The murders today in Paris ... are only the latest blows delivered by an ideology that has sought to achieve power through terror for decades... Because the ideology is the product of a major world religion, a lot of painstaking pretzel logic goes into trying to explain what the violence does, or doesn’t, have to do with Islam. Some well-meaning people tiptoe around the Islamic connection, claiming that the carnage has nothing to do with faith, or that Islam is a religion of peace, or that, at most, the violence represents a “distortion” of a great religion... Others want to lay the blame entirely on the theological content of Islam, as if other religions are more inherently peaceful—a notion belied by history as well as scripture... A religion is not just a set of texts but the living beliefs and practices of its adherents. Islam today includes a substantial minority of believers who countenance, if they don’t actually carry out, a degree of violence in the application of their convictions that is currently unique. Charlie Hebdo had been nondenominational in its satire, sticking its finger into the sensitivities of Jews and Christians, too—but only Muslims responded with threats and acts of terrorism... The answer always has to be careful, thoughtful, and tailored to particular circumstances... The cartoonists died for an idea. The killers are soldiers in a war against freedom of thought and speech, against tolerance, pluralism, and the right to offend—against everything decent in a democratic society... Sorry for the wall of text, but this response is basically the same as my own. Islamophobia is of course real. All religions of course lend textual support to their violent extremist wing. The West is of course largely if not entirely responsible for the troubled state of the Middle East. Christian extremists in America would of course be bombing (more) if they lived under the same conditions many face in the ME. Freedom of expression of course means freedom from governmental persecution (or generally pressure from above, not below), not license to be an ass in all forums. And yet, we must acknowledge these as secondary points. The primary point is that, today, worldwide, a great deal of violence is done by people explicitly claiming an Islamist justification--we cant think clearly until we accept this as a simple statement of relevant fact. We should condemn all violence. And today, Paris provides a stark case. Je suis Charlie. Nous sommes Charlie.
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 01:35:34 +0000
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