by William Kilpatrick
Crisis Magazine
“Schoolchildren banned from singing Silent Night over fears it will offend other religions.” So reads a headline in the Express. Instead of singing the lyrics which might “offend other religions,” schoolchildren in Bresciano, Italy were told to hum the tune.
If you have trouble guessing what other religion might take offense, it probably means that you’ve spent the last eight years in the Galapagos Islands studying the evolution of finches. Either that, or you work for the State Department. Those who have been paying attention know that the religion in question is Islam. The new rule, to paraphrase Robert Spencer, is “When in Muslim countries, do as the Muslims do, and when in non-Muslim countries, do as the Muslims do.”
Thus, in one Italian town, “Silent Night” can’t be sung, and in another, a priest has cancelled a traditional Nativity scene at the local cemetery out of respect for Muslim graves. Meanwhile, in Sweden, the traditional St. Lucy’s Day celebration has been cancelled by several towns and cities so as not to offend other religions. In response, Sweden’s Muslim community has decided to cancel all festivities connected to the celebration of Eid al-Fitr, out of respect for Christians.
I made up that last sentence, of course; Muslims don’t seem to worry overmuch about offending other religions or, for that matter, about offending secular sentiments. As is increasingly apparent, multiculturalism is a one-way street. Christians are expected to make concessions and yield up cultural territory while secularists (on the one hand) and Islamists (on the other) use multiculturalism as an excuse to engage in cultural land grabs.
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