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{"id":1199,"date":"2015-12-16T07:47:00","date_gmt":"2015-12-16T07:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2015\/12\/is-islam-different.html"},"modified":"2015-12-16T07:47:00","modified_gmt":"2015-12-16T07:47:00","slug":"is-islam-different","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2015\/12\/is-islam-different.html","title":{"rendered":"Is Islam different?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

To that end, our approach to Islam is that it is more or less like everything else. \u00a0Someone \u2013 and I missed who \u2013 apparently said that Islam is a different<\/i> religion. \u00a0It\u2019s different than us I guess. \u00a0This set off a debate on CNN last night. Of course if you are a modern secularist, you know Islam, like Christianity, is just one more set of bullshit fairy tales made up by ancient people.<\/p>\n

Of course it\u2019s the same. All religions are. \u00a0Naturally there are bad elements. \u00a0But in the modern, liberal framework, they exist solely as a result of the West \u2013 particularly the US government \u2013 getting in there and messing things up. \u00a0Basically, what did we do to make them hate us? \u00a0When Limbaugh said that after 9\/11 to describe the Left\u2019s reaction to the attacks, it was seen as a partisan attack on liberalism. \u00a0Today, it is the cornerstone of the Left\u2019s understanding of world events.<\/p>\n

So when you see something like this<\/a>, many progressives rush to the microphones and say \u2018See, we told you. \u00a0Muslims hate Isis and terrorism, too. \u00a0They\u2019re just like us.\u2019 \u00a0Well, of course they hate them. \u00a0Just like we hate child rapists. \u00a0Terrorists kill Muslims just like they kill others. \u00a0Which is why several years after 9\/11, Muslims finally came out and condemned terrorism without trying to spin it back on the US, the Crusades, or Allah is great.<\/p>\n

At first, if you remember, even the most ardent liberal reporter had a hard time finding Muslims who would simply condemn the attacks, period. \u00a0There was always a catch. \u00a0A caveat. \u00a0A proviso in the assessment of the attacks. \u00a0Eventually, after several years, Muslims did become more vocal and less nuanced. \u00a0But that\u2019s because terrorism that was breaking out was killing Muslims at a staggering rate. \u00a0Most of the casualties of our Iraqi invasion are the result of the clashes between Muslims, not the actions of the coalition. <\/p>\n

Seeing this, Muslims naturally began to condemn terrorism more forcefully. \u00a0So it\u2019s not surprising that, even as Isis kills hundreds now through bombings, shootings, coordinated attacks, that Muslims denounce them and fight them. \u00a0After all, Isis is just as willing to kill other Muslims as anyone. <\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t mean Saudi Arabia is ready to embrace Western liberalism. \u00a0Or Western anything. \u00a0Any more than the USSR was ready to embrace Christian Democracy. \u00a0The USSR stood against Nazi Germany due to one reason: Germany invaded it and was trying to destroy it. \u00a0But at no point was the USSR trying to be like us. \u00a0And critics of the US are quick to point out how horrible we were to ally ourselves to such a terrible government. \u00a0After all, how clean were our hands when we were allies with Stalin?<\/p>\n

Yet isn\u2019t it the same now? \u00a0We are willing to look the other way with Islam. \u00a0We try to imagine that the sum total of problems in the Islamic world are the result of us and us alone. \u00a0We see the slightest movement in the Muslim world as proof that they are just like us. \u00a0As my boys say, if only Conservative Americans were given the benefit of the doubt that the Islamic world is given. <\/p>\n

And yet, we would be foolish \u2013 we are foolish \u2013 to think this way. \u00a0Islam is different. \u00a0As is China. \u00a0As is Asia. \u00a0As are African cultures. \u00a0As is Russia. \u00a0The world isn\u2019t sitting around wondering how it can embrace liberal Western values. \u00a0The world is still a big place after all. \u00a0And the Islamic world is quite the other. \u00a0It may agree with us at times. \u00a0And Muslims may see many things in our cultures and societies worth embracing. \u00a0But it will always be different. \u00a0Simply because it takes a step in the logical direction means Muslims are simply honest about the problems at hand. \u00a0 It means nothing more than Muslims might be better at handling reality that most of our best and brightest here at home. \u00a0Certainly our best here on the set of CNN.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"