In the aftermath of the terrorist attack on Pulse in Orlando, the Washington Post updated its map detailing the state of LGBT rights around the world. The paper titled the accompanying article “Here are the 10 countries where homosexuality may be punished by death.” While tweeting out the article, I queried, “What do these countries have in common?” Unfortunately, none of the leftists who follow me offered an answer. So I took it upon myself to discover what those ten countries have in common. Well, surprise of all surprises, Islam is what those ten countries have in common. Considering the left’s love affair with Islam, I find this odd.
There’s no shortage of incendiary accusations and pejoratives directed at conservative Christians from leftists. And, if we’re being honest, from a leftist perspective, that makes sense. Christianity that is rooted in what God reveals about Himself in the Bible is a worldview that challenges progressivism. Christianity is indeed a threat to many of the objectives of leftists. But, so is Islam; more so, in fact.
A major difference is that Islam is often manifested in ways that aren’t just ideologically at odds with progressivism but are also physically manifested in ways that are a major threat to the agenda of leftists. The ten countries where homosexuality is punishable by death are a case in point. And that’s not to mention the myriad ways in which Islam across the globe subjugates women, promotes violence, and stands in the way of progress in general.
Unlike the kid in The Emperor’s New Clothes, however, sticking your hand up and saying, “Um, Islam is inherently misogynistic,” earns the speaker the charge of “Islamophobe.” In an infamous interview, Bill Maher, of whom I’m not a fan, suffered the slings and arrows from a self-righteous Ben Affleck, who was aghast at Maher’s claims about Islam. Faced with facts and real-life anecdotes about the violence of Islam, Affleck resorted to angrily calling Maher a “gross racist.”
Affleck and other liberals draw a hard and fast distinction between Islamic extremists (although, most leftists refuse to use that expression) and Muslims. Except, try visiting a moderate mosque as a woman. Enjoy that equality behind the screen separating you from the men. And while I agree that the vast majority of Muslims do not want to kill anyone and just want to be left alone to live their lives and practice their religion as they see fit, I’m not afraid to recognize Islam on its own terms. And the reality is that Muslims practice a religion that runs completely counter to progressivism.
Unlike Bill Maher, many liberals refuse to acknowledge Islam on Islam’s terms. Putting their fingers in their ears, leftists frequently shout down anyone who points out that Islam’s treatment of women falls woefully short of the stated goals of feminists. The shameful prevalence of the honor killings of women in Islamic countries is explained away by leftists indignant that the crisis is even mentioned. Never mind that the majority of Muslim clerics around the world interpret the Quran in ways that not only allow, but encourage domestic violence. In response, leftists giddily trot out “moderate” Muslim clerics living in the West who proudly declare that Islam is opposed to domestic violence. On a related note, it’s rarely acknowledged that those “female friendly” clerics worship in mosques that include the aforementioned gender screens.
As opposed to criticizing Islam, taking Christians to task (and to court) for living out their religious beliefs earns leftists a badge of honor. When someone states that homosexuality runs counter to God’s parameters for sex, he’s labeled a bigoted homophobe. In contrast, when someone points out that an Islamic extremist enacted violence against LGBT people, he’s labeled an Islamophobe. When a Christian woman writes a blog post about how she believes wearing leggings as pants is immodest, leftists accuse her of slut-shaming and being under the thumb of the patriarchy and they encourage her to set aside her intolerant religious convictions. When a Muslim woman’s religion requires her to cover her face so as to not tempt men to lust, leftist outrage is mostly missing. In fact, leftists become angry when business owners do not participate in the subjugation of women. When a Middle-Eastern restaurant in my city has two buildings, one almost directly across the street from the other, for the purpose of providing a building for Muslim women to enter with their families and another building to help keep Muslim women from enticing Muslim men to lust, liberals flock to the restaurant and give it glowing Yelp reviews. When a Christian baker, however, declines to bake a cake for a ceremony that violates his religious convictions, liberals take the Christian to court.
If I were naïve, I would believe that leftists are simply too busy redacting words like “jihad,” “Islamic extremist,” and “terrorism” from Homeland Security reports to be able to pay attention to the constant anti-liberal teachings and actions of Muslims. But I’m not naïve, and neither are leftists. And their willful blindness is troubling.
If, however, Hillary Clinton is elected president, their willful blindness will very likely be intruded upon by the harsh light of Islamic misogyny. How are they going to respond when President Hillary’s facetime with leaders of a Muslim country, say Saudi Arabia, is strictly limited because she’s a woman? What defense will they offer? If history is any guide, they will insist that no one pay attention to the patriarchal man behind the gender-dividing curtain. Anyone who points him out will be labeled an Islamophobe and earn the leftist pejorative of being compared to a conservative Christian. Their contrasting attitudes toward Islam and Christianity reveal that the left is not going to allow contradictions to stand in the way of their agenda. The scary question is, what is at the heart of the leftist agenda?
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