Daniel J. Pipes

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...but those that comprise it

Reader comment on item: The Evil Isn't Islam

Submitted by Mark Feldstein (United States), Jul 31, 2002 at 18:09

Evil is only a word. Even written it does nobody harm. It is evil people that do harm to others. I agree with you only in the sense that any theology can be interpeted and used as a basis for doing evil by evil people.

So the written word of Islam (Koran) is not evil in and of itself, unless one of the faithful uses it as a club to beat an infidel to death. The same could be said for Mein Kampf, National Socialism, and other theocracies with lofty goals such as world "peace" and domination. Jews were not beaten to death with copies of Mein Kampf or herded to gas chambers by German Catholic preists. They were murdered by evil people.

Objective people hear invocations for doing evil from the main mosque in Saudia to the little mosque in New Jersey. When people say Islam is evil, they see Islam controlled by evil people. When we hear Arabic speeches for democracy and women's rights we will reconsider.

Your well meaning modernization suggestions fall upon evil and deaf ears, as I suspect you realize. Please don't add confusion to the general population's morality by suggesting that we classify as evil the belief in some of the Koran's words. We classify as evil the militant Islamists that control the religion AND the silent moderates who support and shelter them.

So if Islam isn't the evil, the Muslims not involved in changing it (majority)are.

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Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

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