Newt: America is under attack by atheist Islamists.

[madfoot]

"I have two grandchildren — Maggie is 11, Robert is 9. I am convinced that if we do not decisively win the struggle over the nature of America, by the time they're my age they will be in a secular atheist country, potentially one dominated by radical Islamists and with no understanding of what it once meant to be an American."

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/52023.html

http://imagemacros.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/lol_wut1.jpg

[roho76]

Would he rather they turn out to be corrupt politicians who cheat on their significant others while praising Jesus and talking about high moral standards?

http://afrocityblog.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/hypocrite.jpg?w=634&h=365

[EndDaFed]

He is trying to pander to the bone head neoconservatives. Just bring up the fact that he cheated oh his wife when she had cancer. That will turn them away from him.

[ChaosControl]

It is disturbing people take this guy serious, the stuff he says looks like it came from the onion.
Heck the actual onion article about him seemed more realistic than the stuff he actually says.

[eduardo89]

Atheist islamists? What the hell is that?

[ExPatPaki]

I'd actually like to live under atheist Islamist rule.

[specsaregood]

Atheist islamists? What the hell is that?

I hate giving this douche the benefit of the doubt, but I reckon he was making a list of potential futures. Or perhaps forgot to add the word "or". Put an "or" where the comma is like so:


"I have two grandchildren — Maggie is 11, Robert is 9. I am convinced that if we do not decisively win the struggle over the nature of America, by the time they're my age they will be in a secular atheist country OR potentially one dominated by radical Islamists and with no understanding of what it once meant to be an American."


Perhaps our resident punctuation nazi can step in here and make a ruling. Can the comma act like an "or" being used to list distinct items?

[eduardo89]

I would think a comma would make the sentence mean that the country could be ruled by atheists, potentially atheists that are radical islamists.

[acptulsa]

What it once meant to be an American. When I hear Newt say it, I get the feeling he's nostalgic for the days when it didn't matter how crappy Ford and Chevy both were, you bought one or the other anyway; when Hearst and Luce news stories both sucked, but you read one or the other anyway, and both political parties sucked, but you voted for whomever came out of their smoke-filled rooms anyway.

Sorry we're letting you down, Newt.

[ExPatPaki]

Maybe Newt is referring to this:


Unlike the Russian Orthodox Christian church, the Muslims of the Soviet Union originally encountered a larger degree of religious freedom under the new Bolshevik rule. Vladimir Lenin oversaw the return of religious artifacts, such as the Uthman Quran,[4] the foundations of court systems using principles of Islamic law which ran alongside the Communist legal system,[4] Jadids and other "Islamic socialists" were given positions of power,[4] an affirmative action system called "korenizatsiya" (nativisation) was implemented which helped the local Muslim populace,[4] while Friday, the day of Muslim religious celebration, was declared the legal day of rest throughout Central Asia.[4] Under the Tsars, Muslims were brutally repressed and the Eastern Orthodox Church was the official religion. On 24 November 1917 Lenin declared;

Muslims of Russia…all you whose mosques and prayer houses have been destroyed, whose beliefs and customs have been trampled upon by the tsars and oppressors of Russia: your beliefs and practices, your national and cultural institutions are forever free and inviolate. Know that your rights, like those of all the peoples of Russia, are under the mighty protection of the revolution.[4]


Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_the_Soviet_Union

But that all changed when Stalin came to power.

[acptulsa]

Newt's message is far, far more elegantly simple than you give it credit for:

'I'm not trying to scare you or anything, but BOO!'

[silentshout]

My head hurts after reading that.

[Sola_Fide]

"I have two grandchildren — Maggie is 11, Robert is 9. I am convinced that if we do not decisively win the struggle over the nature of America, by the time they're my age they will be in a secular atheist country, potentially one dominated by radical Islamists and with no understanding of what it once meant to be an American."




I agree with Newt on the problem. It is reasonable to assume that the US might slide further down the road of humanistic secularism just like the UK did. And the secularism of the UK has shown itself totally powerless against cultural Islam.

But I disagree with Newt's solutions. Newt doesn't understand that it is this culture of statism that is fostering and sustaining secularism in this country.

Newt wants more government. It will bring about the opposite result from culture than he wants.

[sailingaway]

How can you be both atheist and Islamic?

How can a country be both secular and atheistic and dominated by radical Islamics?

Could it be that Newt doesn't know what the hell he is talking about?

[specsaregood]

Newt wants more government. It will bring about the opposite result from culture than he wants CLAIMS TO WANT.
There ^ fixed.

[acptulsa]

How can you be both atheist and Islamic?

How can a country be both secular and atheistic and dominated by radical Islamics?

Could it be that Newt doesn't know what the hell he is talking about?

He knows what he's talking about, and if you do too, then you're not the target audience.

What he's talking about is the fact that he's a psycho, but we should overlook that and elect him anyway because he's better than those other psychotics over there.

[Sola_Fide]

There ^ fixed.

Yes.

[jmdrake]

I hear the "America is in danger of being taken over by radical Islam thanks to the religious void left by the advance of secular humanism" argument on talk radio all the time. I see that as a lack of faith on the part of (some) Christians. If Muslims can win over hordes of converts who are hungering for spirituality, then why can't Christians do the same? The only problem is that (some) Christians are too busy bashing groups they don't like and supporting fake Christians like Newt "I cheated on my wife for the sake of then nation" Gingrinch, Pat "forced abortion in China is ok" Robertson and John "Jesus didn't come to be the messiah...let's all worship Israel" Haggee.

