At the Guantanamo Naval Base prison, American military personnel are required to wear gloves when touching the Koran. It's the perfect metaphor for our official culture's obsequious behavior toward Islam. Terrorists the world over cite the Koran as the motivation and justification for their terrorist acts, yet journalists and government officials reflexively jump to the Koran's defense whenever it seems to be implicated in terror. Instead of thinking, “Hmm, let's take a closer look at that book,' they assure us, on no evidence, that the terrorists have misunderstood the Koran.
Considering that large chunks of the world are sliding into the Islamic camp, it may be time to take off the gloves. We don't have the luxury any longer of living by pre-9/11 niceties such as “we must respect religious differences'—a formula which has come to mean that we mustn't even look into them. On the contrary, you respect differences by taking them seriously. And if the Koran is the motive force behind Islam's militancy then the Koran deserves serious examination, not perfunctory gestures of esteem.
“Why bring religion into it?' you may ask. Well, because religion is what it's all about. Sincere Muslims believe that God wants the whole world to be subject to Islam. They're free to believe that, of course, but it would be very much in the interest of non-Muslims if they stopped believing it. If an unbeliever refuses to submit to Islam, Allah requires that his head be separated from his body. In light of this, it seems only reasonable that unbelievers should start thinking of ways to separate Muslims from their faith. We have a—shall we say, vital—interest in encouraging Muslims to reflect critically upon the facts of their faith. We can help them to do this, not by telling them we have deep respect for their religion, but by telling them we have deep misgivings about it. |