Memo To: Website Fans, Browsers, Clients
From: Jude Wanniski
Re: Letters on the subject
My memo earlier this week, "Islam, an Evil Religion, elicited a great
many letters, many of them coming in from fans of Lew Rockwell's website,
which linked to the memo. (Thanks, Lew). I've selected several for publication
here and promise to return to the topic again in the near future. I'm learning
a lot in the process and think we will all learn much more about Islam than we
think we know if we open our minds to that possibility. I welcome all e-mails,
of course, but please don't replicate what others have already said, pro or con.
* * * * *
From: "Joseph Ames Jr."
Bryn Mawr, Pa.
I studied Islam at university; a friend is a degreed middle-east scholar with
in-country experience in the Army Ranger battalions. We both believe that
Mohamut was a blood-thirsty man and his chosen symbol, the red crescent moon,
is the symbol of the local pagan deity, their [blood red] god of war. Islam
produces bloodshed in any clash with competing systems. It is peaceful in its
areas of dominance, but so too is a prison! My training is in management
science. I believe in cause-and-effect -- not ideology. If it looks bloody and
violent, then it is. Therefore Islam is a violent religion! How do you
reconcile these opposing observations?
* * * * *
From: Sulayman J. Ferguson
Thanks for writing this. As a Muslim myself, it really disturbs me how
horribly anti-Islamic people can be. I even considered leaving the Republican
party because of such vitriol I felt coming from them (though democrats aren't
immune either, but to a lesser extent). I never heard of "Mahomet and His
Successors," but I found your treatment of it fascinating. I wish more
Americans could be informed in this manner, you hit the nail right on the head
that this is worrisome. What can we do?
* * * * *
From: Bob Cranston
I'm glad to hear Mohamet had an affection for Jews early on as I wonder what
happened that he had 700 Jews killed in year 600 or was it 600 Jews in the
year 700?
* * * * *
From: David Atherton"
Show me anyplace in the world where Islam has power that you would want to
live. The desirability of living in any country with a majority religion of
Islam increases in inverse to the extent in which the government is controlled
by the Mullahs. This is a religion that has always expanded primarily by the
sword. Think of the Moslem crusades against Europe which resulted the
unfortunately failed European crusades against the Moslems. Are there nice
Moslems. OF COURSE! Is the religion itself pretty severely flawed? Absolutely.
Watch Europe. In 50 years when Islam is the majority religion, the countries
will be totally dysfunctional. Look at the Islamic ghettoes of Europe now. You
have a miniature of the future. It is not a pretty site. Look at the strife
and murder and racism w/i the Islamic community of Black America. I think the
radical right wing diatribes against Islam, while not pretty, are far closer
to the truth than the whiney apologetics--based on emotion, not fact--of the
left and the blind.
* * * * *
From: "Max Doner"
You are blind to the reality of what Islam is - I suggest you read the
newspaper for the previous 4 years to find out - or better yet, read the books
Human Events is selling - they tell the truth. Your ignorance is profound.
Islam is truly a religion of murder.
* * * * *
From Jeff Jones
To answer your question, yes. Islam is an evil and violent religion founded by
an evil and violent man, carried on by the evil and violent who have deceived
many who otherwise would not be so. No student of history can honestly deny
the horrible acts of violence Muhammad and his followers down through the ages
have perpetrated on Jews and Christians. Long before the crusades (Jerusalem
surrendered to Moslem forces in 638 AD), Muhammad and those who came after him
made war on the non-Islamic nations around the Mediterranean, and slaughtered
many Jews native to Israel (or Canaan or Palestine, if you prefer)…. From
Mohammed through the end of the Ottoman Empire, Islam has been a violent faith
that has been used to justify war. Unlike Christianity and Judaism, neither of
which advocate the "convert or die" process of Islam, had to be
grossly distorted in order to be used by apostates to commit acts of
unjustified war.
* * * * *
From Oscar Okes
I must confess that I am confused [but] at the age of 73 I am often confused.
However you like others of your persuasion seem to spend more time defending
Islam than you do condemning those that commit heinous crimes in the name of
Islam. I cannot find words that describe how I feel about those carrying out
such horrific crimes against anyone that is an easy kill, be they agnostic,
Jew, Christian, Muslim or whatever. It seems to me that anyone with common
sense would expect a thunderous condemnation coming from such a peaceful and
loving religion.
* * * * *
From: N10sive47@aol.com
Islam is an evil religion. Its founder was a demon-possessed pedophile, who
took as the true God the pagan arabic moon-god.
* * * * *
From: doroan7@hotmail.com
All Muslims are not terrorists.........but ALL terrorists are Muslims. Islam
IS an evil religion! Open your eyes.
* * * * *
From: Marley Greiner
Thank you so much for your piece on the current Islam hate-fest. I was not
aware of Washington Irving's book and have put it in my amazon.com wish list.
I'm sick of these monsters I live part-time in Russia and am seriously
considering moving there permanently. At least Russians aren't dumb enough to
believe the state.
* * * * *
From: Ralph E. Zecco
Islam is a violent religion and will always be. The Imans teach that
Christians are satans' servants as well as to be killed. If a man leaves
Islam, he is to forfeit his life. If a Christian does not accept Mohammed as a
prophet of God, then they are to be put to death. There is no religious
freedom under Islam and many missionaries have found this true at the cost of
their very lives. This is documented in blood. (A Christian)
* * * * *
From: John Hackney
Islam is not an Evil Religion. It is not a Religion at all. It is a worldview
based on the teachings of Mohammed. These teachings include * a Muslim's duty
includes the murder of all non-believers, * that Jesus was simply a prophet
and not the incarnate God, * that a Muslim man can divorce (any one of) his
wives by simply speaking, * raping women among the conquered is A-OK, * etc.,
and that all this is part of the revealed truth from the one true God. In
other words, a bunch of evil nonsense.
* * * * *
From: Dan <1patriot@verizon.net>
Until people like you remove your head from the sand how will you ever come to
the realization that these fanatics of Islam want us dead? … No bigotry here
or in the Human Events article; just truth, something you seem to close your
eyes and ears to and then use your column to reveal just how little you know
about the religion in question. Are there individuals who practice Islam in
'peace?', yes, but they are also very, very, very quiet when it comes to
denouncing the homicide bombers or jihadists, so they may as well be
co-conspirators.
* * * * *
From: "Randy Brown"
How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides
the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog,
there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. Improvident habits, slovenly systems
of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist
wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism
deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and
sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man
as his absolute property - either as a child, a wife, or a concubine - must
delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to
be a great power among men.
* * * * *
From: Barbara, Florida
I am so glad that you are defending "the faith" of the Islamic
people. In my estimation, there is a great push to knock Islam and thus
justify the battles that we are waging in the Middle East and elsewhere where
Islam exists. The common denominator is Judaism. They are the ones that are
pushing this anti-semitism the most (yes, Arabs are semites too). If books
were printed against Jews and what they have written about Christ in the
Talmud (Christ is swimming in human excrement, plus the hundreds of verses
against gentiles, incest with gentile children, usury against gentiles, etc.),
we would all lose our jobs and be black balled for ever, known as anti-semitic.
It's a one way street and freedom of speech is a thing of the past. Keep up
the good work, Jude. You are a light in this dark nation.
