Radical Islam and America

Why are so many radical Muslims willing to die as holy warriors by attacking America?

President George W. Bush claims that 'they hate progress, and freedom, and choice, and culture, and music, and laughter, and women, and Christians, and Jews and all Muslims who reject their distorted doctrines.'

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But there is quite a lot more to it than that.

Radical Islamists abhor us because we have our troops and others in their holy land of Arabia. They believe we have misunderstood and humiliated them for centuries -- we are the 'crusaders.' Those collaborationist Muslims who sell out to Western values stand condemned by the extremists as well. They detest our support of semi-secular Arab regimes, such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt. They dislike us for grasping oil at prices favourable to America and being profligate with it. They loathe us because we give too much support to Israel and disdain the Palestinians. They despise our culture, and they scrutinize its excesses of greed, glamour, and glitz. The lusts for sand, sea, and sex, that characterize many Americans symbolised by Las Vegas and Hollywood are anathema to their puritan way of life. Clerics reprimand the Muslim masses who occasionally like what Elvis and Madonna represent.

We continue to separate church and state, rather than allowing the moral values of religion to be infused into the nation. Banks and offices hover over churches, synagogues, and mosques. The World Trade Center represented globalisation and the subjection of their nations to a corrupt colonialist capitalism. Though they begrudge their own poverty, they see a socialistic approach as a better way forward to challenge the huge gaps of wealth that capitalism creates. For them the American Dream for the few is an immense nightmare for the rest of the world. The Pentagon epitomises military hegemony that forces others to do what the White House cabal wants. The fourth hijacked plane was probably headed there before it was forced down in the fields of Pennsylvania.

They see their rejection as the story of Isaac and Ishmael all over again. Sarah could not conceive, so she persuaded Abraham to take her slave Hagar and have a son. Later Sarah bore Isaac and she influenced Abraham to banish Hagar and Ishmael into the wilderness with little food or water. Many Muslims believe that they too have been relegated into the wilderness by the false and decadent descendents of Abraham -- Jews and Christians.

Clearly the shaming of the prisoners of Abu Ghraib as well as the invasion of Iraq itself has made the situation worse, and thousands continue to volunteer for suicide bombings. Apparently we are in for a long and terrible time. Yet I think we can address some of the issues without kowtowing. We might never solve all the problems such as intolerance, women's rights, homophobia, and their dislike of modernity -- but let's see how far we can go.

Get our troops out of Arabia. Actually, this is being done and the US is now saying all Americans should leave. We need to be more careful in our support of oppressive regimes. Bush has strongly stated this in a speech, but results are yet to be seen. Why can't we find a real Israel/Palestine policy? Why are we dragging our feet? Why do we hear so little about the Palestinian miseries from the media?

We need to take Islam as a religion seriously. We may want to revise a Christian theology that has put Jesus above Moses and Muhammad. This exclusive theology was developed under the Roman Emperor Constantine and is largely non-biblical. Perceiving the three founders of the Abrahamic faiths as equals would help a lot. Joint worship on equal terms could be a start.

Americans are seduced by a garish culture, and dumbed down TV, and Las Vegas typifies greed, glitz, and glamour. We can't outlaw this, but we can object. Discourage gas-guzzling SUV's and take away the intense influence of the oil barons on the present government. Work on alternative fuel supplies. Conserve power. Trade is not the highest goal of society, and spiritual values should trump materialism.

We needn't separate religion and public life as much as we do. That concept is not in the Constitution. The First Amendment says that we shall not establish a religion, but our Founders were referring to the example of England and its state church -- they did not suggest banning religion from all public life as many courts do now.

American arrogance must be curtailed, and consultation with others is crucial. This is starting to happen because we are desperate to rebuild Iraq. That invasion, an appalling and costly mistake based on faulty predictions of WMD and a false idea of Saddam's connection with Al-Qaeda, has been a disaster, and has made the world a much more treacherous place. What happened to the Bush 41 sanctions that contained Saddam? They were working, but neo-cons wanted total victory and rubbished the State Department. Yet trying to establish a democracy in Iraq is a pie in the sky ideology pushed by some Americans who never lived there.

I wonder about Bush's messianic character -- the President talks with God but not his Dad. Bush pursues a belief from Wilson, FDR, JFK, and Reagan who saw USA as a 'redeemer nation' and this is a biblical interpretation followed by Columbus, Winthrop, and Lincoln. But it is also biblical to lead, if we must, by example, not by force.

These moves could make a big difference, but it will take courage from us and the radical Islamists who need to revise their intolerant views of everything Western as well.

Charles Brock is a Lecturer in Religion, Penn State University and Oxford University.