The self-described “Islamic State” (known variously as ISIS, ISIL, and “Daesh”) would like nothing more than for Christians to declare war on Islam. More than they hate Westerners, or even Western Christians, they loathe Muslims who have gained acceptance in Western society and who see no conflict between practicing their faith and fully participating in a modern secular democracy. In other words, these militant extremists disapprove of most of the Islamic world. That’s why they have killed more Muslims than Christians, and have launched most of their terror attacks in Arab states dominated by Muslims.
Like Al Qaeda before them, ISIS wants to stir up Western fear and resentment against Islam in the (delusional) hope that if Western Muslims suffer widespread discrimination, they’ll give up their modern, liberal ways and join the fight to create a new Islamic caliphate.
Following the 9/11 attacks, President George W. Bush made very clear that America had no quarrel with Islam, which he called a peaceful, honorable religion. His carefully chosen words were directed at the attackers to say, “We will not engage in a religious war, even though that’s what you want. You will not succeed in your effort to drive a wedge between the U.S. government and U.S. citizens who practice Islam – or, for that matter, the vast majority of Muslims around the world who do not share your agenda of hate.”
Fourteen years later, in the wake of the Paris terror attacks, the over-heated rhetoric on the presidential campaign trail is just as careless as President Bush’s speechwriters were careful, and there seems to be a growing sentiment in this country to give ISIS exactly what they want: a religious war. Elected officials are lining up to declare their intentions to block the settlement of any Muslim refugees. Political candidates have brashly proposed monitoring mosques,
President Obama has repeatedly said “99.9 percent of Muslims worldwide reject terrorism,” but that is factually untrue. According to a Sun-UK poll, one in five British Muslims have sympathies for jihadis and a 2015 Mirror poll found that “1.5 million Brits see themselves as supporters of ISIS.” In 2007, Pew found that 22 percent of German Muslims say suicide bombings are sometimes justified. The figure is higher in France (46 percent). In America, 26 percent of Muslims agree with that statement.
Let’s start with the Pew research. Thomas is citing a study entitled Muslim-Americans: Mostly Middle Class and Mainstream, the general conclusion of which is that Muslims who have immigrated to the United States are far more assimilated into their adopted culture than their counterparts in Western European countries. Their incomes and education levels are roughly similar to those of the larger American public, and as a result they have an overwhelmingly positive opinion of the United States. The statement that “26 percent of Muslims” in the U.S. agree that “suicide bombings are sometimes justified” is simply not true. According to Pew, the number in 2007 was 13%. In Germany, it was also 13%, while in France, where Muslims have been ghettoized and who are on average much poorer economically than the general population, the number was 35%. These perecentages include those who say the tactic would only “rarely” be justified, but of course we don’t know what circumstances would create those rare instances.
Where do Thomas’ numbers come from? They represent only Muslims aged 18-29 in those respective countries (though he number he quoted for France was a bit high). When Muslims aged 30 and above are asked whether suicide bombing is ever justified, only 9% in the U.S. agree. And what is even more interesting is that “younger Muslims” in the United States are almost three times as likely to be native born Americans who converted to Islam (mostly from Protestant Christianity) rather than immigrants from mostly Islamic countries. The Pew study also shows that the more educated Muslim-Americans are, the less likely they are to have any sympathies toward terrorism. It is very difficult, then, to ascertain the degree to which openness to religious terrorism is related to Islam, and how much has to do with poverty, lack of education, and/or personal experiences of discrimination and alienation. Finally, it is important to note that this particular Pew survey is nearly nine years old. More recent research by Pew indicates that sympathy among Muslim Americans for extremist groups has declined significantly as violence committed by ISIS has escalated.
