Denial of the simple fact that the Islamic State is in fact Islamic is dishonest and detrimental to clear thinking about a pressing issue of profound international import.

When in doubt, spout a tautology: The Islamic State is Islamic.

Do all Muslims support the Islamic State? No. Do all Muslims agree that the Islamic State is a legitimate expression of Islam? No.

However, some Muslims, a large minority of Muslims, do support the Islamic State, and do believe that the Islamic State is in fact a true and righteous expression of Islam.

Yet the self-evident claim that the Islamic State is indeed Islamic is met with the most vigorous denial by Muslim apologists, progressives, and even high ranking government officials. (See No True Scotsman fallacy).

For example, earlier today, Wednesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry denounced the beheading of journalist Steven Sotloff as an act of “medieval savagery” and said the jihadists who killed him were not the true face of Islam:

The face of Islam is not the butchers that killed Steven Sotloff. That’s ISIL. The face of Islam is not the nihilists who know only how to destroy not to build. It’s not masked cowards, whose actions are an ugly insult to the peaceful religion that they violate every single day with their barbarity. The real face of Islam is a peaceful religion, based on the dignity of all human beings. It’s one where Muslim communities are leading the fight against poverty, it’s one where Muslim communities are providing basic healthcare and emergency assistance on the frontlines of some of our most devastating humanitarian crises.

Another example: after news of the brutal beheading of American journalist James Foley, President Barack Obama said:

ISIL speaks for no religion. Their victims are overwhelmingly Muslim, and no faith teaches people to massacre innocents.

Later, State Department spokesperson Marie Harf emphasized that Obama meant what he said:

ISIL does not operate in the name of any religion. The president has been very clear about that, and the more we can underscore that, the better.

Other leaders, including British Prime Minister David Cameron, have made similar claims.

The notion that the Islamic State is not a “true face of Islam” is wishful thinking by those afraid to acknowledge the hard truth that the Islamic State, in all its bloodthirsty barbarity, is, indeed, Islamic.

That is not to say that the Islamic State is the only honest or legitimate expression of Islam, only that it is one such expression.

What motivates this perverse reluctance to speak openly and honestly about the Islamic State? Fear of being labelled “Islamophobic” must figure prominently in such calculations.

In fact, fear of being labeled “Islamophobic” has paralyzed any honest discussion in the west about the real threats posed by Islamic extremism.

In the end, no amount of wishful thinking, conceptual confusion, or obfuscation can change the reality that the Islamic State is, in fact, Islamic.