hijab volleyball

From Peter Hitchens’ blog:

“Islam’s real challenge to Western society is not terrorism. …

“No, the challenge comes from Islam’s near-total monopoly on things we used to value quite a bit and then totally gave up – female modesty being one of them. And yes, I know that plenty of other things, much more controversial, come with the package.

“Pictures of Egypt’s veiled and covered Doaa Elghobashy, (above), competing against bikini-clad Western opponents in the Olympic beach volleyball, are very thought-provoking.

“You don’t have to go more than 100 years back to find Western women who would have had much more in common – in attitudes and dress – with Ms Elghobashy than they did with her near-naked rivals.

“I often wonder if our society will sicken and tire of its seemingly endless relaxation of rules. Such things have happened before. If it does, the Muslim religion may be very well-positioned to lead the counter-revolution. I don’t want this to happen. I just think it might.”

This is an excellent point. When people reject the wearing of hijabs, niqabs, and burqas, I usually agree with them, but I also ask, “What is your counter argument? How do you dress?” The one I usually sense is, “WE CAN WEAR WHATEVER WE WANT!” What hope does this terrible sneer leave anyone who believes in modesty and living a righteous life?

I am tired of rules being relaxed and sneered at, I am tired of the bombardment of sexual titillation on TV shows and advertisements, almost every website or sidebar or thumbnail, and most magazine covers- I have been tired of this my whole life. I hate that modesty is a foreign, archaic concept to women (and men) in America and the larger Western world, and that to even suggest the idea would bring up a bitter argument that would get me outcast.

But what is the effective counter? The so-called Christian church of modern America is feckless, next to worthless. The people often dress in the same fashionable, overly casual, often immodest style as the rest of the world. Instead of coming together for daily and weekly prayer sessions, they would rather build million dollar compounds, give cheap speeches, and sell books about “How Hand-Wringing can Revolutionize Evangelizing.” Either that, or they believe repeating the same centuries-old ceremonies and saying the same general truisms about sin and salvation once a week is all that’s needed.

Islam, for all its evils, is embarrassing us. It is plain to see that many Muslims take their religion seriously and live their life by it, following its rules for how to dress and act. Not many generations ago, it would have been normal, even de rigueur, for American women to wear concealing clothing and a hat or headscarf in public or in a church meeting. Now? Wearing a head covering makes a woman look like she belongs to a strange cult. I am not suggesting that women MUST or SHOULD wear head coverings or that this is the best solution to showing modesty in modern society. I mean that our collective culture has eroded, and there is not an effective counter to it; meanwhile Islam is manifesting itself as the only apparent movement of modesty and moral living.

To try and live a righteous life in America today reminds me more and more of Lot trying to maintain himself in Sodom.