Fr. James Schall on the Ambiguity of Islam

The guy pretty much sums up my take on the problem. We want very much to believe that Violent Islam is a perversion of the Islamic tradition and Wise and Benevolent Islam is the Real Islamic tradition. But the reality is that Islam is an invented human religion that borrows from Judaism and the Catholic Faith and mixes in Mohammed’s own delusional (or lying) claims of revelation, as well as conventional wisdom from 7th century Arab culture. It is not a magisterial faith with some body that defines what is and is not the orthodox reading of the Koran. So if you are looking for sanction for violence in the Koran, you can find it. It’s there. So is the wisdom and peace stuff if you want that. But the fact remains that the Muslims who commit these heinous acts with such frequency are doing so as self-described pious Muslims. They are implementing one possible interpretation of the Muslim tradition and westerners who lie to themselves that they are not are simply self-deluded fools.

Instead of running off into a fantasy land of secularism in which, by pretending the beast is not there we imagine we have caused the beast to vanish, the West will soone or later have to learn how to educate itself about theology again–or perish. The only way to counter an inflamed theology is with a healthy one, not with the watery delusions of postmodern secularism.