Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer is interviewed by Michael S. Rose at CruxNews. Some excerpts:
Cruxnews.com: Why can’t the mainstream media or Western politicians face up to this reality? Why can’t we seem to acknowledge this as a society?
Spencer: The answer to that is simple: Fear and political correctness.
Cruxnews.com: Political correctness again? You wrote at length about the problems of political correctness in your book Onward Muslim Soldiers. It seems that political correctness in at least some of the European countries has led to tolerant laws for Islamic immigrants. Countries like France, Britain, and the Netherlands now have a significant population of Muslims. What are some of the ill effects of these nations’ tolerant laws?
Spencer: The ill effects are many. Muslims in Norway are pushing to make it a crime to blaspheme the Prophet Muhammad. Britain is instituting religious hatred laws that would be aimed at muzzling criticism of Islam; a Protestant minister has been questioned by police recently after he noted that parts of the Qur’an teach aggression against unbelievers. Such laws are supposed to keep the peace between Muslims and non-Muslims, but they have the unintended effect of muzzling genuine questions that ought to be considered by the Islamic communities in Europe if they really want to live in peace in the existing secular societies….
Cruxnews.com: What can be done to stop Islam-inspired terrorism?
Spencer: First, we must acknowledge its sources and roots. As long as we continue to delude ourselves that socioeconomic or political fixes will solve the problem, and ignore the fact that jihadists are being recruited in mosques around the world every day, we will continue to be faced with this threat. We must recognize that the roots are in Islamic theology, and call on the Islamic world to reform.
Cruxnews.com: But that would require the nations of the Western World to rid themselves of their high penchant for abiding by the strict laws of political correctness. How has political correctness in Europe and/or in the US hamstrung abilities to deal with Islamic terrorism?
Spencer: Because authorities refuse to acknowledge that Islam plays any significant role in global terrorism, they have declined to investigate mosques and other places where Islamic terrorists have recruited and planned. Luckily, this is changing.
Cruxnews.com: What is the final solution? Or isn’t there one?
Spencer: There isn’t one. We must call on Islam to reform, but it is wildly unlikely that this will happen. We must keep up our defenses, recognize where the problem is coming from, and develop reasonable law enforcement and immigration policies. Above all, we must recover our own spiritual resources, for ultimately this is a spiritual conflict.