Churchill's description of Mohammedanism

This description below by a young Winston Churchill of the Muslim faith and its deleterious effect on any society it infects is simply devastating. Churchill knows from the perspective of an historian what the world has gotten, and can expect to get, -- there is simply no other way to put it -- from this deeply flawed and perverse faith. The prophet Mohammed was an aggressive thug. His sources of income and power were violent and treacherous assaults on the caravans plying the trade routes between the east and west near Medina and Mecca in Arabia. Mohammed led raids against these caravans and in the end was simply one of many pirates preying on traders trying to make an honest living moving goods between trading areas. The Barbary pirates who preyed on ships in the trading sea lanes of the Mediterranean until routed and destroyed by Thomas Jefferson in the early 19th century operated in the tradition of Mohammed. Suddenly this pirate hears voices from Allah, is reformed, and ready to lead followers to the promised land? Color me skeptical. Even after his "revelations" from Allah, Mohammed instructed and led his followers in what we would today describe as terrorist attacks designed to eliminate those who disagreed with his vision of power and control. Nothing with respect to this intolerant and militant religion has changed in the 1500 years since Mohammed's death. It is a religion premised on intolerance, slavery and violence. It's hard to find anything redeeming in its legacy despite 1.2 billion followers worldwide.

Here's how Churchill described Mohammedism:

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 Moslems may show splendid qualities. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen: all know how to die. But the influence of the religion paralyzes 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 proseltyzing 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.

Since Churchill made these observations in the early part of the 20th century has anything changed to make them less accurate? It seems not. We are living with a failed religion and nothing any of our political leaders can do or say will change this unfortunate truth. As long as Mohammed's followers believe that their faith is the only path to God, as long as they believe women are less than men, as long as they believe that those who do not follow Mohammed are infidels and subject to persecution and dhiminitude, there is no way western civilization can come to terms with this rogue religion. The sooner political leaders understand this reality and take steps to marginalize and minimize the effects of the Muslim faith in our society, the better off we will all be and the more likely it will be that we will survive as a civilization.