The Tragedy of Islam

Michael Graham wrote in JWR I take no pleasure in saying it. It pains me to think it. I could very well lose my job in talk radio over admitting it. But it is the plain truth: Islam is a terror organization.

That is not true. Islam is a religion, which has been hijacked by a Terror Organization. There are violent verses in the Holy Bible, but there are no Christian Organizations suggesting they justify wholesale killing of innocents. There are violent verses in the Koran, but thee are many Muslims that realize that they do not call for the wholesale killing of innocents. Unfortunately there is no central Muslim authority (no one like a Pope), and they dont have organized councils like the Southern Baptist Council, United Methodist convention, etc. and the Imams of the moderate mosques are afraid to speak up too loudly against what the violent ones are doing, for fear they will be targeted.

For years, I've been trying to give the world's Muslim community the benefit of the doubt, along with the benefit of my typical-American's complete disinterest in their faith. Before 9/11, I knew nothing about Islam except the greeting "asalaam alaikum," taught to me by a Pakistani friend in Chicago. Immediately after 9/11, I nodded in ignorant agreement as President Bush assured me that "Islam is a religion of peace." But nearly four years later, nobody can defend that statement. And I mean "nobody." Certainly not the group of "moderate" Muslim clerics and imams who gathered in London last week to issue a statement on terrorism and their faith. When asked the question "Are suicide bombings always a violation of Islam," they could not answer "Yes. Always." Instead, these "moderate British Muslims" had to answer "It depends." Precisely what it depends on, news reports did not say.

It depends on whether they fear they may become taragets if they speak out too loudly.

Sadly, given our new knowledge of Islam from the past four years, it probably depends on whether or not you're killing Jews. That is part of the state of modern Islam. Another fact about the state of Islam is that a majority of Muslims in countries like Jordan continue to believe that suicide bombings are legitimate. Still another is the poll reported by a left-leaning British paper than only 73 percent of British Muslims would tell police if they knew about a planned terrorist attack.

If 73 percent will tell, that is a very good thing.

The other 27 percent? They are a part of modern Islam, too. The Council on American-Islamic Relations is outraged that I would dare to connect the worldwide epidemic of terrorism with Islam.

I have my doubts about CAIR

They put it down to bigotry, asserting that a lifetime of disinterest in Islam has suddenly become blind hatred. They couldn't be more wrong. Not to be mean to the folks at CAIR, but I don't: Care, that is. I simply don't care about Islam, its theology, its history — I have no interest in it at all. All I care about is not getting blown to smithereens when I board a bus or ride a plane. I care about living in a world where terrorism and murder/suicide bombings are rejected by all.