On Mosques

Obama seems to be adopting the same line as Bush in saying we don't have a problem with Islam. What they mean is we don't have a problem with all Muslims. There are many that can and will make fine citizens of western democracies. The trouble is there are Muslim groups that will not. They simply don't believe in respecting the right of every human to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But what must be recognized is that is an idea that flows from a fundamental flaw in Islam. Mohammad claimed that God told him to do things that were objectively immoral. Those things then became moral because God said so. So God's will can be completely arbitrary. God could tell you to commit a terrorist act and you would be obliged to do it.

Now most Muslims are better than that. They would refuse to believe God is telling them to engage in terrorism. They are right to refuse. God would never ask that of them. But their religion says He could. They just ignore that and assume God will only ask them to do good things. But they are not the consistent Muslims. The consistent ones do take seriously every teacher that suggests God wants them to kill Jews or spread terror in the west. There is nothing in their theology that allows them to rule out the possibility that God is asking them to do that. So it must be seriously considered.

It is very difficult to tell the difference between these groups by looking at their creeds. They all confess the same doctrine. Some take the offensive bits more seriously but they all claim to take it all very seriously. Nobody admits being a hypocrite. Actaully they are not hypocrites but eupocrites because they are actually behaving better than their creeds.The point is you can't just say Muslim groups that believe X are a problem because they all say they believe X.

It is a bit like liberal protestants. The root cause of liberalism is Sola Scriptura but not all protestants who claim Sola Scriptura actually allow liberal interpretations of scripture. Many are eupocrites. They say certain doctrines require the ascent of all faithful Christians. They think like Catholics and just don't know it.These more moderate Muslims are like that. They think like Catholics and buy into the dignity of all human persons and the goodness of God. They don't realize that is Catholic and not Muslim.

The point is modern society, both the right and the left, seems incapable of making the distinctions needed to figure out who and what they are fighting. That is a very bad thing when you are at war and can't seem to figure out who the enemy is. A society that thinks religion does not matter in conflict with a religious movement within but not identical to a major religion. So even a question as simple as the building of a mosque near ground zero can't be debated. Nobody can talk about whether this mosque will celebrate 911 or mourn it.