This is one of the reasons I write this blog: I read this article recently about British women converting to Islam. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1324039/Like-Lauren-Booth-ARE-modern-British-career-women-converting-Islam.html

Now, as a spiritual person myself, I have no problem with anyone following what they believe to be their chosen path to spiritual enlightenment. My only concern is I hope too many women do not follow this path, because I cannot image a world where I was deprived of feminine beauty on a daily basis.

The following photos are more than illustrative of this. They are of a British woman, Camilla Leyland, an Islam convert. In the first she is shown in her mid twenties, before her conversion. The second photo is after, at age 32.

Here she is before and after:

The first she looks happy, sweet and the brightness of her floral dress is quite appealing. In the second she looks likes she is about to be embalmed. I really don’t understand why a religion has to be so hostile to physical, sensual and erotic beauty. I can guarantee you there is a lot of closet homosexuality in Islamic societies that hold such a dim, repressed view of female beauty. I am sure the response would be, “Well, we are simply thinking in terms of spiritual beauty. By being modest, she is proclaiming the true beauty of womanhood, especially in the eyes of God.” Perhaps. But I still want to see some flesh, some skin, some hair. I like seeing physical female beauty.

What I love about the Renaissance in European history was its embracing of a new way of thinking, a new outlook on life, one that was partially based on the Classical past that had been forgotten for so long. And yet it was still deeply religious and spiritual society. The beauties of art and literature were once again pursued for their own sake, although the spiritual elements of life were still expressed in moving and profound ways. Out of this movement was born much beauty, but also, and perhaps even more importantly, the intellectual, political, and scientific  advancements that propelled the West to be the predominant and most influential society the world has ever seen. I can sit here and type on this blog in part because of what happened over 500 years ago. I doubt these things would have happened if religion had the power to force people to believe the Earth was still flat, or that the sun revolved around it, rather than the other way around. Clerics saying that they speak for God and have the final word on everything, backed up by state power, are a threat to a healthy society.

When I see images of these women, not only do I see a loss of potential beauty, but I also see the public proclamation by them that the West and its advancements are the be rejected in favor of a darker, more repressive type of society, where beauty, eroticism and the pursuit of personal freedom, as well as intellectual thought, would be denied all in the service of some divine mandate to obey a religion.

The glories of Western Civilization, especially the artistic love of physical beauty, is something that needs to be defended, fought for, and preserved. There are many places in the world that are quite hostile to our cultural and political achievements. I hope London is not becoming one of them. I could not endure living in a society where all the women dressed like this creature. It would be a very dreary place indeed.

And here is another nude beauty, just to drive the point home.