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At first, the Democrats’ refusal to use the word “Islam” in connection with ISIS was newsworthy. As it has progressed throughout time, it has become downright comical. It’s almost as hilarious as the news stories you find that go on and on about something embarrassing happening to a politician, and the story refuses to name the political party the politician is affiliated with, so you know it’s a Democrat.
How bad has the problem gotten? This bad:
When Hillary Clinton was asked whether she would use the term “radical Islam’’ during the Democratic debate on Nov. 14 in Des Moines, Iowa, shedemurred. She had referred to “radical jihadist ideology” in her opening statement, and then invoked President George W. Bush. She quoted him speaking after the 9/11 attacks saying “we are at war with violent extremism.” The same term is used often by President Barack Obama’s administration.
During the debate, Bernie Sanders never uttered the word Islam. When pressed about whether he would use the term radical Islam, he said, “I don’t think the term is what is important.” Martin O’Malley spoke mostly about American-Muslims’ sense of belonging in the United States and settled on the term “radical jihadis” when pushed about defining the problem as radical Islam.
* * *
The White House has shown a particular allergy to making any link between extremist violence and the religion that the terrorists claim to espouse. In his press conference in Antalya, Turkey, at the G20 summit last week, President Barack emphasized that “ISIL does not represent Islam. It is not representative in any way of the attitudes of the overwhelming majority of Muslims.”
There is a very simple reason that the Democrats refuse to credit Islam with being involved with ISIS or with terrorism generally: because they view Islam in the same way they view Christianity or Judaism, which is to say as a thing that you can mouth adherence to if it fits your personal or political ambitions, but not a thing that should actually exercise influence over your life. To most Democrats – elected Democrats in particular – religion is viewed with the same kind of casual contempt one would view membership in a particularly annoying and demanding social club.
Recall that Barack Obama’s entire defense during the 2008 campaign when the rhetoric of Jeremiah Wright began to be exposed was, essentially, “Well, you know, I haven’t actually been to church in years, so I missed all that.” And everyone basically said, “Ah, yeah, that kind of makes sense.” Ditto Hillary, who it is even hard to imagine singing along non-ironically with an organ and Sunday hymnal. Bernie Sanders, for his part, is pretty much openly agnostic.
Democrats have long viewed with suspicion and distrust anyone who takes their religion seriously. Anyone who believes that their religion ought to be the central organizing force in their life and acts accordingly is given the side eye by our elected betters in the Democrat party, who are fond of openly saying (especially in connection with abortion) that, hey, they love Jesus too, but let’s not get carried away with letting that matter.
When they refuse to believe or accept that Islam constitutes any meaningful part of the impetus for ISIS or other Islamic terrorism, they are simply following the same tenets. They, in their own minds, find it preposterous that people actually believe the things they mouth during their worship services and put them into practice in their lives. They look with disdain on anyone who does so as a particularly dim species of bird, perhaps. Not actually knowing much about Muslims, they know that they don’t want to insult them, so they project what they think should be true about Christianity onto Islam.
Unfortunately for us, Muslims by all accounts take their belief system much more seriously than modern Christians, which makes the Democrats’ blindness on this issue potentially fatal for us as a country.
The post Democrats Refuse to Use the Word “Islam” Because of their Contempt for Religion appeared first on RedState.