Islamism - a distraction from Islam

Submitted by Andrew (United Kingdom), Oct 11, 2005 at 17:37

I think even you, Mr Pipes, are not precise enough in identifying the problem, which is the existence - due to immigration - of Muslims in Western countries. Talking about 'Islamism' instead of just 'Islam' is only going to delay the real problem from being addressed.

For example, just last week in England a local government authority banned office workers from displaying porcine cartoon characters for fear of offending Muslims; would this come under 'Islam' or 'Islamism'? Because either way it is incompatible with Western-Christian society.

No, the problems facing Western civilisation are due simply to the vast numbers of Muslims living among us, for the first time in our history. Muslims should be allowed to become as fundamentalist as they like - in their own countries - without interference from the West.... That is the way to cure the problem; anything else is just a temporary treatment.

---

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".