I get reminded every now and then by the conservative trolls that congregate around this site that I don’t hate Muslims enough, or at least that I don’t talk about hating them enough… So, here, for all of you monitoring this site for good ol’ patriotic Christian content, is my obligatory post about hating Muslims… I hope you enjoy it.

Actually, before I even get started, I’ve got a qualification to make. I hate to get all PC, especially right here at the start of my “I Hate Muslims” essay, but it’s not actually all Muslims that I hate. It’s just the ones that want to destroy the secular democracies I’ve so come to love in my old age.

So, I guess you could say, I really dislike… and, yes, even hate… fundamentalist Muslim extremists. Especially the ones that are hell-bent on jihad.

Generally speaking, I find it hard to like anyone who wants me dead, and that would, from all the signs that I can see, include fundamentalist Muslim extremists.

They are, from what I can tell, even worse than the fundamentalist Christian extremists that we have right here at home, the ones that shoot doctors, bomb abortion clinics and blow up federal buildings.

One of the biggest problems I have with fundamentalists of all stripes is that they seem to revel in the superiority over women that their religious beliefs afford them. I’m certainly not an authority when it comes to such things, but it seems to me that people, especially insecure men, enjoy power, and it stands to reason that these same individuals would gravitate toward religious sects that justify their exercise of power over non-believers and women.

By the way, in my estimation, the single most effective way for us to de-radicalize unstable regions in the Middle East would be to aggressively push for women’s rights in those areas. Unfortunately, however, since our “liberation” of Iraq, it seems as though the women there have seen their rights eroding by the day.

OK, I know I can be awfully negative about the war in Iraq, but it’s not all bad news. On the positive side, our presence in the region has brought old enemies back together again. That’s right, the emerging leaders of Iraq are not only rolling back the rights of women in their new constitution, but increasingly they’re reaching out to the men behind the theocracy of Iran for advice as to how they should proceed in building their religious state… So much for the “shining example of western-style democracy in the Middle East” that we were promised.

Oh, and while we’re on the subject of Iran and how they’re helping the Iraqis in their quest for finding a suitable form of government, you might be interested to know that the Iranians just executed two men for being gay. It’s terribly sad stuff, and, if I were living in Iran, I’d like to think that I’d have the guts to speak out against it. (Or, if not speak out, then at least blow something up.) There are few things in this world that I am certain of, but I’m certain that god (it doesn’t matter which one you believe in) would not prefer murder to a consensual loving relationship, even if it were between two men.

So, how’s that for a start? I hate the way radical Muslim extremists treat women, and disrespect what I feel are inherent human rights. I also hate the way they chop off heads, terrorize people I love, and blow up non-Islamic religious sites. There’s a long list of things I dislike about them, and, contrary to what you might gather from this site, I do feel that they are deserving of our anger. But, I don’t think hatred alone will get us anywhere… and that’s why I don’t dwell on their actions, as offensive as they may be, day in and day out.

So, I guess the bottom line is that, as a believer in civil rights and freedom of religion, I don’t like radical Islam. The truth of the matter is, however, that I feel as though our involvement in Iraq has moved things in the wrong direction, further radicalizing the region… Yes, I tend to do more complaining about the religious forces in the U.S. that have led us into war and kept us there, but it’s not because I am a fan of those “evil doers” we find ourselves fighting. It’s because I don’t see as how cataloging the instances of their offensive behavior will do much good. What might do some good, however, at least it’s my hope, is if I can convince a few people that we’re on the wrong course, and if some subset of that group go on to get involved in politics. As truly terrible as I think the radical elements within Islam are, I don’t think that the president is going about protecting us and disarming them in an effective, sustainable manner, and that’s why I spend most of my time railing against the Christian right on my site… I know that’s a long and jumbled explanation, but it’s the best I could do without coffee on a few hours sleep. I hope it made some sense.