Why Americans think Islam is good

A reader pointed out that the syllogism with which I had characterized the view of the pro-Islam Christians was not valid, because it used inductive reasoning, which moves from the particular (Christianity is good) to the general (therefore all religions are good), which is always invalid, rather than deductive reasoning, which moves from the general to the particular. Seeing my mistake, which had resulted from hasty writing, I re-wrote the passage as: “Belief in the transcendent God is good, Islam worships the transcendent God, therefore Islam is good.”

Starting with his own version of a proper syllogism in this case, the reader points out that this false reasoning about Islam is widely accepted by today’s Americans:

a. The recognition and worship of the one true God is good.

b. All the major monotheistic religions recognize and worship the one true God.

c. Therefore, the major monotheistic religions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam) are good.

This is basically what I was led to believe in college, in an academic course of study in which I majored in religious and philosophy studies. The three major monotheisms occupied a privileged place in Western academia and consciousness. This is no longer the case, needless to say, even in Christian seminaries, and the reasoning now extends beyond the monotheisms to any Idea-world that arguably reflects a “religious sensibility” or “god consciousness.”

But, I suspect this is how millions of American Christians think. Islam, as a religion, is beyond suspicion and critical thinking (witness the comments of President Bush and his Administration). The United States has taken the religious tolerance of the First Amendment and interpreted it to prohibit any examination or critical consideration of any religion, even if that religion is the ideological ground for a war against our existence.

The idea of a “religious war” simply does not compute with Americans.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at February 09, 2006 07:12 PM | Send