Peace Is Just One More Conference Away

Ah, San Francisco. Faced with unrelenting Muslim extremism that threatens to tear apart Iraq, annihilate Israel with nuclear weapons, strike our shores at any time, and burn down European cities, what does the San Francisco do? Why, organize a religious peace conference with the Dalai Lama throwing his weight behind Islam, of course!

Organizers hoped that the Dalai Lama's support would help mend Islam's reputation in the West. The religion's image has been battered by world events including the attacks of Sept. 11, the subsequent war in Iraq and the riots following Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, including one showing him wearing a bomb in his turban.

Right. So, there's 9/11, all the other bombings and beheadings and whatnot, but hey, if the Dalai Lama is down with it, I guess it's no big deal. But something tells me it's going to take more than an endorsement by the exiled leader of 3 million people to "mend" Islam's reputation here.

Yusuf cited recent polls showing more than 40 percent of Americans had negative views of Islam. A Washington Post/ABC News poll last month found that nearly 60 percent of those polled thought there were more violent extremists within Islam than other religions.

Followers want to change those perceptions, noting that they too are part of the Abrahamic faiths. Muslims believe that Muhammad is the last in a line of prophets that include Moses and Jesus.

"Ordinary people have these great misconceptions, which fuels more extremism,'' Yusuf said to reporters, noting that the current tensions were "untenable.''

"You better change perceptions,'' he said. "Not to reach extremists like bin Laden -- I don't think we'll reach him with the Dalai Lama, to be honest with you."

Would anyone seriously dispute the assertion that Islam has more violent extremists than any other religion? But an expert steps in to tell us how -- did you ever doubt it? -- American perceptions that Islam breeds more extremists only ends up, yes, breeding more extremists! Doesn't such logic only bolster the view that Islam is more prone to breeding extremists?

Yet in the next breath, Yusuf admits that the huggy-feely approach probably isn't going to work with Osama bin Laden, some guy who apparently is one of Islam's non-existent extremists.

But the Dalai Lama didn't let Muslims off the hook, no sir. He had tough words for anyone who abused religion, and he said that Muslim suicide bombers were "mischievous people"! Three thousand burned or crushed to death on 9/11, a woman tortured, drawn and quartered for the crime of helping Iraqis, thousands of Iraqis murdered, kidnapped or maimed for wanting a better life: such mischief!

"Muslim tradition, like others, also deserves respect," said the Dalai Lama, noting that Muslims and Buddhists had co-existed peacefully in Tibet for four centuries.

What a completely meaningless statement. Exactly which traditions does the Dalai Lama think deserve respect? Praying five times a day? Fine. Not eating pork? Fine. You would be hard-pressed to find anyone in the West who objected to those customs. But not allowing women to drive or vote? Not so fine. Executing gays by pushing a stone wall on top of them? Not so fine. Destroying centuries-old Buddhist statues? I wonder.

His words heartened Ingrid Mattson, a professor of Islamic Studies at the Hartford Seminary in Connecticut who was among the more than 500 people in attendance Saturday.

"It was such a wonderful act of generosity," she said. "Muslims in America are feeling so isolated and alone and we're always on the defensive. This act of solidarity and compassion -- it gives me so much hope and courage to feel I can go forward and not feel alone."

Folks, the problem is not the West's perception of Islam, it's the utter rejection by many in Islam that fundamental tenets of modernity: religious, personal, economic and intellectual liberty. The problem is Islam's failure to clean its own house and expunge the very real, significant, and deadly extremists from its ranks.