Rupert Murdoch has recently been criticised (again) by the loony left. After recent terrorist atrocities he wrote that ‘peaceful’ Muslims who had failed to ‘destroy’ the ‘jihadist cancer’ ‘must be held responsible’. The Witchfinder agrees.

A reasonable desire to avoid bigotry or hate does not mean turning a blind eye to mass murder or child abuse.

Mr Murdoch’s comment is a brave one and inspired this supportive article in which the Witchfinder deals with the difficult topic of Islamic extremism and the equally difficult topic of left wing denial and hypocrisy along with their denial and demonising of those who ask awkward questions.

Your inquisitor is a Christian. He was baptised and confirmed as an adult by choice into the Church of England, albeit with a far from stellar attendance record. The local church (when I get there) is uncontroversial, attended by working families and little old ladies. The idea that the knitting circle would get together and decide to blow up buildings is absurd.

Having said that, all faiths have extremists whose interpretation of God’s will is at odds with that of everyone else. Christians (for example) have Westboro Baptist Church. WBC pickets (and threatens to picket) the funerals of soldiers and children claiming they are burning in hell for various sins, sometimes their own and sometimes that of their nation. The Catholic Church, of course, has had its scandal of abusive priests.

The profound point that Rupert Murdoch raises is that extremism does not exist in a vacuum. Terrorism does not spring from thin air in a moderate, integrated social group. In the modern world it is Islam, before all other religions, that is associated with worldwide terrorism. When anti-social behaviour arises in the major western religions it is generally rejected and marginalised –

• The Baptists internationally condemned the ministry of Fred Phelps. WBC was a tiny group constantly being condemned and marginalised by mainstream western society and mainstream Christians.
• The Roman Catholics have adopted strict new rules to ensure that any abuse is reported and dealt with swiftly and harshly and that allegations are reported to the proper civil authorities in the country in which it is said to have occurred. Of course it should be remembered that the Catholic Church, for all its sins, is by no means the most guilty group.

Left wingers have a far less enviable record on reporting suspicions of crime. In an English town called Rotherham it has emerged that 1400 underage girls were abused by Muslim Asian men. The council is run by the UK Labour Party, the British equivalent of the Democrats. The abuse went on for 16 years because those who reported it were vilified as racist.

Jokes about the proclivities of Catholic Priests were popular with the left-wing media for a long time. The smiles of the sneering intelligentsia have died with the revelations that several of the best loved television stars in the UK BBC were record breaking child abusers. Jimmy Savile, a major UK Television figure was found to have been “the most prolific sex attacker in recent British history“.

Despite over 500 victims Savile escaped justice until his dying day as a result of the victims’ fear of taking on the left wing establishment. His friend, fellow BBC celebrity Rolf Harris was recently convicted of sex offences. Since then the Witchfinder has not seen jokes about Catholic priests and paedophiles on the BBC.

As a matter of simple practical fact, many modern adherents of Islam have beliefs that are not compatible with Western society. Like Christianity, of course there are both moderate and extremist interpretations of Islam, but the fact remains that the number of recent atrocities committed by (say) Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs, Hindus or Bahá’í is negligible to non-existent in comparison to those committed by Muslims.

A simple reason for the greater prevalence of extremism in Islamic societies is that Islamic holy texts promote violence in a way that Judaeo-Christianity does not. The Quran, much like the Old Testament of the Bible / the Jewish Torah, deals in detail with the violent establishment of a polity. In the Old Testament, a major theme is the conquest and subsequent defence of Israel whereas in the Quran it is the capture and defence of Mecca.

However, the Jewish faith does not require forced conversion. Indeed, the Jews are commanded to love and be kind to foreigners –

Exodus 22:21 “Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt.”

Deuteronomy 10:19 “And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.”

Forced conversion is an almost entirely absent concept in Judaism because the Jews are considered God’s chosen elect people. Joining is considered a hard-earned privilege.

Christianity is defined almost entirely by its founder, Jesus of Nazareth, who taught that religious and political allegiance could be separated and commanded his followers to behave with justice and mercy.

Mark 12:17 And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. And they marvelled at him.

John 18:36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

1 Peter 2:13-17 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme;

Of course in 391 AD under Emperor Theodosius I, Jesus did conquer the Roman empire peacefully when Nicene Christianity became the official state religion. Given the violent nature of many other religious movements perhaps that is in itself a genuine miracle.

In contrast, the Quran marks a regression from the Christian doctrine to the earlier Judaic history of conquest, with two innovations. Firstly, the conquest is not limited to a single territory such as Israel and second the introduction of violent, forced conversion –

Quran (8:12) “[…] I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them”

Quran (8:67) “It is not for any prophet to have captives until he hath made slaughter in the land. […]”

Quran (48:29) “Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. And those with him are hard against the disbelievers and merciful among themselves. […]”

The effects of these doctrinal differences on the modern expression of the religions is concisely expressed by Mr Murdoch’s words, “Big jihadist danger looming everywhere from Philippines to Africa to Europe to US.”

Contemporary left wingers have by and large had the luxury of growing up in western states with a Judaeo Christian or secular majority. Human life is short and because peace and security is all they have ever known they do not emotionally grasp that human history is soaked in blood.

Societies where everyone can vote and hold property, where people can choose their religion, are a relatively new development in the last two hundred years. Our novel, tolerant western societies have generally dealt with small infusions of other races and religions by peaceful integration, tolerance and accommodation.

Short sighted policies in the latter half of the twentieth century have changed that by inviting large scale immigration of people who do not share the same beliefs. Left wingers claim that Islam is tolerant whilst trying to introduce Sharia law that disadvantages women and excludes unbelievers from inheritance.

In the grand sweep of history our way of life is very young and it is under threat. On the one hand we have a religion which has no place for tolerance or democracy. On the other, we have the left-wing tactic of covering up problems rather than solving them. Paris burns whilst the Guardian wurbles about scare stories.

From time to time modern western civilisation has, with the utmost reluctance, accepted that some ideologies have no place in the world. For example after the Second World War the allies deliberately sought to eliminate Nazism. It was called ‘denazification‘ and it was one of the only times in western history when the burning of books and the systematic discrimination against holders of an ideology was considered necessary by a broad consensus. The entire population was effectively re-indoctrinated.

The Witchfinder has no answer for the problems our societies currently face. These are sensitive issues that require public debate. However, I will tell you what I do know – There is a problem, and it must be addressed. Left wingers must be stopped from silencing a necessary debate.

We need to recognise that our society’s freedoms are a rare privilege not afforded to those who lived in almost any other era of history. If we want to preserve this achievement we may find ourselves with the choice of an unpalatable solution or a medieval, theocratic future.

The question can no longer be avoided. If the leaders of the ‘peaceful’ Muslims cannot root out and destroy the jihadists then as Mr Murdoch says, they are responsible. If the leaders of existing, established political parties cannot awaken to the problems we face then the public will take it out of their hands and put it those of extremist politicians like UKIP and the BNP in the UK or the Front National in France, with all too predictable results.