Author: Don Feder
Publication: Bharateeya.wordpress.com
Date: October 29, 2006
URL: http://bharateeya.wordpress.com/2006/10/29/why-we-keep-getting-islam-wrong
A Speech By Don Feder To The Christian Coalition
Symposium On Islam - "Muslims And The Judeo-Christian World, Where Do
We Do From Here. February 15, 2003
Let me to begin by thanking the Christian
Coalition of America and its president, Roberta Combs. It took a lot of guts
to hold this forum.
Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to say a few
words to you - Nigeria, the Sudan, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Armenia, Macedonia,
Yugoslavia, Kosovo, Bosnia, Chechnya, Russia, the Kashmir, Pakistan, Indonesia
and the Philippines.
What do they all have in common? In each country
or province, there is an ongoing struggle involving Moslems and non-Moslems.
Samuel Huntington, author of "The Clash of Civilizations," tells
us that out of 22 active conflicts in the world today, 20 involve Moslems
and someone else - Moslems and Christians, Moslems and Jews, Moslems and Catholics,
Moslems and Orthodox, Moslems and Hindus.
This phenomenon might be explained in one
of three ways:
Possibility #1 - For some bizarre and inexplicable
reason, no one else can get along with Moslems, and so we all are driven to
make war on and persecute them. By the way, many Moslems - who have an active
persecution complex, notwithstanding that they are the ones usually doing
the persecuting - firmly believe this.
Possibility #2 - These jihads, terrorist wars,
religious persecutions and instances of ethnic cleansing all are the work
of Moslem militants, extremists, fundamentalists, fanatics who have somehow,
again inexplicably, gotten it all backward and transformed a religion of peace
into a religion that looks remarkably like the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.
I'll let you in on a secret: World War II wasn't the work of Nazis and Japanese
militarists, but of Nazi militants and fundamentalist Japanese militarists.
Possibility #3 - In fact, Islam is not a religion
of peace. It is a religion which, throughout its 1,400-year history, has lent
itself well to fanaticism, terrorism, mass murder, oppression and conversion
by the sword. Long before the age of political correctness and multicultural
indoctrination, Winston Churchill, that keen observer, described Islam as,
"that religion which above all others, was founded and propagated by
the sword - the tenets and principles of which are . incentives to slaughter
and which in three continents had produced fighting breeds of men (and) stimulates
a wild and merciless fanaticism."
It's so obvious that it hardly bears repetition.
You don't have Orthodox rabbis hijacking airplanes in response to Jews for
Jesus. Jesuits don't shoot up Baptist seminaries to protest the Reformation.
Members of the Church of Latter Day Saints don't tell you they'll cut your
throat if you don't accept the prophetship of Joseph Smith and the authenticity
of the Book of Mormon. Buddhists don't put out contracts on those who offend
them. Hindus don't call members of other religions, dogs, pigs and the sons
of apes.
And still our leaders desperately insist that
Islam is a religion of peace. As the body count mounts, and the atrocities
become more outrageous, the pronouncements become more bizarre. Islam is a
religion of peace. No, wait, it's not just a religion of peace, it's also
a religion of tolerance, charity and compassion. Jihad isn't holy war. Why
no indeed, it's a spiritual struggle, an effort to overcome bad habits, a
Tony Robbins-style self-improvement program. Said the White Queen to Alice:
"When I was young, I practiced believing three impossible things before
breakfast. Now, I can believe anything." At times it seems like the White
Queen is advising the White House on Islam.
This morning, you've had lectures about Islam
by some distinguished experts. I am neither - distinguished nor an expert.
But I spent 20 years of my life as a journalist observing the affairs of men
and nations. I believe in common sense, in arriving at conclusions based on
the evidence at hand, and in logic. And when I encounter something as absurd
as the establishment's pronouncements on Islam, I want to know why?
