Chris Dickey talks about “Christian Rage, Muslim Moderation” in a Newsweek column. While the title and lede are somewhat misleading, I think the overall point is one that needs to be hammered over and over again: No religion has a monopoly on extremists, ignorance, or blinders. Dr. Marranci gives a detailed example of the same idea at his blog.
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Geert Wilders and Free Speech
Aziz beat me to it. Geert Wilders was arrested for attacking Islam. Dumb idea. As Aziz says “the best answer to bad speech is more speech.” The best thing to happen now is that a group of Dutch Muslims comes forward to his defense. Islam is bigger than one person, whether OBL or Geert Wilders. It can take care of itself. It’s Muslims who need to care of ourselves, and that doesn’t mean supporting dumb ideas.
Compare and Contrast
Two interesting op-eds in the Boston Globe today. The first talks about Karen Hughes equation of the women who marched on the DC Mall last week with terrorists. Regardless of where you fall on the abortion debate, the casual and easy equation of people with different views than this administration is a disturbing phenomenon. (It has happened before with respect to teachers; further proof we are preparing for the Rapture?) The emotional associations with the word “terrorist” after 9/11, across the country, is profound. I think it’s much more evocative than “communist” ever was for my generation. When disagreement becomes…
Increasing Iraqi death toll
The number of US servicemen killed in 2004 exceeds the number killed in 2003. We are fast closing in on a 1000 servicemen killed since the beginning of operations in Iraq. Almost all will have died after President Bush declared “Mission Accomplished.”