I'm treading carefully here...

I want to ramble about extremist religious sects, but I don't want anyone to assume I'm making a defense of one over another.

We all know what is meant by terms like "radical Islam" and "Muslim extremists", and I think we can all say that adherents to these two paths of faith exist in plenty. We can guess for days at the actual numbers of those that plan and act out against innocents (Muslim or otherwise), but the number of "terrorists" to me isn't as important as the number of people that believe what the terrorists believe, but only support the cause rather than participate in the end results.

An example I would use is the Saudi royal family. I'm confident that none of the immediate family of the current King, Abdullah ibn Abdulaziz, are out planting bombs or planning on strapping them to themselves and detonating in a market or bus. This family, though, as the ruling elite of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (the House of Saud) offers a $50,000 paycheck to survivors of a Muslim that dies while killing Israeli soldiers and has funnelled as much as $480 million dollars to Hezbollah terrorists in the last 10 years. This sort of "passive support" has resulted in the continuation of violence and terror beyond measure since 1981.

We here in the West, and especially in the US, seem to think we are above such "radical" influences in our religious lives. We are a secular state, and as such we do not see the same religious influence that Islam brings to the table in traditionally Muslim nations like Saudi Arabia, or Iran, or Afghanistan.

Or do we?

How often have we seen the behavior of such churches as the Westboro Baptist Church in the news and simply dismissed it as "a bunch of crazies"? They openly preach a "gospel" of hatred and intolerance towards gays, Catholics, soldiers and Israelis, and feel that the government of the United States is an instrument of evil in the world. We have seen, over the last twenty years, the neo-Nazi movement cloak itself in the garb of "religion", with pastors and preachers taking up the role of "Fuhrer" in the modern hate movements across the nation.

I bring this up because I heard a comment made this morning on my radio wherein a caller said that the proponents of such "radical Christian" sects are as dangerous as any radical Islamic sect conservative pundits care to point at. I think this is a false statement, and worse than that... it is a "straw man" argument that can only hurt America as a whole if it is allowed to continue.

In a free and open society, as we pride ourselves as living in today, we are going to see the radical fringe elements of any belief system, simply because we allow these belief systems all the freedom of expression and promotion that they care to take upon themselves. Members of the Westboro Baptist Church can protest and picket military funerals with signs saying "God Hates the US" all they want, but they are just as likely to see other Christian, Jewish, atheist... even Muslim... congregations protesting THEM just across a street.

This is NOT the case in traditional Muslim states. Muslim leaders can call for the building of a mosque at New York's "Ground Zero" all they want, but I don't, for one minute, think their say has any weight at all until I see THEM build a Catholic church or Jewish synagogue somewhere in Mecca or Medina. I'm not saying that a mosque or a cultural center SHOULDN'T be built at the WTC site... but it should be built there because New York residents want it built there. I may WANT to see a huge Catholic basilica built just across the square from the Al-Masjid al-Ḥarām but it won't happen just because I want it done.

The pundit I heard talking this morning said there are no "moderate Muslims" that can be heard over the din of radical Muslim actions, and perhaps this is true, to a degree. However, as everyone knows, I hate generalizations, and as such, I would say that I think there are (literally) millions of moderate Muslims in the world... but there is no such thing as "moderate Islam".

There are, undoubtedly, millions of radical Christians across the globe. Perhaps they aren't all strapping bombs to their chests, but they are supporting non-Christian actions and opinions through their own actions and opinions voiced in the garb of Christian dialogue. So, that being said, I can admit that there are lots and lots of radical Christians, but there is no such thing as "radical Christianity". One cannot advocate hatred, violence against the innocent, oppression of thought or act, or the subjugation of races or creeds and STILL BE CHRISTIAN. It is not possible.

One cannot advocate a free and open society, where all creeds and both sexes are considered equal in opinion and act, and no man is worth less than another based only on his professed beliefs or place of birth, and STILL BE A PRACTICING MUSLIM. It is not possible.

This is quite a departure from my "traditional" position on Islam as a whole, and I'm not sure I'm 100% finished with the thought-process, so any discussion or thoughts you might wish to share will be most welcome.