Temat: Islam

The terrorists want us to hate islam. The terrorist want us to brand all muslims as backwards, medieval and oppressive towards women, LGBTQ and other people who don't fit in. An us vs them sentiment - because that will drive the muslims to those that would welcome them - the very same terrorists, who need money, moles, fanatics and soldiers all the time.
Terrorism may be less expensive than regular warfare, but it is still expensive. For every fanatic dedicating his life to die for the cause, there's 10 people working to get him a bomb and himself to a suitable location. They need to be fed. And there's 100 people that deliver the parts to the bomb, let the terrorist through, let them squat for training on their land, and they need to be bribed.
The only way terrorism ends is when all those that support it stop doing it - passively or actively.
Yes, islam should be questioned, yes, islam should be critizised. Yes, islam should be treated like any other religion in being mocked and made fun of. And muslims will have to take this.
But in one regard, much of the west does not treat islam like other religions. When there's a terror action in the name of islam, there's protests against mosques, people wonder why the mainstream muslims don't come out against it and there's a general uproar. But when a fanatical christian bombs an abortion clinic, nobody questions why the orthodox patriarch in Moscow does not condemn it.
As long as we view islam and muslims as a monolith and do not do the same for other religions (despite manyof them being far more organised, centralised and structured than islam), we are playing into the hand of the terrorists. They want us to push the moderates into their hands.
And if we do, we are playing their game.
I'd much rather we continue to pay the bloody butcher's bill of weathering terrorist attacks and not give a shit, becase it is sometimes the price we have to pay for a free and secular society than take any kind of action agaisnt a religion.
When the son of a muslim immigrant shaves his beard, dons his smart suite, tightens his tie, takes his car to his job in the financial district, goes to mosque every other or third friday and worries more about what schools will give his kids the best education and grades than anything else, then we have won.
And it shall be a glorious, prosperous, free and absolutely anti-climatic victory.