SYNOPSIS:
There are about 1 billion Muslims on the planet
Earth.
The vast majority of these men, women, & children are completely
peaceful.
In fact, some even say that Islam means peace.
But a tiny minority of people who think of themselves as Muslims
do follow forms of 'Islam' that commits violent acts of terror against
random strangers.
These are mostly young males.
And almost all of them have been indoctrinated into violent
Islam.
Acts of random terrorism committed by people who
think they are good Muslims
have become a common feature of the Earth in the 21st century.
Unfortunately, there does not seem to be any apparent end in sight.
In fact, some of the means we have tried in the 'war on terrorism'
have actually strengthened the number of terrorists and their resolve.
Will random
acts of 'Muslim' terrorists be the main form of 'warfare' in the 21st
century?
In part our 'war on terrorism' has been unsuccessful
because we have been using methods appropriate only for military
conflict,
whereas this struggle is primarily religious in nature.
Perhaps 'religious' should be put in quotes
because it might more accurately be described as a tribal
conflict.
Some young Muslim men have been trained to hate all other
groups.
OUTLINE:
I. TWO
DIFFERENT KINDS OF MUSLIMS: PEACEFUL & VIOLENT
II. TWO DIFFERENT
KINDS OF CHRISTIANS: PEACEFUL & VIOLENT
III. BRITISH MUSLIM
LEADERS SPEAK OUT AGAINST VIOLENCE
IV. PAKISTAN ROUNDS
UP TEACHERS OF VIOLENT ISLAM
V. MILITARY METHODS
HAVE FAILED AGAINST TERRORISM
VI. A RELIGIOUS
APPROACH TO A RELIGIOUS CONFLICT:
DEPROGRAMMING VIOLENT MUSLIMS
VII. WILL PEACEFUL
MUSLIMS FINANCE THE REHABILITATION OF VIOLENT MUSLIMS?
PEACEFUL MUSLIMS & VIOLENT MUSLIMS
by James
Park
I. TWO DIFFERENT KINDS OF MUSLIMS: PEACEFUL & VIOLENT
Question: How do you tell the difference between a
peaceful Muslim and a violent Muslim?
Answer: We watch their behavior after they go to 'church'.
The Muslim holy day is Friday.
After prayers on Fridays we can watch outside the mosque.
This is how we can identify the violent Muslims:
As they march thru the streets, they shout "Death to America!"
If only it were that simple in most cases.
However, most violent Muslims do not advertise their plans so openly.
So we need undercover peaceful Muslims to infiltrate the gatherings of
violent Muslims
in order to provide the police with enough information to arrest them
for conspiracy to commit murder or similar terrorist crimes.
It is not a crime merely to preach violence against anyone else.
Freedom of speech in most countries allows all forms of verbal behavior.
There must be at least one overt act in preparation for a crime.
This could include collecting weapons or explosives
intended to be used against the 'enemies of God'.
Mosques in which explosives are hidden are not examples of peaceful
Islam.
Whenever another suicide-bomber kills himself and
several others,
we wonder what was going thru his mind when he committed murder and
suicide.
Because the terrorists have almost all been Muslims,
we are tempted to think that there must be something about this religion
that causes it young men to want to kill themselves
in the process of ridding the world of a few more 'infidels'.
However, as it is becoming more and more clear,
the vast majority of followers of the Muslim faith
do not approve such acts of terror.
Thus, the answer probably does not lie in discovering something about
Muslim faith
that causes suicidal and murderous behavior.
Rather there must be something in the minds of these particular
suicide-bombers
that causes them to give up their own lives in order to kill other
people at random,
many of whom probably never gave a second thought to being for or
against Muslims.
II. TWO DIFFERENT KINDS OF CHRISTIANS:
PEACEFUL & VIOLENT
We in the Western world are much more familiar with
the Christian faith.
And we know that Christianity basically promotes peace and love.
But we do have one small area of the Western world
where people have killed each other at random
because they belong to the 'wrong' brand of Christianity.
This place is Northern Ireland.
