Years ago Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan wrote a poem which included these lines: \u201cThe mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is not the standard view of a mosque in the United States. Most Americans \u2014 not just progressives, but average well-meaning citizens of all political persuasions \u2014 assume that a mosque is just like a church or a synagogue. Yes, it has different architecture and decorations, and its congregation uses different scriptures. But surely it must be like other place of worship \u2014 a gathering place where the faithful pray, enjoy fellowship with one another, and then depart refreshed, ready to do good deeds in the larger world.<\/p>\n
Regular readers of this blog know better, but the average American has imprinted the feel-good multicultural ideal about Muslims and their mosques, and the ten years since 9-11 have not shaken it. Thanks to the journeywork of George W. Bush, reinforced by the appeasement of Barack Hussein Obama, Islam is understood to be a positive, tolerant, peaceful spiritual discipline, and contains only a tiny minority of extremists who behave otherwise \u2014 and theirs is not the \u201ctrue Islam\u201d, anyway.<\/p>\n
In order to counteract such deeply-entrenched error, rigorous empirical investigation is necessary. If a researcher is not to be labeled a \u201cbigot\u201d or a \u201chater\u201d, he must present well-attested facts based on careful research.<\/p>\n