Excerpt:
The most recent round of terror in London has spawned a renewed round of explanations along the lines of David Cameron's "there is no justification for this murder in Islam," accompanied by musings over "isolated act of psychopaths."
Though these views have lost some currency after the attacks of 9/11, Madrid, Moscow, Burgas, Toulouse and Boston, it is time to ask ourselves why our political and intellectual elites still pay homage to such platitudes. Political and diplomatic expediency aside, the origin of such statements lies in the fact that Western academics, diplomats and journalists tend to cavort with highly-educated Muslims whose worldview has been influenced by thorough exposure to the Judeo-Christian heritage of the West.
Yet this is not a piece about the shallow knowledge of our elites about the Muslim world, nor one about the distinction between elite Islam and the pugnacious one popularized by Salafi or Muslim Brotherhood preachers. This is an article about the fine line Westerners need to draw between demonstrating goodwill on the one hand and forfeiting freedoms they have struggled centuries to secure.