Islam: Not Just Another Religion

Islam: Not Just Another Religion

By Janet Levy

This campaign season, presidential candidates seem intent on battling
each other with a war of words over universal healthcare, tax reform,
immigration, the war in Iraq, the economy and Biblical literalism.
Yet, they have spent few words on and have literally ignored the
greatest threat to America and Western civilization since the Cold
War: the global jihad.


Instead, conservative pundits debate whether we are in the midst of
World War III or IV and non-candidate Newt Gingrich voices his
concerns in monumental orations, such as his now famous, "Deeply
Worried" speech at the National Press Club. Meanwhile, candidates on
both sides of the aisle tiptoe around the proverbial elephant in the
room as the critical issue of our nation and civilization's very
survival takes a back seat. Aiming for front-row placement, they busy
themselves with demonstrations of religiopolitical piety or make
strident commitments on either side of popular social issues, such as
same-sex marriage or abortion. More discussion has been devoted to the
U.S. treatment of enemy combatants and the prison at Guantanamo Bay
than the jihadist threat itself.

Yet, viewing Islamic fundamentalism as just another faith is to play
into the hands of those who would destroy us.

Among the current crop of presidential contenders, Mitt Romney has
been the lone, yet intermittent, voice of courage. He has gone beyond
the standard, national security rhetoric to warn the American public
about the global jihad. In a straightforward television commercial in
October, Romney courageously stated,



"It's this century's nightmare: jihadism; violent radical Islamic
fundamentalism. Their goal is to unite the world under a single
Jihadist Caliphate. To do that, they must collapse freedom-loving
nations like us."
Already, presidential candidates are feeling the influence of high-
profile Islamist organizations like the Council on American-Islamic
Relations. CAIR insists on calling itself a mainstream, Muslim civil
rights group, despite being named as an un-indicted co-conspirator in
the trial of those charged with illegally funding the Palestinian
terrorist group, Hamas. In a recent presidential forum in Iowa, after
a CAIR director -- accompanied by cheers from audience members --
complained of anti-Muslim discrimination, Senator John Edwards quickly
responded with a pledge to "stop racial profiling," close the
"national embarrassment" that is Guantanamo, put an end to all
"torture," limit the scope of the Patriot Act, and prohibit the
overseas abduction and detainment of enemy combatants.


CAIR also demanded a meeting with Mitt Romney following his statement
that he probably wouldn't consider Muslims for cabinet posts if
elected, and it has called for Rudy Giuliani to fire a campaign
advisor who is a vocal CAIR critic. Further, Islamist groups such as
CAIR are reportedly sending their leaders to pose as ordinary Muslim
Americans to question candidates at the presidential debates and
advance the perception that Muslims are victims of profiling and hate
crimes.

While this may appear to be benign, election-year activity, it
important to note that CAIR's aims are far from that. In 1998, CAIR's
founder, Omar Ahmad, stated that "Islam isn't in America to be equal
to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran should be the
highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on
Earth."


Worldwide, Islamic fundamentalists continue to make inroads into
Western culture, political structures and in the economic system,
while, at the same time, insisting on severe and outrageous
punishments for even minor violations of sharia or Islamic law. It is
unprecedented that a minority group that freely immigrated to the
United States and Europe of its own accord is now endeavoring to
overhaul Western civilization to its Koran-dictated, specifications.
The West, particularly America, has a tradition of welcoming people
from other cultures and practitioners of different religions. However,
immigrants have always assimilated and strengthened American society
rather than demand that we adopt their ways at the expense of our own.


Many Westerners, who worship at the altar of multiculturalism and
erroneously believe that Islam is just another faith, fail to
understand the inherent cultural and political dangers of a religion
that is a consummate ideology for the faithful. Unwitting Westerners
write off barbaric punishments as mere cultural differences,
enthusiastically embrace blatant acts of appeasement and readily
respond to demands for special privileges and allowances never before
conferred on other groups.


In places like Saudi Arabia, the epicenter and primary global
financier and promoter of Wahhabism, an austere form of Islam that
interprets the Koran literally, social rules are severe, extensive and
often brutal. Gender apartheid is enforced with separate libraries for
men and women. Starbucks coffeehouses are divided into "male" and
"family-only" sections, and hotels are completely devoid of a female
presence, as all personnel, including maids, are male. A rape victim
was recently sentenced to 200 lashes, a punishment that was increased
when her lawyer complained of its injustice. At the same time that the
Saudi government is sponsoring 32,000 students on visas to the United
States, the standard Saudi elementary and high school curriculum
teaches hatred for Christians and Jews.


In other Muslim strongholds and countries with significant Muslim
populations, Islamic law and customs have been imposed and Muslim
demands routinely appeased. In many hospitals across the United
Kingdom, unprecedented faith-based, special services have been
provided to Muslim patients at the risk of damaging overall quality of
care and burdening healthcare professionals. These include special
patient counseling during the Muslim holiday, Ramadan; devising
substitutions for alcohol and porcine-derived drugs; rotating the beds
of bedridden patients toward Mecca and providing fresh bathing water
for the five-times-daily prayer rituals; distributing burka-style
gowns for patients and mandating that hospital personnel participate
in taxpayer-funded workshops on Islam-specific customs. In September,
a Muslim dentist in Manchester, who offers special discounts to hijab-
donning patients, refused to see a female patient with an uncovered
head. Last week, the Philippine government announced plans to
surrender territory for a Muslim "homeland," following decades of
Muslim slaughter of area Catholics.


In the "enlightened" West, Muslims are free to perform "Dawa" or
proselytizing on behalf of Islam. They openly engage in organized
efforts to spread the message of Islam and invite non-Muslims to join
the faith. Furthermore, the building of mosques and the opening of
madrassas proceed without hindrance. Yet, in many Muslim countries,
non-Muslims are not free to practice their religion, let alone
proselytize, and may be prosecuted for doing so. A Muslim convert to
Christianity may be sentenced to death for apostasy.

Although mostly spurious charges of Koranic desecration abound in the
Western world, little mention is made of the numerous Bibles actually
being confiscated and shredded at the Riyadh airport. In many Islamic
countries, Christians are not permitted to build churches or renovate
existing ones. While Muslims are invited to the Vatican and to serve
on interfaith councils, non-believers are not permitted to travel to
Mecca or Medina.


Meanwhile, six years after 9/11, most Americans remain ignorant about
the history, nature and intent of Islamic jihad. They know little
about the worldwide presence of Islamist groups, the hateful rhetoric
directed toward non-Muslims spewing from mosques and madrassas, the
use of the Internet by Muslim radicals to spread their propaganda and
connect with each other, the extent of weapons arsenals and nuclear
proliferation, and the geopolitical interconnections between countries
in the Middle East, Europe, Pakistan, Afghanistan, South America,
North Korea, Southeast Asia and Africa.

The Bush Administration and the media have focused on Islam as a
"religion of peace" and have done little to educate the public about
the presence of Islamist groups on American soil, the level of their
infiltration and their ultimate objectives.


The popular, pluralistic bumper sticker "Coexist" espouses a
philosophy of religious harmony, mutual acceptance and brotherhood
across all faiths and nations. Yet, in Islam, the word of Allah, as
represented in the Koran, reigns supreme and overrides any state-
imposed laws. The Koran dictates three options for non-believers:
conversion, subjugation or death.

An ideology that endeavors to supplant our laws, culture and religious
beliefs poses a dangerous threat and is not a candidate for
coexistence. We had better face the reality of true, Islamic doctrine
and forcefully fight its encroachment into our society. It is a peril
to our way of life if we wish to preserve the liberal and enlightened
democracy that is America.
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