Clarification on US government's responsibility to prevent the ascendancy of Islam

Submitted by Prashant (United States), Sep 25, 2012 at 02:22

Dear Dr Pipes:

As much as possible I do not directly address other readers on your forum. I address only the editor. Reader Ianus complimented me on my postings here. I thank him for that. In fact, I also always read and benefit from Ianus' postings. I am a firm believer that our world --for all the misery that we see on a day-to-day basis-- is becoming a better place to live on a century-to-century basis. Your forum and everyone who writes on it is working to make 22nd century better than the current one.

Ianus correctly points out that governments of the world are, firstly, not doing anything to contain Islamism and, secondly, are doing many things to curb the voices that speak against Islamic non-symmetry (violation of the golden rule --non symmetry-- is the primary source of tyranny). So, I sympathize with Ianus' opinion and agree with him. But I also believe that it may not be the job of the governments to 'prevent the ascendency of Islam'.

I am a firm believer in the separation of church and state. When state interferes with the church, it harms them both. And vice versa. With that belief, as bad as it is for the state to encourage the church, it is just as bad for the state to curb it. So I said that it was not the job of the US government to contain Islamism. If Islamism harms US constitution or if it hurts people's freedoms or it takes away people's property rights, then, the US government must protect all of the above but until then US government should not be expected to "prevent the ascendency of Islam". It is, however, the job of the governments to allow freedoms so people can oppose all kinds of tyrannies and favor all things that make societies more prosperous and happy. Though there is always room for improvement, US government is doing a decent job in that respect.

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