The establishment propaganda media is in an uproar over this, but Bannon is, of course, correct. Confronted about this, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said: “The president’s number one goal has always been to focus on the safety of America, not the religion. He understands that it’s not a religion problem, it’s a radicalization problem. That there’s a big difference between Islam the religion and radical Islamic terrorists that come here to seek to do us harm.”
That is very close to the idea that Islam is a religion of peace that has been hijacked by a tiny minority of extremists. However, President Trump is still singular in identifying the problem as “Islamic,” albeit with the “radical” qualifier. We can only hope that this will lead to a more realistic appraisal of the ideological roots of the threat than has been in place for the last sixteen years.
“Steve Bannon in 2010: ‘Islam is not a religion of peace. Islam is a religion of submission,'” by Andrew Kaczynski, CNN, February 1, 2017:
(CNN)President Trump’s chief strategist, former Breitbart executive Steve Bannon, once dismissed the notion that Islam is a religion of peace, describing it in a 2010 radio interview as “a religion of submission.”
Bannon made the comments on “Western Word Radio with Avi Davis,” an online right-wing radio station.
In the segment, Bannon, who at the time served on the board of Breitbart, criticized former President George W. Bush for what he and fellow guest conservative columnist Diana West described as injecting political correctness into the federal government.
Bannon mocked Bush for proclaiming “Islam is a religion of peace.”
“Islam is not a religion of peace. Islam is a religion of submission. Islam means submission,” Bannon said. “I mean, the whole thing is just, he is the epitome, he’s a Republican version–not a conservative–he’s a Republican establishment, country club version of the Clintons. That’s all they are. It’s the baby boomer, narcissistic, he wants to feel loved.”
The word Islam means submission, and a Muslim is one who submits to God. The Arabic root of the word Islam means “to be safe” and is connected to the word “peace.”…

somehistory says
But so many just, “Can’t handle the truth.”
mortimer says
ISLAM IS THE RELIGION OF SUPREMACIST JIHAD.
-Mohammed stated, “The head of its matter is Islam and its pillar is the Salah and its highest peak is the Jihad.”
-Caliph Umar ibn al Khattab stated, “There is no izza (honour) without Jihad”.
-Mohammed stated that jihad is fighting for political supremacism, ““Whosoever fights to make Allah’s word the highest, then he is in the way of Allah.” [Bukhari and Muslim].
mortimer says
Bush sucked up to the Saudis to firm up the political alliance. The Saudis betrayed Bush by continuing to teach world conquest through jihad in all their school texts.
Havoc says
GWB is dimwitted. He is akin to a steer following the judas goat to slaughter.
.
(The judas goat is no great intellect, either.)
.
GWB still believes that ‘Islam is a religion of peace’. He is beyond reason.
Diane Harvey says
There’s no getting around it. Islam is an aggressive, war-minded “religion.” I put in those quotation marks because Islam is more political than it is religious. As others more qualified than I have stated, Islam is a totalitarian political system masquerading as a religion as a veneer.
Confronting this reality should have been addressed years ago. Bush did enormous damage with his stupid “Islam is a religion of peace” statement of nonsense in the days following 911.
That Islam is the world’s foremost problem will have to be addressed. Trump should start this analysis pronto.
Angemon says
Whoa, the CNN are actually looking like investigative journalists for a change! I wonder, if during their travel through time all the way back to 2010, they met Obama’s 2011 visa policy for iraqis?
Gen Jones says
What kind of weasel wording from the CNN article is this:
the word Islam means submission, and a Muslim is one who submits to God. The Arabic root of the word Islam means “to be safe” and is connected to the word “peace.”
Oh so it’s “connected” to the word peace. Etymologically? Or in that if you submit you’ll be safe – you won’t be killed? ?
It’s hilarious that CNN and the NYT today are still defending the Religion of Peace meme 16 years after 9/11. Many people, in particular Democrats, thought GWB a fool and yet they cling to this line more than any other.
Mac-101 says
Good point. The biggest Lie Bush II told is the one the Libs repeat constantly. No LOL!
Shmooviyet says
Thank you for commenting on that incredibly dumb, CYA ‘root of the word is connected to peace’. Peace for whom?
No expert here, but one doesn’t hear “salam” being screamed when a ship is fired upon; or a bad or non-muslim is hacked, shot, tossed, stoned (or whatever) to pieces.
