Spencer/Kristof: one more

The post below has gotten quite long enough, but I can't resist adding just one more exchange I have had over the Dallas Morning News article.

This one is a classic example of the moral confusion and myopia that keeps people from understanding the reality and magnitude of the threat of radical Islam. It ought to be obvious to everyone that the "Christian extremists" he mentions have done nothing remotely approaching 9/11, or 3/11, or Bali, or Nigeria, or the suicide attacks in Israel, or hundreds of other incidents I could name -- and that therefore any comparison of them with jihadists, like Kristof's, amounts to nothing more than a slur, and a diversion of our attention from where it should be. Unfortunately, it isn't obvious.

Mr. Spencer,

After reading your response to Kristof's article about the "Left Behind" series of novels, it occurs to me that you don't really understand many of the salt-of-the-earth Christians who, quite literally, take these novels as gospel. I work at a public library in a poor area of town in a midwestern state, where Christian extremism is routine. The comments from my customers indicate that they believe the "Left Behind" novels are non-fiction accounts of what will truly happen. They are often incapable of distinguishing fiction from fact. These novels are stirring up dangerous emotions in these folks that entrench their beliefs, and render them incapable of living in even a remotely pluralistic society. Mr. Kristof's view is in no way giving comfort to the Muslim extremists, but, rather, explaining how Christian religious intolerance is incompatible with living in the United States.

Sincerely,
[Name deleted]

Reply:

Thanks. Please send me news articles recounting how these folks have begun taking up arms and killing non-Christians. I look forward to receiving them.

Best regards
Robert Spencer