The Mother Abbess in "The Sound of Music" liked a measured approach to her problem charge, counseling her fellow nuns to accept Maria for what she was. And that turned out really well, as we all know. However, when the problem is not a spontaneous, free-spirited young woman, but a group of blood-thirsty murderous and merciless killers, acceptance is not so much a policy for dealing with them as it is a graceful suicide note. This past couple of months have seen separate groups in different corners of the world showcase their vision for the world around them, and their vision is so terrible that life for those subject to their tender mercies is a worse hell than anything dreamed up by any theologian.
In Nigeria, a group whose name explicitly explains its world view has found worldwide recognition after kidnapping two hundred school girls and threatened to sell them into slavery. (A side note: their threat reveals the very real existence of a slave trade for young women, centered strangely enough on the same Islamic world that so worries about the morals of everyone). Boko Haram (or "Western ways are bad") is determined to impose a highly regressive regime on the vast regions of Nigeria that it currently terrorizes, banning not just the common "ills" like alcohol and gambling, and of course women in public, but also proscribing all modern education presumably because it is seen as "western".
In Iraq and Syria, an equally rabid group has seized control of massive swaths of territory. While the stunning advances in Iraq have been aided by far less fundamentalist allies who have attempted to temper the blood lust of the jihadists, there have already been claims of massacres of those judged not sufficiently pious. While typically such claims would be denied as propaganda of their enemies, in this case the claims are made by the jihadists, complete with videos proudly documenting their actions. It would be unacceptably murderous, but understandable if these were part of a psychological warfare campaign designed to strike fear into government troops and convince them to quit the fight. Unfortunately, while terror is the aim of this group, it seems be mostly a promise of life to come for everyone once they establish their ideal Islamic state. Perhaps nothing is as telling about the nature of this group as the fact that they are considered too fanatical and blood-thirsty by their original inspiration, al Qaida.
While I normally accept the right of every person to follow any religious belief, the determination of the more religious fanatics to impose their beliefs on everyone else is unacceptable. I disagree with any attempt to force one's personal beliefs on one's fellow citizens, even in a relatively benign manner, notwithstanding the opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States. This does raise the delicate question of whether atheists are as guilty of forcing their world view upon people of faith. However while some atheists do occasionally get over-enthusiastic in demanding that their religious brethren open their eyes and embrace rationality, they rarely have the inclination, much less the power to do much more than vocally berate. For all the claims of being beleaguered and oppressed by agnostics and atheists, that usually arises from their frustration at being unable to impose their beliefs on others. Being prevented from opening public meetings with prayers is not oppression of the faithful, it's protecting all other sects including non-believers from the oppression of the majority faith. Similarly demanding, even insisting that science classes teach evolution as the accepted theory and give no time to malarkey like Creationism is not in any way a denial of religious rights, it simply insists that science classes be devoted to science and not to religion.
I discussed this question at length, because it is critical to distinguish between those who demand the right to live their beliefs and those who understand that right as a carte blanche to run roughshod over the rights of others. Most religious groups believe that they have a unique knowledge of the unknowable (their own way of seeing it, really since history has a habit of rendering the mysterious unknowable remarkably mundane). They have every right and freedom to their smug self-importance, and even to tell us non-believers about the everlasting torture that awaits us post-death. Unfortunately however, when faced with skepticism, the faithful prefer to use force to convince those who would shrug off well-meaning attempts to save their souls.
The big difference is that while the more mature religion of the West, and the less insistent religions of the East refrain from overt coercion, newer (comparatively speaking, by some seven hundred years) Islam has yet to learn restraint. While the majority of Islamic people would undoubtedly prefer to live in peace and leave the judgment of the world to the all-powerful god they believe in, and even the small minority who would force their view mostly push a more inclusive attitude. The truly violent groups like Boko Haram, the Taliban, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and al Qaida and its many offshoots represent a small, even miniscule, minority that will commit any violence, any atrocity to further their dream of an Islamic state that conforms to their twisted vision.
