OPINION:
It is laughable that President Obama, while discussing a group named Islamic State, which fights in the name of Islam and is a greater threat to moderate Muslims than all Western countries combined, claims that if we use the words “Islamic terrorism” it will play into their hands and turn this into a war between Islam and the West.
Newsflash: That war has already been declared against the West, and every Muslim in the world knows that the Islamic State and al-Qaeda are killing in the name of Islam. I would imagine that moderate Muslims find it more insulting to think that Americans believe they are willing to join a bloodthirsty gang of zealots who bastardize and defame their religion just because we use the word Islamic.
If Islam has nothing to do with terrorism, then why has the target of every single one of President Obama’s drone strikes been a Muslim? Call it whatever you want, but there are Muslims here who want to murder us in the name of their religion. The president’s willful blindness is not helping anyone. Convincing moderate Muslims that these acts of terrorism have nothing to do with their religion absolves them of all responsibility to stop the terrorists. It also provides no incentive to reclaim their faith from those who have hijacked it, and made proponents of its most archaic interpretation the most influential.
Also, by stigmatizing the recognition of Islam’s connection with terrorism, it makes Americans hesitant to report suspicious behavior for fear of being called an Islamophobe.
The president has argued that many faiths have a history of preaching hatred, but while most religions have a dark past, only radical Islam is actively pursuing a dark future.
GARY TAUSTINE
New York
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