Was the Christianity of Northern Ireland based on a
different Bible
than the rest of the Christians of the world follow?
No, both sides use the same Old and New Testament.
But the children raised in Northern Ireland are sent to different
schools.
Their parents must choose either Protestant schools or Catholic schools.
There are no neutral or secular schools.
Thus, even if the parents are not particularly religious themselves,
they must assign their children to one of these branches of the
Christian faith or the other.
And the result is a strong tribal identification with being either a
Protestant or a Catholic,
even tho these are both sub-divisions of the Christian faith.
It would be a basic mistake to attempt to understand
the conflict in Northern Ireland
by looking into the subtle differences in the theology of Protestants
and Catholics.
Even the people who killed followers of the 'opposite' religion
could not explain why members of the other group deserved to die.
Right away, when we begin to speak of Christians in
Northern Ireland killing each other,
we see that it was not really the Christian faith that created such
hatred.
Rather their hatred of members of the other group is tribal
rather than theological.
Also, we must immediately recognize
that only a small minority of each branch of Christianity
actually committed acts of violence against the other group.
Over a period of about 30 years, 3,000 people from both sides were
killed.
The vast majority of Christians in Northern Ireland
were not watching for opportunities to avoid punishment
while murdering members of the 'wrong' religion.
Terrorism is usually a method chosen by groups
that perceive themselves to be in the minority.
If they actually had a majority,
they would be able to use the ballot rather than the bullet
in order to change the government to be more sympathetic to their group.
In Ireland itself, the Catholics are in a clear majority.
Thus, they do not have to use guns and bombs to try to get their way.
And what political differences exist in Ireland are not drawn along
religious lines.
But in Northern Ireland (which is a part of the
United Kingdom),
there are more Protestants than Catholics.
So the Irish Republic Army (IRA) used to believe that it had to use
violence
to overthrow the Protestant majority
and re-unite that northeastern part of the island
with the rest of Ireland, where Catholics rule.
As a part of this campaign, the IRA used to commit
acts of random violence
not only in Northern Ireland itself but also in England,
which the IRA perceived as the seat of oppression.
They said they wanted to get the British out of Ireland.
But the majority of voters in Northern Ireland
have consistently voted to remain a part of the United Kingdom.
'Protestant' para-military groups also committed
acts of random violence against their 'Catholic' enemies.
Whenever law-and-order broke down in Northern Ireland,
terrorists on both sides took advantage of the opportunity
to harm members of the 'opposite' religion.
Once again, it must be emphasized that the vast majority of Christians
on both sides of the Protestant/Catholic divide
are peaceable and non-violent people.
They live side-by-side with each other
without watching for opportunities to kill each other.
But there were organized groups on both sides
that were more committed to our own tribe than to Christianity.
It now seems that 'the troubles' in Northern Ireland are drawing to a
close.
In July 2005, the IRA decided no longer to use violent means to advance
its cause.
III. BRITISH MUSLIM LEADERS SPEAK OUT
AGAINST VIOLENCE
After the random bombings in London on July 7, 2005,
over 500 religious leaders of Islam in Great Britain issued a religious
declaration
that random violence against anyone is not an Islamic act.
In short, they were saying that most Muslims are peaceful.
And the violent fringe groups should no longer attempt to defend their
actions
by claiming that they are killing 'infidels' in the name of Allah.
There will probably be some back-lash against the
main-stream Muslims
who have condemned the London bombings
(and all other similar acts of random terror).
But the vast majority of Muslims in Britain (and everywhere in the
world)
are peaceful persons, who have no interest in killing non-Muslims
(or Muslims who do not agree with them on matters trivial or
momentous).
We who are not Muslims can only stand back and
approve
of the majority voice of peaceful Islam
as it attempts to control the violence fringe groups.
Such religious efforts from within the Muslim faith itself
is more likely to be successful
than any of the military and police efforts to prevent terrorism.
If there are fewer young men willing to kill themselves
because of some misguided version of Islam,
then terrorism will gradually dry up for lack of people who
believe they will go to paradise because they kill 'infidels'.