Why do our leaders insist on telling us these
soothing lies? And why does a credulous public readily believe them? Basically,
there are three reasons for these delusions about Islam:
Reason #1: Pragmatism. Arab Moslems have the
oil - energy resources on which the West, thanks to environmentalists, is
heavily dependent. Further, a number of Moslem states are ostensibly allied
with us - Egypt and Saudi Arabia most prominent among them. Our leaders have
decided that to tell the truth about Islam would offend our Moslem friends
and suppliers - the guys we supposedly need to help us control the extremists
and keep the pumps operating. By the way, relying on Saudi Arabia to control
Moslem "extremists" is like expecting Tony Soprano to fight organized
crime.
Reason #2: The American tradition of tolerance.
Religious tolerance was one of America's founding principles. It was enunciated
by George Washington, in his message to the Hebrew congregation of Newport,
Rhode Island. From America's inception, we had no religious test for public
office. There was no established church. There was no official persecution
of religious minorities. Compared to the Old World, the New World was blessedly
free of sectarian strife.
And, lo, it was good. America grew up without
an official church, but with thriving religious communities. In the 1950s,
when I was growing up, it was an article of faith that religion is a social
good. It didn't much matter which faith an individual professed - whether
little Johnny took communion, or wore a skull cap, or lit candles and burned
incense - as long as he believed in a God who required moral conduct, that
was enough.
In this frame of reference, candor about Islam
seems like vile bigotry, the type of religious intolerance that goes against
the American ethos. The problem is, today's situation is unique. America has
never experienced a phenomenon like Islam before. The closest we came to it
was in our encounters with fascism and communism in the 20th century - ideologies
that were, I hasten to add, quasi-religious in character.
How does one tolerate the intolerant? How
does one accommodate a creed that elevates homicide to a religious obligation,
which - in the name of its faith - is killing Christians, Jews and Hindus
the world over - a religion which, given the opportunity, would remake America
in the image of Saudi Arabia or Iran?
Reason #3: Fear. If Islam isn't a religion
of peace, what are the implications for the West and others in a world with
almost a billion Moslems - a world where Islamic states have powerful armies,
ballistic missiles, weapons of mass destruction, terrorist auxiliaries and
millions who are willing to die - and kill - for the glory of Allah and his
prophet? What are the implications for Europe, with its burgeoning Moslem
populations? What does it mean for the United States, whose Moslem population
could reach 10 million by the end of this decade? What does it mean for the
West, where a new mosque opens twice a week?
It's simply more comforting to tell soothing
lies than to confront unpleasant truths. The West has become very adept at
this. Consider the lies appeasers told about Nazism in the 1930s. (When Hitler
first came to power, commentator Walter Lippman hailed him as a sincere nationalist.
After Munich, Neville Chamberlain said the Fuehrer was a man he could do business
with.) During the Cold War, liberals closed their eyes to the reality of communist
brutality and imperialism. Today, our elite - the media and academia, Democrats
and Republicans - are doing the same with Islam. Call it old appeasement in
a new bottle.
Regrettably, avoiding reality doesn't change
reality. In and of themselves, words do not alter that nature of things. We
can tell ourselves until we're blue in the face that Islam is kinder and gentler
- a Methodist service, but in Arabic, with prayer rugs and sans shoes - and
terrorists will still be trying to kill us in the name of their god. In the
Third World, the Islamic advance will continue to creep down the West and
East Coasts of Africa, into the Balkans, the Indian subcontinent and East
Asia. Islamic immigration to the First World will continue to challenge Judeo-Christian
civilization. And millions the world over will continue to believe that they
have a divine mandate to conquer us, to rule us and - if we resist - to kill
us.
What should our response to Islam be? That's
the subject for another speech. However, in closing, let me repeat something
I said a moment ago - because it bears repetition - hiding from the truth
doesn't change it.
In the 20th century, Western man became expert
at make-believe - one reason for the decline of the West. After the Second
World War, we told ourselves that the danger was over. The United Nations
would make war obsolete. (Today, the UN is trying to make deterrence obsolete.)
After the Cold War, we supposedly had reached the end of history. Still, history
rolled merrily along. In many ways, the world a more dangerous place today.
When your head is firmly in the sand, another
part of your anatomy is fully exposed.