The American Spectator

Reader Mail

(Page 3 of 18)

Excellent perspective from David Yerushalmi on Islam. Those who doubt Mr. Yerushalmi's take on Islam should read anything by Bat Y'eor. Bernard Lewis doesn't pull many punches either. Also, Google the term "al-Taqiyya." A rough translation is "lying." Muslims have long held the idea that lying to unbelievers in order to defend Islam, even from just looking bad, is a good thing. Dr. Fouad Ajami has written about it several times. A few alert journalists have caught Muslim leaders practicing al-taqiyya when they speak of peace in English, then turn around immediately and preach war to their Muslim friends in Arabic, but most journalists are just too ignorant to notice.

p>A very small group of people promote liberal values in Muslim countries, but they're mostly intellectuals and neo-Marxists. They have failed to attract a following among the regular populace. Some example can be found at www.memri.org. br> -- Roger D. McKinney br> Broken Arrow, Oklahoma /p>

David Yerushalmi's provocative piece makes many worthy points, but I would offer a slight revision to his statement that "Muslim civilization is at war with Judeo-Christian civilization."

In the same sense that the term "civil war" is oxymoronic, so, too, is the idea of "Muslim civilization." Mr. Yerushalmi's point is understood, and I'm on the same page with him, but I would say rather that "Islam, a form of barbarism, is at war with civilization itself, starting with the Judeo-Christian world."

My dictionary defines "civilization" firstly as:

"An advanced state of intellectual, cultural, and material development in human society, marked by progress in the arts and sciences...."

If someone could tell me with a straight face that this definition describes Islam, I would personally go to my local trophy shop and commission an Oscar statuette. (Oops, sorry... I forgot the taboo on "likenesses.")

p>A movement that seeks to revert mankind to the Dark Ages must first wipe out fourteen-hundred years of human achievement and the civilizations that spawned it. At this point in history, I would call Islam the anti-civilization, but still hope that its adherents may ultimately experience Enlightenment. That choice confronts them still. br> -- GnuCarSmell br> Jacksonville, Texas

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