Reclaim Your Heart

B
E
 M
USLIM
, B
UT
 O
NLY IN
 M
ODERATION
In his first 2004 presidential debate, Senator John Kerry
began the night in the favor-of-the-day. Answering his first
question, Kerry explained that America needed to isolate
the ″radical Islamic Muslims″:
″I have a better plan to be able to fight the war on
terror by … beginning to isolate the radical Islamic
Muslims, not have them isolate the United States of
America.″
At first, the statement sounded redundant-even uneducated.
A Muslim is, by definition, a follower of Islam, and is
therefore, by definition, ″Islamic″. Saying ″Islamic
Muslims″ was a lot like saying, ″American Americans″. 
So was Kerry just being repetitive? Or was his statement
perhaps more telling that even he realized? Are all
Muslims ″Islamic″? Well, the truth is-no. Not the good
ones, at least.
More and more the underlying assumption seems to be that
Islam is the problem. If Islam, as a faith, is in essence
radical, the less ″Islamic″ something is the better. And
thus a ′moderate Muslim′--the much coveted title--is only
moderately Muslim and therefore only moderately bad.
Saying this would be like telling someone to only be
′moderately black′ so as not to be too violent. Conversely,
a Muslim who is too ″Islamic″ is then by definition

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″radical″ - a ″radical Islamic Muslim″ - and must be dealt
with (isolated).
In fact, Mona Mayfield understood these rules well when
she defended her husband - wrongfully accused of