The religious leaders of Islam world-wide
can help people who have some connection with Islam
to understand that the violent extremists have distorted Islam.
IV. PAKISTAN ROUNDS UP TEACHERS OF VIOLENT ISLAM
After the London bombings of July 7, 2005 were
linked to British citizens
who had Pakistani ethnic roots and who had been trained
in the methods of violent Islam in special 'schools' in Pakistan,
the government of Pakistan rounded up about a hundred of the leaders of
such schools.
The president of Pakistan himself has been the target of some violent
Muslims.
Because Pakistan is a Muslim country,
it might take the lead in creating programs that will change the minds
of young Muslim men who have been trained to kill themselves and others
in the name of God.
If a Muslim country uses peaceful Muslim leaders to convert violent
Muslims,
then the militants can no longer say that the treatment was at the
hands of 'infidels',
which has been the case when the United States uses military and police
methods
in its attempts to extract information from violent Muslims.
V. MILITARY METHODS HAVE FAILED
AGAINST TERRORISM
It is a truism of history that military strategists
are always fighting the last war.
They think they know something about conflicts
because of their extensive experience in the past.
But this has proven false no more dramatically than in the Iraq of 2005.
The United States took over the country of Iraq in
2003
hoping that the good people of Iraq would be able to establish their
own government.
But the bare fact that US troops are occupying Iraq
is the most obvious fact to all the people of Iraq.
And as long as the US troops are there on the ground,
the minor differences between various groups of Iraqis will be
insignificant
in comparison with the overwhelming fact
that foreign troops are in control of the whole country.
These foreign troops are from the United States of America.
Simply by being there, these troops make themselves the main focus of
hatred.
US troops know almost nothing about Islam.
Thus they continue to use military methods
for a conflict that is perceived by the 'enemy' as a religious conflict.
The violent Muslims of Iraq believe that they must sacrifice themselves
in order to kill as many of the foreign invaders as possible
---along with their supporters from among the Iraqi people.
Whenever American captures 'enemy combatants',
they are put into military prisons and interrogated by military
personnel.
We all know the abuses that have occurred in these prisons.
And it seems doubtful that much important military information has been
obtained.
Why would militant Islamists give up any secrets of their group
if they went to war with the intent of killing themselves
and killing as many 'infidels' as possible?
What good is a 2-billion-dollar stealth bomber
against a suicide-bomber?
That same $2,000,000,000 would hire 100,000 peaceful Muslims
who could identify thousands of suicide-bombers before they blow
themselves up.
VI. A RELIGIOUS APPROACH TO A RELIGIOUS CONFLICT:
DEPROGRAMMING VIOLENT MUSLIMS
Because the 'Muslim' terrorists are motivated by
quasi-religious beliefs,
the rest of the world must meet this threat with methods appropriate to
this mentality.
Killing, imprisoning, & torturing violent Islamists only creates
more people
who are willing to sacrifice themselves
in the struggle against such evil deeds committed by the oppressors.
Instead of humiliating and torturing violent
Muslims,
we ought to try to convert them to peaceful Islam.
At first, this will require taking violent Muslims into custody.
When they are in jail, they are unable to make more bombs
and unable to carry out any other acts of terror against their
perceived enemies.
But where should we keep the violent Muslims we have
captured?
So far the whole world has done a miserable job of taking care of these
extremists.
Each country has prisons in which militants are kept.
But such national prisons make other militants angry against those
nations.
Perhaps this major new conflict of the 21st century
requires a completely new response.
Instead of killing, imprisoning, & torturing the militants when we
can get our hand on them,
perhaps we should establish peaceful, non-violent places and means for deprogramming
them.
It might be wise to create a place somewhere on the
Earth
where captured 'Muslim' militants can be taken,
where they will be cared for not by military authorities of any nation
but by other Muslims
---drawn from the peaceful Muslims who make up the majority of that
faith.
This could be done on a Pacific island that has no
population at present.
