Wednesday, September 08, 2004
What to do about Islam
I've recently been caught up in a number of debates at Bjørn Stærk's blog and also at Winds of Change regarding Islam and what should be done about the many conflicts it's involved in. I argued a number of points, but I thought that I should clarify my position on this.
I do see Islam, as portrayed in the Koran and the Hadiths and especially as it is interpreted by the Wahabhi faction as a threat to the peace and well being of the world, and specifically to the US and Israel. The bulk of some of the recents debates centered around whether Islam should be "banned". This was never specifically defined, but the examples seemed to range from complete eradication of every adherent to simple military defeat.
My main comment on the issue is this: Islam is a religion, a worldview, a political system, a culture, and I think it would be almost impossible to completely destroy without resorting to genocide. I find that prospect unpleasant in the extreme. However, as we are dealing with an enemy that has pledged to eradicate our culture, religion, etc in exactly the same way, I don't think that reciprocating should be taken off of the table as an option.
Allow me to rephrase that so that I'm making myself clear. As long as the stated aim of Islam is to dominate the world and kill, convert, or reduce to dhimmitude it's entire population, the threat of doing the same to Islam should always be present. I don't think it will ever come to enforcing that threat, and I hope it doesn't. As a Christian I believe that most Muslims will eventually come to the Cross willingly (as there is no other way). But no one should ever forget how many attacks occurred on our way of life before 9-11 started to wake us up. I know many will argue that the scenario I'm describing is not representitive of all, or even most of Islam. The best reply to that is to look at all of the conflicts in the world and seeing how many involve Islam. I also want to make clear that I don't make generalizations about individual Muslims based on this scenario. There are always exceptions. And my God requires me to love everyone. I may not always be successful in fulfilling that commandment, but I take it very seriously.
There is a lot more that could be said and maybe I'll post on it later.
I've thought about this quite a bit, but I'm always open to comments, criticisms and questions.
I do see Islam, as portrayed in the Koran and the Hadiths and especially as it is interpreted by the Wahabhi faction as a threat to the peace and well being of the world, and specifically to the US and Israel. The bulk of some of the recents debates centered around whether Islam should be "banned". This was never specifically defined, but the examples seemed to range from complete eradication of every adherent to simple military defeat.
My main comment on the issue is this: Islam is a religion, a worldview, a political system, a culture, and I think it would be almost impossible to completely destroy without resorting to genocide. I find that prospect unpleasant in the extreme. However, as we are dealing with an enemy that has pledged to eradicate our culture, religion, etc in exactly the same way, I don't think that reciprocating should be taken off of the table as an option.
Allow me to rephrase that so that I'm making myself clear. As long as the stated aim of Islam is to dominate the world and kill, convert, or reduce to dhimmitude it's entire population, the threat of doing the same to Islam should always be present. I don't think it will ever come to enforcing that threat, and I hope it doesn't. As a Christian I believe that most Muslims will eventually come to the Cross willingly (as there is no other way). But no one should ever forget how many attacks occurred on our way of life before 9-11 started to wake us up. I know many will argue that the scenario I'm describing is not representitive of all, or even most of Islam. The best reply to that is to look at all of the conflicts in the world and seeing how many involve Islam. I also want to make clear that I don't make generalizations about individual Muslims based on this scenario. There are always exceptions. And my God requires me to love everyone. I may not always be successful in fulfilling that commandment, but I take it very seriously.
There is a lot more that could be said and maybe I'll post on it later.
I've thought about this quite a bit, but I'm always open to comments, criticisms and questions.
papijoe 10:29 AM
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