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My late wife, Shirley Winnifred Madany (née Dann), passed away in August 2008. Before we were married in 1953, Shirley was secretary to the editor of The Winnipeg Free Press. Winnipeg is the capital of the Canadian Province of Manitoba.

Working on a daily editorial each weekday was her main assignment. She did book reviews as well. The following is the text of an article she wrote a few decades ago, which I find quite relevant for our time.

“When it comes to robust health and communicable diseases, we have made great strides. Young families are no longer faced with the threats of measles, chicken pox, mumps, and polio, or the dreaded smallpox. We are insistent on the use of immunizations at an early age. Flu epidemics may still make inroads on school populations, but the elderly are encouraged and offered suitable “shots” each fall to ward off whatever flu virus may be expected.

“Good health is guarded by careful preventative measures. But how much thought do we give to building up our spiritual immunity against false and misleading information? Tolerance of all kinds of opinions, cultural and political, is accepted.

“As Christianity in Western Europe and the United Kingdom is in decline, Muslim immigrants are settling in these lands with an agenda — to spread Islam, making them part of Daru’l Islam. Rather than learning about the history of Islam and its global conquests, we are being desensitized by television programs that advertise a rosy and tolerant view of Islam.

“For example, a Public Broadcasting System (PBS) telecast, “Islam: Empire of Faith” paints a glamorous view of the Islamic Futuhat (Conquests.) The Irony is that the show was aired before and after the horrific events of 9/11, as if their perpetrators had landed from outer space!

“Here is another example of a total lack of cultural “immunity” one finds in the use in American Public Schools (Grade 7) of a textbook published by Houghton Mifflin, “Across the Centuries.”

“While studying Islam, Grade 7 students are learning about an Islam that never existed. They are given assignments to write about going to Mecca on the hajj – to mention what countries they would have to travel through. Another assignment was to write a journal as if they were a Muslim soldier on their way to conquer Syria! The textbook endorses the key articles of the Islamic faith. Can you imagine Christianity being given such an opening in public schools?

“Islam is on the march. World conquest is a natural part of the Islamic thrust. Already it is the third religion in many European countries, while in France it has become the second.”

Postscript

My late wife wrote that article before her passing in 2008, reflecting contemporary world conditions. Since then, the march of history has accelerated, especially after the Islamic Republic of Iran entered the fray in the Middle East. A new situation surfaced on the 7th of October 2023, when Israel experienced an existential attack from the radical organization HAMAS. The nomenclature is quite revealing, Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiyah (The Islamic Resistance Movement) is no longer the mild-sounding PLO (Palestine Liberation Organisation).

I end by quoting from the Summer 2024 issue of the Middle East Quarterly:

The Iran-Israel War and the Clash of Civilizations

“CIA Director William J. Burns has declared that the "key to Israel's—and the region's—security is dealing with Iran. The Iranian regime has been emboldened by the crisis and seems ready to fight to its last regional proxy, all while expanding its nuclear program and enabling Russian aggression." [1] Hamas' invasion of Israel is part of a broad attack by Iran and its proxies. How does the war on Israel fit into the Islamic Republic of Iran's regional and global goals?”