Perpetual war

Glenns Reynolds links to two must read articles. A deceased al-Qaeda policy-wonk understands the nature of the confrontation. Zealotry is in a death-match with secular democracy.

The goal of democracy, according to Al-Ayyeri, is to "make Muslims love this world, forget the next world and abandon jihad." If established in any Muslim country for a reasonably long time, democracy could lead to economic prosperity, which, in turn, would make Muslims "reluctant to die in martyrdom" in defense of their faith.

He says that it is vital to prevent any normalization and stabilization in Iraq. Muslim militants should make sure that the United States does not succeed in holding elections in Iraq and creating a democratic government. "If democracy comes to Iraq, the next target [for democratization] would be the whole of the Muslim world," Al-Ayyeri writes.

These are words which read with the chilling clarity of Mein Kampf. It is remarkable that a man so possessed by hatred should be so articulate in its expression. The last sentence should read "when democracy comes to Iraq". And that goes for North Korea too. I have met many people so deranged by self-loathing and hatred of shopping malls that they do not understand the alternative. The exquisite Venomous Kate offers terrifying, enraging details.

There is an irony in the small way in which my own religious beliefs - my faith - echo Al-Ayyeri's concern for a spiritual reality all too easily lost in a world of glittering, seductive things. The connection is true for the zealots of the West. I watch Pat Robertson's show, for example, because he can speak to a moral truth and evoke a transcendent reality which is difficult to discern through the fog of perpetual news and perpetual video-clips.

Then we part company. The horror movie certainty in the voices of the fundamentalists admits to no error, no limitation and no disagreement. I can think of no greater sin of pride. These are people whose arrogance is so boundless they believe they can speak for God. This is the thinking which threw living people into the fire in the sure knowledge of saving souls and who thought of torture as a blessing, a kind of favour, for people at risk of eternal damnation. We have among us millions who would welcome the return to that medieval barbarism and are confronted by men who hold hundreds of millions in bondage to it to this day. Let us not forget the Stalinists and Maoists and Hitlerites by whatever re-branding they have managed to disguise themselves. Secular religionists still yearn to break a few more tens of millions of eggs in pursuit of a socialist utopian omelette (to use a metaphor scrambled to perfection).

I see no contradiction between my own certainties and my adamant libertarianism. As created beings we are limited by definition. My father once explained it to me. No matter how clever we are or how much we know about the world are always only a tiny subset of the universe we seek to understand. I would add it is nothing short of miraculous we have come to understand as much as we do given the limitations of our domesticated ape neurology and the clumsy improvisations of human language. I may think I know the meaning of life but that does not mean I am anywhere close to knowing how that truth be best expressed in my own life let alone in public policy.

The wisdom expressed in the most important public policy document in human history enshrines the difference.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

And then... By peculiar coincidence, the blogosphere presents me with an article by a Christian libertarian (with great hair).

And then... Solomonia reflects on the subject.

Posted by the Flea at September 5, 2003 12:38 PM