| I don't think that Mr. Lind is characterizing opinions as lies, but rather, that he thinks that the suggested representation of Islam is substantially false. Now, you are right that Islam is not necessarily warlike, and that there have been diverse sects, but Mr. Lind is right that the Quran did encourage spreading Islam by the sword. Again, it is true that most Islamic nations have accepted the idea that the shari'ah is inappropriate for a modern nation state, but militant fundamentalists obviously disagree. So while I think that Mr. Lind is wrong to want to pin terrorism directly on Islam, I think he may have a legitimate complaint about suppressing the connection between resurgent fundamentalism and terror. I personally do not object to cautioning against overreaction on an ethnic basis, and therefore mentioning things like the Japanese internment, but I do think we should make it clear that the major conflict is between America as the linchpin of the modern world, and all that comes with it, like freedom of conscience, the emancipation of women, and the secular state, and groups that adhere to a code that would make one religion supreme, oppress those who didn't adhere to it, subjugate women, and repress freedom of speech and press, and so on. Otherwise,the objections sound a bit overblown..... |