Michael Copeland says
“A particularly curious aspect of the Bush “Islam is peace” broadcast is the way in which the whole world suddenly, within a nanosecond as it were, forgot that Bush is not a source of general knowledge. As if under hypnosis, everyone suspended normal critical faculties and drank in this learned guru of Islam.”
From “The Duping of Cameron” at Liberty GB:
http://www.libertygb.org.uk/news/duping-cameron
maghan says
It makes no sense to say that Islam means peace. Rather it would make sense to define Islam as “submission” to Allah. After all, the Qur’an is about diktats to Muslims from Allah by way of Muhammad. What else?
Mac-101 says
So why does the MSM, which is dominated by a certain group, support the very group that demands that their religion KILL them?
.
So tellin the TRUTH is a Lie and the Lie a Truth. It truly is 1984!
Stan Lee says
IMHO, Steve Bannon is correct! A passage by John Quincy Adams,, 6th U.S. President, 1825-1829, reads as follows:
“The fundamental doctrine of the Christian religion is the extirpation of hatred from the human heart, it forbids the exercise of hatred from the human heart. The Mussulman (Muslim) has declared undistinguishing and exterminating war as part of his religion. The precept of the Koran is perpetual war against all who deny that Mahhomit (Mohamed) is the prophet of God.
The essence of his doctrine was violence and lust to exalt the brutal over the spiritual part of human nature.
The words are from “The Annotated John Quincy Adams”, 1767-1848, 6th President of the United States, 1825-1829. The question of Islam and peace has been going on long before our present dilemma with Islam. It has been consistent with its push against all religions other than Islam
It was the Barbary pirates, war, and slavery then and Islam stays dedicated in time to war, its “jihad.”
If anyone thinks it will change to accommodate to the democratic nations and to live in peace with the rest of this world, please tell me when Islam will adjust its dogma in order to prevent wars which it has fought since Mohamed became its prophet.
Michael Copeland says
“….between us and you enmity and hatred forever…”
Koran 60:4, part of Islam’s rules.
JIMJFOX says
In Arabic, the word “Islam” means submission or surrender – however, it was derived from the root word “salam”. From this root word, you can also derive the words peace and safety. Many people feel that Islam implies some sort of enslavement to Allah, but others find it more helpful to define the word “Islam” as surrender.
http://muslimvoices.org/word-islam-meaning/
Gen Jones says
You know you are quoting the definition of Islam by an American apologist Rosemary Pennington. She subtly and not so subtly skims over the less savory aspects of Islam in all her writing.
Gen Jones says
For example she says in that link, trying to turn the idea of “submission” to the milder “surrender” that Christians are encouraged to surrender their livelihoods to Jesus. But Jesus taught us that we are children of God our father, not slaves to Him. Muslims often call themselves slaves of Allah. The name Abdullah means exactly that. Her sweet bullshit is all over her writing.
FYI says
Yes that is true but try explaining that to…
1)muslims
2)lefties
3)media folk
common sense says
Muslims move here or anywhere and we should learn “Islam” and submit to its will. Forget it, we are already peaceful. I dont need to pray 5 times a day. Telling them we have no need for Islam is an insult to their sodomizing prophet who was never prophet at all. That’s when the political and violent attacks start, pretty much right away. Refugees are often pre-emptive, “let us in or else”.
Walter Sieruk says
It’s a good idea not to take at face value the claim that the word Islam means “peace.” For example, the ENCARTA WORLD ENGLISH DICTIONARY copyright 1999 defines Islam as “submission” based on the word “aslama” meaning “he surrendered.” Given the definition it’s an odd phenomenon that after about fourteen hundred years starting on September 12, 2001 the meaning changed from “submission” to “peace.” It’s very well known that if the police are questioning someone and he changes his story something is wrong. Nevertheless, when it comes to Islam no one gets suspicious of the change. The jihadists brag that they will win the war against the West by using the Western ignorance and naive gullible mindset on the subject of Islam against us. It seems that they do have some basis in that claim since so many Westerners are beguiled by the Muslim disinformation campaign.
JawsV says
“That there’s a big difference between Islam the religion and radical Islamic terrorists that come here to seek to do us harm.” – Sean Spicer
Oh BS! Yes, it’s the “religion” that’s the problem. ISLAM IS THE PROBLEM, SEAN.
Just stop with the BS.
