![\"Over](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2016\/07\/800px-Aerial_view_downtown_Nice.jpg\")
<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been otherwise occupied over the past forty hours or so, but, of course, I need to comment, first, on the horror in Nice; then on the coup in Turkey; and, finally, on the emerging horror that is Newt.<\/p>\n
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1.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Words are inadequate. \u00a0And I mean, by that, that mere verbiage cannot begin to undo the crime that has been done in France or comfort those whose lives have been so cruelly shattered, and that words alone are not going to bring an end to such murders.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n This simply must stop. \u00a0And it\u2019s going to take the concerted action of people in the West, including their intelligence services and their police and their military, to stop it. \u00a0But it\u2019s also going to require the concentrated attention of Muslims and their governments. \u00a0If they love their faith, if they value the reputation of their culture, they must put an end to these murders in the name of Islam. \u00a0And they have considerable incentive: \u00a0Western media coverage notwithstanding, the vast majority of those who die at the hands of the self-proclaimed \u201cIslamic State\u201d are, themselves, Muslims.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The word Islam<\/em> is becoming a stench in the nostrils of decent\u00a0people worldwide, who, not without reason, are coming to fear and hate the sheer mention of it.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n 2.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Which brings me to the matter of the attempted military coup in Turkey.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s the middle of the night there as I post, and reports are fragmentary and confusing. \u00a0Some say that this isn\u2019t a coup on the part of the Turkish military but on the part of a faction<\/em> of the Turkish military \u2014 and that the coup is losing.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n That may be true.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n And, if so, my feelings are mixed.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I regret revolutions. \u00a0I regret the loss of property and life that they entail, and the long-term threat they pose to stability and order.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n But I also dislike Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan, the current Turkish president against whom the coup was launched. \u00a0He leans toward (a relatively moderate) Islamism and, worse, he\u2019s grown increasingly autocratic and has been far less vigorous than he could have been in combatting ISIS, which flourishes on his very doorstep.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n He has also been trying for years to weaken the Turkish military, which was entrusted by the founder of the modern Turkish republic, Mustafa Kemal Atat\u00fcrk (d. 1938), with the responsibility of safeguarding the secular state and society that he had bequeathed to the Turkish people.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Apparently, at least some in the military have had enough. \u00a0So they\u2019ve stepped in. \u00a0But it looks as if Erdo\u011fan may prevail \u2014 and it seems virtually certain that, if he does, he will use this episode as simply yet another excuse to both consolidate his own personal power and weaken President Atat\u00fcrk\u2019s beloved military.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n 3.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Finally, it seems that Newt Gingrich, whom I\u2019ve come to admire less and less as the years\u00a0have passed \u2014 see this account<\/a> of his most recent (and ultimately futile) triumph of ambition over principle\u00a0\u2014\u00a0has called for all Muslims in the United States to be \u201ctested.\u201d \u00a0And, if they profess belief in \u201cshari\u2018a<\/em> law,\u201d for them to be deported<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Well, Newt, virtually all<\/em> faithful Muslims believe in shari\u2018a<\/em>. \u00a0It\u2019s at the heart of their religion.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The question is what they mean<\/em> by it. \u00a0How<\/em> do they want it implemented?<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s rather as if, should there be a radical Christian group out there carrying out murders and bombings in a bid to establish the \u201cKingdom of God,\u201d Mr. Gingrich were to call for the testing of all\u00a0Christians<\/em>, and for the deportation of any Christian who expresses a hope or yearning for the Kingdom of God.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Every<\/em>\u00a0Christian hopes for the Kingdom of God. \u00a0The question, again, would be what any given Christian\u00a0means<\/em> by it. \u00a0And how he or she hopes it will come about.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I don\u2019t want to seem to minimize the challenge that Islamist violence poses to good people everywhere, very much including the Islamic world itself, and I\u2019m certainly not suggesting that we do nothing about it.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n But we should be careful not to let this really turn into the war between Islam and the West that ISIS eagerly wants it to be, and we shouldn\u2019t lose our souls in the process.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n I draw attention to\u00a0the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, with certain words highlighted:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof<\/strong><\/em><\/span>; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n If it ever comes to the mass interrogation of people, including American citizens, merely because they\u2019re Muslims, I\u2019ll\u00a0seek to be interrogated, as well. \u00a0And if some future American regime ever seriously claims the right to deport people simply because of their faith, I will be there, demanding to be deported with them. \u00a0I wouldn\u2019t want to remain in this country under such circumstances, anyway.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n For further commentary on Dr. Gingrich\u2019s appalling comment, see here<\/a>\u00a0and here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 \u00a0 I\u2019ve been otherwise occupied over the past forty hours or so, but, of course, I need to comment, first, on the horror in Nice; then on the coup in Turkey; and, finally, on the emerging horror that is Newt. \u00a0 1. \u00a0 Words are inadequate. \u00a0And I mean, by that, that mere verbiage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n