When I proposed in my book The Enemy at Home (newly out in paperback) that America should ally with traditional Muslims to defeat the radical Muslims, some conservatives reacted with amazement. Where, these savants inquired, are the traditional Muslims? Clearly the exposure of some on the right to the Muslim world was limited to the viewing of clips of Bin Laden videos on the Fox News Channel.
Then last October a group of 138 Muslim scholars from diverse schools of thought wrote an open letter to Pope Benedict urging "mutual understanding" between Christianity and Islam. Titled "A Common Word Between Us and You," the letter notes that Muslims and Christians can find shared ground based on the dual commandments to love God and love our neighbor.
"As Muslims," the letter goes, "we say to Christians that we are not against them and that Islam is not against them--so long as they do not wage war against Muslims on account of their religion, oppress them, and drive them out of their homes." The letter was carefully worded so that it did not confuse clashes of interests with a war against the Muslim religion. In effect, the Muslim leaders were saying that their religious quarrel is only with atheists and other enemies of Islam.
Liberal Christians reacted to the letter with their usual abasement. Certainly some relief was in order, because Muslims who seek common cause with the West, or at least with the Christian West, are far preferable to those who seek to destroy us. Even so, why are liberal Christians so quick to prostrate themselves? "We want to begin by acknowledging that in the past (e.g. in the Crusades) and in the present (e.g. in the war on terror) many Christians have been guilty of sinning against our Muslim neighbor...We ask forgiveness of the All-Merciful One and of the Muslim community around the world."
The Vatican, accustomed to dealing with Muslim diplomatic initiatives for centuries, responded with much greater caution. While welcoming the initiative to dialog, the Vatican's Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran stressed that genuine common ground requires reciprocity. So if Muslims want to have full rights of worship in Western countries, they should grant those same rights to Christians in Muslim countries. If Muslims have the freedom to build mosques in London and Chicago, Christians should be able to build churches in Islamabad and Amman.
One group of ignoramuses wants to wage an ideological war against Islam. Another group of sycophants wants to curry favor among Muslims, just so long as they abstain from bombing us. In between these two there is a sensible option: to negotiate respectfully but firmly with traditional Muslims, building on shared values but also insisting that justice and goodwill must come from both sides of the street.
Mo Rocca has appeared on a bunch of shows, including 'The Daily Show,' 'I Love the 80s,'...
Mo's Blog Roll
Resources
Muslims Who Renounce Violence
Posted Feb 20th 2008 2:02AM by Dinesh D'Souza
Filed under: Terrorism, Islam, Christianity, Islamic Radicals
Add your comments
Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments.
When you enter your name and email address, you'll be sent a link to confirm your comment, and a password. To leave another comment, just use that password.
To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br> tags.
Mo's Video
The Sound of a Smoke-Free Barack...Almost two years ago we speculated on how Barack Obama's voice would change if he stopped smoking. ...
Most Popular Stories
- Don't Like Goodbyes...
- Pittsburgh Steelers: Is it Time to get some Cheerleaders?
- How NOT to give an Oscar Acceptance Speech
- Could Jim Belushi Win the Nobel Peace Prize?
- Spring Break Sexy T-Shirt Removal Training!
- Quest for the Crown 5: Plastic Wrap to Make you Less Fat!
- Quest for the Crown 4: Work Those Heels!
Most Commented On
-
Coming Soon
Recent Comments
- MI on Obama and the Reagan Doctrine
- Saint Brian the Godless on Obama and the Reagan Doctrine
- Darin on Are Father-Daughter Purity Balls Really Christian?
- Saint Brian the Godless on Obama and the Reagan Doctrine
- Roert Dean on General Clark is Absolutely Right!
- Hereafter on Cho Seung-Hui's Plays
- Jerry Brown on Obama and the Reagan Doctrine
Mo's Bio
Mo Rocca appears on a bunch of shows, including CBS News Sunday Morning (with the indescribably wonderful Charles Osgood), The Tonight Show on NBC, and NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! He's a sometime judge on Iron Chef and was featured on Telemundo's Amore Descarado. Last year he starred on Broadway in the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. His expose "All the President's Pets" was published by Crown in 2004.
