Indonesia On The Brink?

[scribblet]

It appears that Indonesia is under siege and on the road towards Sharia Law and with it the loss of rights for women, among other things. IMHO this is just another step towards intolerance and loss of human rights and shows how radical Islam is on the rise, and is a real threat to democracy.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/...,476068,00.html

Indonesia On The Brink?

Der Spiegel reports that Indonesia's ostensibly secular government faces increasing pressure from the Islamists in their midst. The Muslim nation may start down the road towards a Taliban-Lite government as radical Islamists gain more seats in their assembly and demand a greater imposition of shari'a law:

With 221 million inhabitants, of which 194 million are Muslims, the island nation is not only Southeast Asia's most populous country, but is also home to the world's largest Muslim population. And that population looks to be growing increasingly devout. Significantly more women wear the headscarf today than a decade ago, and the number of Indonesians making the pilgrimage to Mecca grows year after year. Alcoholic beverages are disappearing from the shelves of supermarkets, and in some places those who violate the Islamic ban on alcohol already face public whipping -- a brutal spectacle that is even broadcast on local television stations.

Since two bombs killed 202 people, most of them Western tourists, at the Kuta beach resort on the island of Bali in the fall of 2002, Islamist terrorists have repeatedly attacked Western targets at the same time of the year, prompting Indonesians to refer to autumn as "bomb season." Al-Qaida, which is clearly allied with local extremists, has identified the country as a battlefield of the future.

-snip-

The reference to shipping lanes seems rather significant. Not long ago, the History Channel produced a show on modern pirates -- men who do a lot more than just shout "Aaaargh!" The new pirates have attacked shipping all over the world, but have especially concentrated their efforts in the waters of Indonesia. They have even, at least once, hijacked a ship just to learn its operation, maneuver it for a while, and then escape from it without docking it. On that occasion, they also stole all of the technical manuals but left the cargo with the terrorized crew, which survived the incident.

-snip-

The West will face a crisis soon in the world's largest Muslim nation. We had better pay attention to what happens in Indonesia, because al-Qaeda has already highlighted it as a future battleground for its war on the West. We cannot afford to let it slip away.

[B. Max]

It appears that Indonesia is under siege and on the road towards Sharia Law and with it the loss of rights for women, among other things. IMHO this is just another step towards intolerance and loss of human rights and shows how radical Islam is on the rise, and is a real threat to democracy.

Here's the problem right here.

Indonesia's

Secular

State under Siege

The false religion of atheism can not defeat Islam. It took the forces of Christianity to defeat the Islamic's before, and drive them from and stop them from taking over Europe.

[geoffrey]

The false religion of atheism can not defeat Islam. It took the forces of Christianity to defeat the Islamic's before, and drive them from and stop them from taking over Europe.

Secularism isn't atheism.

[B. Max]

The false religion of atheism can not defeat Islam. It took the forces of Christianity to defeat the Islamic's before, and drive them from and stop them from taking over Europe.

Secularism isn't atheism.

It most certainly is geoffrey.

Main Entry: sec·u·lar·ism

Pronunciation: 'se-ky&-l&-"ri-z&m

Function: noun

: indifference to or rejection or exclusion of religion and religious considerations

[Remiel]

You really do not understand the definition of your own words, do you B. Max? Religion and belief in a deity are not completely synonymous ideas. Thus, you can go so far as to reject religion (the closest of the six combinations from your definition to resemble your argument) and yet not be atheist, because you still believe in a deity. They call it deism. Go figure. A deist is not an atheist.

[B. Max]

You really do not understand the definition of your own words, do you B. Max? Religion and belief in a deity are not completely synonymous ideas. Thus, you can go so far as to reject religion (the closest of the six combinations from your definition to resemble your argument) and yet not be atheist, because you still believe in a deity. They call it deism. Go figure. A deist is not an atheist.

But now you are straying into the area of a false religion. Such as pantheism. Which is the worship of the created rather than the creator, and as some like to soffen it up by saying equating with God. However, it only really equates with atheism.