Pipes is a moderate and I prove it

Submitted by kevin bjornson (United States), Dec 27, 2010 at 05:39

Pipes opposes Islamism, but thinks non-political Islam can be benign.
That implies that Islamic holy texts can be interpreted poetically,
as in, "when it says to kill, that means to argue". I suppose any phrase
can be interpreted in any way according to subjective feeling, if we disregard dictionaries, grammar books, and logic.

I go even further: all faith is by definition harmful, because it violates human nature in a profound way--bending the human brain in a wrong direction. Faith is a harmful factor that sets up an imbalance in the human psyche, tending to result in violent aggression.

As Nathaniel Branden pointed out, Attilla and the Witch Doctor are archetypes of the man of force and the man of faith. (Actually, so-called "witch doctors" were really forerunners of naturopathic healers, much as astrologers were forerunners of astronomers).

Ayn Rand's historic article in Foreign Affairs, "Faith and Force: destroyers of the modern world" explicates this theme well enough.

Christianity has undergone centuries of assimilation to western civilization, so is less harmful than Islam. Judaism is more humanistic than either, therefore the lesser of three evils.

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".