I would have agreed with you in the past, but no longer. It IS a war against Islam, as hard as that is to admit. You can say "war on terror" but the problem is obvious. Might as well get the devil out in the open where we can look at him.
"I would have agreed with you in the past, but no longer. It IS a war against Islam, as hard as that is to admit. You can say "war on terror" but the problem is obvious. Might as well get the devil out in the open where we can look at him."
It is a war against a radical version of Islam. A radical version that Moderate Muslims do not believe in. Here is an article that may give more insight into this issue.
http://www.freemuslims.org/news/article.php?article=220
Press Corner
IT'S NOT A 'CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS'
November 8, 2004
By M. Zuhdi Jasser
American Islamic Forum for Democracy
An open memo to Jerry Falwell
During an interchange on CNN hosted by Wolf Blitzer, you appeared with Rev. Jesse Jackson and you made the following comment: "But you've got to kill the terrorists before the killing stops. And I'm for the president to chase them all over the world. If it takes 10 years, blow them all away in the name of the Lord."
I found your comments to be quite reckless. They are indicative of a deep-seated deviation from America's founding secular principles. You seem to have no idea what we are actually fighting in this war on terror.
Your words are destructive to the reformist efforts of moderate secular Muslims around the world and especially in the United States. Your inflammatory Crusade-like language from another time undermines the growing numbers of courageous reformist Muslims who are working with you in the front lines of the war on terror.
These reformist Muslims are working to liberate our faith from its hijacking by fanatical Islamist terrorists who exploit the language of theology for barbaric purposes.
Need I remind you of the fact that this great nation of ours was formed by pioneering Christian intellectuals who were escaping the religious persecution of Britain and the Church of England? Need I remind you that the faith of Islam, which shares the same Judeo-Christian-Islamic ethic, is now beginning to fight similar internal battles against theocracy. As a representative of your interestingly named "Liberty University" I am sure that your university teaches the history of America as we all know it.
American history actually teaches us that Thomas Jefferson worked tirelessly to demarcate the line between religion and state. In your own state of Virginia, back in 1786, Jefferson penned the Act on Religious Freedom that stands today as a cornerstone of American principles of freedom and tolerance of religion.
Reverend, perhaps prior to your next sermon to your congregation at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg Virginia, Jefferson's writings would serve you well to review. The beauty of America is that each of our congregations across denominations and faiths can enjoy Jeffersonian principles regardless of our path. As George Santaya noted, "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it."
Any comments you make publicly will not be dismissed as the rants of a fringe minority figure. Christianity is a majority faith in this country. Our enemies are waiting for comments like yours to rally in a false religious war those within their populations who otherwise would be fighting them for reform. As a moderate reformist Muslim, I apparently need to remind you that the population most at risk in this international war are moderate secular Muslims. Moderate reformist Muslims are the only ones who can directly defeat this radical ideology we are all fighting. If you do not understand this alliance we need to form, then you truly "just don't get it."
This is not a war against a tactic "terror" - this is a war against an ideology. You, along with Pat Robertson and Franklin Graham have allowed yourselves to fall into the trap of framing this war into a war of "Christianity vs. Islam."
There is nothing more dangerous and ill-advised strategically than this kind of vitriol. It is firstly misinformed since all three faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam worship the same God of Abraham and share the same ethical and moral values. Secondly, it does not foster a dialogue of reform and "pro-religious secularism" which is direly necessary for reformist Muslims to be able to lead internally. This reform must begin in America, and certainly cannot begin in an atmosphere of Christian leaders calling for "blowing them away in the name of the Lord".
As a prior U.S. Navy lieutenant commander, I know that our officers and enlisted are fighting for our nation but each with their own personal spiritual drive. Rev. Falwell, our military includes millions who serve honorably for their nation within the principles of their own faith from Judaism, Christianity, and Islam to Buddhism, Sikhism, and Hinduism to name a few.
Contrary to yourself, President Bush gets it. He understands that the liberation of Iraq and its majority Muslims will be in the end the liberation of Islam from the terrorists and the theocratic Islamists.
I strongly encourage you to reassess your off-tilt approach to this noble war on terror. This is certainly a just and noble war. This is a war for religious liberty and against theocracy, militant Islamists, and those who use terror as an instrument of change.
Your language of religious intolerance runs against the principles for which our nation stands and feeds into the hand of our Islamist enemies. We cannot lead Iraq away from theocracy and into a tolerant religiously free secular nation, only to lead our own nation toward religiously motivated wars and intolerance.