Is Islam's growth cause for concern?

April 1, 2008

 

Islam just passed Catholicism as the world’s largest religion.  Ordinarily, one religion passing another would be greeted with a yawn, but it’s time the world shook out the cobwebs in its head at took notice. 

 

According to the Vatican, Catholics account for 17.4 percent of the world’s population.  Muslims make up 19.2 percent or 1.5 billion Muslims.  The Vatican attributed the change to Muslims having more children than non-Muslims. 

 

Overall, Christians of all denominations still make up 33 percent of the world’s population but that’s assuming that the data are correct.  Some research suggests that there are more like 1.8 billion Muslims and they’re growing at a faster pace than any other religion.  By comparison, there are 2.1 million Christians worldwide.  Islam appears to be right on its heels.

 

So, what’s so concerning about the growth of Islam?  Let’s not pretend that the 800-pound gorilla is not in the room.  According to Pew Global Attitudes, in places like Pakistan, 44 percent of the people think suicide bombing is justified at least some of the time.  In Jordan, that figure is 88 percent!  What we have come to term “radical Islam” is very much mainstream in many parts of the world.  And there are many who are diligently trying to bring that mindset to America.

 

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is the largest and most visible mouthpiece for Islam in America.  It has also been linked to terrorism, both receiving help from terrorists and providing aid to terrorists.  Its chairman and co-founder, Omar Ahmad, said in 1998 that “Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faiths, but to become dominant.”  He said the Koran “should be the highest authority in America and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth.”  What he was talking about – and what CAIR continues to strive for – is sharia law in America.  In other words, Islamic law would supplant the Constitution.  Ahmad has also publicly praised the suicide bombers saying, “Fighting for freedom, fighting for Islam, that is not suicide.  They kill themselves for Islam.”  Oh, well, that explains it.  I just thought they were some wacked out, homicidal maniacs.

 

At least five CAIR members have either been arrested or named as unindicted co-conspirators for their ties to terrorism.  Even liberal pacifists like Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) recognize CAIR for what it is.  “We know it has ties to terrorism,” Schumer said, noting CAIR’s “intimate links to Hamas.” 

 

CAIR claims to be to Muslims what the NAACP is to black people in America.  If that’s the case, then American Muslims are represented by an organization determined to overthrow the constitutional government of the United States and replace it with its radical form of Islam.  Even today, CAIR is the go-to organization for the news media and talking head programs who want to get the Muslim perspective on issues.  The fact that any American Muslims regard CAIR as their representative should send shivers down the spine of law-abiding, constitution-loving Americans.

The good news is many Muslims in America are rejecting CAIR and its radical agenda.  Membership has dropped 90 percent since 9/11.  The scary part is that CAIR’s national board chairman, Parvez Ahmed, was elected to the board of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida in 2006.  Both organizations oppose targeting illegal immigrants in this country and we now know that there’s been a flood of illegal aliens from terror-sponsoring states coming into the United States from Mexico.

 

Certainly, not all Muslims are terrorists, but most terrorists these days are Muslim.  Any dramatic increase in their number should be cause for concern.