DECLARING WAR ON ISLAM: Fruit of an Apostate Church

"Most Americans are unaware of the fact that over two hundred years ago the United States had declared war on Islam, and Thomas Jefferson led the charge!"

This bit of ignorance is from a chain email designed to promote fear and loathing of Muslims. The Politifact site has a well reasoned rebuttal. And yes I know that fact check sites themselves need to be fact checked, which I did.

For a less shrill take on the Barbary Pirates, I recommend Brian Kilmeade's book on the subject. A great read, like a novel, but well researched. I found it to be slanted towards support for interventionist foreign policy, but with that caveat it's still a fact filled introduction to the subject for our history deficient culture.

Thomas Jefferson didn't declare war on Islam. That's as silly and ignorant as saying he was against Christianity because he collected some of Jesus's words in a book.

If corsairs sent by Muslim states meant that Islam is our enemy, then Christian and Jewish involvement in the African slave trade meant the other two monotheistic faiths are enemies as well. That would be absurd, but also logically consistent. And that is the danger of anti Muslim hysteria - it easily boomerangs against us Christians, and historically Jews end up being victimized by both Christians and Muslims when these religious wars occur. The Crusades being an example.

Last but not least. Most of the anti Muslim hysteria comes from Trump supporters. So, here's a question for Trump supporters who think Islam is the top threat to civilization: why is President Trump selling $billions worth of advanced weapons to the Saudis, who for three centuries have allied with Wahhabists, the actual leading sponsors of jihadist terror?