Guest says
I heard Spicer this morning stumbling around on the Australia/US issue. He is currently unsuited to being a Press Secretary. He speaks too fast, with too little certainty, no clear preparation and messy sentences. He needs much better preparation and needs to learn to control his speech better.
Perhaps that is what happened on this islam issue, too.
Leith Wood says
I agree about Sean Spicer’s delivery, but do not believe that is what happened on the Islam issue. He needs to study Robert Spencer’s books and read Jihad Watch on line. Listen to brave, intelligent people like Ayan Hirsi Ali, Brigitte Gabriel (Act For America) , Gert Wilders and many more. No more pc trash. I believe President Trump understands it all and we’ll see some sanity.
maghan says
Ayan Hiris Ali lived the life of a Muslima but she’s not an expert on Islam. She is still committed to it because she hopes it can be reformed. She has not taken the plunge and dismissed the whole thing as a bunch of incoherent statements many of which advocate gratuitous violence. Only individuals at very low levels of intelligence could taken Islam seriously–at the cognitive level. Of course, Islam requires great vigilance because its believers could suddenly go berserk and slaughter at will.
avi15 says
Islam fits exactly the definition of a cult, according to the extensive research done into religious cults in the 1980s. There was a serious problem with cults throughout the seventies and eighties, e.g. the Moonies, Rajneesh (Bhagwan), Scientology, Temple Solaire, Hari Krishna, Jonestown. The classic work on this is ‘Combating Cult Mind Control’ by Steven Hassan. It explains the exact psychological mechanisms used by cults to gain and retain followers, their authoritarian structures and the methods used to rescue and de-programme former cult methods. Hence, this research is now extremely relevant. Unfortunately, it is not being leveraged by governments, the military or law enforcement. The reason is that Islam is still classified as a great world religion on a par with Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and so on. The issue has never been really thought through rigorously enough: the great British philosopher Bertrand Russell famously stated that the number of adherents of a particular theory is irrelevant to whether it is correct or not. Alfred Einstein said something similar. Thus, Islam with however many billion followers, is still not a religion just because of that – it can still be a cult. Further, its categorization as a religion is nothing so much as paralyzing venom: if it were no longer legally regarded as a religion, it would no longer enjoy all the constitutional protections and privileges of a religion; it could be banned, its followers expelled and mosques removed. With no Muslim populations to provide a seedbed for terrorism, the problem would be greatly reduced, if not eliminated.
Even if many Muslims are not extreme, the fact is that it is impossible to separate out the non-radicalized from those who might become radicalized in the future.
What will happen if Islam is not stopped? Quite simply, in the end, it will destroy western civilisation, together with all its freedoms and achievements.
katherine says
There is not enough effort being made worldwide to restrict nefarious Jihadi practices that have long-term implications for Democracy. Islam’s long term cult-agenda cannot be stopped simply with shortsighted policies like restricting immigration or controlling terrorism.
Trump should form an agency to implement the neutralization of subtle cult policies that infringe on the basic freedom of non-Muslims. The most outstanding is that practice of Halal Certification which deprives non-Muslims of employment in the food-handling industry. It also provides undue massive employment PRIVILEGES to non-productive religious practitioners – they contribute nothing physically while the invisible ‘tax’ is substantial. Some of that earning goes to finance physical wars.
Meanwhile the Population-Bomb tactic of multiplying by the dozen effectively deprives a nation’s needy and underprivileged by diverting resources to feed the irresponsible ‘breeders’ who claim welfare privileges while skewering demographic trends. Countries with active population-checks on Muslims, such as Myanmar, China or Singapore should be receiving praise rather than condemnation as is the case with the Burmese government which the OIC-dominated UN relentlessly criticizes for restrictive policies towards Muslims.
Creeping sharia is indeed creepy which is why ‘moderate’ Muslims would agree to disapprove of violent jihad.
warren raymond says
Hard to believe that the MSM journaille is that dense when it comes to Islam. Andrew Kaczynski, CNN, would be well advised to take some time off to do some close reading of Qur’an & sunna. An hour or two with Robert Spencer might help too. But the truth is a hard sell @ CNN, dangerous knowledge might not advance his career.
Wellington says
What’s really important here is that Bannon is so close to President Trump; he has the President’s ear so to speak. As President, Trump has to be careful what he says but I am fairly certain that Trump grasps the real truth about Islam. Remember, last March, while still a candidate for the Republican nomination, he said, and I quote, “I think Islam hates us.” He didn’t say some Muslims hate us or that Islam is a peaceful religion hijacked by extremists, et al. No, he said, “I think Islam hates us.”
