December 2001 America's War For Freedom By Rabbi Alvin Kass President Bush has declared that the current efforts toget Osama bin Laden do not constitute a war against Islam. That is a true and necessary affirmation. We are, in fact, not battling Islam, one of the great civilizations of the world; but rather our goal is to capture horrendous criminals who use (or misuse) their religion to justify barbaric acts of terrorism. President Bush's statement is also necessary to protect many fellow Americans of Islamic background from real danger even though they reject terrorism and are dedicated citizens of our nation. Osama bin Laden would like to characterize what is happening as a battle between belief and disbelief, between authentic followers of Mohammed and infidels. That, however, is patently not the case. It is instead a struggle between his twisted thinking and the American commitment to freedom of religion. At the same time, it would be naive to think that bin Laden represents but a small, radical, out of touch, Islamic fringe group. Widespread Muslim demonstrations against America in Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philipines certainly show bin Laden has plenty of sympathizers. What's more, even in the moderate Arab countries, you don't see contrary demonstrations favoring what America is trying to accomplish. Clearly, Osama bin Laden's violent preachments and actions are not shared by most Muslims and are unrepresentative of Islam's glorious, civilized and peaceful past. Yet, his rhetoric doesn't come out of nowhere. As Professor Mark Lilla of the University of Chicago has written: "...in religion as in nature, there is no such thing as spontaneous generation." Eminent Islamic scholars such as Bernard Lewis of Princeton have affirmed that there is a side to this great spiritual and ethical religion which can find justification for kidnapping, murder, and assassination. Professor Bernard Haykel, who teaches Islamic law at New York University, uncovers the roots of bin Laden's world view in a medieval school of thinking called Salafiyya which argues that Islam had been corrupted by idolatry and needed to do whatever was required to get back to the purity of its earliest days. To be sure, that strain of fundamentalist thinking is not restricted to Islam. Arguably, Christianity has had a far bloodier record which includes the Crusades, the Inquisition, and Europe's religious wars of the 16th and 17th centuries. Aren't the bombing of abortion clinics and the murder of homosexuals in the name of faith and morality the same kind of sick religious fanaticism? Nor are the Jewish people totally exempt from such extremism. Jews have had less of it than others because of political powerlessness during long periods of our history. But it is definitely there. During the days of the Second Temple, Alexander Jannai, a Hasmonean monarch launched wars against neighboring societies marked by forced conversion to the Jewish faith. Religious zealots in Israel today who refuse to make any political accommodations to achieve peace and are even willing to assassinate an Israeli Prime Minister who disagrees with them reflect a similar brand of radical thinking. Why is this type of religious fanaticism present in all faiths? Probably because,in the first place, in a world of constant and disorienting change, adhering to ancient texts as the literal, unchangeable word of God provides meaning, direction, and comfort. Furthermore, since the salvation of your soul and the souls of the people around you depends on adherence to the precise "word of the Lord," there is no room for waffling or corrupting compromise. The fanatical mindset is, therefore, bent on carrying out "God's will" even if it means killing all those "misguided" or "malevolent infidels" who stand in the way of God's true vision for the world. President Bush is correct that we are not at war with Islam. We are, however, at war with an approach toward religious faith that has at times infected all religions, and which threatens the freedoms that lie at the heart of the American way of life.