(Note to literalists: the Watched column presently contains only a smattering of 'warblogs' because the facilitator of the template-change--Dr. Menlo--is not very familiar with them, and will be adding more as they are sent to him. Also, this blog may contain areas of allusion, satire, subtext, context and possibly even a dash of the surreal: wannabe lit-crits beware.)
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[Watch this space for: Pentagon and Petroleum, The Media is only as Liberal as the Corporations Who Own Them, Wash Down With, and Recalcify]
WARBLOGGER WATCH
Monday, July 08, 2002
Howard Owens asks, re my recent contribution, "Roy, so which specific Bible passage instructs Christians to kill infidels?"
Howard, that's why I said "pretexts," not "instructions." I don't believe the Bible tells us to kill (though a good editor would have cleaned up some of the more bloodthirsty passages).
This is no fault of the authors. If both of the sacred texts in question consisted of nothing but old Bar-Kays lyrics, people like the ones I mentioned would find divine justification for their rage.
Of course, these books don't consist of Bar-Kays lyrics, and some people, not normally persuaded by root-cause arguments, have blamed the Koran directly for terrorism. "Islam is a religion of war and conversion by the sword, not peace," says Armed & Dangerous, who also claims that the September 11 attacks were "the Koranically-correct expression of the tendency of Islam (Sunni fundamentalism) which is has been pre-eminent through most of Islamic history and now encompasses over 90% of the worlds Muslims... We need to face the fact that we are confronting not just a barbaric and evil group of men, but a barbaric and evil religion."
This leads to a simplified (and convenient) view of our enemies' motivations. But if it's true, why is this all happening only now? The Koran's been around a good long time, so why isn't American history studded with Arabic attacks on the Woolworth Building, the Pan-American Exposition, or the Corn Palace? If murderous Muslims have been "pre-eminent through most of Islamic history," why here and why now?
My guess is that, like most religionists, Muslims are lazy about their sacred texts, and till recently thought of jihad as some vaguely noble thing they really ought to look into sometime -- you know, like tithing. Of course, things have changed. Now we've got all these people talking Crusades ("In Arab lands the memory of Saladin burns as an unextinguished flame lighting the litany of wrongs to one day be righted"), and the energy seems to be flowing away from seeking out and cultivating moderate Muslims (and why would we? According to A&D and his friends, they doesn't exist), and toward Holy War.