Given the state of higher education today, this is a jaw-dropping story. From the Review Journal, with thanks to Twostellas:
Patrick Boylan, a member of the state’s board of education, brought out the Quran before 19 of the state’s highest emergency responders.
“It says it right here. Do not take the infidels as your friends,” he said, citing Sura 5:51. “I’m making statements straight from the Quran and these are what terrorists are using to justify terrorism.”
The topic of his lecture, “The terrorist mind-set, why do they hate us?” was part of a federally funded pilot master’s degree program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ Institute of Security Studies. …
“I have studied the Quran for this very purpose to understand why they behave the way they do,” said Boylan, an Irish Catholic, who grew up in Pakistan. “There is going to be a war on terrorism that is never going to stop, and Islam is behind it.”
Boylan’s lecture made more than a few students in the classroom shift in their seats as he said the Islamic religion advocates killing Christians and Jews.
“I have a little bit of a different opinion,” Sheriff Bill Young said during a class break. “Historically, Muslims, particularly in our country, are good citizens.”
That was not relevant to what Boylan said, and this kind of red herring prevents the truth from getting out. Saying that elements of Islam give rise to terrorism is not saying that all Muslims are terrorists. As in all religions, many people go along culturally without having a deep familiarity with the teachings. Others choose to ignore them. But it is an obvious fact that radicals use the Qur’an and Sunnah to justify their actions, and I applaud Boylan’s courage for saying so.
Retired U.S. Army Col. Lee Van Arsdale, the institute’s director, stood up during the class to offer a legal disclaimer that Boylan’s views do not represent those of UNLV.
All right. But what if the American Muslim groups sued? What could they do? Prove that the verse Boylan quoted is not in the Qur’an? Of course, they would fall back on the old “out-of-context” defense. For that, read Onward Muslim Soldiers, which examines key jihad verses of the Qur’an within the context of Islamic history, tradition, theology, and law.
Boylan knows his views are controversial. He resided in Pakistan for the first 26 years of his life, where he said he saw firsthand discrimination and violence against non-Muslims.
“Non-Muslims have been discriminated against all over the world,” he said. “We are in a battle of religion right now.”
In Pakistan and other countries of Islamic rule, Christians are treated as second-class citizens and cannot obtain high-level positions in government, he told students.
“There are no non-Muslims that hold significant positions of power,” he said. …
Boylan said the moderate Muslims, should they speak up, are drowned out by the radicals. He told students that obedience to a holy book which advocates subjugating, and in some cases killing, those who don’t follow it will forever divide Muslims from non-Muslims.
“Those people who have taken (the Quran) to heart are doing (terrorism),” he said.
Americans tend to be too politically correct and are blind to the religious motivations behind terrorism, he said.
Brother, you can say that again.