Trump I believe “gets” it about Islam just as the previous Pope did, but, as President, for sundry reasons he can only say so much. And so glad that someone like Bannon is in contact with the new President on a regular basis.
Meanwhile, the Left is in hysterics. No wonder since we now have a President who knows the truth about Islam, who loves America, who appreciates the greatness of the West and, unless I miss my guess here, knows to the core of his being that Christianity and Judaism are enlightened religions and Islam most certainly is not. Oh yeah, no wonder the ever clueless and destructive Left is in hysterics.
Ren says
Come on Steve Bannon, you can do better than that… Islam is neither a religion of peace nor of submission. Islam is not a religion, period.
Wellington says
Respectfully, Ren, you are wrong. Islam is most definitely a religion but it is an evil religion. As I have rhetorically asked many times here at JW, where is it written that a religion must be good? What about Satanism? Care to say this is not a religion too?
And on a specific matter from an American lawyer opining about the US Constitution, and particularly on the First Amendment to said constitution, which amendment guarantees freedom of religion, there is no way in hell that by First Amendment standards Islam is not a religion. Yes, it is also a totalitarian political ideology, but to argue Islam is not a religion is a COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME. It is a road to legal NOWHERESVILLE.
There are effective ways of dealing with the malevolent religion which is Islam, as I have detailed many times here at JW (e.g., Congress invoking Article III, Section 2 if it passed anti-Islam legislation in order to circumvent review of such legislation by the courts). I do wish folks would finally grasp all this because combatting Islam’s designs on all of us must be done as informedly and shrewdly as possible. Averring that Islam is not a religion is evidence of a dearth of correct information and sapience.
mortimer says
Arabic ‘deen’ is translated into English as ‘religion’. However, ‘deen’ actually means ‘governance’ or ‘legal system’.
This is one of the ways Islam misrepresents itself. I believe the word ‘deen’ is a clue that the actual ‘religion’ of Islam came into being after the ‘deen’ (governance) of the Islamic empire came into existence. Caliph abd al Malik is believed by many modern scholars to have invented Islam as a ‘religion’, since before him, there had been a disorganized mess of Arabian cults, some of which were pagan and polytheistic.
Wellington says
Makes no difference, mortimer, since secular totalitarian ideologies like Nazism and Marxism are also protected belief systems by First Amendment standards. Remember, Nazism was legal in the US during WWII and Marxism was legal in America during the Cold War.
I trust you get my overall point here, that being that attempting to ban an ideology, whether spiritual or secular, is a complete waste of time here in America. What is imperative is accurately assessing a nefarious ideology, whether spiritual or secular, as NEFARIOUS! Then you go from there. Folks need to realize this, at least where American constitutional law is concerned. Any attempt here in America to ban Islam because it is not a religion, blah, blah, blah, is a complete waste of time.
Champ says
Robert Spencer and Steve Bannon–together? That’s awesome!
It’s true: islam is NOT a religion of peace, and this fiction needs to be exposed.
robm says
Koranderthalism, is a Cult….promoting, hate, deviancy, barbarism, lunacy, and unabated murder..
davej says
After the spectacularly massive and “successful” attacks of 9/11 Bush must have been terrified. That is why, with no research or reality check and in a fit of wishful thinking he called it the Religion of Peace. Americans were too uneducated at the time to correct him, but that has changed.
BTW, any organization that will kill you for leaving it is automatically a cult.
Jimdandi says
Islam is not primarily a religion. It is a system of governance and submission in the name of the false god Allah (for cover). Islam tries to use our constitutional “freedom of religion” to advance their cause under the guise of “religion”. The Koran and the Hadiths are diametrically opposed to our constitution.
Troybeam says
Got that right, too bad a lot of people cannot see that.
patriotliz says
Why does Dr. Sebastian Gorka think that Jihad terrorism is a separate entity from Islam the “religion?” He says Gen. Sisi is a “devout” Muslim who wants a “secular” state. Gorka says we have to identify the ideological “source” of Jihadism? I thought the source of Jihadism is Mohammed’s example and teachings in the Koran. I’m confused. Is this Gorka being PC so as not to insult a billion Muslims?
http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/264989/sebastian-gorka-how-we-defeat-global-jihad-frontpagemagcom
Troybeam says
Finally, a person in office that is not of the PC BS, It’s about time.