U.S.: The problem of terrorism derives from Islam and its Koran

Well, it's nice to know that I have company in saying this. H'tip to Robert Spencer of Dhimmiwatch.

Patrick Boylan, a member of the state's board of education, brought out the Quran before 19 of the state's highest emergency responders.

"It says it right here. Do not take the infidels as your friends," he said, citing Sura 5:51. "I'm making statements straight from the Quran and these are what terrorists are using to justify terrorism."

The topic of his lecture, "The terrorist mind-set, why do they hate us?" was part of a federally funded pilot master's degree program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' Institute of Security Studies.

Its students, Bechtel Nevada employees, police officers and firefighters, are working to obtain an executive master of science in crisis and emergency management degree.

"I have studied the Quran for this very purpose to understand why they behave the way they do," said Boylan, an Irish Catholic, who grew up in Pakistan. "There is going to be a war on terrorism that is never going to stop, and Islam is behind it."

Boylan's lecture made more than a few students in the classroom shift in their seats as he said the Islamic religion advocates killing Christians and Jews.

"I have a little bit of a different opinion," Sheriff Bill Young said during a class break. "Historically, Muslims, particularly in our country, are good citizens."

Retired U.S. Army Col. Lee Van Arsdale, the institute's director, stood up during the class to offer a legal disclaimer that Boylan's views do not represent those of UNLV.

Boylan knows his views are controversial. He resided in Pakistan for the first 26 years of his life, where he said he saw firsthand discrimination and violence against non-Muslims.

"Non-Muslims have been discriminated against all over the world," he said. "We are in a battle of religion right now."

In Pakistan and other countries of Islamic rule, Christians are treated as second-class citizens and cannot obtain high-level positions in government, he told students.

"There are no non-Muslims that hold significant positions of power," he said.

His lecture was part of the 18-month degree program, which the school is funding through Department of Energy dollars earmarked for the institute. Boylan has a master's degree in educational leadership from UNLV.

Emergency practitioners from a variety of fields have taught parts of the course, aimed at preparing emergency responders to prevent terrorism attacks and deal with the consequences should one occur.

Dave Shephard, director of security at The Venetian, also spoke to the class earlier this month.

Several students made comments challenging Boylan's contention that Islam is behind terrorism, though many said the lecture sparked a needed discussion about the religion.

"I believe they love this country as much as most of us," Young said of the Muslims he knows in Las Vegas. "Maybe I'm so naive I take people at their word, but I don't get the feeling they hate me."

Boylan said the moderate Muslims, should they speak up, are drowned out by the radicals. He told students that obedience to a holy book which advocates subjugating, and in some cases killing, those who don't follow it will forever divide Muslims from non-Muslims.

"Those people who have taken (the Quran) to heart are doing (terrorism)," he said.

Americans tend to be too politically correct and are blind to the religious motivations behind terrorism, he said.

"There is a threat there and we need to wake up and find out how we can combat this," he said. "You cannot fight your enemy unless you know your enemy."

What people fail to realize is that whether or not Muslims love this country or are good neighbors is irrelevant. The point of the matter is that the Koran's ideology justifies the murder of non-Muslims; it justifies beheadings and seizure of the property of non-Muslims; it justifies treating non-Muslims as second class citizens, and so on.

As a Christian, I am not allowed to pick and choose to which doctrines I'll consent; for, Christianity is an all or nothing religion and the believer is not free to pick and choose from the many doctrines as though the Bible's teachings were some kind of smorgasbord. As a Christian, I must believe in Baptism, the Real Presence in the Lord's Supper, the conception, birth, Passion, death, and resurrection of the Lord Christ Jesus. I must believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and in the doctrine of the Trinity -- whether or not I can fuly comprehend it. The point at which I can no longer assent to one or more of these or other doctrines of the Church Visible and Invisible, as they are found in Scripture, is that point at which I am no longer at liberty to describe myself as "Christian," for I will have left that most precious Faith behind.

Many of us delude ourselves that we can believe selectively and remain Christian, and we comfort ourselves about our broad-mindedness. However, the One we serve is not broad-minded at all. It's His way and no other becuase He is THE WAY.

Therefore, that is the sensibility from which I view Islam and how it engages the world through its adherents. No matter how good the Muslim may be as a neighbor or citizen, the point of the matter is that he is a Muslim whose credo is defined in the Koran which exhorts those who believe that ideology to function in set ways with regard to non-Islamics. The Muslim may be a good neighbor and good citizen, but one may not forget that the Koran teaches him to chill out until such time as those of his ideological mindset are numerically superior. Once that happens, then the nature of the game changes, and history is more than adequate testament to this.

No doubt CAIR will cry discrimination and attempt to have Patrick Boylan fired, or forced to apologize for "slandering" Islam, or just go on so hyper-active rant claiming that Boylan's quotes are "taken out of context", or might even take Boylan to court for "defaming" Islam and Muslims. If they take that route, they may wind up faring as well as have the Muslims who have taken a Christian group to court in Australia. We know how that story is going, and it is not a pretty one ... for Islam. This may be so especially since Boylan has made a point of studying the Koran. It is noteworthy that the beheading of Paul M. Johnson prompted discussion in the Islamic world that addressed not the morality of the deed but whether such is permissible in Islam.

When Boylan concludes that the people who take the Koran to heart are doing terrorism, he is quite right because that is what the Koran preaches in part ... jihad for the sake of Allah against those who are not Muslim.

If the West is to defeat Islamic terrorism, we must confront, unflinchingly, the true nature of Islam and present it as it presents itself to us. There is nothing to be gained from the mealy-mouthed piety that "Islam is a religion of peace" except the lulling of the West into complacence before an implacable and relentless ravening wolf of an enemy. If Muslims do not like it that Islam is depicted as it really is, a blood-thirsty and savage ideology, then they have a problem, not with the one who makes the point but with the ideology and its book, the Koran. In the same way were I to object to an all male priesthood, my problem would be not with the Church Visible but with Her Lord who is Her head and who stands behind the men ordained to serve His people in His stead. If I cannot resolve my problem, then my only recourse would be to leave the Church that adheres faithfully to the all male priesthood; find a church that violates the doctrine of the Office of the Holy Ministry; or leave Christianity altogether.

Similarly, a Muslim who objects to a true depiction of Islam has but to look at the Koran and decide whether he can follow such an ideology. Suing those who speak out will not change the essence of Islam. Instead, the suit is designed to stifle the First Amendment rights of the individual speaking honestly. As long as the rest of the world remains convinced that "Islam is a religion of peace," then the Islamic intention to bring all the world under the blood-thirsty banner of Islam can advance apace and unchecked.