The attached short speech from Winston Churchill was delivered by him in 1899 when he was a young soldier and journalist. It probably sets out the current views of many, but expresses in the wonderful Churchillian turn of phrase and use of the English language.
HERE’S THE SPEECH:
“How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries!
Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia
in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in
many countries, improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture,
sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever
the followers of the Prophet rule or live.
A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement, the
next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every
woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a
child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery
until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.
Individual Muslims may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the
religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No
stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund,
Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already
spread throughout Central Africa , raising fearless warriors at every
step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms
of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization
of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome ..”
Sir Winston Churchill; (Source: The River War,
first edition, Vol II, pages 248-250 London).
David's Logical Lagoon 