Posted on 03/12/2006 5:53:28 AM PST by Teófilo
Tolerant indifference won’t tame militant Islam
As published in The Johnstown Tribune-Democrat
By PEDRO O. VEGA
We ignore the challenge of militant Islam at our peril. The Muslim reaction in Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere to the publication of editorial cartoons in Danish and French newspapers that satirized Islam and its founder, Muhammad, illustrates a fact that our policymakers and cultural elites cannot stomach: That a Clash of Civilizations – as Samuel P. Huntington described it in his book of the same name – is ongoing between Islam and the post-Christian West.
I understand the anger and hurt believers feel when a religious figure is the object of gratuitous insult. For example, this past December, Comedy Central’s long-running sitcom, “South Park,” ran a very disgusting episode, titled “Bloody Mary,” in which Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and Pope Benedict XVI were the objects of despicable mockery.
The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights took grave offense, as did hundreds of thousands of Catholics, including myself.
Catholics wrote thousands of e-mails and letters to Viacom, the Comedy Channel’s parent company. Soon, a practicing Catholic who is a member of Viacom’s board of directors apologized for the episode. Viacom pulled the episode from reruns.
You saw no Catholics rioting in the streets, killing or wounding bystanders, destroying property, or attacking Islamic houses of worship – for concocted reasons.
No governments from predominantly Catholic countries incited their populations to take to the streets in protest and mayhem.
Yet, we’ve witnessed raging mobs in Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and Lebanon engaging in deadly or destructive behavior in order to defend the honor of their prophet and religion.
I find it strange that in these countries the masses don’t take to the streets whenever a Muslim suicide bomber takes scores of innocent lives, whether in Israel or in Iraq or elsewhere, or when militants behead innocent hostages and videotape their misdeeds as an object lesson for the world to see, deeds they accomplish in the name of God, their prophet, and the global Muslim community.
Nor was there a peep of disgust when Egyptian TV serialized the anti-Semitic Protocols of the Learned Elders of Sion as a historical docudrama, or when the president of Iran openly denied the historicity of the Holocaust.
Why do we see this double standard in Islamic countries favoring one kind of offensive information against another?
Why has the response from thoughtful Muslim thinkers and scholars against these outrages been few and far between?
To answer these questions, one has to venture outside of the constricting confines of political correctness and effect a value judgment on Islamic civilization.
The fact is that Islam as a system of religious belief, and of social, political and economic organization, suffers from so many internal contradictions and tensions that if shari’a, or Islamic law, is ever forced upon Western democracies, the consequences would be tragic, particularly when it comes to women and religious minorities.
This is readily observed in countries where shari’a is already the supreme law of the land. Shari’a is evil, and we should not hesitate to call it such.
We’re loath to judge the religious and philosophical values of others. We think that we are all sufficiently alike in general outlook and mores to enable a fairly unified society and political culture.
We think that militant Islam is just another religion that can be tamed by our tolerant indifference to other belief systems.
This attitude will not work when it comes to militant Islam. We need to oppose it on clear religious and philosophical grounds, or else we’ll be forced to oppose it militarily.
Finally, I don’t want my words to be interpreted as a general condemnation of the good character of individual Muslims, many of whom live peacefully and honorably right here in Johnstown.
Islam is a religion of more than one billion believers and its adherents show a spectrum of attitudes similar to the one we see in denominational Christianity.
In Islam, we find convinced believers bent on missionary outreach, many of whom recur to shocking rhetoric and controversy to proselytize.
I’ve seen this done by sectarian Christians right here in Johnstown’s Central Park.
There are also “liberal” Muslims whose attachment to their religion is either ritual or cultural, and who reject or de-emphasize a literal-grammatical interpretation of the Koran and other Islamic religious sources.
These Muslims must constitute the vast majority of their religion; otherwise, we would’ve found ourselves in the throws of a total world war long ago. The fact this is not so gives me hope.
CATHOLIC PING, PLEASE!
islam is not a religion, it is a cult_ping
islam is not a religion, it is a cult_ping
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>..............
No it is a mental illness. Even the house muslims who seem tame will cut your throat if willed by Allah.
Everything I have found about Islam, a Religion of Peace®? ( links, blogs, quips, quotes, astonishing and repugnant pictures ) is located here- click the Pic, and scroll backwards:
You're so very wrong, but then again, I suppose you don't have the proper perspective.
Where do you get your information?
Wait...don't tell me. Let me guess.
The media? {edia...edia...edia...echo..echo...}
Not everybody is peaceful all the time.
(Yes, I know about the Satanism connection, but why let that hurt a storyline that harkens back to the days of George Wallace who used to talk about Chinese Methodists and Japanese Baptists to make his points).
Good morning Allegra (At least here in the USofA)
Reading between the lines of the MSM, I think we dodged the bullet.
Any word on who actually blew up that golden dome?
Any other good news from Iraq you can share?
(I've already read Bill Roggio's update for March 10th at the Fourth Rail blog)
Thanks.
A good article on the P.R.O.P.!!
It's a mental illness, cult and a POLITICAL SYSTEM bent on destroying ALL other political systems on the planet, ESPECIALLY INCLUDING OURS.
I didn't mean to yell.
All muslims could be deported from this country tomorrow under the Sedition Act, but then our oil would be cut off and we would have no market for our government debt, made necessary from the neocon "guns and butter" crowd.
Good evening! (My time)
The Iraqis are convinced it was Iran. Nothing official has been determined.
Today has been somewhat explosive. Several bombings around town. Up until then it had been pretty quiet for the last week or so.
Of course, I'm sure the media will start harping on a civil war again, but it was just another active day and we get then around here from time to time.
Oh what do you know about Islam & Muslims! I bet you've never had any dealings with them! :-)
I tell ya, some of these n00Bs...
There is a gross spelling error in the last paragraph. That "throws" should be "throes" I do believe.
(((islam is a mental disorder™)))
Yes, it is a mistake. Wow, the paper's editor didn't catch it. Sorry!
-Theo
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