The Voice of America was once a key component of America’s ideological struggle against Communism. But against a new threat it seems to be having trouble summoning the requisite backbone. In this interview with the author of a new book on terrorism, the author explains why she profiled Christian cultists and Jewish militants in a book on contemporary terrorism: “To begin with, it is only Islamist terrorists today that are causing major threats to international security. But I wanted to include the other religious traditions, because at different points in history, every religion has produced significant armies of religious killers. There is nothing unique about Islam.”
It is true that every religious tradition has been used to justify atrocities. But it is also true that Islam’s doctrine of jihad is unique among religions. No other religion has a developed theology, law, and tradition mandating warfare against non-believers. While Christianity developed the idea of the Crusades late in its history and discarded it long ago, jihad has been taught throughout Islamic history as a duty of the Muslim community, and is still taught today.
Even worse may be the title of the article: “How Is Religion Used by Terrorists to Produce Suicide Bombers?”
How’s that again? Religion is used to produce suicide bombers? Where are the Christian, Jewish, Hindu and Buddhist suicide bombers? In the entire world today, there is only one religion producing suicide bombers, and using core beliefs of the religion to recruit and motivate such bombers. Hint: it ain’t Methodism.