Extreme Islamist Terrorism

                Another radical Islamist terrorist died in a shootout after a mass killing. This terrorist killed 49 people and wounded more than 50 others before he was killed by police. He shall remain unnamed in this post because I refuse to give him any glory. He chose to go on a murderous rampage at a gay club in Orlando, Florida, Sunday morning. This is the worst mass shooting in American history as well as the worst terrorist attack on American soil since 9/11. It seems that radical Islamist terrorists hate gays much more than devoted Christians do.

                The usual calls for more gun control are coming from the liberal progressives, including Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama. The strange thing about these calls for more gun control is that they tend to sell more guns. The statement reads, “Shares of gun and ammunition companies closed higher Monday following the mass shooting tragedy in Florida.” 

                Barack Obama still refuses to call the perpetrator an extreme Islamist terrorist, but Donald Trump has no qualms about doing do. He is calling for Obama’s resignation for not naming the enemy who continues to attack people in our nation and others.

                The Heritage Foundation launched an initiative called “Islam and Liberty” several years ago. The purpose of the initiative was to “document and analyze the threat that political Islam poses to liberty around the world and to make recommendations for how the U.S. ought to address it.”

                Walter Lohman at Heritage writes, “Very early on in the Islam and Liberty initiative, we wrestled with what to call the threat. We settled on `Islamist extremism and terrorism.’ We did so because, on the one hand, through our experience with Muslim friends and colleagues over the years we know that the threat to liberty is not from Muslims because they are Muslims. The threat emanates from a particular extreme interpretation of the faith – essentially a violent political ideology cast in religious terms.

                “On the other hand, the threat cannot be honestly separated from its religious context. ISIS and al-Qaeda and the myriad of other violent Muslim extremist groups around the world may well be cults of murder masquerading as piety. However, we are not theologians. It is not up to us to say what Islam is and what it is not. When people kill or tyrannize populations in the name of religion, we must take them at their word.

                “We must because we are engaged in a war of ideas. One cannot combat a tactic, terrorism. `Extremism’ alone is meaningless. Calling the threat `Islamist’ allows us to distinguish friend from foe and empower the good guys. There are Muslims among our friends in this fight and enemies among non-Muslims. In the end, we only aid our enemies by not calling the threat what it is.” 

                I wonder when Barack Obama and other liberal progressives will get the word. We must name our enemy – extreme Islamist terrorism - before we can destroy it!