When left to their own devices…

The Sultan of Brunei has declared that anyone found illegally celebrating Christmas could face a five year jail sentence, according to reports. The conservative Muslim country on the island of Borneo stated the punishment would apply to anyone found sending festive greetings – or wearing Santa hats. Non-Muslims are allowed to celebrate Christmas – but they must do so only within their communities and first alert authorities. At least 65 per cent of the 420,000-strong population of the oil-rich state are Muslims.

Sure, it’s a very small country, but let’s just play a game of “What If?”

If this were any predominantly Christian country, city, or even gathering banning anything Muslim the poor dears at the New York Times would type their little fingers off writing stories about intolerance. As it is happening to Christians, they’ll just wear out their rotator cuffs shrugging.

This is one of the milder things happening to Christians in other, more Islamic parts of the world these days and serves as a perfect illustration of just how relative the “moderate” label is when applied to Muslims.

I’ll probably be accused of being intolerant for that last sentence, but I’m not advocating five year jail sentences for the celebration of any religion’s holidays.