Islam and Militant Islam, same thing
Reader comment on item: Capturing Osama

Submitted by K Jackson (United States), Mar 22, 2004 at 13:25

Unfortunately, throughout history, it has been the reality that everywhere Islam has gone, whether prolific or not, militant violent extremists have arisen from it's ranks. Simply have a look at the philosophy in their main doctrine and you will see what gives rise, in every case, to the militant, violent extremist factions.

Islam establishes a "sweet deal" for the men of it's ranks. They get to have all the wives they want, all the control they want, and a sort of dominance that has been eclipsed by modern society about 700 years ago. Faced with the ever widening influence of modern ideas such as the equality of the sexes, of womens rights in general, and of one man/one woman marriages through the internet, telephone, television, and international travel, these Islamic men become scared that their Sweet Deal will parish. Desperate men use desparate means.

Is there hope? I believe so. As with all religions, interpretation is key. One would have to hope that the very violence perpetrated by certain Islamic factions will be the key to a changing viewpoint. Certainly the world will not be rid of Islam any time soon. But, the violence must certainly be distasteful to many if not most of even the most loyal non-extreemist Muslims.

The key, then, is for the non-Islamic nations to continue to behave in a civilized and peaceful manner. We must show that violence is only the value of the depraved, and not participate in an eye for an eye kind of foriegn policy. By showing the "rest of Islam" that we are kind, peaceloving people, they will be won over and banish their own radical element from within. If, however, we wage acts of war against Islam, we will certainly turn most if not all 1 billion of them into Bin Ladens.

This is not saying that we should cowtow to them. Where ever we can, we must defeat the extremeists so that they do not feel that they can get away with anything. But overall we must remain true to our own nature and not be influenced by their evil.

Evil is ultimately self defeating. The old ways of hard line Islam are disapearing from the Earth, at least slowly. This is why there is violence. Lets all do what we can to continue this trend and prevent a holocaust that might occure should 1/4 of the world's population decide to wage war against the rest of the world. Give it time and the problem will correct it self. (If Islam begins to frown on violence and Western thought continues to spread, the ideas that spawn radical Islamism will disappear.) Besides, with every suicide bomb blast, one radical Islamic crazy person dies.

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