Islamism and "conservative Islam"

Submitted by freud99 (United States), Aug 10, 2006 at 20:05

Hopefully there is a difference between Islamism and "conservative Islam." I would think that conservative Islam would be a strict belief in the Koran and the other Islamic teachings. I have a number of Islamic friends and they really do not strictly believe that the Koran is the exact word of Allah. They are scientists and scholars and are skeptical. But there are also scientists and scholars who are religious conservatives. And I respect their opinions, though I don't share them.

But I think Islamism means more than this and worse than this. I think Islamism is a militant ideology that is more of a political and governmental ideology bent on world domination, mainly by force. This certainly is not all there is to Islam. But I do not think there is anything remotely comparable to this in Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism or in any of the other religions with which I have any familiarity. Or if there is it is only in a tiny fringe group that is nowhere near the percentage of those in Islam who are under the domination of Islamism. I look at Islamism, or militant Islam or Imperialistic Islam, as comparable to Naziism or Communist Marxist/Lenninism. It is a global movement bent on world domination. It is on the march right now and all those who want some sort of reasonably tolerant society with freedom of choice and true democracy would do well to oppose it. But that doesn't mean we should not have good relationships with Muslims in general regardless of whether they are somewhat not-so-conservative or extremely conservative in their religious beliefs.

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