[Buddha-l] Re: Greetings from Oviedo

[jkirk]

There is now a small movement among highly educated young immigrant and 
citizen Muslims in this country to oppose jihadism and to create 
assimilational spaces for Muslims in the US cultural milieu.
There is also a sizeable group of Muslim immigrants from South Asia with 
similar views--e.g., "modernize Islam or forget it."

As for Dan's summary of the jihad in the EU, I agree. The Dutch woke up 
later than France or Germany to the terrorist cells and the plots in their 
midst because they were so determined to be ultra-multi-culti, to the limit, 
politically holier even than the other EU countries. Canada was moving on 
that track too, until the Canadian Muslim Congress came out against 
permitting sharia law in Ontario to decide matters of family law, a Muslim 
enablement that was being touted by a government official of multi-culti 
persuasion. Finally, Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty declared against this 
idea and, in fact, decided to get rid of all special religious courts in 
Ontario as subverting the law of the land:
McGuinty rules out use of sharia law in Ontario
CTV.ca News Staff

9/12/05

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty says there will be no sharia law in his 
province and that he will move to ban all faith-based arbitrations.Seeking 
to end months of debate, McGuinty said he would not let his province become 
the first Western government to allow the use of Islamic law to settle 
family disputes and that the boundaries between church and state would 
become clearer by banning religious arbitration completely."There will be no 
Shariah law in Ontario. There will be no religious arbitration in Ontario. 
There will be one law for all Ontarians," McGuinty told The Canadian 
Press.The proposal to let Ontario residents use Islamic law for settling 
family disputes drew protests Thursday in Canada and at some of its 
diplomatic sites across Europe.Ontario, the most populous province in 
Canada, has allowed Catholic and Jewish faith-based tribunals to settle 
family law matters such as divorce on a voluntary basis since 1991. The 
practice got little attention until Muslim leaders demanded the same 
rights.Officials had to decide whether to exclude one religion, or whether 
to scrap the religious family courts altogether.McGuinty said such courts 
"threaten our common ground," and promised his Liberal government would 
introduce legislation as soon as possible to outlaw them in 
Ontario."Ontarians will always have the right to seek advice from anyone in 
matters of family law, including religious advice," he said. "But no longer 
will religious arbitration be deciding matters of family law."

Just hours before McGuinty's announcement, a group including prominent 
Canadian author Margaret Atwood and actress Shirley Douglas issued an open 
letter to the premier on behalf of the No Religious Arbitration Coalition. 
Homa Arjomand, a women's rights activist, [and a Muslim] was elated after 
hearing the announcement [as was the Canadian Muslim Congress].

Joanna

=============

From: "Dan Lusthaus" <dlusthau at mailer.fsu.edu>


> Beni, you can't tell the ropes from the snakes. The change in Holland has
> nothing to do with the US and everything to do with domestic perceptions 
> of
> domestic Islam (ditto Britain's recent culture shock -- Canada will join
> those shocked ranks soon). The Theo van Gogh assassination (and the death
> threats against a woman Muslim Dutch legislator who collaborated with him 
> on
> the film he was killed for -- the threat was stuck on a note with a knife 
> to
> his chest), the unrepentent savagery masquerading as religious zealotry, 
> the
> intricate webs of terrorist cells and plots continually being uncovered
> there, the belligerent lack of remorse and additional threats uttered by 
> van
> Gogh's murderer in court, etc., the increasing belligerance coupled with
> rejection of Dutch mores or any assimlilational compromise, etc. -- all 
> that
> profoundly shocked the Dutch, who prior to that didn't want to believe 
> that
> people could be that messed up, much less represent a cultural matrix that
> is generating an endless supply of likeminded jihadists for whom killing
> film-makers and Muslim women espousing reform in the contemporary Islamic
> treatment of women is more important than their own life. They make the 
> more
> rabid anti-abortionists in this country look like uncommitted,
> procrastinating amateurs...............
>