Green Energy

Losing Our Spines to Save Our Necks

Barack Obama needs to have a talk with the Atheist Sam Harris.

From Sam Harris at The Huffington Post (with thanks to Damien):

Wherever "moderate Islam" does announce itself, one often discovers frank Islamism lurking just a euphemism or two beneath the surface. The subterfuge is rendered all but invisible to the general public by political correctness, wishful thinking, and "white guilt." This is where we find sinister people successfully posing as "moderates"--people like Tariq Ramadan who, while lionized by liberal Europeans as the epitome of cosmopolitan Islam, cannot bring himself to actually condemn honor killing in round terms (he recommends that the practice be suspended, pending further study). Moderation is also attributed to groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an Islamist public relations firm posing as a civil-rights lobby.

Even when one finds a true voice of Muslim moderation, it often seems distinguished by a lack of candor above all things. Take someone like Reza Aslan, author of No God But God: I debated Aslan for Book TV on the general subject of religion and modernity. During the course of our debate, I had a few unkind words to say about the Muslim Brotherhood.

While admitting that there is a difference between the Brotherhood and a full-blown jihadist organization like al Qaeda, I said that their ideology was "close enough" to be of concern. Aslan responded with a grandiose, ad hominem attack saying, "that indicates the profound unsophistication that you have about this region. You could not be more wrong" and claiming that I'd taken my view of Islam from "Fox News."

Such maneuvers, coming from a polished, Iranian-born scholar of Islam carry the weight of authority, especially in front of an audience of people who are desperate to believe the threat of Islam has been grossly exaggerated.

The problem, however, is that the credo of the Muslim Brotherhood actually happens to be "Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. The Qur'an is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope."

The connection between the doctrine of Islam and Islamist violence is simply not open to dispute. It's not that critics of religion like myself speculate that such a connection might exist: the point is that Islamists themselves acknowledge and demonstrate this connection at every opportunity and to deny it is to retreat within a fantasy world of political correctness and religious apology. Many western scholars, like the much admired Karen Armstrong, appear to live in just such a place. All of their talk about how benign Islam "really" is, and about how the problem of fundamentalism exists in all religions, only obfuscates what may be the most pressing issue of our time: Islam, as it is currently understood and practiced by vast numbers of the world's Muslims, is antithetical to civil society.

A recent poll showed that thirty-six percent of British Muslims (ages 16-24) believe that a person should be killed for leaving the faith. Sixty-eight percent of British Muslims feel that their neighbors who insult Islam should be arrested and prosecuted, and seventy-eight percent think that the Danish cartoonists should have been brought to justice. And these are British Muslims.

This column from Sam Harris was written in May 2008. Here's what similar polls of Muslims look like today:

- Queen Rania Of Jordan Defends Islam: We Can’t Bear Responsibility For Islamic Terrorist Attacks
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Queen of Schlong-bonging, Rania the pus-dripping cunt of Allah: I would like people to understand that first of all that Islam in no way condones the actions of these extremists; those barbaric savage acts that we have been...

- Paging Ben Affleck
Prominent Imam Of Large Virginia Mosque Tells Muslims They Should Not Criticize ISIS BY THE WAY, HERE'S SOME MORE INFORMATION FOR AFFLECK: Game Over, Pew Poll Reveals Majority of Muslims Are Anything But "Moderate"Game Over, The Muslim Melting PotGame...

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Bill Maher to Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Muslim Brotherhood): Qur'an is "hate-filled holy book" Of course Maher would say the Bible is too, but that's ok. Ellison trots out Qur'an 5:32, about how killing one innocent person is like killing the...

- Storm Track Infiltration: "folks, We Got Trouble Right Here In River City
From The Gathering Storm OK. It’s more like Britain. But the problem is the same. Britain’s got trouble because a recent poll found that the country's 1.6 million Muslims are rejecting political tolerance and free speech for a violent, radicalized...

- Winds Of War: Ten Reasons Why Islam Is Not The Religion Of Peace
From The Gathering Storm Don Feder over at ChronWatch lists the top ten reasons why Islam may not be the religion of peace. He also gives us a good explanation of why the very foundation of Islam itself maybe incompatible with a 21st century civilization...

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