As Muslims continue to commit violence against Christians and their churches throughout the Middle East, a group of religious leaders recently met with officials of the European Union to protest. The EU leaders promised to support the rise of democracy in the Middle East so long as the democratic movement provided for religious freedom.

European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said, "There is no contradiction between Islam and democracy." But he is dead wrong. There is an incredible contradiction between Islam and democracy.

• Democracy is government of the people. Of even highly imperfect people.
• Islam is government as proscribed by Shariah law, which is of God – and therefore is perfect. Law which is based upon mere people is highly offensive to those who believe in law based upon "the perfection of Allah."

• Western democracy separates law from religion. "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's," said Jesus Christ.
• Islamic-dominated countries require government by Shariah law. Muhammad was a religious leader as well as a lawgiver, judge and governor. In Islam, there can be no separation between religion and government.

• Jesus Christ encouraged Christians "to turn the other cheek" when struck.
• Muhammad was a war leader who attacked and conquered the city which he renamed "Mecca."

• Christianity is founded on one holy book – the Bible.
• Islam is founded on a holy book – the Koran – but also has a library of books dealing with writings about Mohammad and customs – the Hadith. In the West, defenders of Islam are careful to relate their messages to the peaceful pages of the Koran. They are equally careful to avoid revealing the fact that Islam is based on the Hadith and Shariah law as well.

• The New Testament of the Bible is devoted to peace.
• The Koran offers peace but with major exceptions. The exceptions involve major levels of violent punishments which are expanded in the Hadith and codified under Shariah law.

• To be like Jesus is to be peaceful. Jesus inspired no wars, no conquests. Centuries later, popes and Christian church leaders would pervert their religion into the shameful Crusades when knights killed, looted and persecuted all "non believers," including Jews.
• To be like Mohammad is to be aggressive and warlike. Mohammad inspired the massive military sweep of Islam across the Middle East, Africa and Europe in the eighth and ninth centuries.

• Christianity spread and grew based upon missionaries who preached the teachings of the Bible.
• Islam spread around the world through a system of holy worship, taxation and violence. Where Islam becomes dominant, the authorities attempt to convert everyone to Islam. Those who prefer to remain "kafirs" are then taxed above the levels paid by Muslims. Those who refuse to convert or pay the poll tax can be executed. Shariah law also allows Islamists to make conquered peoples into slaves.

• Christians can reject or speak against their religion without fear of reprisal.
• Muslims can be killed for rejecting or criticizing their religion. This is found in the Koran.

• Christians are not allowed to murder their children.
• Muslims are allowed the "honor killings" of disobedient daughters – for example, those who might refuse to accept arranged marriages.

• Christians are not allowed to beat their wives.
• Muslims are allowed to inflict a wide range of violent punishments on offending wives.

• Christians are not allowed to mutilate their children.
• Muslims can mutilate their daughters' private parts to encourage chastity.

• Christians believe in justice which drastically limits vengeance under the principle of "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." If someone hits you with a pebble, you cannot drop a boulder on them.
• Under the principle of Jihad, Muslims have no such limitation on vengeance. When an American preacher threatened to burn a Koran, Muslims rioted violently all over the world. When Christians attempted to celebrate Christmas in Iraq, Muslims invaded a church and murdered the Christians inside. The threats against Christmas were so strong that Christians in Iraq did not openly celebrate the holiday in 2010. Think about a religion that sanctions murder if one merely puts up Christmas decorations.

Western defenders of Islam claim that these are the acts of extremists. They claim that Jihad means "peaceful change."

They lie. From Shariah law, I quote: "Jihad means to war against kafirs and is derived from the word mujahada, signifying warfare to establish the religion."

From all this you should begin to form three basic conclusions:

1. Islam is a political movement which embraces violence.

2. Islam is "perfect" and cannot be changed.

3. There is no such thing as a moderate Muslim.

England and Germany embraced Islam as an accommodation to "multiculturalism." Both nations have since suffered many Islamic terrorist attacks.

Now both countries have abandoned multiculturalism and are demanding a change of behavior from their resident Muslims.

The former Australian Prime Minister made a speech telling Muslims to abandon their customs and adopt those of Australia or go home. The current Prime Minister agrees.

Maybe we should learn from their experiences.

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