A response to "why I love my religion"

Submitted by Monte Gardner (United States), Apr 30, 2007 at 20:38

17:33: And do not take any human being's life - that God willed to be sacred - other than in [the pursuit of] justice. If one is killed unjustly, then we give his her authority to enforce justice. Thus, he shall not exceed the limits in avenging the murder; he will be helped.

Me: In an ironic way, you've gotten right to the heart of the matter through your posting of half-truths. Indeed the Koran tells Muslims not to kill, but in every case there is either an actual textual, or at least contextual parentheses that says, in essence, "unless the person killed is a bad person", or "unless he started it".

Sira 9, the "verse of the sword", states roughly "kill the unbelievers wherever you find them etc.". Islamic apologists, such as the original poster in this thread, have claimed that this should be read contextually. They claim that Islam was "under attack by evil men intent on destroying the Islamic faith". Thus, this verse was simply permission for "self-defense".

The problem with all of this is that the terrorists are saying the exact same thing. Osama bin Laden himself would probably agree that you shouldn't kill "innocent" people. He would then explain to you that Islam is "under attack by evil men intent on destroying the islamic faith". The pulpits, newspapers, radio stations, websites, and printing presses of the Middle East have been consistently feeding their people this same story - that Islam is under attack by the "Zionist Crusader Alliance".

It is this polarization and rhetoric of hate and fear that drives the terrorists. Your utterly flimsly and transparent attempt at explaining away the terrorists religious motives through half-truths is, therefore, insufficient.

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".