Althouse
8/24/2010
“But tolerance is one of the first and most awkward questions raised by any examination of Islamism.”
Writes Christopher Hitchens, noting the naivete of the talk of religious tolerance in defense of the mosque near Ground Zero:
As Western Europe has already found to its cost, local Muslim leaders have a habit, once they feel strong enough, of making demands of the most intolerant kind. Sometimes it will be calls for censorship of anything “offensive” to Islam. Sometimes it will be demands for sexual segregation in schools and swimming pools. The script is becoming a very familiar one. And those who make such demands are of course usually quite careful to avoid any association with violence. They merely hint that, if their demands are not taken seriously, there just might be a teeny smidgeon of violence from some other unnamed quarter …
As for the gorgeous mosaic of religious pluralism, it’s easy enough to find mosque Web sites and DVDs that peddle the most disgusting attacks on Jews, Hindus, Christians, unbelievers, and other Muslims—to say nothing of insane diatribes about women and homosexuals. This is why the fake term Islamophobia is so dangerous: It insinuates that any reservations about Islam must ipso facto be “phobic.” A phobia is an irrational fear or dislike. Islamic preaching very often manifests precisely this feature, which is why suspicion of it is by no means irrational.
In this view, it’s good to frame the debate in terms of tolerance, but don’t wimp out halfway through. Keep going, and insist on tolerance all around. I think that’s a better position than meeting intolerance with intolerance. It’s more enlightened, it puts us on the path to liberty, and it requires quite a bit more courage.
Same Hitchens article, via Ace of Spades:
…I like this piece an awful lot. Sure, he knocks some on the right for engaging in rhetoric he finds too ugly to be creditable, but darn it if he doesn’t wind up coming to — or at least guardedly approaching — some of the same concerns we have…
I do not find myself reassured by the fact that Imam Rauf publicly endorses the most extreme and repressive version of Muslim theocracy. The letterhead of the statement, incidentally, describes him as the Cordoba Initiative’s “Founder and Visionary.” Why does that not delight me, either?
Emboldened by the crass nature of the opposition to the center, its defenders have started to talk as if it represented no problem at all and as if the question were solely one of religious tolerance. It would be nice if this were true. But tolerance is one of the first and most awkward questions raised by any examination of Islamism. We are wrong to talk as if the only subject was that of terrorism. As Western Europe has already found to its cost, local Muslim leaders have a habit, once they feel strong enough, of making demands of the most intolerant kind. Sometimes it will be calls for censorship of anything “offensive” to Islam. Sometimes it will be demands for sexual segregation in schools and swimming pools. The script is becoming a very familiar one. And those who make such demands are of course usually quite careful to avoid any association with violence. They merely hint that, if their demands are not taken seriously, there just might be a teeny smidgeon of violence from some other unnamed quarter …
And, from DaTechguy:
I’ve been wanting to stay away from the Mosque story a bit
but Chris Hitchens has only so many columns left in him so they should be promoted while there is still time…
Read the whole things and as you do remember this is from a supporter of the Mosque.
I’m going to miss Hitchens when he’s gone.
