THE ALIEN TONGUE

What Threatens Us (Paul J. Cella, 08/14/2003, Tech Central Station)

Both Belloc and Chesterton knew, at least intellectually, that Muslims are really our brothers, even if they have been led astray. Belloc in particular repeatedly wrote in his superb book on the great heresies that though Islamic civilization is at the moment materially inferior, it remains spiritually strong, and that there is no compelling reason to believe such a material impotence will persist indefinitely. He admired this strength; though he had no love for the heresy animated by it. He reminded his readers that, hardly a hundred years before the founding of the American Republic, the Turks were threatening to overrun central Europe; that, in other words, men of the American Revolutionary generation in Europe felt the menace of the "Mohammedan" not unlike the way men of the 1950s felt the menace of the Communist. Chesterton, meanwhile, noted the spiritual strength of Islam with this striking insight:

A void is made in the heart of Islam which has to be filled up again and again by a mere repetition of the revolution that founded it. There are no sacraments; the only thing that can happen is a sort of apocalypse, as unique as the end of the world; so the apocalypse can only be repeated and the world end again and again. There are no priests; and this equality can only breed a multitude of lawless prophets almost as numerous as priests. The very dogma that there is only one Mohamet produces an endless procession of Mohamets.

Reading these two towering English Catholics illuminates the inky darkness into which stiff secularism has thrown us. That which has stirred the minds of men across the centuries, in our own civilization and others, and will do so yet until the crack of doom, is distant and impenetrable to us today.

"Cultures spring from religions," wrote Belloc, "ultimately the vital force which maintains any culture is its philosophy, its attitude toward the
universe; the decay of a religion involves the decay of the culture corresponding to it." This is like an alien language to the modern mind; but alien or no, it is a real and vital language, unlike the mere gibberish on offer elsewhere.

The darkness doesn't get much inkier than this, Is banning the Bible next? Mark
Steyn, Aug. 13, 2003, Jerusalem Post):

If you live pretty much anywhere in the Western world these days, you'll notice a certain kind of news item cropping up with quiet
regularity. The Irish Times had one last week.

As Liam Reid reported, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties has warned Catholic bishops that distributing the Vatican's latest statement on
homosexuality could lead to prosecution under the 1989 Incitement to Hatred Act, and a six-month jail term.

"The document itself may not violate the Act, but if you were to use the document to say that gays are evil, it is likely to give rise to hatred, which is against the Act," says Aisling Reidy, director of the ICCL. "The wording is very strong and certainly goes against the spirit of the
legislation."

Compare this to the still "vital force" in Christianity outside of the developed world and in Islam, Lead Us Not...! (Amr Mohammed Al-Faisal, Arab
News):

The West today is following a secular-materialist philosophy, which it imposes on all other human beings--whether they like it or not.

Its Christian leaders in this example prefer to follow the supposedly liberal Western ideology and encourage the idea that a person should be allowed to act on whatever their sexual preference is, because that amounts to “personal freedom”, while in the process ignoring two millennia of Christian teachings and the Bible (both Old and New Testaments) which state the opposite.

Then, having trampled over centuries of doctrine, they go on to trample over the religious sensibilities of all their non-Western “brothers” and impose their decision by elevating one of their own Western homosexuals to the position of bishop of the Anglican Church. They are exploiting the poverty and vulnerability of their non-Western “brothers” by ignoring their more traditional views.

The African, Asian and Latin American branches of the Anglican Church are faced with the choice of acceding to their Western “brothers” (“It’s my way or the highway!”) or to accept the inevitable negative consequences.

So we learn an important lesson on the respect Westerners have for religion and how they deal with any religion that does not conform to their “liberal” ideology. After all, does that non-Westerner Jesus (peace be upon him) know more about Christianity than an American or British bishop?

If this is how they deal with their own religion, think what they will try (are already trying) to do with other religions such as Islam.

...and you can see why these men who respected culture had such high regard for the potential of Islam. The question that confronts us is whether it is more likely that the Islamic world can reform its political and economic institutions or the West can recapture its former moral clarity and spiritual vigour. The answer is not obvious.

MORE:
CHESTERTON:
-EXCERPT: from The Everlasting Man: The Escape from
Paganism (G. K. Chesterton)
-ESSAY: The Newness of The New Jerusalem (James V. Schall, S. J., Winter 2002, The Chesterton Review)
-ESSAY: Causes and Catapults: The Incarnation and Its Enemies (Philip Jenkins, December 2001, Philip Jenkins)
-ESSAY: Digging Up the Future: On GK Chesterton (David Langford, Vector 100 1980)
-SERIES SITE: G. K. Chesterton: The Apostle of Common Sense (EWTN)
-REVIEW: of The Flying Inn by G. K. Chesterton (Addison H.
Hart, Touchstone)

BELLOC:
-ESSAY: Hilaire Belloc: Defender of the Faith: Had we had ten
Hilaire Bellocs in the English-speaking Catholic world in the past fifty years, we might have converted the whole kit-and-caboodle and avoided the mess we find ourselves in today. Hilaire Belloc, coupled in memory always with his great friend G. K. Chesterton, made the defence of the Faith the main business of his life. He wielded a mighty sword. (FREDERICK D. WILHELMSEN, The Catholic Writer: The Proceedings of the Wethersfield Institute 2, 1989)
-ESSAY: "Islam Will Not Be the Loser": Hilaire Belloc's study of the Crusades provides a unique and fascinating look at the relation of military and spiritual forces. To read him today is almost like reading current history. (JAMES V. SCHALL, January-February 2002, Catholic Dossier)
-ESSAY: BELLOC ON THE “APPARENTLY UNCONVERTIBLE” RELIGION (James V. Schall, S. J., April 1, 2003, Vital Speeches of the Day)
-ESSAY: Islam Under Attack (Pat Buchanan, Jihad Unspun)
-Hilaire Belloc (Alliance of Literary Societies)

GENERAL
-ESSAY: Comparing Christianity & Islam: Peter Kreeft outlines the main theological and practical differences, as well as the important common elements, between Christianity and Islam. (PETER KREEFT, May 1987, National Catholic Register)
-THE CRESCENT AND THE CROSS Issue (Catholic Dossier,
January/February 2002) Posted by Orrin Judd at August 16, 2003 7:09 AM