A Gates of Vienna reader poses an if/then conjecture for your consideration:

the 10 people murdered by the Beltway sniper in 2002 had been murdered in the name of Christianity instead of Islam, and…

the 2002 Calcutta, India Cultural Center shooters had been acting in the name of Christianity instead of Islam, and…

the 2002 Karachi, Pakistan Consulate bombers had been acting in the name of Christianity instead of Islam, and…

the 2002 Denpasar Indonesia Consulate bombers had been acting in the name of Christianity instead of Islam, and…

the 202 people murdered by the 2002 Bali bombers had been murdered in the name of Christianity instead of Islam, and…

the 17 US sailors murdered by the 2000 USS Cole bombers had been murdered in the name of Christianity instead of Islam, and…

the 1998 RPG attack on the US Embassy in Beirut had been in the name of Christianity instead of Islam, and…

the 1998 Nairobi Kenya Embassy bombers had been acting in the name of Christianity instead of Islam, and…

the 1998 Dar es Salaam Embassy bombers had been acting in the name of Christianity instead of Islam, and…

the 2977 people murdered on Sept. 11, 2001 had been murdered in the name of Christianity instead of Islam, and…

the (at least) 18 churches bombed in Indonesia on Christmas Eve, 2000 had instead been mosques at Ramadan, and…

the 19 people murdered and 498 people injured in the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing had been murdered or injured in the name of Christianity instead of Islam, and…

the death sentence pronounced on Salman Rushdie in 1989 had been issued instead by a Christian “supreme leader” for insulting Christ, and…

I will stop here.

If all of these things had been done by Christians in the name of Christianity, would we define Christianity as a “peaceful religion”? Would I be a bigot if I started to believe that this religion itself just might be a problem? What if all these things had been done by, let’s say, Mormons? Would we hesitate to acknowledge that we have a “Mormon Problem”?

But these acts were NOT perpetrated in the name of Christianity, Buddhism, Mormonism, or any other religion – aside from Islam. The fact is that every one of the heinous acts listed above was committed EXPLICITLY IN THE NAME OF ISLAM, by supporters of Islam, in defense of Islam, and/or in part of an attempt to bring about an Islamic state.

Am I a bigoted “Islamophobe” if I am somewhat alarmed by the trend here?