Faith, Reason and the War Against Jihadism

Few people in the United States today will deny the gravity of the global threat of Islamic jihadism. Aside from the appalling terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, one can easily see ongoing clashes in much of Western Europe as secularism meets radical Islam. Riots erupted in the streets as angry Muslims demonstrated their outrage over cartoons published in Danish and other European newspapers in September of 2005. There was even an alleged plot to assassinate cartoonist Kurt Westergaard. The cartoon controversy is only the tip of the iceberg in a growing clash between Western democracies and Islamic jihadism.

In Faith, Reason, and the War Against Jihadism: A Call to Action, George Weigel lays out 15 lessons that should have been learned since September 11, 2001, if not before, and explains how they impact the policies of Western democracies in the struggle with radical Islam.

The book is broken down into three main parts. In part one ("Understanding the Enemy"), Weigel defines jihadism as "the religiously inspired ideology which teaches that it is the moral obligation of all Muslims to employ whatever means necessary to compel the world’s submission to Islam" (pp. 35–36). The jihadist worldview does not embrace such notions as the dignity and intrinsic worth of every human person, nor does it respect such freedoms as speech, conscience, or religion. Moreover, jihadists tend to read history and politics through the prism of their distinctive theological convictions, unlike the West, which generally sees in history a progressive dynamic.

The three lessons in part 2 ("Rethinking Realism") point to the need to recognize genuine wickedness and the problem of evil. Simple deterrence strategies are generally not effective against those who are committed to their own martyrdom. For jihadists, the prospect of mutual destruction may serve more as an incentive than a deterrent. Weigel maintains that the war against jihadism is a contest for the human future that will endure for generations (lesson 7).

In part 3 ("Deserving Victory"), Weigel explains that the West needs a mature "cultural self-confidence" in order to be effective in a global war against jihadism. Western societies must be able to defend their commitments to civil society and democracy in both philosophical and historical terms. Reconstructing the history of the West as though freedom and democracy are merely products of the Enlightenment actually plays into the hands of jihadist ideologues who understand Western values as by-products of decadent, godless cultures. Western ideals cannot be divorced from "the fruitful interaction of Jerusalem, Athens, and Rome: biblical religion, philosophical rationality, and law."

Part of Weigel’s solution involves a new approach to immigration. Given the problems occurring in much of Western Europe, Canada, and the United States, Western countries must rid themselves of multicultural delusions and take the assimilation of immigrants much more seriously than they have in recent decades. This means that immigrants should accept the basic norms of civil society on which their host countries are built (e.g., respect for pluralism, civil engagement, and the rule of law). Civic education must be an important component of immigrant assimilation.

With jihadist immigrants, a Western strategy of appeasement, under mistaken ideas of tolerance and multiculturalism, can lead to a self-imposed "dhimmitude"—the reduction of non-Muslim populations to second-class status within their own countries, by their own acquiescence to Islamist pressures. This can happen when democratic countries with records of genuine tolerance compromise their legal and social structures in order to appease extremists. In lesson 12, Weigel shows how this process has advanced insidiously in parts of Western Europe.

In his final lesson, Weigel emphasizes the need for more robust U.S. leadership, especially in terms of diplomacy. He laments the sinking popularity of U.S. foreign policy post- 9/11, both at home and abroad, and blames this, at least in part, on ineffective efforts by the Bush administration at explaining and selling U.S. policies. The last paragraph of the book reminds us that President George W. Bush’s successor will not escape the burden of American leadership. Whoever he or she may be, that president should embrace the burden as an opportunity for national self-renewal and to serve the cause of freedom throughout the world.

Throughout the book, a key theme is that the problem of Islamic jihadism cannot be properly understood simply in social, economic, or political terms. Jihadism is a religious problem based more on faulty theology than economic, social, or political hardship. Citing Pope Benedict XVI’s famous Regensburg address, Weigel points out that truth-telling is an essential prerequisite to genuine interreligious dialogue, which must always allow faith and reason to illuminate one another. Pointing out the connection between contemporary jihadism and terrorism, in a spirit of frankness, should not be dismissed as "Islamophobia."

Overall, this is a very interesting and engaging read. I suggest, however, that the "lessons" deserve a more thoroughly researched, referenced, and documented analysis to be compelling to a wider audience. While many readers will accept Weigel’s premises as given, many others will readily reject them. I believe Weigel could have done more to meet his critics where they are and bring them along. Because of the immediacy of the threat of radical jihadism, I would encourage a serious reading and contemplation of this work. I would love to see Weigel’s "lessons" spark an open and thoughtful debate about how the West should confront the global problem of jihadism.

- Pete Balbirnie (from Lay Witness magazine. www.cuf.org)

You can purchase this title here.