The negative spiritual and intellectual consequence of believing two mutually exclusive concepts is "cognitive dissonance." Our interaction as a society with Islam is a direct cause of cognitive dissonance, for us as individuals and as a culture.

Resolution of the contradiction requires the rejection of one of the concepts. If we continue to ignore our cognitive dissonance about Islam, the consequences will be dire: we will lose our civilization.

Islam is much more than a religion; it is a complete civilization that includes politics (caliphate), jurisprudence (Sharia law), war (jihad), and a deliberately misleading "religion of peace." The doctrine of Islam is found in three books: Koran (the literal word of Allah as "revealed" to Mohammed), Sira (Mohammad's biography), and Hadith (stories about and sayings of Mohammed as reported by contemporaries). The definitive text of Sharia law is "Reliance of the Traveller." Allah and Mohammed are to be obeyed, not questioned. " Islam " means " submission "; a Muslim is "one who submits." "Islam" does not mean "peace."

Say: Obey Allah and the Apostle; but if they turn back, then surely Allah does not love the unbelievers. ( Koran,3:32 )

O you who believe! Obey Allah and His Apostle and do not turn back from Him while you hear. ( Koran, 8:20 )

O you who believe! fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness; and know that Allah is with those who guard (against evil). ( Koran, 9:123 )

The purpose of the Islamic doctrine is the destruction of all cultures not Islamic and the expansion of Islam and Shariah law throughout the world.

O Prophet! strive hard against the unbelievers and the hypocrites, and be hard against them; and their abode is hell; and evil is the resort. ( Koran, 66:9 )

Saed had been right about taking prisoners after the battle: take no prisoners until Islam has made all submit. They were to forget the ransom and the money, Mohammed said, because submission of the non-believers was all that mattered. ( Sira :Ishaq:484 - Mohammed and the Unbelievers: A Political Life , Center for the Study of Political Islam, 2006, p.71)

And fight with them until there is no persecution, and religion should be only for Allah, but if they desist, then there should be no hostility except against the oppressors. ( Koran, 2:193 )

It is difficult for many to accept that such an ideology can be real and that people kill and die for it; we see the truth of Islam in word and deed but pretend that it is not so. According to Sharia law (Islamic law) Islam abrogates, that is "cancels," all other religions.

Previously revealed religions were valid in their own eras, as is attested to by many verses of the Holy Koran, but were abrogated by the universal message of Islam as is equally attested to by many verses of the Koran.

... It is unbelief (kufr) to hold that the remnant cults now bearing the names of formerly valid religions, such as "Christianity" or "Judaism," are acceptable to Allah Most High after He has sent the final Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace) to the entire world. (Reliance of the Traveller, w4.0[2])

Our national cognitive dissonance began immediately after 9/11, when President George Bush visited the Islamic Center of Washington on September 17, 2001, and said, " Islam is peace ." President Obama has reiterated this misperception of Islam specifically in his recent speech of apology in Cairo to the "Muslim World."

The contradiction of Islam upon which our cognitive dissonance is based is this: Islam is benevolent and peaceful, and Islam is violent and hostile. Both positions cannot be true.

Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. ( Koran:9:29 )

You will find others who desire that they should be safe from you and secure from their own people; as often as they are sent back to the mischief they get thrown into it headlong; therefore if they do not withdraw from you, and (do not) offer you peace and restrain their hands, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them; and against these We have given you a clear authority. ( Koran, 4:91 )

Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah 's Apostle said, "I have been ordered to fight with the people till they say, 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah,' and whoever says, 'None has the right to be worshipped but Allah,' his life and property will be saved by me except for Islamic law, and his accounts will be with Allah, (either to punish him or to forgive him.)" (Bukhari, Hadith , Volume 4, Book 52, Number 196)

The majority of the doctrine of Islam is about how Muslims are to interact with non-Muslims; it is essentially about the rest of us. Statistical analysis of the doctrine of Islam by Dr. Bill Warner of the Center for the Study of Political Islam is enlightening:

62% of Koran is devoted to how Islam interacts with the kafir (the unbeliever).

98% of the Sira is devoted to the struggle against kafirs. (70% is jihad; 28% is argument and insults.)

20% of Bukhari Hadith is devoted to jihad.

The evidence to resolve our societal cognitive dissonance about Islam is readily available and painfully obvious.

Lo! those who disbelieve, among the People of the Scripture and the idolaters, will abide in fire of hell. They are the worst of created beings. ( Koran, 98:6 )

Islamist mass murderers and terrorists/jihadists are not "hijackers" or "misunderstanders" of Islam; they are the devout followers of a political ideology that is hostile to our existence because we are not Muslims.

We will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve, because they set up with Allah that for which He has sent down no authority, and their abode is the fire, and evil is the abode of the unjust. ( Koran, 3:151 )

Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor-due (jizya tax), then leave their way free. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. ( Koran, 9:5 )

The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) which is under a cloud of suspicion (see " Muslim Mafia " by P. David Gaubatz and Paul Sperry) has been the leading espouser of Islamic "understanding" in America. CAIR's mission statement that it is "to be a leading advocate for justice and mutual understanding" is not, according to their founder, their true purpose.

Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, "Khosrau will be ruined, and there will be no Khosrau after him, and Caesar will surely be ruined and there will be no Caesar after him, and you will spend their treasures in Allah's Cause." He called, ‘War is deceit'. (Bukhari, Hadith , Volume 4, Book 52, Number 267)

CAIR's founder, Omar Ahmad , said in 1998 that "Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran ... should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on earth." ( San Ramon, CA., Valley Herald , 7/04/1998.)

So obey not the disbelievers, but strive against them herewith with a great endeavour. ( Koran, 25:52 )

If our culture and society are to survive, we must accept the truth of the world and of Islam whether or not we prefer it.

Warfare is ordained for you, though it is hateful unto you; but it may happen that ye hate a thing which is good for you, and it may happen that ye love a thing which is bad for you. Allah knoweth, ye know not. ( Koran, 2:216 )

Our cognitive dissonance will be resolved only with honesty and knowledge. Islam is not a "religion of peace." If we are unsuccessful in resolving the cognitive dissonance which results from our confused view of Islam, we will lose our civilization.