The whole island could become a penal colony for violent Muslims.
It would be owned and controlled by an international body such as the
United Nations.
This would defuse at least some of the hostility toward the captors.
This penal colony for violent Muslims
would be a place where no further violence could be plotted or carried
forward.
In order to prevent contact with other violent Muslims,
all means of communication would be strictly controlled.
And the very isolation of the Pacific island
would prevent person-to-person contacts with any violent Muslims in any
country.
The penal colony would be run by peaceful Muslims.
They would have an ideal setting for helping former violent Muslims
to change their thinking so that they embrace peaceful Islam
rather than the violent form that learned earlier in their lives.
Formerly violent Muslims would demonstrate
that they really have been converted to peaceful Islam
by providing valuable information about their former comrades in
violent Islam.
And this information would be used to capture more violent Muslims
wherever they exist in the world.
And those who have been converted from violent Islam
to peaceful Islam
would be taken to a better part of the island,
where they would continue to associate with other converts to peaceful
Islam.
After a length of time sufficient to prove their
conversion is real,
these new peaceful Muslims could be returned to their native countries,
where they would be welcomed by their families
and re-integrated into their culture of peaceful Muslims.
There will undoubtedly be some members of violent
Islamic groups
who will never be converted to peaceful Muslims.
And because of this fact, they will have to remain separated
from the rest of the world for the remainder of their natural lives.
These include some of the present leaders of violent Islam,
for whom there is little hope of conversion to peaceful Islam.
But we should not give up on any individual.
Even the most hardened advocate of 'Islamic' violence
might eventually turn to some more peaceful philosophy of life.
This is a radical departure from the prisoner-of-war
scenario
that followed all of the previous wars on the planet Earth.
In the past, after a war was over,
the captured enemy soldiers were returned to their native countries
without any attempt to change their minds about anything.
The war was over.
One side had won.
And the prisoners-of-war were returned to take up their places in the
new peaceful order.
They had fought honorably in their national interest.
And now they can be re-integrated into the peaceful nation that was
defeated in the war.
When the world is dealing with suicide-bombers,
such return to their native environment is not possible.
The culture from which they came will probably still be creating
violent Muslims.
So sending them home will only create more problems for the world.
From this perspective, the British actions following
July 7, 2005
are fundamentally in error.
They decided to create a list of violent Muslims living in Great
Britain.
If they were foreign nationals,
they would be expelled from Britain and returned to their native
countries.
If any people on the list attempted to enter the United Kingdom,
they would be excluded.
But this only exports the problem of violent Muslims to other
lands,
which will not solve the problem
unless those countries have facilities and programs
that are intended to de-program the violent Muslims so returned.
At least some violent Muslims will never be
converted to a peaceful ideology.
A permanent place will have to be established for them.
If the world stops creating more violent Muslims,
the maximum number of people in permanent custody
will be measured in the thousands rather than in the tens of thousands.
As we learn more about the organizations that have trained violent
Muslims,
we will have a better idea of just how many such persons now exist on
Earth.
We should remind ourselves that the prisons of the
world now contain
millions of people who are too dangerous to release into the
general public.
The number of violent Muslims permanently in penal colonies
will be only a small percentage of the total prison population of the
world.
And the fact that others have converted to peaceful
Islam
and been released will always be known to the 'permanent' prisoners.
They will continue to be offered the benefits of peaceful Islam.
If they do in fact change their minds against violent Islam,
they can also be released to their home countries
---after, of course, they have proven that they are no longer violent
Muslims
by giving valuable information about the violent groups from which they
came.
Individuals who have genuinely been changed
will be glad to help in the effort to find and convert other
violent Muslims
to the main-stream, peaceful forms of Islam.
VII. WILL PEACEFUL
MUSLIMS FINANCE THE REHABILITATION OF VIOLENT MUSLIMS?
The idea of an island penal colony controlled by an
international body
is perhaps a fantasy that will never come to pass.
Or perhaps such incarceration will only be provided
for those few violent Muslims who cannot be rehabilitated.
