Should islam be accorded the respect accorded to other religions?

Submitted by Hymie Zoltsveis (United States), Jan 17, 2008 at 16:51

In my research of Islam, I cannot help but beliveing that Islam is VERY different from modern religions. In my opinion, the ultimate goal of Islam---especially as the fundamentalists and islamists want it practiced----is to either have the world entirely Muslim via conversion (forced or voluntary) or to kill those who reject Islam.

There POSSIBLY is a third choice, being a dhimmi, essentially a non-Muslim who must pay "tribute" to the Muslims, and have greatly diminshed rights (although Muslims do not seem to have rights, by our usual definition).

I see Fundamentalist Islam or Islamism as more on a par with a cult, a gang, or a movement---such as the MS-13 gang, communism or Nazism. Islam seems to generally be a "religion" which has NO tolerance for other religions, and a long hirtory of intolerance. Those who we could define as "moderate Muslims" seem to live in fear, or are simply few in number. NO peace treaties with Muslims seem to be anything but a cease fire, during which time the Muslims re-group, re-arm, and re-strategise----to attack and kill, another day.

Are we being wise to treat islam in the same way which we treat modern Christian religions, Judaism, or other generally non-violent religions? Is Israel committing slow-speed suicide to give away more and more land and safety to a people who do not even currently PRETEND to be non-violent or peaceful? Wouldn't it make more sense for Israel to consider ways to UN-POWER Muslims, to keep new Muslims from moving in, to cut off citizenship and welfare rights to violent Muslims (or all Muslims) and to plan the removal and re-location of all Muslims from Israel?

There are MANY Islamic countries in the Middle East, in which Muslims may live. Many of these same countires REFUSE to allow Jews to reside in same, or sometimes to even visit these Muslim countries/areas. Would it only be fitting for Israel to consider re-locating some of all Muslims, and of barring future Muslims from living in Israel?

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".