A Speech By Don Feder To The Christian
Coalition Symposium On Islam -
"Muslims And The Judeo-Christian World,
Where Do We Do From Here. February
15, 2003
Let me to begin by thanking the
Christian Coalition of America and its president, Roberta Combs. It took
a lot of guts to hold this forum.
Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to
say a few words to you -- Nigeria, the Sudan, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Armenia,
Macedonia, Yugoslavia, Kosovo, Bosnia, Chechnya, Russia, the Kashmir, Pakistan,
Indonesia and the Philippines.
What do they all have in common?
In each country or province, there is an ongoing struggle involving Moslems
and non-Moslems. Samuel Huntington, author of "The Clash of Civilizations,"
tells us that out of 22 active conflicts in the world today, 20 involve
Moslems and someone else - Moslems and Christians, Moslems and Jews, Moslems
and Catholics, Moslems and Orthodox, Moslems and Hindus.
This phenomenon might be explained
in one of three ways:
Possibility #1 -- For some bizarre
and inexplicable reason, no one else can get along with Moslems, and so
we all are driven to make war on and persecute them. By the way, many Moslems
- who have an active persecution complex, notwithstanding that they are
the ones usually doing the persecuting - firmly believe this.
Possibility #2 - These jihads, terrorist
wars, religious persecutions and instances of ethnic cleansing all are
the work of Moslem militants, extremists, fundamentalists, fanatics who
have somehow, again inexplicably, gotten it all backward and transformed
a religion of peace into a religion that looks remarkably like the St.
Valentine's Day Massacre. I'll let you in on a secret: World War II wasn't
the work of Nazis and Japanese militarists, but of Nazi militants and fundamentalist
Japanese militarists.
Possibility #3 - In fact, Islam
is not a religion of peace. It is a religion which, throughout its 1,400-year
history, has lent itself well to fanaticism, terrorism, mass murder, oppression
and conversion by the sword. Long before the age of political correctness
and multicultural indoctrination, Winston Churchill, that keen observer,
described Islam as, "that religion which above all others, was founded
and propagated by the sword - the tenets and principles of which are .
incentives to slaughter and which in three continents had produced fighting
breeds of men (and) stimulates a wild and merciless fanaticism."
It's so obvious that it hardly bears
repetition. You don't have Orthodox rabbis hijacking airplanes in response
to Jews for Jesus. Jesuits don't shoot up Baptist seminaries to protest
the Reformation. Members of the Church of Latter Day Saints don't tell
you they'll cut your throat if you don't accept the prophetship of Joseph
Smith and the authenticity of the Book of Mormon. Buddhists don't put out
contracts on those who offend them. Hindus don't call members of other
religions, dogs, pigs and the sons of apes.
And still our leaders desperately
insist that Islam is a religion of peace. As the body count mounts, and
the atrocities become more outrageous, the pronouncements become more bizarre.
Islam is a religion of peace. No, wait, it's not just a religion of peace,
it's also a religion of tolerance, charity and compassion. Jihad isn't
holy war. Why no indeed, it's a spiritual struggle, an effort to overcome
bad habits, a Tony Robbins-style self-improvement program. Said the White
Queen to Alice: "When I was young, I practiced believing three impossible
things before breakfast. Now, I can believe anything." At times it seems
like the White Queen is advising the White House on Islam.
This morning, you've had lectures
about Islam by some distinguished experts. I am neither - distinguished
nor an expert. But I spent 20 years of my life as a journalist observing
the affairs of men and nations. I believe in common sense, in arriving
at conclusions based on the evidence at hand, and in logic. And when I
encounter something as absurd as the establishment's pronouncements on
Islam, I want to know why?