It is easy to ridicule the central pillar of their belief - if they truly believe in such a powerful god, why does he need them to act with such great violence, and why do non-believers need to be killed as quickly as possible, when there is all of eternity left for their god to mete out judgement - but neither logic nor ridicule is likely to sway such fanatics. Filled with absolute belief in their mission, they will never hear anything that would conflict with their vision. Even of that small group of fanatics, most of them are young and impressionable, led into a life of violence and murder by a tiny number of older leaders. Whether these leaders truly believe in the hatred and venom they spew or whether they are the ultimate cynics is impossible to say, though it is hard to understand how any man could be so scared of a fourteen year old girl as to order her death for speaking out for education; or how anyone who claims to be serving a higher power can justify enslaving hundreds of young girls for the "crime" of being in school; or how there can be any justification for the near daily murder of hundreds of their fellow humans, and even fellow Muslims, in the name of liberating them.
All this begs the question: how do you neutralize this threat and stop their mindless violence? It is extremely difficult, when they are prepared to kill anyone and everyone in their path, and at least amongst the lower level fighters, are ready to sacrifice their lives readily if they can take their perceived enemies with them. Most ideologues hope to enjoy the world they fashion and that means that they are both interested in living to see their efforts succeed and that they may be willing to compromise and accept a lesser version of their dream if faced with determined resistance; these jihadists however are willing to die willingly and there is no way to prove to them that their dream of eternal bliss is but a foolish dream and neither force nor reason will deter them. There are many who would argue that the only way to stop them is to kill them all. Though I consider myself for most part a liberal, there are times when I wonder if that is the only available path. When these misguided fighters wage war on the innocent and defenseless, when they would enslave (literally!) women and kill girls who dare to pursue education, when they would destroy everyone who does not adhere to their own twisted ideas, it seems that ultimate force is the only way to truly stop their murderous journey.
Perhaps. Perhaps, sadly, for many of the young and angry youth who form their violent corps, there is no way to stop them in time. Some of these youth have never known any world but the world of hate and weening them from that savage dream is likely impossible. But it is critical to note just how few that number really is. These jihadists number in the thousands, at most, while there are over a billion Muslims in the world. In not one single theater of war do they command a majority, either in numbers or even in support. Why then are they able to produce so massive an effect? True, they are usually the most brutal and most fanatical in support of their cause. But the environment that they spring from is in the end the answer, both to their inception and their neutralizing. In most cases they come from societies that lack liberal education, openness and a respect for the rule of law or the right to peaceful dissent. Those that come from the Muslim communities of the West have faced a mixture of distrust outside and confusion within themselves, and that mixture has made them vulnerable to simplistic answers. It is telling that the Nigerian Islamic terrorists virtually rule massive swathes of the country because for all their brutality and madness, they still provide a better government than the official rulers.
Education and good government are the main weapons that would defeat the terrorists. These are not the kind of weapons that turn the battle overnight, but if the masses of the Islamic world have governments that they can trust, and critically that can act on information without brutality or repression, those millions of ordinary people would ignore the preachers of fanaticism aside. Starved of followers and money, the most virulent strain of jihadism would weaken and collapse. While this may seem simplistic and to and extent is so, consider two cases where the most rabid strains of Islam have failed to establish any deep roots - Bosnia and India. Bosnia's Muslims found themselves under attack from Serbia (and Christians at that), yet their nation has remained relatively quiet, and peaceful; all the more amazing when you consider the extremism that has been seen on every side, from Western Europe to the Middle East to the Caucasus. In India, a Muslim minority lives in relative harmony with a Hindu majority, giving lie to the idea that Muslim minorities are a recipe for disaster. Undoubtedly, there have been outbreaks of violence in India; but the critical factor is the lack of extremism within that Muslim community. This stands in especial contrast to the violence that wracks neighboring Pakistan, a nation created as a refuge for Muslims.
The lesson of India and Pakistan is perhaps the most important ever. A Muslim community, closely entwined with its liberal host, aware that there is a brighter future for its children through education and growth eschews the violent dreams and twisted paths of a Muslim majority that for all its religious freedom has neither real freedom nor any future worth living for in this life. Is it then surprising that they seek a path that promises happiness beyond the grave?
