[ThePythonicCow]

I think half of the difference you see between what I wrote:

It is a religious war.

and what you write is just my unusual use of the word 'religion'. The other half is a genuine difference.

First let me restate my position, in more neutral terms.

On the one hand we have the people with faith in a Supreme Spirit, from whom flows all that we are, and whose teachings it is our highest duty to seek out and follow.

On the other hand we have the "Heaven on Earth" world view, frequently used by would be tyrants to justify all manner of power grabs, for "the good of the children" and other such pablums.

In short, the believers versus the secularists.

In your terms, the believers hold a religion, the secularists oppose religions. That is an entirely reasonable use of the word 'religion.'

I was using 'religion' in a broader sense. Both Christianity and secularism are religions in that sense. They are alternative foundations for ones spiritual outlook.

It would be as if I were saying that both democracy and anarchy were forms of government.

When I examine the efforts by leftists to stamp out any reference to Christianity from public life, I find it makes most sense to me if I view it as an effort to make 'secularism' the state established religion (contrary to the Constitution, which prohibits any state established religion).

So I am in agreement with you that Islam is not what we ordinarily mean by a religion - it is, or has been hijacked by, a virulent anti-religion. I am undecided as to whether there is a legitimate, moral religion hiding in Islam somewhere. Either way, the Islam that is visible now is an anti-religion.

When I said this was a religious war, I didn't mean between two religions, as your would use the word. Rather it is a war between the religious and the anti-religious.

Where I would disagree more fundamentally is in response to your comments such as:

This struggle is between haves and have nots

The leaders, shakers, financiers, apologists and often even suicide bombers of the terrorists (and communists, nazis and 'rats) aren't poverty stricken. Well, not a poverty of money and material goods anyway.

What they lack is faith. They are spiritually impoverished. They are not seeking to find the Truth as spoken by a Higher Being, but rather seeking to establish their own man-made visions (delusions) on Earth.

This is not a war of the material rich versus poor. It is a war of the spiritual seekers with the spiritual bankrupt.

[Wombat101]

Excellent points. However, in the interests of splitting hairs, when I make reference to "haves and have nots", it does not necessarily mean that I am referring to material goods. In that sense, poor choice of words on my part.

But, we have to consider just what it is that makes "haves" in the first place. Westerners do not shun religion (obviously) and do not divide the world into secular and religious portions consciously in their everyday lives. What thay have done throughout history is to recognize when to leave their dogma behind. Islam has not figured out how to do that.

Free from the restarints of religious dogma (but not religion), westerners have pursued the scientific method of research and discovery which has led to the modern world we know today. The first step was to question authority, successfully. Newton could both believe in God and measure and describe the theory of gravity, in effect, look into the mind of God. In his view, God was not an unfathomable being whose ways could never be known by man, but his belief was that man was SUPPOSED to look into the mind of God, as a challenge to mankind, not to God himself. This is a very Western belief, handed down to us from the Greeks.

I don't believe Muslims have no faith, I just believe that their faith is misguided because no one throughout Islamic history has dared to check his dogma at the door. Until someone does, Islam will remain a backwards ideology, dependant and distrustful of the very West that has ensured it's survival.