Two good articles the last couple of days defending Islam. Both writers published at the Conservative Townhall.com. Both were responding to Pat Robertson’s comments of some weeks ago (that Islam is not a religion deserving any respect), as well as the increase of Islam bashing since the incidents in Nigeria. (For an example of Islam bashing, take the ever dependable Ann Coulter. "Recently, the Religion of Peace suffered a PR setback when Muslims in Nigeria welcomed the Miss World beauty pageant by slaughtering Christians in the street and burning churches to the ground.")
Pat Buchanan is the more famous of the two writers; he takes a more political view. His argument is that the Islamic world is undergoing a revivalist period, and that America’s best strategy is that employed during the Cold War. “. . . we can outlast this Islamist revolution. What we must avoid is a war of faiths, a war of civilizations between Islam and America. And those who propagandize for such a war are the unwitting or willful collaborators of Osama bin Laden.” I have to say that while I disagree with a lot of what Pat Buchanan stands for, on affairs in the middle east he has acted as a voice of reason.
Jacob Sullum takes issue with Pat Robertson’s statements that a proper reading of the Koran leads one inescapably to the conclusion that conflict between the Islamic and non-Islamic world is inevitable. Sullum points out that there are equivalent phrases in the Bible, calling for the elimination of “heathen nations.” Do such phrases make Christianity a violent religion? Or, to be more clear, do they require Christianity or Judaism to be aggressive against other nations?
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