At War With Islam?

Frank Pastore says Islam is not the enemy and offers six reasons why in his Townhall.com column.

It's a tough sell, as callers to Pastore's talk show insisted.

Callers insisted I was wrong, repeating over and over again things like, "there is no such thing as moderate Islam, there are only moderate Muslims who don’t really understand Islam," that "real Islam, and therefore real Muslims, seek world domination, a 7th century caliphate under universal sharia law," and finally, that "a true Muslim believes all non-Muslims must either convert or die."

Both modern headlines and an honest look at the history of the seventh to 14th centuries are loud refutations Pastore's optimism. The Crusades, which were a defensive effort by Europeans, stopped the spread of Islam by conquest. Since that time, at least until the last few decades, Islam lived mostly at peace. The Five Pillars of Islam are generally uplifting and not very different from practices of devout Christians and Jews. Unfortunately a considerable and influential number of Muslims have radicalized those practices.

There are also outspoken moderate Muslims who repudiate the radical agenda and their voices need to be heard and supported.