians, had always been troublesome -- just like the Pagan Germanic tribes had been troublesome for the Romans. Once the seat of the new Islamic Empire's power moves to Iran, a new threat emerges -- China -- just like the Pathans became a threat for Constantinople in Turkey. The Islamic Empire comes to rely more and more on Russian soldiers to fight its wars against the Chinese, and inevitably the Russian generals gain so much military power that they usurp the emperorship for themselves -- just like the Germanic generals gained control of Rome.

By 2327, the new Russian leader of the Islamic Empire, like the Germanic Emperor Theodosius, converts to Islam under the influence of the Mulla of Rome -- someone like Ambrose -- and attempts a new policy of SOCIAL UNIFORMITY by imposing upon everyone the observance of Moslem faith and traditions. The Christians revolt.

By 2347, an atheist Russian leader like King Alaric of the Goths sacks Europe and both the Christians and Moslems are terrified.

By 2428, with the death of the Islamic Mullah of Iran, the Islamic Empire ceases to exist, just like the Christian Roman Empire ceased to exist after the death of the Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno in 491.

With the complete economic and social breakdown of the West under Moslem rule, the atheist Russian conquerors make a deal with the European Mullahs. In return for agreeing to the conversion of all Europe and Russia to Islam, the Mullahs would keep the natives pacified and give temporal control to the Russian conquerors. The deal also included mutually beneficial ways in which the spiritual and temporal rulers would enrich each other.

Just like Christianity was spread and enforced throughout Europe by an alliance between the Roman Pope and the Pagan Germanic conquerors (the current European kings and queens), the Mullah of Rome will succeed in spreading Islam via Russian conquest and rule -- and a similar Dark Age will befall Europe for the next 1,000 years.

why is iraq so important to moslems and jews?

Iraq is incredibly important to both Moslems and Jews because Abraham - the ancestral father of both the Jews and Moslems through his two sons, Ishmael and Isaac - was born c. 1860 BC in Ur, southern Iraq, to a wealthy family headed by his father, Terah.

The family had lived in that area for generations but was forced to flee to Haran in Canaan when Abraham aroused the king's wrath.

Through the generations, the family of Abraham never lost touch with its homeland in present day Iraq which, for a brief period in later Jewish history, was also a place of exile.

In that the Jews, the descendants of Isaac, have already re-established themselves in Israel - the land in which they settled after Abraham's flight from Ur - they may also have an historical claim not just to the southern land of Ur in Iraq but also to Babylon, 90km south-east of Baghdad, the place of their exile in 597BC.

That Iraq was converted to Islam many years ago means that the historical claim to the southern lands of Iraq that the descendants of Ishmael share, too, is fait accompli.

The current situation in Iraq - the invasion of Iraq and the deposition and execution of Saddam Hussein by the USA, its allies and Iraqis opposed to him - and the resultant insurgence by fundamentalist Moslems offended by the presence of non-Moslems on their hallowed land, has opened a new chapter on an old theme that could be bloodier than anything yet seen in history.

The best possible outcome is that a solid democratic system is established without too much further bloodshed, and the Americans and their allies depart leaving the nation in the hands of capable liberal Iraqis who are not hostile to Israel and will strive to maintain a buffer zone to protect Israel from Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Bearing in mind that America is run by big business, especially the oil barons who want their interests in Iraq protected, it is difficult to imagine that after all the blood, guts and money that has been poured into the war that the Americans will leave without strings attached that may anger both the liberal and the fundamentalist Moslems.

The worst possible outcome is that the fundamentalist Moslems continue to prevent a western-style democracy operating in their country by upping the ante - possibly bringing Iran into the picture.

The fundamentalist Moslems know that once Iraq becomes an open society it will not only be polluted by western values that will reduce the power of the Mullahs but it may also become a 'Mecca' for Jewish settlers and tourists wanting to lay claim to Ur and Babylon.

Forget weapons of mass destruction, democratic fervor and oil - the real reason for invasion of Iraq may go right back to Abraham!