What is so frightening about the radical camp of Islam that it threatens its very own traditional brethren? Why should traditional Muslims fear their radical counterparts? How can it be that traditional Muslims can become so weak to the point of being recruited by their radical zealots? What is it about Islam that dissents against the religion and its founder can dramatically lure even the tenderhearted Muslims to join their agitated brothers in defending their God. I simply don’t understand why should anyone defend God. If God is God--the Almighty-- he does not need anyone to defend Him. God is beyond mortal dissent. The very idea of Muslims fearing insults and hurt because someone characterizes their religion to be violent is unbecoming of a Muslim. If there was ever a peaceful face to Islam, it should be reflected in the worst of the times, when their religion and their prophet is questioned. Violence is not right and cannot be right. As a matter of fact, the ones who take sword die by their sword. Maybe all of the violent Islamic rage against the west will be extinguished by it’s own weight. Muslims must be able to reason and express their dissent cogently. Obviously, this never happens. The instinctual response is violence. And what is worse is concentrated violence against the Christian west. America is not a moral paradise, is not expected to be, at least it fares better in celebrating basic human dignity and freedom of thought than others. The fact that it accommodates its haters is a proof of its character. Christianity has been attacked and lampooned several times. Think of the number of times peoples, including Christians, have blasphemed Bible and Jesus. No Christian takes offence. If they do, a book comes out. A case in point is the number of Christian rebuttals to Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code. A Christian is prepared to expect these. I have never seen Christians burning effigies of Dan Brown. If Islam is a peaceful religion and there is no compulsion in religion, according to Koran, then we should not expect Muslims—be they radical or traditional—to be offended. To be offended about one’s faith must not lead one to take violent recourse to arrest the freedom of thought. Human beings around the world feel differently about the supernatural aspects of life. And every person has the right to convictions of heart regarding spiritual issues. Dinesh’s anti-terrorist strategy or his advice to America reads very simple: driver a wedge between traditional Muslims and radical Muslims. May sound an easy task. Reality begs a different answer. None of Christian violence has any basis in the Bible. The Bible may record violent incidents in the Old Testament, but Christians are never taught to extend God’s kingdom by use of sword. The Christian Crusaders, the Constantinian Christians, the marauding missionaries have no justification in the Bible for what they have done. There is no doctrine of violence to be embodied. In fact, the zealous one gets about his Christian faith, the greater he is expected to love. Even love his enemies. There are verses in Bible that says, “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good those you hate you, and pray for those who despitefully use you, and persecute you that you may be the children of your father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:44-45). Dinesh’s claims his ancestors were bludgeoned into the Christian faith. I could not say that about my ancestors in India. I was born and raised in India and have seen and heard number of Christians who embraced Christianity peacefully. It is misleading to assume that the colonial powers used force to convert people. The incidents of coerced conversions are few, the majority have been drawn by the appeal of Christianity, not that it was a western religion it was more an eastern faith than a western one. Yes, India has never seen a huge conversion of Hindus to Islam though Muslims ruled for centuries but those years had been tough for the Hindus and the minorities. History records numerous incidents of Hindus being attacked and their women being humiliated. Even the temples were looted for their worth. Even today, the worst nightmare in India is not a political clash but a religious clash. Our posture with Islam as Americans should be judicious. We cannot be lulled into the stupor that all is well with Islam. We can only be cautiously optimistic in the company of moderate Muslims. Sure, none can stereotype any race or peoples. Every human being is aspiring for a peaceful life. But one has to confront the roots of terror and oppression. Imagine if traditional Muslims fear their radical brethren how much more we should fear the orthodoxy that every Muslims craves for. If what am saying is wrong, ask an moderate Muslim who champions the cause of a peaceful, pluralistic, progressive, modernity accepting Islam whether he or she would enjoy the same freedom of thought in their homeland as much they enjoy in the free West. - Reuben David