You say "cultural chauvinist" like it's a bad thing!
A long one from Steven Den Beste on the mutal exclusivity of Islamofascism and Civilization. Lots of good points to ponder--one in particular:

I happen to be an atheist but I don't intend to impose atheism on anyone else. My nation is secular and democratic, but I don't think that as a matter of principle we should go out and force the world to become democratic and secular or die at our hands.

On the other hand, I do believe that my system, while imperfect, is still better than any other known one, and in the long run I think it will dominate the world. I think this will be a good thing.

I, too, am a cultural chauvinist. I feel no shame in that. But I'm not militant about it, and I'm willing to tolerate other chauvinists as long as they don't become militant. This war was thrust upon us by militant Islamic extremists, whose belief system cannot tolerate mine to exist.

For my system to continue to exist, theirs must be changed. This is not a war of faith on my side, it's just a practical necessity. They need not give up Islam, but their fundamentalism will have to be destroyed. Islam must become tolerant, because as long as it is not we will continue to have wars with them.

I would say Den Beste's assertion in his opening paragraph that it is necessary for Muslims to give up a belief in inerrancy and universality is not quite accurate--it is not necessarily the belief in these things that causes the problems--it is the belief that it is acceptable to kill innocent people for the sake of them. Mr. Den Beste is an atheist, a philosphy which has its own somewhat strident adherents, but quite correctly he notes that he's not about to get his dynamite strapped on to go make some converts. Likewise, I am a Christian, and can be pretty hard-headed about inerrancy and universality. However, I don't think Jesus would like it if I killed 3,000 office workers in His name. For Islam to have a place in this scheme, Den Beste is quite right--learn to play nice and live in harmony, or suffer the consequences from the rest of us who are getting pretty tired of being set upon by a bunch of demi-brained hypocritical murderers.
posted by Terry at 11:42:00 AM