A few days ago Dean Esmay, the blogger with whom I have had several exchanges (during which he followed the familiar pattern of heaping abuse upon me personally but not dealing with the substantive points I raised), carried out an ideological purge at his site, demanding that posters and commenters agree with five points about “Islamophobia” or be gone. These points included things that no one is affirming (“Islam does not represent the forces of Satan or the Anti-Christ bent on destruction of the Christian world”) and things that can be affirmed of some, but not all Muslims.
The main flashpoint, I’m told, was the assertion that “Islam as a religion is no more inherently incompatible with modernity, minority rights, women’s rights, or democratic pluralism than most ancient religions.” In this he was demanding that writers affirm something of which there has never been any demonstration in history, such that if it is true, that is a matter for the future — rather as if he had demanded that people accept the proposition that tomorrow the rivers will flow in the opposite direction. Maybe they will, but large-scale evidence is so far not forthcoming.
Anyway, a good many good writers jumped out of Esmay’s ideological gulag at that point, including Ron Coleman of LikelihoodofConfusion.com (who tells me that he is looking for a “home” for general-interest blogging; I invited him to write here but he politely declined my invitation because he is not primarily focused on the jihad; however, he is eager to hear from anyone with any suggestions of a better fit); the superb Jane Novak of Armies of Liberation; and Kevin Dombrowski, who, as you can see, has begun posting here (he wrote the two posts immediately below this one).
Welcome, Kevin, and thank you for coming on board. At Jihad Watch we are dedicated to the defense of human rights as they are threatened by the Islamic jihadists, and beyond that we welcome a diversity of points of view. I look forward to reading more from you.