I'm not one to hate ... (save watching Frontline last night, I suppose). But, in concentrating on what we've in common, it's only natural some diametrically opposed concepts will emerge with all clarity. Where, in Islam, those concepts or precepts enure to totalitarian-style oppression or the hating and killing "in the name of Allah" in which these alleged militant Muslims engage, I see no reason to pretend some compromise is possible there.
It was interesting last night the way non-Iraqi trainees at the terrorist camps were repeatedly cast as "militant" about their faith ... daily prayers and all that.
I still don't believe for a moment this is about Islam any more than I believe that liberation theology as practiced in Brazil is about Christianity. It's communist "consciousness-raising" as part of the revolution from within. They are triangulating the People of the Book.
What's most interesting to me regarding this insane fixation (of our Western atheists, even) on this so-called "Holy War" is the fact it leaves China completely out of the picture.
If, like I do, you look at China (and Russia's) ability to remain aloof from the WTO or G-7 as they obtain all manner of favors without obligating themselves until ALL are suitabliy strapped down FIRST ... I think there's an argument here for China's sitting back and only encouraging Russia to think she's running the show from her unique vantage point on the faultline of East and West.
History does matter ... particularly to militant atheists inclined toward the heresies of determinism and historicism.
Between Moscow and St. Petersburg, indeed I learned to truly appreciate for the first time how ancient are her ties to the Middle East and how closely connected -- related, more like it, where Germany's concerned -- she became to the West.
I'll China's been stroking Russia so she'll will presume to run the show and let the former Soviets occupy themselves such that they forget it's China who's taking actual control of the key installations -- like the Panama Canal -- around the world.
To tell you the truth, it didn't surprise or particularly disappoint me to see George Bush running around in a UN blue Mao jacket last month. But my heart of hearts was sorta bummed they didn't let Putin wear red as well.
We'll see ... with any luck, despite their "Sisters Sisters" act worldwide and inside our State Departments, agencies and the UN the past 40 years, there's been more hate than love in Sino-Soviet relations, Russia's more wary than I suspect and they've been taking a page from Putin -- Military Deals A Way of Influencing Power Shifts -- and flooding the Chicoms (and Middle East terrorists like Saddam) with cheap Russian military junk the whole time.
It seems Islam has been radicalized from Indonesia to Nigeria and all parts in between. Islam's strengths (changelessness, consistency, simplicity) have almost been twisted and turned upon Islam itself so it grows ever more petrified, solidified and unbending. Islam could become a casualty of itself perverted in the hands of the radicals. That to me is the clearest evidence that it is not Islam itself but rather another movement, anarchistic or communist, trying to destroy many things at once.
I really do think the Sufis have the only theological and philosophical structure that could help Islam survive. Theirs is the heritage of Rumi and the great poets. They have a mystical tradition of amazing similarity to some streams in Christianity and in the Jewish Kabbalah. Sorry to go on so long. This subject really interests me.