In the end, there are few easy answers and no silver bullets in combating this scourge. But violence begets violence and every forceful act against the crazy minority will risk shaking an undecided few that their way of life is under attack, and will line up to replace the "martyred" fools. Focusing instead on the small steps that would stem the flow of new fighters will go far further in ending this madness. As Abraham Lincoln so eloquently said, "I defeat my enemy when I make him my friend." We do not bow down to the jihadist madness, but we should look instead to choke off their supply of rubes.
In Nigeria, a group whose name explicitly explains its world view has found worldwide recognition after kidnapping two hundred school girls and threatened to sell them into slavery. (A side note: their threat reveals the very real existence of a slave trade for young women, centered strangely enough on the same Islamic world that so worries about the morals of everyone). Boko Haram (or "Western ways are bad") is determined to impose a highly regressive regime on the vast regions of Nigeria that it currently terrorizes, banning not just the common "ills" like alcohol and gambling, and of course women in public, but also proscribing all modern education presumably because it is seen as "western".
In Iraq and Syria, an equally rabid group has seized control of massive swaths of territory. While the stunning advances in Iraq have been aided by far less fundamentalist allies who have attempted to temper the blood lust of the jihadists, there have already been claims of massacres of those judged not sufficiently pious. While typically such claims would be denied as propaganda of their enemies, in this case the claims are made by the jihadists, complete with videos proudly documenting their actions. It would be unacceptably murderous, but understandable if these were part of a psychological warfare campaign designed to strike fear into government troops and convince them to quit the fight. Unfortunately, while terror is the aim of this group, it seems be mostly a promise of life to come for everyone once they establish their ideal Islamic state. Perhaps nothing is as telling about the nature of this group as the fact that they are considered too fanatical and blood-thirsty by their original inspiration, al Qaida.
While I normally accept the right of every person to follow any religious belief, the determination of the more religious fanatics to impose their beliefs on everyone else is unacceptable. I disagree with any attempt to force one's personal beliefs on one's fellow citizens, even in a relatively benign manner, notwithstanding the opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States. This does raise the delicate question of whether atheists are as guilty of forcing their world view upon people of faith. However while some atheists do occasionally get over-enthusiastic in demanding that their religious brethren open their eyes and embrace rationality, they rarely have the inclination, much less the power to do much more than vocally berate. For all the claims of being beleaguered and oppressed by agnostics and atheists, that usually arises from their frustration at being unable to impose their beliefs on others. Being prevented from opening public meetings with prayers is not oppression of the faithful, it's protecting all other sects including non-believers from the oppression of the majority faith. Similarly demanding, even insisting that science classes teach evolution as the accepted theory and give no time to malarkey like Creationism is not in any way a denial of religious rights, it simply insists that science classes be devoted to science and not to religion.
I discussed this question at length, because it is critical to distinguish between those who demand the right to live their beliefs and those who understand that right as a carte blanche to run roughshod over the rights of others. Most religious groups believe that they have a unique knowledge of the unknowable (their own way of seeing it, really since history has a habit of rendering the mysterious unknowable remarkably mundane). They have every right and freedom to their smug self-importance, and even to tell us non-believers about the everlasting torture that awaits us post-death. Unfortunately however, when faced with skepticism, the faithful prefer to use force to convince those who would shrug off well-meaning attempts to save their souls.
The big difference is that while the more mature religion of the West, and the less insistent religions of the East refrain from overt coercion, newer (comparatively speaking, by some seven hundred years) Islam has yet to learn restraint. While the majority of Islamic people would undoubtedly prefer to live in peace and leave the judgment of the world to the all-powerful god they believe in, and even the small minority who would force their view mostly push a more inclusive attitude. The truly violent groups like Boko Haram, the Taliban, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and al Qaida and its many offshoots represent a small, even miniscule, minority that will commit any violence, any atrocity to further their dream of an Islamic state that conforms to their twisted vision.
It is easy to ridicule the central pillar of their belief - if they truly believe in such a powerful god, why does he need them to act with such great violence, and why do non-believers need to be killed as quickly as possible, when there is all of eternity left for their god to mete out judgement - but neither logic nor ridicule is likely to sway such fanatics. Filled with absolute belief in their mission, they will never hear anything that would conflict with their vision. Even of that small group of fanatics, most of them are young and impressionable, led into a life of violence and murder by a tiny number of older leaders. Whether these leaders truly believe in the hatred and venom they spew or whether they are the ultimate cynics is impossible to say, though it is hard to understand how any man could be so scared of a fourteen year old girl as to order her death for speaking out for education; or how anyone who claims to be serving a higher power can justify enslaving hundreds of young girls for the "crime" of being in school; or how there can be any justification for the near daily murder of hundreds of their fellow humans, and even fellow Muslims, in the name of liberating them.
