Quote Originally Posted by SteveMetz View Post
Of course. The vast, vast majority of Muslims and Islamic clerics dispute that the religion implores all Muslims to covert by force. Yet American Islamophobes, most with a knowledge of Islam a few verses picked up on the Internet deep, claim that they know better.

As I've said often, I believe that delusion and hysteria about Islam hinders our ability to come up with an effective assessment of it.
I generally agree, but not with the part about delusion and hysteria. I think the failure in effective assessment has three components:

  1. Hard radical Moslem behavior makes headlines - because if it bleeds it leads. Every time a nut case, who happens to be Moslem, attacks his daughters in the name of "honor," it will make national news. That leaves an impression that all have this attitude (which is, to the best of my knowledge, tribal custom having nothing to do with Islam).
  2. Soft radical Moslem spokesmen, usually self designated and further promoted by PC groups, who speak of Moslem grievances against Western Civilization. (At one point, they were explaining that Moslem's were still angered by the Crusades.) Most people hear these grievances/explanations and (correctly) conclude that if they really believe this, they aren't very rational.
  3. A PC crowd pushing special accommodation, status, protection, etc. for Moslem's and Islam. (For reasons I will not go into on this board.) It hasn't gone as far in the U.S. as it has in Canada or Europe, but it is still there. That will inevitably alienate people who will ask why Christian prayer in school violates the legal principle of Separation of Church and State, but building a Moslem prayer room in the schools doesn't.


I think that for most people, not just in the U.S. but also, increasingly, in Europe, Canada, Australia, etc., these add up to concerns that are both rational and mistaken, but not delusional or hysterical. Obtaining a more accurate evaluation will require recognizing that the concerns are legitimately held, then working to demonstrate that they aren't correct. Which is why I would like to see the responsible Imams and other spokespeople given more prominence in the national discussion on the issue.