The attack on a satirical magazine in Paris on Wednesday by two gunmen shouting Islamist phrases should spur the West to stand up for its traditional Christian culture, says U.K. Independence Party Leader Nigel Farage.
The attack left 12 dead.
"I think we've got to start being a bit more assertive about who we are and what our values are," Farage said Wednesday on
Fox News Channel's "Your World with Neil Cavuto."
"I'm not saying that we should all be forced to go to church on Sundays or anything like it. But we come from countries with Christian cultures and Christian constitutions. It's about time we started standing up for that."
Massive unchecked immigration has produced a "fifth column" of people who are "out to destroy a whole civilization and our way of life," Farage said. Britain and other Western countries have been too tied to multiculturalism and political correctness to prevent extremists from entering mosques and pushing an anti-Christian cultural message, he said.
"What price now a cartoonist, a satirist, even a commentator?" Farge asked. "You know, the implications on free speech and our democracy are very serious."
Ten of the Paris victims were staff members at Charlie Hebdo, a weekly satirical magazine that lampooned Muhammad, Jesus, the Pope, Jews and politicians.
Farage said that while one need not agree with the views of the magazine, it stems from a long tradition of using satire to make a point.
"However regal the queen may be, it doesn't mean we can't draw cartoons," Farage said, noting that British cartoonists have been doing just that ever since King George III lost North America.
He stressed that his condemnation of extremists does not mean he doesn't think most Muslims aren't peaceable, law abiding citizens with whom he would want to be friends.
But he said the current practice has served only to promote divisions within society.
"You can come here from any part of the world. Oh, by the way, please don't bother to learn our language. Don't integrate in any way at all. You can take over. And it made us a wonderful, diverse nation," he said. "That hasn't worked."