OMG! Muslims are under my bed!

If a member of Dutch parliament says it, it must be true. Geert Wilders has been riding through the US screaming "The Muslims are coming. The Muslims are coming!" You know what will happen if Geert succeeds in picking his nose here. His head will cave in.

Someone I know recently sent me this speech that Wilders gave in New York in 2008. His message is "Be afraid, be very afraid."

It’s important to know who Geert Wilders is. Google him. There is a lot to read. He’s been fanning the flames of fear for a long time. I know that what we humans judge as fact is filtered the emotional lens of what we believe. What I see, you might not see.

It wasn’t that long ago, that some politicians --- Joseph McCarthy, Richard Nixon to name only two --- played upon fear of Communism in order to further their political careers. We have lost Communists as the devil du jour. Without the Communist Menace hiding under our beds, fear-mongers need a new bogeyman. It is Muslims for now.

Playing upon the fears of the populace, stoking those fears to a higher heat, is not a new tool for politicians. It has been around for centuries because it works so well. Geert Wilders is making it work for him now.

Muslims refer to their God as Allah. Allah simply means God in Arabic, as does Dios in Spanish, Dieu in French. God is also known as Jehovah and Yahweh. A different name in a different language does not make a different God. Muslims are very clear that the God they worship is the God of the Jews and the God of the Christians.

The word Islam means submission to God --- not submission to Muslims, not submission to conquerors, not submission to tyranny, not submission to slavery. Submission to God. Jesus referred to that same submission to God when he taught us to pray “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” The Kingdom is submission to God’s will.

I could go through Wilders's entire speech and point out many problems, like his lack of understanding of how satellite television works (you don’t point your receiver dish to your country of origin, you point it at the satellite), but it would be a waste of time. However, I am extremely delighted to point out the irony of Wilders's concern that French schools are increasingly choosing not to mention Darwin for fear of offending Muslims. I would guess that many of Wilders's target audience in this country are the same people who oppose the teaching of evolution in our public schools.

If he’s in Washington, DC, on October 30, Geert Wilders might choose to attend the March to Keep Fear Alive --- not understanding that the March is satirizing people like him and the fear-feeding media.

I would choose to attend the Rally to Restore Sanity.