Uh Colorado is at it again, trying to silence free speech. A law in Colorado forces businesses to use customers' preferred pronouns, even if they're biologically inaccurate, and even if using those incorrect pronouns would violate a person's religious beliefs or conscience. That's a violation of free speech, but as Colorado has proved time and again, it has little concern for the First Amendment. At Alliance Defending Freedom, we're challenging the law on behalf of a Christian bookstore and a Colorado-based sports apparel company. But a court recently ruled against them.
With ADF's help, they appealed the ruling, and they'll continue fighting to ensure Colorado doesn't get away with this next attempt to skirt the First Amendment. Your gift helps protect free speech in cases like this all over the country. And for a limited time, your first gift to ADF is doubled by a special matching grant while funds last. Text Breakpoint to 838-48 or go to joinadf.com/slash breakpoint to have your gift doubled. Welcome to Breakpoint, a daily look at an ever-changing culture through the lens of unchanging truth for the Coulson Center on Johnstone Street.
Last week, a group called Restore Britain released a summary report of an inquiry into the widespread and systemic sexual exploitation of vulnerable working-class women and children across that nation. At least a quarter of a million girls were sexually assaulted, trafficked, tortured, even killed, mostly by gangs of Pakistani Muslims. The details in the report are so utterly horrifying, it's difficult to believe they're true. But as shocking as the reports of abuse are the descriptions of the response by British authorities, including police, teachers, social workers, doctors, and politicians. Evidence of the abuse, reports by victims, were downplayed and ignored.
In fact, when Prime Minister Starmer, who resigned on Monday, was Director of Public Prosecutions and the head of the Crown Prosecution Service, he himself dismissed 13,000 cases of suspected child sexual offenders with a warning letter instead of attempting to prosecute them. According to the report, it was the fear of being labeled racist, the fear of losing votes, the fear of rioting if prosecution happened, the fear of accusations of classism that all contributed to this culture in which so-called community cohesion became more important than protecting women and children. British citizens who spoke out about the abuse or who expressed criticism of mass migration were the ones that were often prosecuted, especially if their criticisms were directed at Pakistani or Muslim communities. In some cases, the fathers attempting to rescue their own daughters from the abusers were the ones that were arrested. Last year alone in Great Britain, about 12,000 people were prosecuted for social media posts about all of this, some for longer periods than those who committed the crimes that they were protesting on social media.
Now, underlying this whole British response, as well as the silence by media outlets both there and here in the U.S., is a cultural mood that is common among elites and shaped by critical theory. In this vision of the world, Western culture is oppressive, and minorities, especially immigrants, are victims of Western oppression. Thus, minorities cannot be expected to be held to the same standards. In fact, according to this idea, their behavior results from their oppression. And identifying criminals within a minority group, it's assumed, would only foster deeper racism and Islamophobia, a term that was originally coined by the Muslim Brotherhood to shut down criticism of Islam.
In this whole morally upside-down world, racism and Islamophobia are worse crimes than the sexual exploitation. of women and children. The truth here is that the gangs that have been operating in Britain have deep ideological and cultural roots that were shaped by Islam, including Sharia law. While most Muslims are law-abiding and many Imams have condemned the gangs, the scale of abuse here is so widespread it had to have been known. And yet it was allowed and even enabled in some of these communities.
Also ignored here is the difficult truth that Islam on its own terms allows this kind of exploitation and trafficking. You see, according to Islamic teaching, Muhammad received the Quran directly from Allah through dictation from the angel Gabriel. Thus, Muslims claim it's the perfect and unchangeable expression of Allah's will, how he wants us to live. And Muhammad is the perfect exemplar of that way of life.
So Muslims should pattern their lives after him. and Muhammad claimed divine approval for himself. He was a polygamist and a slaver. He promised his followers unending sexual bliss in paradise, with wine and the other goods they are forbidden to have in this world, if they would follow him and fight with him. He also married a six-year-old girl, and then consummated the marriage when she was nine.
Many Muslims believe that under Sharia, that same behavior is permitted with children today, and that Muslims are also permitted to take non-Muslim women, married or not, as their slaves. They're also permitted to abuse them and humiliate them, even prostitute them for the benefit of their owners. All of this is part of Sharia. What these gangs have done to at least 250,000 women and children in Britain is allowed by these extreme interpretations of Sharia. Many of the young men responsible for these atrocities believe they're answerable to Sharia, not to British law.
They believe that what they're doing is approved by Allah, especially when done to an enemy who has oppressed them. In other words, that's something that radical Islam has in common with critical theory. The terrible story here reveals just why it's so foolish to suggest that all cultures and all religions are somehow morally equal. They're not. Though every person is made in the image of God and every person fallen into sin, some cultures and religions encourage sin and fallenness, including the abuse of other image bearers.
Ideas have consequences. Bad ideas have victims. That's why we have to know what's true. In Great Britain alone, the victims of Islam and critical theory are numbering into the hundreds of thousands. For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street with Breakpoint.
Today's Breakpoint was co-authored with Dr. Glenn Sunshine. If you're a fan of Breakpoint, leave us a review wherever you download podcasts. And for more resources or to share this commentary with other people, go to breakpoint.org. Join the Colson Center on August 6th at 7 p.m.
Eastern Time for a free live stream event, Staying Human in the Age of AI. As AI continues to advance, it presents a temptation to surrender our minds, creativity, relationships, and work on the altar of efficiency. But to do so is to surrender our very humanity. John Stone Street will be joined by Abdu Muri, Gretchen Heisinga, and John Lennox to help us explore how Christians can live out our God-given humanity in an increasingly AI-driven world. This event is free, and you can sign up today at colsoncenter.org/slash livestream.
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