Why Obama is wrong about ISIS
- By Mitchell Blatt
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E-mail China.org.cn, November 29, 2014
There are many interpretations of each religion as well that emphasize peace, and many practitioners of the various religions do not partake in violence. But there is no way to say which interpretation of Islam, Christianity, or Judaism is the "right" one. The very existence of so many interpretations proves this.
Religion is a human construct after all, so whatever interpretations there are that have been created and are practiced by humans are accurate interpretations of the kinds of religions they create. The religious teachings only exist because humans thought of them and wrote them down on paper and passed them down and modified them.
If there is one true Islam, then why do Sunnis and Shiites argue and wage war today over what is right? Maybe they should ask God, but I'm sure they would come back with as many different answers as there are people vying for power.
Since religion is a human construct, to define it would really just be to define how it is practiced. Islam is being practiced now in many countries as a religion with a set of beliefs and laws, among them prohibitions on the consumption of pork, alcohol, as well as gambling, and other acts regarded as sinful, and calls to wage war on people who engage in those acts.
At least 78 percent of Afghanistan Muslims believe that the death penalty should be imposed on people who leave Islam, along with 67 percent of Palestinian Muslims, 55 percent of Pakistani Muslims, and worrying numbers in many other countries, according to a 2013 survey of the Muslim world by Pew Research.
This brings us to the final point, is Islam less compatible with beheadings and suicide bombings than other religions? Having gotten this far, it would be hard to say so. In fact, it appears more likely that Obama's turn of phrase was for political purposes. George W. Bush did it, too; he said "Islam is peace."
America is at war with terrorist groups motivated by radical Islam, after all, and the President wants to try to dispel any perception that it is a religious war. At the same time, he also wants to try to avoid fomenting discrimination against individual Muslims.
The effectiveness of such pronouncements is questionable at best. A Muslim in Iraq or Syria knows their own religion - their own interpretation of their religion that they themselves are practicing - better than Obama, a non-Muslim, does sitting in his chair in the Oval Office.
They won't look to the American ultimately, as far as peace-loving people of the world are concerned, it doesn't matter whether ISIS is or is not Islamic. As long as they are violent and demagogic, we should do what we can to resist them.
The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:
http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/MitchellBlatt.htm
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