We are not at war with Islam, we are at war with those who have perverted Islam.
- Barack Obama
It should be self-evident, but it seems that some still don’t get it: ISIS/ISIL is as much about Islam as Adolf Hitler was about Christianity. Both assumed the imprimatur of their Almighty as justification for their brutality and genocide, but neither represented an accurate portrayal of their respective religion. Neither Christianity nor Islam provides justification for murder, particularly on a massive scale. Despite this, many in this country condemn Islam as the religion of terrorism while conveniently ignoring the role Christianity has historically played. Those who condemn Islam ignore the historical truth of the Crusades and the Holocaust. Millions were killed in the name of Jesus Christ (the Holocaust had other “justifications” besides Christianity), but there can be no doubt about or denial of the central role Christianity played in each genocide. If you’re looking for more contemporary examples of “Christian” terrorism, they’re not difficult to find- Timothy McVeigh, Terry Nichols, Paul Hill, Scott Roeder, and the list goes on.
Christian terrorists pose a far greater risk to the Homeland, than those who cling to Islam, but Conservative outrage has prevented the federal government from devoting the resources necessary to protecting Americans from the terrorists who live among and look like us. After all, it’s SO much easier to hate and fear those who look and believe differently. It’s a much different, and far more difficult task, to address the problem of domestic terrorism when those who would seek to kill us could blend in anywhere…and some would deny the resources to monitor and interdict Christian terror plots.
Despite a world rocked by attacks carried out by Muslims, President Obama dismissed religion’s role in global terrorism. “No religion is responsible for terrorism. People are responsible for terrorism,” Obama said Wednesday afternoon at a White House summit on combating violent extremism. Specifically citing al Qaeda and ISIS, Obama stressed that the U.S. is “not at war with Islam, we are at war with people who have perverted Islam.”
That the President has chosen to speak the truth and face the wrath of those heavily invested in hatred, bigotry, and Islamophobia speaks to the difficult truth so many Americans refuse to face: religion and terrorism are two separate things. Those who engage in acts of terror may claim that God is on their side, but there’s no theological underpinning available for extremism and murder. This is as true for Islam as it is for Christianity.
The President’s comments are merely the expression of the truth, something that shouldn’t be controversial…and yet there are those who would parse his comments and criticize him for things as ridiculous as they are patently untrue. The usual cast of Conservative ninnies- Ted Cruz and Rudy Giuliani in this case- are furiously attacking the President for somehow being weak on terror and refusing to see it for what they believe it to be:
Republicans like Sen. Ted Cruz and Rudy Giuliani criticized the president for trying to disassociate ISIS from Islam, even though it calls itself the Islamic State and wants to establish a caliphate in the Middle East. Cruz called Obama “an apologist for radical Islamic terorrists” and Giuliani told a private group dinner, “I do not believe, and I know this is a horrible thing to say, but I do not believe that the president loves America.” The former mayor of New York City added, “He doesn’t love you. And he doesn’t love me. He wasn’t brought up the way you were brought up and I was brought up through love of this country.”
This from some of the same people who castigated those who dared criticize George W. Bush as traitors, treasonous louts who’d like nothing better than to see America destroyed and Sharia become the law of the land.
I’d say these folks should be ashamed of their tactics, but that would presume they possess the capacity to feel shame.
Regardless of the polemics and the calumny directed at Barack Obama, it doesn’t change the reality that he speaks the truth. Religion isn’t responsible for violence; people are responsible for it. Of course, if you’re going to argue that religion (Islam, to be specific) is responsible for terrorism, you can’t credibly absolve Christianity of the responsibility you wish to saddle Islam with.
It may be an inconvenient truth…but it’s still the truth.