Top News Headlines
Political Machine Blog
- Republicans, Independents Make the Difference in Support for Obama on Afghanistan
- Meat for Public Schools Often Rejected by Fast Food Chains
- Salahis Subpoenaed To Appear Before Panel Probing Party Crashing
- Will George Stephanopoulos Go Better With My Omelet?
- $1 Billion Spent on Political Ads in '09
- In a Political Popularity Contest, Hillary Clinton Wins
- Tiger Woods' Transgressions and the Gender Split
Reader Comments ( Page 2 of 35)
16. So, you want Christians and Traditional Muslims to unite in common understanding... against atheists. You're a real peacemaker, Dinesh.
prfssrx(?)
A FORMER ATHEIST (a bluff)
PROFESSOR X (explains the prfssrx alias)
HORACIO MATTESA
Micah Jones,
Why do you always conjure up at arbitrary times in irrelevant contexts to annoy us with THE SAME LINK YOU ALWAYS POST!?! NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR STUPID BIASED SITE!!! "Exposing the public to just the scientific facts without the spin." - What a JOKE!
Your aliases aren't fooling anyone.
Mokele-Mobembe at 10:08AM on Feb 20th 2008
17. From a hypothetical, Muslim Dinesh D'Souza:
(with apologies to all Muslims, everywhere)
"We all want the religious minorities to feel welcome and happy, but should this be at the price of insulting the religious sentiments of the Islamic majority?"
"Should we be forced to work through Salat, our 5 prayers a day, simply because a Christian somewhere might be offended?"
"These liberal traitors are seeking common ground with our enemy! We are at war, and these scholars seek to weaken us because they hate the Islamic foundations that our great nation has been built on."
AndrewV at 10:13AM on Feb 20th 2008
18. ATHEIST
Reply to: should this be at the price of insulting the religious sentiments of the Islamic majority?"
___________
I think one thing needs to be repeated.
god does not exist.
Everyone who goes around with a religious belief about their god is wrong.
And because you are wrong... you are going to be TOLD that you are wrong.
this is not an insult. Islam is an ism, like communism or marxism, disguised as a religion.
It's a political party, with a bit of con game wrapped around the outside.
William Hays at 10:23AM on Feb 20th 2008
19. "There is no compulsion in religion was not a command to Muslims to remain steadfast in the face of the desire of their oppressors to force them to renounce their faith, but was a reminder
to Muslims themselves, once they had attained power, that they could not force another’s heart to believe." from the letter referenced above: OPEN LETTER TO HIS
HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI
Dinesh said: "The letter was carefully worded so that it did not confuse clashes of interests with a war against the Muslim religion. In effect, the Muslim leaders were saying that their religious quarrel is only with atheists and other enemies of Islam."
_____________________________________________
I guess it was so carefully worded that if some one without an atheist "hate" agenda would and could read anything they wanted into it.
I didn't read it that way. I felt the letter was an enlightening prospect into the ideologies of the Muslim faith. I especially liked what they said about religious belief alone does not make anyone the object of attack. They spoke of the community fighting against the pagens who had taken them from their homes and persecuted, tortured, and murdered them. Pagens were not atheists, and the letter alluded to the conflict being political in nature.
In any case, Dinesh could have just left out his opinion that that their religious quarrel is only with atheists. The blog would have garnered more support for a change.
I believe in freedom - the freedom to believe or not to believe, the only relevant answer.
Equality in all phases of life and to all people. To accept everyone for who they are, as long as they do not thrust their belief system on anyone else, nor to discriminate upon those whose beliefs don't match your own.
TJ at 11:19AM on Feb 20th 2008
20. Yes, let's generalize like Dinesh and say that everything that ends with an ISM is politically affiliated. Catholicism, judaism, buddhism, atheism. Sounds good to me.
Can't forget the "ology" group though, all of those groups are solely dedicated to knowledge. Like scientology.
Hardy har har
Strados at 11:25AM on Feb 20th 2008
21. "In effect, the Muslim leaders were saying that their religious quarrel is only with atheists and other enemies of Islam." Dinesh
Dinesh you're an idiot. As a Christian and a person who has many friends that could be classified as Muslim leaders, I take offense to that statement. They don't have a problem with anyone. What really gets them going, is knowing the propaganda being sprout off here in the media that the controlled citizens of the US believe.
You just fuel it, don't you?
