“Oregon Fire Raises Muslims’ Fears of Attack Backlash”

Is that a familiar headline, or what? Will the long-awaited “backlash” against Islamic terrorism ever materialize? The subject of the Associated Press headline, of course, was a fire that someone set in the mosque where Mohamed Mohamud occasionally worshipped in Corvallis, Oregon. Let’s be clear: we are unequivocally opposed to arson and other crimes. At this point, the authorities have no idea who set the fire in the mosque, but let’s assume that it was an infidel who was outraged by Mohamud’s plot to murder thousands of Christians at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony, and not a Muslim who wanted to stoke fears of a “backlash.”
Commentary from local authorities on the attempted arson was entirely predictable:

U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton vowed to prosecute the case aggressively.
“The fact is that violent extremists come from all religions and no religion at all. For one person to blame a group, if that’s what happened here, is uniquely anti-American and will be pursued with the full force of the Justice Department,” he said.

Violent extremists come from all religions and no religion at all? Really? So it was sheer coincidence that Mohamud’s reaction, when federal agents closed in on him, was to shout “Allahu Akbar,” just like the Fort Hood murderer and countless other jihadists? When was the last time that a mass murderer, or would-be mass murderer, commemorated his deed with Christian, Hindu, Buddhist or Jewish scripture? Can’t think of one? Neither can I. Let me know the next time a terrorist recites the Lord’s Prayer. Until then, spare me the BS about how “violent extremists come from all religions.”
Portland’s left-wing mayor weighed in:

In Portland, residents are alarmed by the terror plot, but Mayor Sam Adams said they are “not going to let this change our values of being an open and embracing city.” He said that he beefed up patrols around mosques “and other facilities that might be vulnerable to knuckle-headed retribution” after hearing of the bomb plot.

It’s heart-warming–special patrols for mosques! Of course, it was a Christmas tree lighting ceremony that was the target of an attempted car bombing–but that’s different. No special patrols are needed to protect Christians, evidently.
The fact is that Islam has a huge problem–and, unfortunately, it is the world’s problem. Surveys consistently show that a substantial percentage of Muslims favor violent efforts to wipe out other religions and cultures and establish Muslim hegemony over the world. Jihadists like Khalid Sheihk Mohammed and Mohammed Mohamud enjoy the support of many millions of Muslims, world-wide. Many imams preach hatred and violence, so that it is common in some areas of the world for Muslims to stream out of their mosques after Friday services looking for Christians, Hindus or other infidels to kill. There is no parallel in other religions. No one leaves a Christian church service fired up with murderous zeal against those of other faiths. No one. It never happens. Of course an individual Christian or former Christian can be a murderer. But there is no movement within the Christian faith that advocates murder, and no Christian church services fire up worshippers to commit violence against non-Christians.
Most Muslims, obviously, are not crazy mass murderers. But every Muslim whose head is not buried deep in the sand knows that many of his co-religionists do support mass murder for political purposes. Some Muslims, to their credit, have distanced themselves from jihad, but not enough. No one I know of holds all Muslims responsible for the depraved actions of a relative few, but it is entirely reasonable to hold Muslims generally responsible for cleaning up their religion. Who can discredit, delegitimize and expel pro-jihad imams, other than their fellow Muslims? This needs to happen, right now; but it isn’t happening, or, at a minimum, it isn’t happening fast enough or effectively enough.
The Muslim religion needs to get its act together, pronto. Those of other faiths will never condone violence against Muslims, but at the same time, the world will never respect Islam until Islam shows that it is worthy of respect. So far, the world is still waiting.

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