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Greetings, Dear Reader,
I didn’t touch on Charlie Kirk yesterday. Part of it was just that I was busy, but I was also trying to figure out what I wanted to say.
I think I’ve got a handle on it now.
“RELIGION OF PEACE”
While twisting language to modify reality has become more prevalent in recent years, the most significant example may be the phrase “Religion of Peace” associated with Islam.
This term entered common English parlance—thanks to George Bush—and acted as a societal sedative, dulling our awareness not only of the truth but also of potential dangers. Following the widespread acceptance of this concept, other distorted narratives began to emerge, becoming more frequent and brazen.
Men are women. Children are capable of giving consent. Speech is equated with violence, while violence is viewed as mere expression. Crime is not labeled as such, and in some areas, it’s even permissible. Pursuing justice can be illegal, and anything illegal is just undocumented. Being colorblind is now seen as a form of racism, while racism is labeled social justice.
Our ability to counter these distortions has been weakened by the acceptance of perhaps the very first and largest one: viewing Islam as anything other than a religion marked by violence, conquest, and moral corruption.
A month before his assassination, Kirk articulated what he anticipated would be the next sociopolitical struggle we face.
“The spiritual battle is coming to the West and the enemies are woke-ism or Marxism combining with Islamism to go after what we call the American way of life,” he stated during Freedom Night in America in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on August 10.
Looking back now, it’s astonishing how accurate his prediction turned out to be.
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The originator of the term was Islamic ideologue Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi, who wrote “Religion of Peace” in 1930 to introduce the concept to English-speaking audiences, many of whom were either unaware or outright hostile to jihad at the time.
Prior to his work, the widely used description of Islam in English circles was “Religion of the Sword.”
Both labels hold some truth. Aquinas described the peace offered by Islam as a kind of forced tranquility—a peace that comes only after substantial conquest and the acceptance of submission.
Both Islamic teachings and the actions of Muhammad illustrate that this faith promotes a state of conflict, coercion, and diminished status for non-believers, including sanctioned practices like child marriage, which continues today.
The term floundered for decades until it found its unexpected adoptee: Malcolm X. In the 1960s, he frequently referred to Islam as the “Religion of Peace” while his followers engaged in violence against anyone they deemed “other,” a pattern that persists now in some form.
Ultimately, X broke from Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad, critiquing what he saw as Muhammad’s inappropriate dealings with young women.
Interestingly, Muhammad then had X assassinated. Quite a peaceful act, right?
The phrase continued to circulate among Islamic scholars until the 90s, a tumultuous time for the faith marked by incidents like the Embassy bombing in Beirut during the 80s, followed by terrorist attacks, hijackings, and civil unrest.
In 1993, the first bombing of the World Trade Center occurred, leading to a pivotal essay by Samuel Huntington titled “The Clash of Civilizations,” which ignited widespread discussion on the role of religion in global conflicts post-Cold War.
By 1996, an Islamic coalition sought to reshape their image and began promoting the concept of “Religion of Peace.”
Then, just days after the tragic events of September 11, George Bush urged Americans to remember that “Islam is peace” while addressing the devastation in New York City. Over the past 25 years, the city has evolved into a stronghold of the very ideology Kirk was warning against.
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As a Catholic, I have friends who practice Islam. In fact, I was at a celebration just this past weekend with one, trying to persuade him to join me for mass.
Ultimately, the responsibility lies with the deceivers, not those misled.
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It doesn’t take a sharp analyst to connect the dots from “Religion of Peace” to the irrational behavior seen in various social scenarios today, like the COVID-obsessed individual violently confronting someone without a mask, yelling, “Why are you putting me at risk?!”
Language is our key tool for navigating and interpreting the world. When it gets systematically inverted, it provides the deceiver extraordinary influence. It’s enough, for instance, to frame the war in Iraq as a noble cause and later convince people that surgically altering their confused child’s body is a protective measure instead of a misguided choice.
It’s telling that the phrase “Religion of Peace” gained traction in American conversations while first responders were still searching through debris for the remains of loved ones after 9/11.
If you can persuade the West to see the attacks as the actions of a peaceful faith, it becomes easier to endorse almost any narrative.
WHAT I’M READING
Seems Like Every Single Political Race Centers Around Single Issue
A pivotal debate.
‘Maybe They Kill Everyone’: Former Employee At OpenAI Tells Joe Rogan How Weird ‘Agents’ Behaving
Yikes.
EXCLUSIVE: Illegal Alien Gets Arrested After Voting In 2024 Presidential Election
They say this is a rare occurrence.
Trump Honors ‘The Man In The Red Bandana’ With Medal Of Freedom
A touching recognition.
