Religion of Peace update: right on cue

At the outset of the current furore over the recent tactless remarks by his Lordship’s Grace of Canterbury, Melancholicus considered that all we need to inject a dose of realism into this matter is a good display of how adopting parts of Islamic Sharia law can help maintain social cohesion.

And here it is, right on cue. From Catholic World News:

Christians suffer in Nigerian religious violence

Lagos, Feb. 8, 2008 (CWNews.com) - About 1,000 Christians have been driven from their homes, and every Christian church destroyed, in a rash of religious violence in a northern Nigerian state, reports Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).

The violence in the heavily Islamic Bauchi state began when a young Christian woman was charged with blaspheming the prophet Mohammed, CSW reports. (Christian neighbors say that the young woman was the target of reprisal by a spurned Muslim admirer.) A mob gathered at the young woman's house, police opened fire on the crowd, and a riot broke out in which the Christian minority suffered from assaults, arson, looting, and vandalism.

Nigeria's northern region is dominated by Muslims, and Christians have expressed mounting fears about the imposition of shari'a law and disenfranchisement of religious minorities.

In fairness to Dr. Williams, Melancholicus feels duty bound to acknowledge that he does not believe for a moment that Dr. Williams advocates this kind of carry on, much less public floggings, stonings, amputations and beheadings, or the treatment of women as little more than slaves.

But there is no such thing as a little bit of sharia; if any western government should ever stoop to the folly of legally recognising sharia law, the effect will be to establish a state within a state and to transfer sovereignty from the government to the mullahs. Recognising any individual principle of sharia will be tantamount to swallowing the entire beast. To admit any part will be ultimately to admit the whole, whether intended or not. And the Mohammedans, emboldened by such unexpected success, will press for even greater control over the dhimmified majority.

Thereafter, this kind of mass Islamic violence, which is routine in parts of Africa and Asia, will become routine in Europe also.