As to the media polls in Britain cited by Thomas, there are two points to be made. The Mirror poll measured attitudes about ISIS among all citizens, not just Muslims. The headline “1.5 Million Brits see themselves as supporters of ISIS” is very misleading. The poll revealed that the number of British who have a “very favorable” view of ISIS is a statistically insignificant 3% (a level below the margin of error). The more important number is that disapproval of ISIS has now shot up to 85% from 64% in 2014, when 29% said they didn’t know enough to have an opinion. After the Paris attacks, pretty much everybody has an opinion. Since Muslims make up about 6% of the British population, a Mirror article about the poll drew the dubious conclusion that “roughly half” of all British Muslims support ISIS. That makes for sensational news, but it amounts to journalistic sleight of hand. There’s no way to know from those poll results what percentage of Muslims are more or less favorable toward ISIS.
Other polls conducted in Western Europe regarding Islam have been widely discredited. Some have targeted only residents with “Arab-sounding” names in order to achieve a particular result. And one notorious way of gauging Muslim opinion is to ask if they have “sympathy” with those who resort to terror. Sympathy doesn’t mean approval of any particular tactics. I have sympathy with groups that advocate for the natural environment, but I do not approve of the eco-terrorism some of them have committed. I might have sympathy for someone who loses all hope and contemplates taking his life. That doesn’t mean I approve of suicide.
Of course, any support for terrorism is too much. But then, if we polled all American Christians and asked if they thought bombing abortion clinics, mosques, or federal government agencies was ever justified, what percentage would say “yes”? Even the smallest percentage would be intolerably high, but mainstream Christians would likely be disturbed at the results.
Too many people in positions of influence on both sides of the Atlantic are itching for a religious war and are willing to skew, twist, and exaggerate the facts in order to push their agenda. It serves no good purpose to slam a religion of 1.6 billion people by equating it with the murderous actions of tens of thousands who claim to represent Islam. That’s no more sensible than condemning all Catholic Christians because of the terrorist activity in Ireland a generation ago, or judging all Protestant Christianity on the basis of the cross-burning terrorism of the Ku Klux Klan (and contemporary right-wing militia groups who operate out of a similar ideology). As I prepare to post these words, we are waking up to the murky details of a shooting spree in California carried out by a husband and wife with Arabic names. We don’t yet know anything about their motives, but many of us will not wait for an investigation. Knowing they were practicing Muslims will be enough evidence that their senseless violence was an act of religious terrorism. Yet, even if these suspicions turn out to be true, it is paramount that we not equate Islam with its extremist distortions. In fact, the greater this temptation becomes, the more important it is to resist.
When President Bush called Islam a “religion of peace” in 2001, he wasn’t just spouting a platitude of political correctness. The consonants S, L, and M found in “Islam” are also the basis of the Arabic word for “peace” (salaam), which translates into Hebrew as shalom. Islam teaches that we find true peace through total submission to God, but we are constantly tempted toward many forms of idolatry. It is therefore a constant struggle – a spiritual battle – to remain faithful. That struggle is called jihad. It is the effort both to avoid temptation and to stay strong in the face of adversity. It’s the same struggle that the apostle Paul identified when he counseled us to “put on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet the hope of salvation” (1 Thessalonians 5:8). He described it very personally when he wrote, “I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do...When I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand.” (Romans 7:20-21)
Those who have twisted jihad to justify the violent spread of their particularly unmerciful version of Islam have lost their way. They must be treated, not as practitioners of a religion, but as the murderous thugs that they are. As followers of Christ, we bear witness that the tactics of terrorism are not sustainable and will finally be defeated by the reign of God. But condemnation of religious extremism must not be allowed to become religious enmity. It strains credibility that the Prince of Peace would ever counsel his followers to declare war on another religion.
©2015 by J. Mark Lawson
I had a conversation with my brother concerning Islam and he told me as far as the study of how it came about goes it is based on reclaiming the birth right of Abraham's first born that came from the servant girl, but instead given to Isaac, Sarah's first born (a religion that is violence based). Would you ever think of doing a study on Islam or would it be a conflict of interest? I for one would be in favor of it.
Posted by: Dave Rosenfeld | 12/10/2015 at 09:19 PM