Why do our leaders insist on telling
us these soothing lies? And why does a credulous public readily believe
them? Basically, there are three reasons for these delusions about Islam:
Reason #1: Pragmatism. Arab Moslems
have the oil - energy resources on which the West, thanks to environmentalists,
is heavily dependent. Further, a number of Moslem states are ostensibly
allied with us - Egypt and Saudi Arabia most prominent among them. Our
leaders have decided that to tell the truth about Islam would offend our
Moslem friends and suppliers - the guys we supposedly need to help us control
the extremists and keep the pumps operating. By the way, relying on Saudi
Arabia to control Moslem "extremists" is like expecting Tony Soprano to
fight organized crime.
Reason #2: The American tradition
of tolerance. Religious tolerance was one of America's founding principles.
It was enunciated by George Washington, in his message to the Hebrew congregation
of Newport, Rhode Island. From America's inception, we had no religious
test for public office. There was no established church. There was no official
persecution of religious minorities. Compared to the Old World, the New
World was blessedly free of sectarian strife.
And, lo, it was good. America grew
up without an official church, but with thriving religious communities.
In the 1950s, when I was growing up, it was an article of faith that religion
is a social good. It didn't much matter which faith an individual professed
- whether little Johnny took communion, or wore a skull cap, or lit candles
and burned incense - as long as he believed in a God who required moral
conduct, that was enough.
In this frame of reference, candor
about Islam seems like vile bigotry, the type of religious intolerance
that goes against the American ethos. The problem is, today's situation
is unique. America has never experienced a phenomenon like Islam before.
The closest we came to it was in our encounters with fascism and communism
in the 20th century - ideologies that were, I hasten to add, quasi-religious
in character.
How does one tolerate the intolerant?
How does one accommodate a creed that elevates homicide to a religious
obligation, which - in the name of its faith - is killing Christians, Jews
and Hindus the world over - a religion which, given the opportunity, would
remake America in the image of Saudi Arabia or Iran?
Reason #3: Fear. If Islam isn't
a religion of peace, what are the implications for the West and others
in a world with almost a billion Moslems - a world where Islamic states
have powerful armies, ballistic missiles, weapons of mass destruction,
terrorist auxiliaries and millions who are willing to die - and kill -
for the glory of Allah and his prophet? What are the implications for Europe,
with its burgeoning Moslem populations? What does it mean for the United
States, whose Moslem population could reach 10 million by the end of this
decade? What does it mean for the West, where a new mosque opens twice
a week?
It's simply more comforting to tell
soothing lies than to confront unpleasant truths. The West has become very
adept at this. Consider the lies appeasers told about Nazism in the 1930s.
(When Hitler first came to power, commentator Walter Lippman hailed him
as a sincere nationalist. After Munich, Neville Chamberlain said the Fuehrer
was a man he could do business with.) During the Cold War, liberals closed
their eyes to the reality of communist brutality and imperialism. Today,
our elite - the media and academia, Democrats and Republicans -- are doing
the same with Islam. Call it old appeasement in a new bottle.
Regrettably, avoiding reality doesn't
change reality. In and of themselves, words do not alter that nature of
things. We can tell ourselves until we're blue in the face that Islam is
kinder and gentler - a Methodist service, but in Arabic, with prayer rugs
and sans shoes - and terrorists will still be trying to kill us in the
name of their god. In the Third World, the Islamic advance will continue
to creep down the West and East Coasts of Africa, into the Balkans, the
Indian subcontinent and East Asia. Islamic immigration to the First World
will continue to challenge Judeo-Christian civilization. And millions the
world over will continue to believe that they have a divine mandate to
conquer us, to rule us and - if we resist - to kill us.
What should our response to Islam
be? That's the subject for another speech. However, in closing, let me
repeat something I said a moment ago - because it bears repetition - hiding
from the truth doesn't change it.
In the 20th century, Western man
became expert at make-believe - one reason for the decline of the West.
After the Second World War, we told ourselves that the danger was over.
The United Nations would make war obsolete. (Today, the UN is trying to
make deterrence obsolete.) After the Cold War, we supposedly had reached
the end of history. Still, history rolled merrily along. In many ways,
the world a more dangerous place today.
When your head is firmly in the
sand, another part of your anatomy is fully exposed.
