Sunday, December 18, 2011

Intellectual Enemies


I don't often debate religion with fundamentalists, but when I get the rare opportunity it is often exhilarating. This made me think recently of the notion of an "intellectual enemy". That is to say, someone who holds beliefs that if they became the law of the land, the very air would be difficult for me to breathe. I wouldn't be able to exist as I am naturally. An easy example of this would be having to live under an Islamist state or a theocracy. Another would be living under a Stalinist-style dictatorship. The people then who espouse these religions or ideologies and who are actively trying to spread them, are what I call my intellectual enemies.

Now I regard intellectual enemies a bit distinguished from other traditional enemies. I do not necessarily wish harm on those who think differently from me. When I wrote The Infidel's Guide to Islam I carefully mentioned in the introduction that I did not advocate any violence or harm towards Muslims in any way. Instead, I wrote that debate and argumentation should be the weapons of choice. This is a ideological battle that is ensuing, not a real war. Now that doesn't mean that our war on "terror" isn't a real war against radical fundamentalist Islam, with casualties mounting on both sides. What I mean is that we simply cannot kill our way to destroying Islamists and theocrats; the war must inevitably be won with argumentation and persuasion. Lovers of freedom and secularism must win the opinion war against those who assert that a politicized and literalist interpretation of religion be forced on the masses. So I'll take a moderate Muslim over a fundamentalist any day. I'll take a cafeteria Christian over a fundamentalist any day as well. I'd take a secular humanist over all of them, although I wouldn't necessarily judge a person solely by their religious beliefs.

Doing battle with words can often lead to real life physical violence. I am aware of that and weary, especially when one criticizes Islam, that people can get killed. I acknowledge this reality, while seeing Islam as the most formidable contemporary enemy to the secular way of life that I relish in. What I fear about Islam is its spread in the West. I hate the idea that ever increasing numbers of subversive Muslims are populating the West, with the overall goal of one day victoriously raising the flag of Allah and enforcing Sharia law. You may call me an Islamophobe if you are a liberal sympathizer, but there is credible evidence that this is the objective to a surprising number of Muslims, and it's not just a tiny fringe minority.

Just as Communism and Fascism was defeated, I hope too that one day radical Islam will retreat into the darkest corners of the minds of a few ineffectual people. I would like for Muslims to embrace a secular political system as we have here in the U.S., to adopt modern secular humanist values as most progressive Christians and Jews have, and for them to detach themselves from the superstitious thinking produced by faith. If these first steps can be made, I think here in the West we can coexist without much conflict. If an evolution of sorts like this is not made in the Islamic world, and Muslims remain in isolation among us in the West, making no attempt at assimilation, then we will never reconcile our differences and remain intellectual enemies. Modernity must force the Muslim to open their eyes with the shine of enlightenment exposing the truth. If they refuse to acknowledge what they see and wish to remain blind, then there is no hope for our two civilizations and therefore little hope for humanity's future.

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