Religion of Peace, Indeed...

Thanks to the Jawa Report for this piece that almost certainly wasn't supposed to be fodder for the general pubic.

But it was Choudary who rose to put her in her place. "Islam is not a religion of peace," he said. "It is a religion of submission. We need to submit to the will of Allah."

From my understanding, this is theologically correct, as a Muslim is "one who submits". Of course, that is a little different from the American PC version of the faith because it allows - indeed demands - that its followers submit to their god, even if he tells them to wage war on those who are not followers. I think this is a distinction that needs to be much better understood by many Americans, who would much rather believe that Islam is a faith that demands nothing except for its followers to get along with others. Come to think of it, this sounds suspiciously like American liberal Christianity, with its focus on "helping others" and "tolerance". Perhaps this would be better understood as people projecting their beliefs onto the Islamic faith to make it what they want it to be rather than what it actually is.

Islamists and Democracy

Two posts from Jihad Watch highlight the unpleasant fact that many Muslims do in fact want to change our political system. This would not be significant, except for the fact that most of the US is trying desperately to ignore the radicalized portion of Islam and pretend that we can get along peaceably with them.

The first article describes an essay posted by the treasurer of the Muslim Student Association at San Diego Mesa College on Oct 14. In it, Farhad Akbari urges his friends not to vote because supporting either candidate would be "poisonous to the cause of Islam".

The other post refers to an article by Anwar Al-Awlaki, a New Mexico-born imam currently living in Yemen. He describes democracy as "an un-Islamic system," and says that "we as Muslims should have nothing to do with it."

I honestly can't be too disappointed that at least some of those who hate our way of life will refuse to participate in the electoral process. At least that way they can't directly influence the outcome. On the other hand, one would assume that they still desire to effect change. If they can't do it through the ballot box, that does not leave many other options. Based on the propensity of others who hold similar ideologies to use violence, it seems reasonable that these people might feel the same way. Cause for concern, in my opinion.