Religion of Intolerance
Say (0 Mohammed, to the disbelievers): Travel in the land and
see the nature of the consequence for those who were before you.
Most of them were idolaters,'
Just Like Today: Muslims devalue ancient
sites of other religions
Muslims in Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus attempted to turn
thefo ur th-ce nt ur y mo na st er y of Sa n Ma ka r in to a ho te l.
In Li by a. th e daff y Colon el Qadda fi turn ed Trip oli' s Cath olic
cath edral into a mosqu e. Andin Afghanistan. of course. the
Taliban government dynamited the famousBuddhas of Bamiyan
in March 2001. Could the Christi an monument s ofEurope
possibly suffer the same fate?
If the warrior s of jihad, who are as energi zed today as they
have been atany time durin g the lastmille nniu m, get their
way, they certa inly coul d.Ed wa rd Gi bb on. aut ho r of Th e
De cl in e and Fal l of th e Ro man Emp ir e, observed that if the
eighth-century Muslim incursion into France had beensucc essf ul,
"per haps the inter preta tion of theKora n would now be taug ht
in the scho ols of Oxfor d and her pulp its might demo nstra te to
a circu mcise dpeople the sanctity and truth of the revelation of
Mahomet."'
That day may be yet to come.