The Myth of Moderate Islam?

Western leaders often say that Islam is a noble religion that has been hijacked by fundamentalists. But many commentators refuse this interpretation and claim instead that extremism and violence are the true essence of Islam. They are entitled to their beliefs, but are these beliefs accurate or productive? There are millions of Muslims throughout the world who live lives of peaceful productivity and ignoring these people, each a living refutation of terrorism, denies us both the whole picture and our greatest ally in the war on terror.

I can keep myself from getting hit by a train if I stay sufficiently far enough away from train tracks. However, there is always the chance I will still get hit by a train. That doesn't mean that I build my house over the railroad tracks because the trainwreck is inevitable. The truth is that any religion that will beat and kill their women for showing any more skin than their eyelids, or show any more intelligence than the turban their husband wears, will not have ANY representative force who will EVER deliver them from bondage. Don't for one second think that just because a large amount of these people are defined as peaceful simply because they are not blowing themselves up at the local Bazaar, that they have any feelings for their fellow humans. This is a religion of Hate, a religion of Control, and a religion that needs to be stamped out sooner than later. Wake up and smell the coffee.

I understand where you are coming from. But giving attention to "moderate" Muslims by appeasing them and allowing organizations like CAIR to look for ways to undermine our society is not going to help. And like the ACLU, (and sometimes with the ACLU), that is precisely what they are attempting to do. We can support those who are ex-Muslims. We can even support those who consider reformation possible, although, as I've said many times before, I do not think reformation is possible.

Here is a debate you might find interesting between Andrew McCarthy and Mansour Ijaz:

I Want to Be Wrong

In my opinion, Islam is dangerous. It is anti-American and unconstitutional.

You may find parts of the following thread interesting. I suggest you follow a couple of links off the thread - Laura Mansfield's website, where she posted a Muslim high school girl's myspace website, and the Jihad Watch website's article by Hugh Fitzgerald on our Founding Fathers and their early dealings with Islam. I posted the following this afternoon.

KY: High School Prayer Axed After Muslim Complaint

I was like you - the eternal diplomat - at one time. But I can no longer cajole and appease what I consider to be cancerous. I have studied Islam for too long. I have listened to arguments on all sides. I have read the Qur'an, the hadiths, listened to imams, read the articles of Muslim feminists and scholars. If you wish to continue to write the same sort of feel-good articles we can find in the NYT, WaPo, LATimes, etc. then so be it. But someone has to tell the truth about Islam. Muslims must learn to confront their real history. They don't, you know. They simply repeat what their imams tell them about Islam's great accomplishments, which, of course, are mostly distortions or outright lies. The rest listen to the anti-American lies of the left.

If you haven't been, visit faithfreedom.org . Read Daniel Pipes, who I always thought was too easy on Islam, but seems to coming around. Read Bernard Lewis, Steve Emerson, David Horowitz.

I wish you luck on your website. I may visit from time to time, but I cannot back down on what I believe. The best thing that can happen right now is the secularization of Islam. Unfortunately, as Muslims secularize, they also seem to veer to the left (just like secularized Christians and Jews). But that's another issue for another day.

I appreciate your well-reasoned response and completely understand. What I do not see, however, is where a blanket condemnation of an entire religion will get us. We need friends on the inside, so to speak, and I firmly believe that there are certain segments of the Muslim population that could prove valuable allies. And there is a far cry between supporting the ACLU, which I will stop slightly short of calling treasonous, and CAIR, which I am always ready and willing to denounce as the duplicitous and dangerous organization it is, and welcoming Muslims with honest intentions of joining the modern West.

Undoubtedly, democracy and capitalism were founded on solidly Judeo-Christian values. With Christianity, you get "render unto Ceasar". With Islam, you start with a joint religious/political leader with a penchant for armed conquest. I seriously doubt that Islam would have ever been the birthplace of democracy in any form familiar to that which we cherish. But all things change over time, to one degree or another, and I see no reason why the forces for cooperation, understanding, and tolerance in Islam should not be encouraged at the same time that the forces of hatred and violence are defeated as swiftly and decisively as possible.

You're right, there are few Muslims who are American conservatives and they wouldn't be the most useful demographic even if they did exist in large numbers.

The more important groups are those overseas who see how much they have to lose at the hands of fundamentalism. There's so much talk about the young people and the dissidents of Iran and while they're nowhere near to overthrowing their government on their own, there's still fertile ground there. With 3000 years of nationalism behind them, they don't want to see Iran discredited by a handful of extremists. So we (discreetly) give them an option - make life hard on your leaders or see your vision of a strong, integrated, respected Iran disappear.

Or the women of Saudi Arabia (or any other fundamentalist country). They don't have a voice now and several hundred years of indoctrination into Wahhabism has undoubtedly convinced many of them that playing a quiet second fiddle to their men is A-OK. But it is not in any mother's nature to want to see her children dead. Again, give them an option, let them know that they can be good Muslims without sending their sons off to jihad.

Or the isolated peoples of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Not in Waziristan along the border, but farther North and East, up in those mountains. These are poor people who want to make a better life for their families, which requires education. But their governments fall far short on that front, opening the door to Wahhabi madrassahs. So we help to get schools up there that give kids the tools (math, science, language) to compete professionally, not just to join the masses being fed into the meat-grinder of terrorism.

Let's just cut to the chase. Muslims, whether they are blowing themselves to smitherines, or trying to be buddies with Americans, are members of a religion founded on violence and oppression. Any religion who has a central figure (Mohammed) who marries a 6 year old girl, then consumates the marriage when she is 9, is a religion that deserves no serious respect. This religion teaches their followers to lie, and tells them to never make friends with Jews or Christians. How do you take these aspects of Islam and moderate them? If a Muslim wants respect from me then they can follow a few easy steps. First, start wiping out the heads of their religion who are preaching the destruction of the rest of the world. Second, democratize their world. Third, all at once they stand up and start laughing and say, "What the heck were we thinking?". Any thought that we need to "tolerate" this religion would be a serious mistake. We need to wipe out oppression world wide. When they know we are serious, they will drop the Koran like a hot potato. It may take wiping out a million of them in one stroke, but hey, better them than me or my military son.
SaveUS

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.