An extraordinarily succinct articulation of the nuances involved in South Sudan's upcoming election...truly helpful for pastors who want to equip the saints who have been entrusted to their care in how to think about their brothers in Christ
So many southern Sudanese talk the way Archbishop Deng does, saying, "We have no problem with Islam" (or with Muslims)and "We have lived with Muslims for 1,000 years". During that 1,000 years, the people of Sudan have been invaded, enslaved, converted forcibly (or "voluntarily" through sometimes dubious means of persuasion) or killed, by "sophisticated" people (this word is code for deceitful, I believe). "Lived with" is therefore a euphemism and Archbishop Deng is using this kind of talk for a reason. Maybe he is trying to protect his people who now live among the Muslims in the north and face great danger if they don't leave before the referendum, or maybe he has already accepted dhimmi status with its ban on speaking truthfully (although he did speak truthfully in other parts of the conference).
The only time the Sudan has seen Islam retreat from its position as a predatory, controlling, discriminationg force has been when it had a third party, the British, in control. There is little doubt in my mind that when south Sudan opts for separation, Muslims will continue to immigrate into the area and will be encouraged and helped financially by wealthy Islamic countries, just as is happening here in the West. The north is not going to let go of its plan to Islamize the south, and they already have discriminatory practices in the south such as only employing Muslims in the institutions they establish (so I have heard). What will the southerners do if these practices, which they presently tolerate, continue and grow? Will they do as we are doing in the West, talk about "tolerance" and "respect" and "our Muslim brothers" and slowly watch Islam achieve dominance, after all their efforts to resist it? How are they going to prevent the Islamization of the south? What political system can they establish which will curb the Islamic encroachment which will inevitably bring the same trouble they had before and maybe even further loss of territory and further war? There are bound to be many Muslims who will want to go to the south to live as President Bashir is determined to intensify sharia law in the north, and as we know in the West, desperate Muslim refugees escaping from Islamic oppression tend to bring the seeds of oppression with them.
Why does the Sudanese Christian Church pretend that Islam is fine "as a religion" when clearly its texts so clearly legitimise all the dreadful things Muslims have inflicted on the south? Is it because of its affiliation with the dhimmi Church of England, presided over by Rowan Williams?
The people of south Sudan have a far-reaching decision to make, about whether to separate and deal with consequent hostility from the north which will lose so much and try to inflict punishment, or to remain united under a government which is implacably Islamist and severely punishes those who refuse to carry out jihad on its behalf. Whatever they decide, they are facing the same question we are facing in the West: what to do about a confident, well-funded, supremacist, intolerant ideology which insists on settling among us, and whose members are always under orders - and surveillance - from their imams.
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An extraordinarily succinct articulation of the nuances involved in South Sudan's upcoming election...truly helpful for pastors who want to equip the saints who have been entrusted to their care in how to think about their brothers in Christ
ReplyDeleteSo many southern Sudanese talk the way Archbishop Deng does, saying, "We have no problem with Islam" (or with Muslims)and "We have lived with Muslims for 1,000 years". During that 1,000 years, the people of Sudan have been invaded, enslaved, converted forcibly (or "voluntarily" through sometimes dubious means of persuasion) or killed, by "sophisticated" people (this word is code for deceitful, I believe). "Lived with" is therefore a euphemism and Archbishop Deng is using this kind of talk for a reason. Maybe he is trying to protect his people who now live among the Muslims in the north and face great danger if they don't leave before the referendum, or maybe he has already accepted dhimmi status with its ban on speaking truthfully (although he did speak truthfully in other parts of the conference).
ReplyDeleteThe only time the Sudan has seen Islam retreat from its position as a predatory, controlling, discriminationg force has been when it had a third party, the British, in control. There is little doubt in my mind that when south Sudan opts for separation, Muslims will continue to immigrate into the area and will be encouraged and helped financially by wealthy Islamic countries, just as is happening here in the West. The north is not going to let go of its plan to Islamize the south, and they already have discriminatory practices in the south such as only employing Muslims in the institutions they establish (so I have heard).
What will the southerners do if these practices, which they presently tolerate, continue and grow? Will they do as we are doing in the West, talk about "tolerance" and "respect" and "our Muslim brothers" and slowly watch Islam achieve dominance, after all their efforts to resist it? How are they going to prevent the Islamization of the south? What political system can they establish which will curb the Islamic encroachment which will inevitably bring the same trouble they had before and maybe even further loss of territory and further war? There are bound to be many Muslims who will want to go to the south to live as President Bashir is determined to intensify sharia law in the north, and as we know in the West, desperate Muslim refugees escaping from Islamic oppression tend to bring the seeds of oppression with them.
Why does the Sudanese Christian Church pretend that Islam is fine "as a religion" when clearly its texts so clearly legitimise all the dreadful things Muslims have inflicted on the south? Is it because of its affiliation with the dhimmi Church of England, presided over by Rowan Williams?
The people of south Sudan have a far-reaching decision to make, about whether to separate and deal with consequent hostility from the north which will lose so much and try to inflict punishment, or to remain united under a government which is implacably Islamist and severely punishes those who refuse to carry out jihad on its behalf. Whatever they decide, they are facing the same question we are facing in the West: what to do about a confident, well-funded, supremacist, intolerant ideology which insists on settling among us, and whose members are always under orders - and surveillance - from their imams.