
Yesterday Evangelical Pat Robertson claimed Islam is not a religion but a violent political system on his television program, The 700 Club. Robertson made the remarks while discussing the recent tragedy at Fort Hood. Robertson used the opportunity to disparage the entire Islamic religion because of the actions of one man.
Robertson's remarks are at once both ludicrous and hypocritical. It is ludicrous to paint an entire group of people as violent terrorists because of the action of a small minority within that group. Robertson is hypocritical because Christianity can be every bit as violent, ugly and despicable as Islam. One need only look to the Westboro Baptist Church; or Scott Roeder's political assassination of Dr. George Tiller; or the Dominion movement, to which Robertson has a direct connection; to see the analogy between Christianity and Islam.
Fundamentalism of any kind is dangerous. Robertson's Evangelical Christianity is every bit as ugly, ignorant and irrational as any Islamic fundamentalist. Both are terrorists of the intellect and spirit. Demanding their followers abandon reason for faith, both represent a fundamental flaw in human nature that must be overcome.