Muslims around the world begin the hajj

Good for them.  I wish them the best.  One of the things I admire about Islam is its reliability.  Unlike so much of Christianity, that has tried through compromise to make friends with the increasingly anti-Christian West, Islam continues to do its thing.  Not deterred by pressures or threats, it stays true and faithful to the dictates of its faith.  Only a few years ago, when Christmas fell on a Sunday, what did churches around the United States do?  They closed.  Canceled services in keeping with the time honored tradition of Christmas being a super swell holiday all about family and fun and commercial festivities.  That religious stuff just needs to be put outside the kitchen door next to the dish of milk.  And so we did.  Of course the flip side is that when a religiously ignorant and uninterested media covers something like the hajj, expect stories about logistical problems, travelogues featuring Muslims advancing values shared by the post-liberal media, and cutsie anecdotes about the latest shoe styles for the Muslim pilgrim.  That comes with being a part of our post-religious Western culture.  Either Islam will be absorbed into that or, my bet, will make radical changes once its ability to influence the West has finally taken seed.