After the Islamist terrorist attack in San Bernardino, with more like it probably in the making, and with Donald Trump issuing wildly inflammatory exhortations to enact a “total and complete” ban on Muslims entering the United States, we need clarity about Islam, and fast. Now more than ever, lives are at stake.
Yet Islam has long provoked little but confused, misleading commentary from well-meaning journalists, especially those eager to side with the oppressed and show solidarity with the downtrodden. In the West, the 1,400-year-old faith serves as a guiding light for its predominantly (nonwhite) adherents, who come from lands with histories of colonialism and often suffer discrimination from the various, mostly white European and North American societies in which they dwell. Not surprisingly, as a result, Islam has secured a place in the identity politics of our time. Criticize Islam, and you are perceived as attacking a minority community, which leaves you open to charges of racism.
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We know that the believers of today can wise up and become the atheists of tomorrow, as the Ex-Muslims of North America can attest. We can and should object to the various retrograde Islamic doctrines noted above, without, obviously, harassing Islam’s followers.
