I opened a recent TIME Magazine (9/29/14) today and saw in big bold words a quote from British Prime Minister David Cameron on ISIS: “They are not Muslims. They are murderers.” With all due respect to the Prime Minister---they are Muslims, and they are murderers.
Our president said something similar after the beheading of American James Foley in August. “ISIL speaks for no religion. No just God would stand for what they did yesterday, or what they do every day. No faith teaches people to murder innocents” (presstv.com, 8/20/14).
It’s news to ISIL that they have nothing to do with Islam. Whatever you call them, ISIL (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) or ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) or IS (Islamic State) certainly has to do with Islam. They are informed by Islam which says to slay the infidel wherever you may find them (Surah 9:29) and to kill the Muslim who leaves his religion.
Many in the West deal with Islam through the prism of political correctness. Yes, the thinking goes, there are a few bad apples among the Muslims today, but the Christians had their crusades.
The crusades lasted roughly from 1100-1300 AD, where “Christian” armies sought to make Jerusalem safe once again for Christian pilgrims. They came in response to the aftermath of the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem in 637. No conquest of Jerusalem, no crusades, perhaps.
The moral equivalence that goes on through political correctness puts all religions on the same equal path, regardless of their actual track record. Mother Teresa, meet Osama bin Laden.
I don’t often agree with Bill Maher, and I was even a guest on his program four times when it was on ABC-TV. It was usually four against one, and I was the one.
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But Maher eloquently showed how ludicrous it is to draw this moral equivalence between Islam and Christianity. He was a guest on Charlie Rose’s PBS program recently, and he wouldn’t let Rose equate Islam to Christianity, as the mainstream media so often does.
Here is some of their dialogue:
“MAHER: Vast numbers of Christians do not believe that if you leave the Christian religion you should be killed for it. Vast numbers of Christians do not treat women as second class citizens. Vast numbers of Christians --
“ROSE: I agree with that --
“MAHER: -- do not believe if you draw a picture of Jesus Christ you should get killed for it…. There was a Pew poll in Egypt done a few years ago -- 82 percent said, I think, stoning is the appropriate punishment for adultery. Over 80 percent thought death was the appropriate punishment for leaving the Muslim religion. I'm sure you know these things.
“ROSE: Well I do. But I don't believe --
“MAHER: So to claim that this religion is like other religions is just naive and plain wrong. It is not like other religious. The New York Times pointed out in an op-ed a couple weeks ago that in Saudi Arabia just since August 4th, they think it was, they have beheaded 19 people. Most for non-violent crimes including homosexuality….[I]n Mecca where infidels, non-Muslims, are not even allowed in the holy parts of the city….They do behead people. Now if they were beheading people in Vatican City, which is the equivalent of Mecca, don't you think there would be a bigger outcry about it?”
I never thought I’d say it, but, good for Bill Maher. If we can’t speak the truth about what motivates the radical Muslims, then we’ll enable them to go on killing innocent people. Yet our politicians and news media so often cover up for Islam.
Just the other day Fox News reported that a convert to Islam who was fired from his job in Moore, Oklahoma, returned to his former company and beheaded a coworker. His attempt to behead others was stopped by the CEO who legally had a gun.
I mention Fox News because they reported the Islamic angle to this. Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported on the same incident, but conveniently left off the Islamic part. Instead, this beheading is being chalked off as “workplace violence”---despite the links to Islam from the alleged murderer (such as his Facebook postings, e.g., “SHARIA LAW IS COMING!!!!”).
We are ill-served by our officials and the mainstream media these days in their treatment on Islam. We are told that Islam is a religion of peace and that most Muslims just want peace. But where are they? Why are they not marching in the streets against these violent Jihadists?
I once spoke with Christine Brim of the Center for Security Policy. She said, “There are moderate Muslims. We find them silent in most cases; and the reason is that if they speak up, they are identified as blasphemous, and they are under threat of execution. When you are moderate within a totalitarian system, you face two choices: silence or death.”
When the religious motivation (to serve Allah by killing the infidel) is censored out by politicians and the media, then we misread and miscategorize what’s going on---thus, opening the door for more such killings. It was wrong to call the Fort Hood shooting an example of “workplace violence.” The shooter gave ample instances that he was motivated by his interpretation of Islam. He shouted, “Allahu Akbar,” in his attack. He had given out copies of the Koran in advance. His calling card even used the acronym “SOA”---Soldier of Allah.
Political correctness disarms us in advance from protecting the innocent in this ongoing conflict.
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