Tucker Carlson on MSNBC recently interviewed Sam Harris, author of "Letter To A Christian Nation" and "God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything." In his books, Harris launches sharp arguments against religion. The point of the Carlson interview, however, was not about Harris' books, but rather a recent post on The Huffington Post in which Harris criticizes liberals for making excuses for fundamentalist Islam. (By the way, HuffPo published it after The Washington Post refused to due to fear of his words being too offensive, ironically making Harris' point.)
In his post "Losing Our Spine To Save Our Necks", Harris lashes out at the lack of Western criticism against radical Islam's horrendous deeds, beginning with the underwhelming absence of support for Dutch politician Geert Wilders' right to produce his film "Fitna" even in super liberal Holland, to the embarrassing lack of defense for the Danish cartoonists, to the painful vacuum of public outcry over various Muslim dissidents who must live in hiding. Where are the liberals to fight for these people's rights?
Harris writes (emphasis added):
"The connection between the doctrine of Islam and Islamist violence is simply not open to dispute. It's not that critics of religion like myself speculate that such a connection might exist: the point is that Islamists themselves acknowledge and demonstrate this connection at every opportunity and to deny it is to retreat within a fantasy world of political correctness and religious apology. Many western scholars, like the much admired Karen Armstrong, appear to live in just such a place. All of their talk about how benign Islam "really" is, and about how the problem of fundamentalism exists in all religions, only obfuscates what may be the most pressing issue of our time: Islam, as it is currently understood and practiced by vast numbers of the world's Muslims, is antithetical to civil society. A recent poll showed that thirty-six percent of British Muslims (ages 16-24) believe that a person should be killed for leaving the faith. Sixty-eight percent of British Muslims feel that their neighbors who insult Islam should be arrested and prosecuted, and seventy-eight percent think that the Danish cartoonists should have been brought to justice. And these are British Muslims."
He continues:
"The position of the Muslim community in the face of all provocations seems to be: Islam is a religion of peace, and if you say that it isn't, we will kill you. Of course, the truth is often more nuanced, but this is about as nuanced as it ever gets: Islam is a religion of peace, and if you say that it isn't, we peaceful Muslims cannot be held responsible for what our less peaceful brothers and sisters do. When they burn your embassies or kidnap and slaughter your journalists, know that we will hold you primarily responsible and will spend the bulk of our energies criticizing you for "racism" and "Islamophobia.""
Will the next President of the United States be of the same politically correct, brainwashed thinking, blindly leading us into more trouble? For me, an American citizen, my top priority in our present election campaign is national security. I worry that Liberals will not "get it", not understand, until we suffer more terrorist attacks. Meanwhile, the Politically Correct here continue their propaganda campaigns of "tolerance" and "multiculturalism" while sticking their heads in the sand.
In his post "Losing Our Spine To Save Our Necks", Harris lashes out at the lack of Western criticism against radical Islam's horrendous deeds, beginning with the underwhelming absence of support for Dutch politician Geert Wilders' right to produce his film "Fitna" even in super liberal Holland, to the embarrassing lack of defense for the Danish cartoonists, to the painful vacuum of public outcry over various Muslim dissidents who must live in hiding. Where are the liberals to fight for these people's rights?
Harris writes (emphasis added):
"The connection between the doctrine of Islam and Islamist violence is simply not open to dispute. It's not that critics of religion like myself speculate that such a connection might exist: the point is that Islamists themselves acknowledge and demonstrate this connection at every opportunity and to deny it is to retreat within a fantasy world of political correctness and religious apology. Many western scholars, like the much admired Karen Armstrong, appear to live in just such a place. All of their talk about how benign Islam "really" is, and about how the problem of fundamentalism exists in all religions, only obfuscates what may be the most pressing issue of our time: Islam, as it is currently understood and practiced by vast numbers of the world's Muslims, is antithetical to civil society. A recent poll showed that thirty-six percent of British Muslims (ages 16-24) believe that a person should be killed for leaving the faith. Sixty-eight percent of British Muslims feel that their neighbors who insult Islam should be arrested and prosecuted, and seventy-eight percent think that the Danish cartoonists should have been brought to justice. And these are British Muslims."
He continues:
"The position of the Muslim community in the face of all provocations seems to be: Islam is a religion of peace, and if you say that it isn't, we will kill you. Of course, the truth is often more nuanced, but this is about as nuanced as it ever gets: Islam is a religion of peace, and if you say that it isn't, we peaceful Muslims cannot be held responsible for what our less peaceful brothers and sisters do. When they burn your embassies or kidnap and slaughter your journalists, know that we will hold you primarily responsible and will spend the bulk of our energies criticizing you for "racism" and "Islamophobia.""
Will the next President of the United States be of the same politically correct, brainwashed thinking, blindly leading us into more trouble? For me, an American citizen, my top priority in our present election campaign is national security. I worry that Liberals will not "get it", not understand, until we suffer more terrorist attacks. Meanwhile, the Politically Correct here continue their propaganda campaigns of "tolerance" and "multiculturalism" while sticking their heads in the sand.
[Submitted by kmacginn of Hummers & Cigarettes]
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