Buckley on Islam in Britain

In a column at Real Clear Politics, William F. Buckley meanders in and out on the subject of the growing threat of Islam in Britain. It’s all quite trivial and inconsequential as only Buckley can be, until he gets to the end:

[I]t is time for the mother of parliaments to look unruly, unassimilable creeds in the face and say: No more.

Oddly, the British way of life tolerates an established religion. In the end, the English are not hampered by toplofty commitments to freedom of speech and of conscience. Still, when the United States was seriously inconvenienced by our commitment to freedom of religion, we found means to handle Mormon polygamy. All the world waits to see how Parliament handles this threat to the British way of life.

The U.S. of course outlawed polygamy and the advocacy of polygamy in the late 19th century. It did not outlaw the Mormon religion, but only the Mormon custom of polygamy. What then is the intended analogy to Islam? Buckley here is not speaking of any particular Muslim custom as a danger. The danger he’s speaking of is Islam itself. Therefore Buckley’s plain implication is that Britain should outlaw Islam. He is suggesting, without saying so explicitly, that while the U.S. with its First Amendment cannot outlaw Islam, Britain can.

Whether or not Buckley, who in recent decades has rarely had a cogent or serious thought (once every six months is my working estimate), really meant to say this, he appears to have said it. Let’s hope the idea spreads.

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Townsend writes:

You wrote: “Therefore Buckley’s plain implication is that Britain should outlaw Islam. He is suggesting, without saying so explicitly, that while the U.S. with its First Amendment cannot outlaw Islam, Britain can.”

I believe that our government can outlaw Islam as well, but it will require an advanced understanding of Islam by our influential decision makers before this happens. Islam is not just a religion, but a means of controlling politics, economics, etc. It is a fascist system of power which rivals the other great tyrannies of history.

When the subject of stopping Islamic immigration into our country was discussed with a friend, the first objection was, “What about freedom of religion?” Even when I pointed out that one of the main tenets of Islam was to either dominate or kill Jews, Christians, and other non-Muslims, the question of freedom of religion for Muslims was not resolved in the discussion. Americans cannot bring themselves to think about discriminating against a group of people, even if said group is trying to destroy our civilization.

We have forgotten that it is entirely permissible—and sane—to love our own civilization.

LA replies:

I agree entirely and have said the same many times. The key is to identity Islam as a political ideology seeking tyrannical power contrary to the U.S. Constitution. Then we can control and ban it as such. And when we do that, our Mohammedan friends will start to leave, even in the absence of immigration controls, deportations, etc.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at August 28, 2007 08:14 AM | Send