February 5, 2006

A Foolish Peace

Posted by Adam Graham in : Christianity

In the quest for peace and coexistence with Islam, an important question has never been asked or its never been asked by the right people. Does Islam want peace?

It is clear, for example that the Israelis want peace. After all, they’ve been willing to surrender land which was won with Israeli blood in order to achieve it. The International Community cares enough to pressure Israel into making the most absurd deals imaginable with a group of people that have never kept one commitment to end violence and terrorism. However, given the recent election of Hamas, its clear the Palestinian people could really care less about peace.

I have to make the same conclusion about the masses of Muslims marching in the streets of Europe protesting over the portrayal of Mohammad in Cartoon form. The US State Department condemned the cartoon and the newspaper apologized, which isn’t enough for the raging Muslims as they torch embassy after embassy, in their attempt to bring Denmark to its knees.

When only one side wants peace, what is gained is not peace, but capitulation. Like a store owner being blackmailed by the mob, you know they’re going to be back next week, wanting more and they’ll keep taking from you until they’ve taken it all away.

Seeking peace from people who have no interest in it will only be seen as a sign of weakness. True peace comes when both sides are tired of fighting or one side has totally overwhelmed the other. In the battle against radical Islam, quarter must not given that is not asked for.

We must begin to understand what we’re up against. In reality, the war on Terror at its core is little different than the Cold War. In both cases, we’re fighting an ideology. Radical Islam and Communism both at their core are threats to the survival of freedom. As we would not have called Communism an ideology of peace, so in the midst of a life and death struggle for our very survival, calling Islam a religion of peace is equally absurd.

While, there are peaceful Muslims, and most of those in the West easily fall into this category, they are far too tolerant of the bad actors in their own community. In some cases, they flee from the harsh religious police of their own land and go to Mosques led by Imans, who if they had it in their power would bring the exact same order to the West. According to a London Telegraph poll, 24% of British Muslims sympathize with the Terrorists who did the Subway bombings, and 27% wouldn’t go to the police if they became aware of a potential bombing and 53% wouldn’t go to the police if they became aware of someone trying to Radicalize the Youth.

The situation is dire. It is not enough that criminals be caught, but there must be a concerted effort to undermine radical Islam in our society. This effort begins in the church. Many churches will talk about the views of the New Age Movement or Secular Humanism, but rarely explain and refute the views of Islam. This has to be done in a thoughtful way, not like some of the ham-handed approaches we’ve seen from some corners.

Outside the church, I’d challenge the skeptics and scoffers to direct some of their mockery at Islam. I doubt it will happen, as most would rather only attack a religion that doesn’t issue fatwas or behead them for it. It has been said a number of times, but deserves repeating, that this cowardice explains why Kenye West didn’t appear on the cover of Rolling Stone dressed as Mohammad.

A critical light needs to be thrown on Islam, its teaching, its tenets, and the type of nation that faith produces. It is time to unveil the face of Islam, so all the world can see.

Clearly this sentiment will not be popular with the Islamic Community. As evidenced by the howls of protest and string of arsons, Islam believes it should be exempt from criticism of even the most mild sort. If that’s the goal, they may wish to re-emigrate. In our culture, Christians have to put up with the name of Christ being blasphemed on a regular basis on television, music, and movies. Every Easter, the networks give air time to those challenging the authenticity of the Resurrection. It is time to give the claims of Islam such a thorough working over. The future of our country depends on it.

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4 Comments

  1. Comment by craig [Visitor]

    Great post, I strongly agree with many of your thoughts. Islam has been sluffed off for so long due to an overload of ‘religion of peace’ rhetoric. Political correctness is going to be the very thing that leads to more significant conflict. The difficult thing with Islam is it is not an ideology or a system, but rather a religion, that is so deeply linked with individuals identity, and sadly, I think Arabs identify deeper with their religion, than we do with ours. Interesting times lie ahead.

  2. Comment by Adam Graham [Member]

    Indeed.

  3. Comment by "Radical" Russ [Visitor]

    The International Community cares enough to pressure Israel into making the most absurd deals imaginable with a group of people that have never kept one commitment to end violence and terrorism.

    I wonder how Chief Joseph or Chief Sitting Bull would interpret the last half of the sentence.

    While, there are peaceful Muslims, and most of those in the West easily fall into this category, they are far too tolerant of the bad actors in their own community.

    I wonder how Eric Rudolph’s victims would interpret the last half of that sentence.

    Adam, do you know any Muslims? I do; two of my friends immigrated from Turkey and still live in Boise. I visit them every time I go back home. They couldn’t be a nicer, more peaceful people.

    Your post reads a whole lot like “my God’s better than your God” type of thinking that has embroiled us in this insane War on Tactics. You castigate me for conflating garden variety Christians with the hate-filled Christian-based rhetoric of Fred Phelps and Christian-based terrorist actions of Eric Rudolph, but then you turn around and conflate 1.3 billion Muslims with the hate-filled rhetoric of the worst imams and the terrorist acts of the worst Muslims.

    And before you say it, yes, there are more Muslim terrorists than Christian ones, and the general Arab Muslim street is more hateful than the average Christian. But that’s only because the secular lefties of the Enlightenment dragged your witch-burning Crusading Spanish Inquisition asses kicking and screaming into civilized behavior. Yes, we need to drag the suicide bombing fatwa-issuing Muslim societies kicking and screaming into civilized behavior, too. Just remember that the only difference between our Fundamentalists and theirs is a 1400 year head start in the civilization game.

  4. Comment by Michael [Visitor]

    Yes, we need to drag the suicide bombing fatwa-issuing Muslim societies kicking and screaming into civilized behavior, too

    Russ

    We are trying. But you are fighting us every step of the way. We have a plan to try to make this happen. Part of that plan involves bringing more democracy to the Middle East.

    What is your plan and how are you helping? By excusing the actions of terrorists? By blaming America? By making it harder to watch and track these people? Keep in mind that any spin or reason you might have for doing these things is not a plan. The liberal plan to keep us safe though inaction is like the liberal plan to end poverty by subsidizing it.

    We fought a cold war without you and we won it. You were wrong then ad you are wrong now. Get out of the way and let people who know how to accomplish things do it. That’s part of growing up. Knowing what you can do well and what you can’t. That’s why you won’t see me try to play a guitar.

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