It is time someone finally came out and said it. Since our politicians can’t or won’t, they either don’t believe it, or don’t feel they can survive saying it. If they don’t believe it, they are in denial.
We are in a war against all of Islam.
We are not in a war against fanatics. Islam is not a religion of peace, except in the form muslims identify with. That is, peace is a result of all the world’s population being muslim and following the Quran and hadiths. There is no tolerance in Islam for any other religion. And there is no tolerance for atheism. There is no allowance for any government because Islam is religion, government, and culture all neatly tied up in a single package.
Not convinced? Take a look at the “Terrorism Essentials” page for some insight into Islam. I’ve offered sites both pro and con so you can make up your own mind. Maybe I’m wrong.
Of course, there are many Muslims who are not true believers. They drive cars, listen to music, accumulate wealth. These, too, will eventually have to choose between Islam and the rest of the world.
Last week, someone in San Antonio threw gasoline on three different convenience stores and set them on fire. All three were owned by muslims. At first, I was mad that anyone would do something so vile and hateful. Then the radio folks interviewed one of the victims. “Everyone in the community needs to support us in this.” My sympathy changed instantly to something else. I wanted to ask that woman whether she supported our fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.
I don’t know why my attitude changed so quickly. It was like a switch which changed instantly. I obviously don’t want to see people singled out by religion. But there has been no support from the American Muslim community for our actions to eliminate terrorism. So what makes them feel we owe them support when they are, themselves, terrorized?
If they want me to believe the “Religion of Peace” line, things will have to change.
UPDATE: I found someone with another point of view, similar in many ways, but far more literate. Theodore Dalrymple is a name which may be familiar to many of you. He thinks Islam may be about to self-destruct. And he equates the fall to a devotion we might find odd:
But if we made a fetish of Shakespeare (much richer and more profound than the Qu?ran, in my view), if we made him the sole object of our study and the sole guide of our lives, we would soon enough fall into backwardness and stagnation. And the problem is that so many Muslims want both stagnation and power: they want a return to the perfection of the seventh century and to dominate the twenty-first, as they believe is the birthright of their doctrine, the last testament of God to man.
They just can’t seem to get past the past.
Always seem to find good stuff at Arts&Letters.
We in the US are so fearful of offending people that we avoid the truth; that’s a terrible value conflict. I’ve met two tolerant Muslims before: our Iranian neighbors back in MO. They were half-assed Muslims; both doctors who admitted they’d studied the Koran as youngsters but didn’t really get too into it. “I’m a Muslim because I was born in a Muslim country.” And they are an extremely nice couple, concerned about my husband and hoping when he’s done in Iraq he can convince the Army to make a stop to clean up Iran on the way home! We need more half-assed Muslims, people who believe the Koran has some good messages but who don’t think jihad is still a requirement. Otherwise we’re in big trouble for a long time.
Comment by Sarah — April 12, 2004 @ 3:53 pm
I’ve been saying for a while now that I think this time in history is going to be viewed as the Muslim version of the Reformation.
Right now, you have a few leaders who keep their people uneducated and illiterate, with no ability to offer dissenting viewpoints. This is all about to change, which is what makes what is happening over here quite dangerous, but also the most important path we can take. We cannot afford to ease our resolve, as it will embolden not only terrorist organizations, but also tyrannical regimes.
The unfortunate thing is that Americans don’t realize that there are tasks that actually take longer than 3 months to complete. It will take at least a generation to educate these cultures who have not been able to study foreign literature and ideas, feel as though they are able to express their true feelings in public, and not be wary of their government killing them for doing so. It took the Christians the better part of a century to do this.
I think the problem many of the CAIR and such have is that they could not produce the reform on their wn, and that change is being forced upon them.
We will win, and eventually these countries will become democracies of some form or another. Finally, then will there be peace in that region.
Comment by Slice — April 12, 2004 @ 10:33 pm