CNN's Don Lemon: 'Is Islam more violent than any other faith?'
September 5, 2014
On Thursday, CNN's Don Lemon asked a question that many in the so-called "mainstream media" would rather avoid. Mediaite said that Lemon asked a panel of guests: "Is Islam more violent than any other faith?"
"Let’s talk about it,” he said. “And let’s just be very honest about it. This is a discussion that’s happening, really across the world."
Tawfik Hamid, author of "Inside Jihad: Understanding and Confronting Radical Islam," told Lemon that other religions “have probably some text that may lead to violence if you understand them literally.” He went on to explain that unlike other religions, Islam has not yet reformed.
“I believe there are certain areas in Islam that need to be reinterpreted, otherwise you will face violence in it," he said. "I believe with the literal understanding of it, and with its history as written in Shari’a books, today it is more violent.”
Former FBI assistant director Tom Fuentes agreed with Hamid and,Truth Revolt said, "was even more adamant" on the point. He also noted that Islamists gave themselves that identifier.
“Yes, it must be, otherwise how could all these groups take the name of Islam to become violent and do what they do?" he asked. "They’re the ones that call themselves Islamists! They’re the ones, ISIS, calling themselves the Islamic State. We didn’t pin that name on them."
"So if they’re interpreting the teachings of the prophet, the teachings of the Qur’an, and they’re twisting it, they’re putting it on," he added. "But the fundamental basis is that they’re calling themselves Islamic and then cutting people’s heads off.”
"I find it absolutely astounding that a former assistant director of the FBI would say that Islam a more violent religionthan most other religions,” said the Islamic Monthly Magazine’s Arsalan Iftikhar. Not only did Iftikhar go after Fuentes, he disagreed with Lemon's premise, and tried to raise the specter of "extreme Christianists," Truth Revolt said. Lemon, however, did not let Iftikhar get away with revising history.
“By saying that Islam is more violent than any other religion, it doesn’t mean that other religions aren’t violent,” Lemon said. “We’re talking about history and the reality here. If you’re looking at the bombing of abortion clinics, you’re not looking at the numbers of a 9/11, you’re not looking at the numbers of a Boko Haram, you’re not looking at the many people who are killed from ISIS and beheaded.”
According to one report, there was one abortion-related murder between 2000 and 2004 with 16 reported bombings, arsons or attempted bombings in the same time frame. By comparison, some 3,000 were killed on September 11, 2001 when Islamic terrorists took down the World Trade Center and attacked the Pentagon.
The FBI said it stopped several planned bombings in about the same period. Nevertheless, Lemon's point that more have been killed and beheaded by Islamic terrorists than those killed in abortion bombings -- usually carried out by people who often work independently of Christian pro-life groups -- stands.
As we have reported, ISIS militants have "systematically beheaded" Christian children in Iraq simply because of their faith, and reports of atrocities carried out by ISIS continue to pour in. Video of the discussion can be seen above.
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