If you listen to the blessings given to troops by U.S. military chaplains they have an apologetic tone, a Padre might say.
"Lord Jesus we strive to follow your example and hold in our hearts compassion and tolerance of our fellow man but today is a day for war...".
The politicians have to apologise for Islam because they have a gun to their head, the Australian government has no effective jurisdiction over Muslims and if they lose the co-operation of the Imams then the Islamic "community", ceases to be a part of multicultural Australia.

So, aside from using a religious pretext, what are the values, the principles, that the terrorists are actually fighting for ? What principles should we be defending with every means we can against their barbarity ?

I suggest that above all, they have to include:

* equality before the law, i.e. the secular and democratically-decided and -enforced law of the State, of all, regardless of gender, ethnicity, religious background, and sexual orientation; and

* all the freedoms of expression, up to and including the rights to offend idiotic beliefs.

* the opposition to practices which disfigure and cripple or restrict the rights of children and women in particular.

Surely we are beyond, as a civilisation, taking our every cue from some out-dated book (Bible, Koran, Torah, etc.), and surely we can think for ourselves ? Otherwise, what the hell does it mean to be active and equal participants - questioning and arguing participants - in the modern world, as we are all entitled to be ?

Get stuck in :)

Joe

To oversimplify, it seems to me there are two dominant responses in the west to the challenge of Islamic radicalism. One is to say that it is an inevitable and inescapable product of Islam itself; the only solution lies in secularism. The other is to argue that it is a corruption of authentic Islam, that can and should be combatted within Islam: the solution to radical Islam is moderate Islam.

I don’t think comparing the failings of Islam and Christianity is intended to draw moral equivalence, by claiming we’re no better than them. Rather, it supports the second position. It shows that religious belief can be corrupted to appear to validate ideas and actions that are totally at odds with the religion’s values (the same can be said of political ideologies). And it demonstrates that these corruptions are not inevitable or permanent – Islam can denounce Islamic radicalism just as Christianity can denounces its past excesses. Indeed, most Islamic leaders already do exactly that

Hi Rhian,

If we must talk about Islamism, then how's this for an outrageous idea :

That ISIS-type Islamism, well any Islamism really, is actually a strict adherence to Islam. Ultimately there is no such thing as a moderate interpretation of Islam. Supposedly the word of Allah, as exemplified in the Koran, can never be changed, not a jot of it. The only way out is apostasy.

This is the dilemma for Muslims who want to pull back from the barbarity of ISIS: ISIS observes the Koran to the letter and they know it. They know too that such Islamism does not belong in the modern world.

It's a terrible situation for many Muslims when they have to confront what it means to adhere strictly to the Koran and as they search for alternatives to barbarity, and they deserve our full support as they try to sort out their dilemma.

Joe

Joe,
That's exactly the point, ISIS is wholly reactionary in it's politics but the politics is way down the list behind all the things they have to achieve in order to bring about the final war.
The Islamic State, or the Caliphate is real, it's now assuming all of the functions of a state in it's area of influence, the Caliphate so constituted is merely the jumping off point for a whole new series of events in the fulfillment of the prophecy.
If you've got the time I highly recommend keeping up to date with their online magazine "Dabiq", they are our sworn enemies of course but their reasons for doing what they do are sound from the point of view of a devout Muslim.
http://www.clarionproject.org/news/islamic-state-isis-isil-propaganda-magazine-dabiq#
What's more ISIS have declared many western Imams apostates and once the ISIS supporters in Europe have the numbers they'll start whacking "moderates" and liberal Imams, then the politicians will have literally nobody to negotiate with and nobody to rein in the hotheads.

Loudmouth (Joe) the most sensible comment that I have read as yet on this essay. Truly, they are on the horns of a somewhat intractable dilemma.