[Sola_Fide]

I hear the "America is in danger of being taken over by radical Islam thanks to the religious void left by the advance of secular humanism" argument on talk radio all the time. I see that as a lack of faith on the part of (some) Christians. If Muslims can win over hordes of converts who are hungering for spirituality, then why can't Christians do the same? The only problem is that (some) Christians are too busy bashing groups they don't like and supporting fake Christians like Newt "I cheated on my wife for the sake of then nation" Gingrinch, Pat "forced abortion in China is ok" Robertson and John "Jesus didn't come to be the messiah...let's all worship Israel" Haggee.

1. One of the reasons that Islam takes a hold of culture so easily is that it offers a full-orbed faith. Islam is not like modern evangelicalism here in America. Islam is an all-encompassing culture and way of life. Islam informs law, culture, government, everything.


2. Modern evangelicalism has an eschatology of doom. Modern evangelicals are doomsday dispensationalists, who believe this world is going to hell in a handbasket. Islam on the other hand is assured of its own eventual worldwide domination.

The early Americans had a full-orbed Christianity that changed life, government, and culture. They also had a postmillienial eschatology of victory. They were largely Calvinists who were assured that the crown rights of Jesus would be pressed in the whole world, and would be victorious.

They changed the world...but this ethos is not prevalent anymore in America.

[prmd142]

I feel sorry for Maggie and Robert!

[FrankRep]

How can you be both atheist and Islamic?
Sharia Law + Atheism?

[madfoot]

Why would atheists follow sharia law?

[Sola_Fide]

Why would atheists follow sharia law?

Because they are coerced to.

[dean.engelhardt]

Fixed: NINJA Atheist islamists

[AZKing]

Because they are coerced to.

Atheists that follow Sharia Law... that's funny. If you really think that will happen, you have a poor understanding of what atheists are all about. I've met far more libertarian atheists and agnostics than I ever have Christians or Muslims.

"I had been watching the courts grow steadily more secular and steadily more anti-religious starting with the 1963 school prayer decision," he said. "But for some reason this particular decision struck me as so blindingly stupid, so profoundly un-American."

Yes Newt, we'd like to keep religion out of government schools that kids are forced to go to. Is that so bad?

This is why most sane people can't stand the neocons. They adopt a "holier than thou" feeling towards everyone who isn't like them. Herman Cain has been spewing this BS too.

[madfoot]

Because they are coerced to.

By who?

[jmdrake]

1. One of the reasons that Islam takes a hold of culture so easily is that it offers a full-orbed faith. Islam is not like modern evangelicalism here in America. Islam is an all-encompassing culture and way of life. Islam informs law, culture, government, everything.


Many evangelicals feel exactly the same way about Christianity informing law, culture, government, everything. In fact far more so than early American Christians and deists like Thomas Jefferson.



2. Modern evangelicalism has an eschatology of doom. Modern evangelicals are doomsday dispensationalists, who believe this world is going to hell in a handbasket. Islam on the other hand is assured of its own eventual worldwide domination.


I'm not sure why you are so against the idea of Jesus coming again and making good on His promise in John 14:1-3. But I certainly don't see that as "doom". I see worldwide domination by any religion as "doom" because that can only happen through force.



The early Americans had a full-orbed Christianity that changed life, government, and culture. They also had a postmillienial eschatology of victory. They were largely Calvinists who were assured that the crown rights of Jesus would be pressed in the whole world, and would be victorious.


Well thankfully those Calvinists didn't draft the constitution.



They changed the world...but this ethos is not prevalent anymore in America.

You give the Calvinists too much credit and the religious liberals like Roger Williams and the deists like Thomas Jefferson too little. Anyway, Calvinists believed in predestination, so whatever is going on now is what is supposed to happen by their belief system.

[FrankRep]

Because they are coerced to.

By who?

Example:

CNN
March 29, 2011

Only 14, Bangladeshi girl was lashed to death under Islamic ruling
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/29/bangladesh.lashing.death/

[AZKing]

Example:

CNN
March 29, 2011

Only 14, Bangladeshi girl was lashed to death under Islamic ruling
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/29/bangladesh.lashing.death/

Bangladesh is largely a Muslim country with 90% or more of its population practicing Islam.

I still don't understand how atheists could be coerced to practice Sharia Law. Many countries exist that are predominantly atheist and they don't practice Sharia law.

[crazyfacedjenkins]

Example:

CNN
March 29, 2011

Only 14, Bangladeshi girl was lashed to death under Islamic ruling
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/03/29/bangladesh.lashing.death/


Looks like we found Newt's target audience.

[madfoot]

Bangladesh is about as secular as America is, and we don't have religious fundamentalists who... wait a minute... Newt may be on to something! :O

[raiha]

Newt is a magnificent advertisement for atheism. If the Christian heaven has he and Glenn Beck in it, we Buddhists would call it hell.

[FrankRep]

Looks like we found Newt's target audience.

I'm absolutely against Newt Gingrich.