Muslims in America

I didn't quite realize it before I went to Egypt, but now that I'm back, its clear: Islam is kind of treated like a new, unfamiliar cult in America, very very cautiously, with an initial assumption that it is bad and warlike and probably should be kept at arms-length. It's funny because Islam has been around for 1,400 years, has billions of adherents, and its longevity alone should qualify it as something that probably is somewhat life-sustaining rather than just life-ending. We are up to a "Muslims are people too?" level of debate. And yet, before there's even the thought that things could flow in the direction of learning and tolerance, we have a whole series of new best-sellers appearing which state the point again and again: Islam is a religion of violence and intolerance. Sam Harris's The End of Faith is one such work. These books claim to be debunking religion as a whole but their slant or inspiration, if you will, is clearly anti-Islam: the beginning of Sam Harris's book is a Muslim suicide bomber and Islam is its particular focus.

Is it possible to say that Islam is a religion of many things--war and peace, justice and injustice, without sounding like an apologist? It is an entire system of life and worldview--it must contain all of these opposites. Islam is a different way of looking at the same reality---just as any religion is. It places, non-scientifically, of course, the invisible at the center of events (Freud, anyone?). In religion, it is what you don't see and can't prove that is most important.