Our right-wing theocrats come home to roost

Juan Cole has a wonderful editorial here
Informed Comment

Now, I don't necessarily agree with Professor Cole entirely but only because I think that it lets monotheism--and I want to be clear, I do not mean Islam I mean exactly that monotheism--off the hook far too easily and far too early. To the degree that the three monotheistic religions continue to give a sly wink to the crazies within their midst while saying that they are religions of peace, they are complicit in the violence of their extremists. That said, Professor Cole is absolutely spot on in saying that right-wing, theocratic Christians in this nation are whipping up a frenzy of anti-Muslim sentiment.

When an Army general claims that we battle against Satan while showing images out of Iraq and Somalia, when Franklin Graham claims that Islam is an evil religion, when the President constantly speaks of the 'evil doers' and Americans, uninformed as we are, hear names of places like Karbala, or names like al-Zawari it is not all that much of a leap of imagination that Muslim = Bad, Arab = Bad, Middle Eastern = evil.