Letters to the EditorJC Wilcox's letter is proof of my earlier claim ("Toward a kinder, gentler Islam", August 30) that secularists and zealous monotheists (and religionists in general) are locked into mutually exclusive mindsets. They can't conduct an intelligible debate because their thinking is rooted in opposite assumptions about the way the universe works.JC regards ISIS as a totalitarian ideology that must be smashed. By his very nature, such a God could not possibly approve of the bloody atrocities in which ISIS revels.This argument will cut no ice with secularists, but surely it must resonate among any Muslims who might be tempted by ISIS's siren song. Thus, you use what is best in Islam to defeat what was never part of Islam to begin with.If the West had any brains at all, surely it would use this argument in the ideological aspect of its war against ISIS. But it won't do that, because it feels uncomfortable talking about God and has no understanding of the religious mindset.William Page

Source: The Nation Bangkok September 07, 2016 18:03 UTC