In the immediate future, it seems more likely that
Muslim countries
will have their own corrections systems,
which look like ordinary prisons to start with.
But when they are developed exclusively for the rehabilitation of
violent Muslims,
then they will have special features not found in ordinary prison
systems.
Peaceful Muslims have a strong interest in the
recovery of other Muslims
who have been indoctrinated to such a degree
that they have abandoned the peaceful nature of main-stream Islam.
In many cases, the family members of violent Muslims are themselves
peaceful Muslims.
And they do not understand
what possessed some of their sons and brothers to turn to violence.
The most likely reason is that these young Muslim
men
have been convinced by some kind of training
that it is their religious duty to kill 'infidels' in the name of God.
If they were open to religious training that made them violent Muslims,
at least some of them will be open to religious training
that will make them peaceful Muslims.
Indoctrination can be reversed.
People who have been programmed into one belief system
can have their minds changed so that they embrace another system.
And it is especially easy when the vast majority of Muslims
believe that violence against random strangers is fundamentally
non-Islamic.
One reason we might expect peaceful Muslims to
finance
the rehabilitation of their fellow Muslims who have been indoctrinated
into terrorism
is that giving alms is one of the religious duties of all Muslims.
And peaceful Muslims might see that there could be no better use for
their money
than to change the minds of their fellow Muslims who have been misled
into violent ways.
As said before, sometimes the violent Muslims come
from families
in which most of the Muslim believers follow the path of peace.
So such peaceful Muslims will be happy to finance any programs
that have some reasonable chance of rescuing the misguided young men
who were caught before they could blow themselves up in the name of God.
Also peaceful Muslims would like the opportunity to
show the world
that not all Muslims are prone to violence.
If they pour millions of dollars into the rehabilitation of violent
Muslims,
peaceful Muslims will show everyone that they do not condone violence
and that they hope to save some of these young men
who would otherwise destroy themselves and others in the name of Islam.
When the rehabilitation is financed by the donations
of peaceful Muslims,
then such centers for re-education will probably be in the nations
from which the violent Muslims originally came.
The re-education will be conducted in their native language.
This will help the violent Muslims to see that their whole culture
does not support their activities as taught in the terrorist training
camps.
New kinds of camps can be created to reverse the false indoctrination.
And these camps will not have to be secret,
since the whole Muslim world will support them.
The power of the various Muslim countries will have
to be used
to get the suicide-bombers into the re-education at the beginning.
But as they see the error of their ways,
less and less force will be needed to restrain them.
They can have more freedom within the re-education camps.
And if their minds are finally changed so that they embrace peaceful
Islam again,
they can be released into the cultures from which they came.
And they can become peaceful, productive citizens.
Perhaps this is a dream.
But the world will never know what percentage of violent Muslims can be
rehabilitated
until some good programs have actually been tried.
We know that Western military might
has not changed the hearts and minds of violent Muslims,
So perhaps it is time to allow peaceful Muslims
to attempt to reach these misguided victims of violent Islam.
Let the experiments begin.
And we will judge the programs by the fruits they bear.
Which programs actually have saved violent Muslims
from their terrorist ways?
When we have more actual examples of former Muslim terrorists
who have joined peaceful Islam,
we will be able to face the future with hope rather than fear.
Will the next decades of history prove that love is stronger than hate?
first
drafted and revised July 2005; revised 8-13-2005
See the following related cyber-sermons:
DEPROGRAMMING OSAMA BIN
LADEN
HOLY WAR
AGAINST TERRORISM
BIBLIOGRAPHY ON TERRORISM
AUTHOR:
James Park is an existential philosopher
living peacefully in Minneapolis, Minnesota,
a city in the middle of the North American continent,
which has never experienced any act of terrorism.
He belongs to a liberal religious movement called Unitarian
Universalism.
No member of this peaceful movement has ever committed a terrorist act.
James Park is the author of several books,
which will be discovered in reading the various parts of his website:
An Existential
Philosopher's Museum:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~parkx032/