Sunday, March 18, 2007

Confessions of a Jewish Fundamentalist

The other day, during an Internet discussion, I was accused of being a "fundamentalist jew", a "racist" and an "islamophobe". I'd like to take this opportunity to clarify my beliefs and opinions.
I am absolutely not a racist. I believe that all men are created equal. I believe in, as taught in the Torah, the common brotherhood of man and the common fatherhood of G-d. I do not hate anybody, especially Muslims. I would love nothing more than a flowering of human rights and democracy throughout the Muslim world, where they are severely lacking. I would gladly accept a fair peace proposal between Israel and the surrounding Arab states. It is in no way racist to criticize Islam as Islam is not a race but a religious and political ideology. Obviously not all Muslims are terrorists or support jihad. That, however, does not mean that Islam does not teach violence. This line of reasoning means that Judaism cannot teach respect and kindness as some Jews are mean and vindictive. Not all Muslims wage jihad just as not all Jews keep kosher.
Am I an islamophobe? What does that term even entail? As I have already said, I do not hate Muslims. A phobia means an irrational or baseless fear of something. A fear of Islam and jihad is nothing baseless or irrational; just ask Salman Rushdie or the danish cartoonists. Islam mean 'submission', thus islamophobia means 'fear of submission'. Yes, I say proudly, I am afraid of submission to sharia and hatred. I, as a Jew, am concerned, just as Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, women and gays should be. We cannot submit. We will fight and in 50 years, when some Eurabian scholar reads this, he will wonder how Western Civilization collectively commited national suicide in the face of barbarism. He will want to know how the civilization that has survived the Huns, the Black Plague and two World Wars simply gave up and accepted submission- 'dhimmitude'- from the Islamic menace.
I guess that I am a fundamentalist then. I fundamentally believe in the equality of all man. I believe fundamentally in the immutable and eternal spirit of the Torah and Jewish people. I fundamentally believe that freedom is Hashem's gift to mankind. I fundamentally believe in the divine right of the Nation of Israel to live freely in the Land of Israel according to the Torah of Israel.
I extend an olive branch to anyone who rejects hatred and embraces human rights and freedoms. I am a friend to any person, Jew, Christian or Muslim, who abandons violence and intolerance and works towards perfecting the world in the kingdom of the Almighty. May we merit the day when nations will not lift swords against one another; neither shall they learn war anymore. May the day when the lamb will ie with the wolf and all the world will accept the kingship of G-d come speedily in our lifetimes. Amen.

3 comments:

Statistikhengst said...

Great statement, you spoke right from my heart. I am an american jew living and working in Germany, and I could not have said it better.

Being a fundamentalist means that at least one knows what he believes and can back it up with his sources, sources that he believes in.

Hashem will not let us down this time. Ani ma'amin....

Mad Zionist said...

OK, you are linked up at my site now, BK!

Anonymous said...

"Islamophobia" is a propaganda construct, a term coined by Islamofascists (two can play that game!). It has no reality in any other context than jihad.
By their definition of Islamophobia, what it looks like, what it means, I am a proud Islamophobic.
I'm married to an Asian woman, of Thai and Indian heritage,and I lived in Thailand for a decade, but if despising Islam makes me, by their definition, a racist, then racist I am.
Not one inch, not now, not ever!