"to negotiate respectfully but firmly with traditional Muslims, building on shared values but also insisting that justice and goodwill must come from both sides of the street."
There is nothing to negotiate, and take your firmness and shove it.
All Religions pray to the same God.
Idiot. Take your idoctrination and spew it somewhere else. You give True Christians a terrible name. And unfornately, most Christians are just like you.
Peace will never happen as long as their are people like you in the Government.
Botts at 11:49AM on Feb 20th 2008
22. I suspect a muslim's definition of neighbor is a bit different than a North American's. Poll after poll demonstrate that a majority of "moderate" muslims approve of terrorism. A country based on religion is doomed for failure. A "neighbor" in that country is one who believes in the same dogma as my country.
Secular American at 11:56AM on Feb 20th 2008
23. Islam itself isn't bad.
Its those who abuse Islam's rules, etc. that are bad.
Its the terrorists that should be targeted.
Not the Muslims trying to live by their faith without terrorizing people.
CatholicCrusader at 12:14PM on Feb 20th 2008
24. Strados,
Speaking of ology's and ism's, Dinesh should give an apology for his apologism.
Mokele-Mobembe at 12:25PM on Feb 20th 2008
25. To Chris Able: People are born agnostics. They dont know wheter God is there. they cannot understand the concept of anything. As they grow older they then can understamd.
CatholicCrusader at 12:28PM on Feb 20th 2008
26. I knew as soon as I saw the ad for his "new" paperback edition of gawd-knows-what (unlike William, I couldn't stomach anything he writes), I figured this to be another typical 5th grade quality (apologies to 5th graders), unsubstantiated, LYING blog from the DD that we all know.
First,
"Liberal Christians reacted to the letter with their usual abasement."
WHAT?? Please reference that. I know for a fact that most of the interfaith groups in my part of the country are run by the "liberal" or modern religious groups. The conservatives and the fundies don't want to mix with others unless they can try to convert them.
It's the Ritas and Bridgets that demonize Islam on this blog.
Second,
"One group of ignoramuses wants to wage an ideological war against Islam. Another group of sycophants wants to curry favor among Muslims, just so long as they abstain from bombing us. In between these two there is a sensible option"
He must mean his beloved pope. Who are you kidding? The only thing the pope cares about is power and creating more catholics.
And "sycophants" try to get along with others without waging war? Whew. That's a "christian" viewpoint? What a chickenhawk.
Third:
"In effect, the Muslim leaders were saying that their religious quarrel is only with atheists and other enemies of Islam"
He has to get his anti-athesit message in there somewhere. Does he really think that such a blatant lie really bothers atheists? We know a strawman when we see one.
Make that 3rd grade quality (apologies to 3rd graders)
Linda at 12:37PM on Feb 20th 2008
27. CatholicCrusader,
Islam isn't puppies and marshmallows either. That's not reason enough to wipe it off the map. On 9/12/01 someone made a vehicular attempt on the life of a Muslim friend of mine. Can you figure out why?
Mokele-Mobembe at 12:40PM on Feb 20th 2008
28.
Today's hot steaming cup of stupid from D'Idiot.
Hmmm..couldn't miss a book plug in the first line. Bash atheists by end of third paragraph. Try to say "I'm Neutral" but dropping is loaded words like Ignoramuses," "Sycophants" and "Savants."
Sorry D'Ouchebag. Your facism is showing. Nothing but a cheap shill with snake oil for purchase in hardcover and paperback.
Tim at 1:00PM on Feb 20th 2008
29. "In effect, the Muslim leaders were saying that their religious quarrel is only with atheists and other enemies of Islam."
--------------------------------------------------
Mr. D'Souza,
You show no limit to how low you stoop. You are now attempting, on your own, to fabricate the notion that the Muslim world as being at war with atheists. You didn't name Jews or Zionists as one of the primaries, but atheists(?). You are in complete obsession. You are acting like a deluded stalker. Deluded stalkers show an unhealthy, irrational obsessiveness that is no different than yours.
Frank at 12:57PM on Feb 20th 2008
30. As usual you have done no research. There are churches (both Catholic and Anglican) in Islamabad and in Amman (Catholic and Orthodox). As you must be aware that there were many Christian candidtes in the election in Pakistan 3 days ago.
Danyal at 1:18PM on Feb 20th 2008