All this begs the question: how do you neutralize this threat and stop their mindless violence? It is extremely difficult, when they are prepared to kill anyone and everyone in their path, and at least amongst the lower level fighters, are ready to sacrifice their lives readily if they can take their perceived enemies with them. Most ideologues hope to enjoy the world they fashion and that means that they are both interested in living to see their efforts succeed and that they may be willing to compromise and accept a lesser version of their dream if faced with determined resistance; these jihadists however are willing to die willingly and there is no way to prove to them that their dream of eternal bliss is but a foolish dream and neither force nor reason will deter them. There are many who would argue that the only way to stop them is to kill them all. Though I consider myself for most part a liberal, there are times when I wonder if that is the only available path. When these misguided fighters wage war on the innocent and defenseless, when they would enslave (literally!) women and kill girls who dare to pursue education, when they would destroy everyone who does not adhere to their own twisted ideas, it seems that ultimate force is the only way to truly stop their murderous journey.
Perhaps. Perhaps, sadly, for many of the young and angry youth who form their violent corps, there is no way to stop them in time. Some of these youth have never known any world but the world of hate and weening them from that savage dream is likely impossible. But it is critical to note just how few that number really is. These jihadists number in the thousands, at most, while there are over a billion Muslims in the world. In not one single theater of war do they command a majority, either in numbers or even in support. Why then are they able to produce so massive an effect? True, they are usually the most brutal and most fanatical in support of their cause. But the environment that they spring from is in the end the answer, both to their inception and their neutralizing. In most cases they come from societies that lack liberal education, openness and a respect for the rule of law or the right to peaceful dissent. Those that come from the Muslim communities of the West have faced a mixture of distrust outside and confusion within themselves, and that mixture has made them vulnerable to simplistic answers. It is telling that the Nigerian Islamic terrorists virtually rule massive swathes of the country because for all their brutality and madness, they still provide a better government than the official rulers.
Education and good government are the main weapons that would defeat the terrorists. These are not the kind of weapons that turn the battle overnight, but if the masses of the Islamic world have governments that they can trust, and critically that can act on information without brutality or repression, those millions of ordinary people would ignore the preachers of fanaticism aside. Starved of followers and money, the most virulent strain of jihadism would weaken and collapse. While this may seem simplistic and to and extent is so, consider two cases where the most rabid strains of Islam have failed to establish any deep roots - Bosnia and India. Bosnia's Muslims found themselves under attack from Serbia (and Christians at that), yet their nation has remained relatively quiet, and peaceful; all the more amazing when you consider the extremism that has been seen on every side, from Western Europe to the Middle East to the Caucasus. In India, a Muslim minority lives in relative harmony with a Hindu majority, giving lie to the idea that Muslim minorities are a recipe for disaster. Undoubtedly, there have been outbreaks of violence in India; but the critical factor is the lack of extremism within that Muslim community. This stands in especial contrast to the violence that wracks neighboring Pakistan, a nation created as a refuge for Muslims.
The lesson of India and Pakistan is perhaps the most important ever. A Muslim community, closely entwined with its liberal host, aware that there is a brighter future for its children through education and growth eschews the violent dreams and twisted paths of a Muslim majority that for all its religious freedom has neither real freedom nor any future worth living for in this life. Is it then surprising that they seek a path that promises happiness beyond the grave?
In the end, there are few easy answers and no silver bullets in combating this scourge. But violence begets violence and every forceful act against the crazy minority will risk shaking an undecided few that their way of life is under attack, and will line up to replace the "martyred" fools. Focusing instead on the small steps that would stem the flow of new fighters will go far further in ending this madness. As Abraham Lincoln so eloquently said, "I defeat my enemy when I make him my friend." We do not bow down to the jihadist madness, but we should look instead to choke off their supply of rubes.
