Libertarian Librarian

Too long, too windy, too rambly. OSC has done better.
 

It may be a long piece, but the last three paragraphs seem to have a message similar to what I've been saying for a while: If more Muslims don't come out and confront those who have allegedly hijacked their faith, then we are only a bigger terror attack or two away from a serious Western backlash against Islam, primarily against the Muslims amongst us.

No wonder, then, that non-Muslims in the west are growing more and more suspicious that Western Muslims might not be significantly different in their sense of entitlement from Muslims in nations where you can be killed for converting away from Islam.

The time will come -- or perhaps has already come -- when Muslims in the West must choose: Stand up for freedom of religion and demand change in Muslim doctrine throughout the world on this exact point. Or else remain under the suspicion, which will grow in many minds into certainty, that all Muslims everywhere are merely biding their time till they can rule by force over the consciences of all.

It is because of the actions of some Muslims that all Muslims are being put to that choice. But tolerance of other religions does not mean we have to tolerate any religion that claims the right to kill unbelievers. To paraphrase Lincoln, freedom of religion is not a suicide pact.

I also like the fact that he referenced the Crusades and didn't spin it as an aggression by the West against a peaceful Islam. The Crusades were a push back against an aggressive Islam -- an attempt to take back what Islam had taken from Christianity by force.