The West has largely abandoned God. Therein is the problem.
In 2002 a cab driver in Paris said to me, “You Americans still go to church.” His tone made it clear it was not a compliment. He is probably heartened by the fact that in America too we are pushing God out of our lives.
I’m not sure how Eagles of Death Metal represent western civilization, other than poorly, but the terror is not aimed at anything other than non-Islam — this is a purist version of Islam based on the theology that they had from the earliest days. It is not exclusive to Islam but in the modern context it is almost unique to them now — if we were to go back five hundred years or more, we could find many examples in many different cultures with support from their religions. Islam still has this virulent strain active and we need to confront it for what it is, not an attack on anything in particular, just an expansionary impulse. If we don’t want radical Islam in our midst, then we need to isolate this strain to one source region and then consider destroying it altogether once contained there. They have the right idea about where to set up shop, in a desolate region between two other national groups (the Syrians and the Iraqis). Once completely contained to their chosen power base, they should be left to wither on the vine in a very complete economic blockade. No one in or out, and with their climate and land base, they won’t be growing much food.