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,'...
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Muslims Who Renounce Violence
Posted Feb 20th 2008 2:02AM by Dinesh D'Souza
Filed under: Terrorism, Islam, Christianity, Islamic Radicals
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Reader Comments ( Page 7 of 35)
91. iron skillets... pistic frying pans?... hmm
not-pboyfloyd at 10:00PM on Feb 20th 2008
92. Here's the thing brian... I wasn't born and raised Christian... I don't think that we have a free choice what to believe... I'd be lying to myself if I tried to say that I was Christian.
I'm not exactly happy with the Democratic Party... but, you have to go with the army that you have, as some smartass said recently.
I think that that is true in politics, but it wasn't true for the Iraq occupation.
not-pboyfloyd at 10:09PM on Feb 20th 2008
93. floyd,
are you saying you had no choice in what you just posted? if you had no choice what brought you to make that assumption. i think you indeed do have a free will. its a basic tenent of being human. we make choices freely all the time, whether using an iron skilletts helps is another matter
brian at 10:14PM on Feb 20th 2008
94. floyd, one more thing-what do you think it means to be christian anyway? seriously.
brian at 10:15PM on Feb 20th 2008
95. "Botts,
Who decides which is the 'right' one. That is a very slippery slope you're descending, careful."
True mac, very true.
Botts at 10:18PM on Feb 20th 2008
96. "do you like the gnostics?" brian
Brian, I like humans. I don't put labels on them.
Botts at 10:19PM on Feb 20th 2008
97. brian,
Also, did you read my long and inspiring message to you last night? If you actually read it, you would have learned something. I was explaining to you what I meant behind my "There is no agenda" statements.
You've been curious
Botts at 10:19PM on Feb 20th 2008
98. botts,
let me say something. there is always an agenda going on,always. there are only two kingdoms in this world. there is light and darkness. what you see is never what is. what is is truest in the spiritual realm. the two kingdoms have an agenda. its called the human race. light and dark battle for the mind everyday,unrelenting. you may think you have no agenda and you may not. but i do not believe you do not see that battle for what it is. atheist are not our enemy,muslims are not our enemy. what is the enemy is the darkness that influences people away from the light. you say religion is evil. i disagree. religion is nothing more than what you practice day in and day out. no one,including you, has perfect theology. only jesus did and thgey killed him for it. but botts, there is a kingdom agenda.
brian at 10:27PM on Feb 20th 2008
99. brian.. I seriously think that a Christian imagines that there is a supernatural realm that predates our universe. In this supernatural realm there somehow 'lives' at least one being who created the entire universe out of less than nothing. I think that Christians imagine that this being came down to Earth as Jesus, son of Mary, dissed the Romans and the Jews in order to sacrifice himself for the Jews.
Since the Jews were not 'having any of this', God / Jesus changed the 'rules' a bit to allow anyone who will 'believe' everlasting "life" in this supernatural realm.
BTW, I really have no choice but to do what I'm going to do... it is what "I" do.
Yes, I could turn off my PC(and I will, sooner or later), but I "feel" like doing this, and barring accident.. electric outage, Internet glitch etc. ... accident...or something 'better' to do I WILL do this... just like you! No free choice at all!
not-pboyfloyd at 10:27PM on Feb 20th 2008
100. botts,
by the way i like people too,considering i am one and currently i think you are to,currently. but don't let floyd hit you with the skillett.
by the way floyd you are not going to believe what i lost!! i lost my swimming goggles and my kick fins i use in my work. and to date they have not shown up, but they will!!!!!!
brian at 10:30PM on Feb 20th 2008
101. "Botts,
Did the torturer save millions? I'm sure he thought he had the right one."
No, but they wanted millions and a lot of information.
"Would you give up your god under duress?"
That would be impossible. How can you give up something you know. I can understand giving up something you believe, but giving up knowledge is impossible.
Botts at 10:34PM on Feb 20th 2008
102. floyd,
the christian life is a natural realm. the very realm we were creating to live in on the first place. there is nothing mystical here. the rules were not changed, jesus fulfilled the law. the jews/romans killed him. but he came to die. he said no man takes his life from him,no man. on the cross he said"father, into they hands i commit my spirit" he gave up his spirit,something you and i do not have the power to do. oh you can blow your brains out but thats killings yourself. jesus died voluntarily. he died for our sins. what other king anywhere at any time gave his life for his subjects? usually the subjects give their life for the king.
brian at 10:35PM on Feb 20th 2008
103. npbf,
I think I have a choice. I think it is the theist who has no choice, lest he anger god and incurr his(her,it's) rath.
I chose to come back here tonight, after dinner.
I chose to not pick on James Bunch( for a while, he's a moron).
I chose not to believe in any gods.
I make many choices every day, some good some bad. Each choice affects every other choice, like ripples in a pond- to borrow an analogy.
mac at 10:41PM on Feb 20th 2008
104. brian,
It's not necessarily that Religion is evil. No. But religion is here to control people. To not let them think. And they start doing it to people at a young age.
Science for instance has no agenda. It's solely human observation.
You can't tell me, that Genesis should be taken literally. Maybe 3000 years ago, but not now.
The 6 days of creation are NOT 24 hour days. We're still on the 6th day, and the 7th is eternal. So clearly 1-5 isn't 24 hours.
Science brings specifics to the Figurative language of the Bible.
There is no agenda.
Yes, many groups have agenda's, religion included.
Botts at 10:40PM on Feb 20th 2008
105. Botts,
That's exactly my point about torture. The extremist will NEVER relent, for he is sure god is with him. The torture can serve no legitimate political purpose.
How are we to have the moral high ground if we behave like the ones we oppose.
mac at 10:48PM on Feb 20th 2008