Islam may need to just "grow up"

The world must find the means to adequately deal with those Muslims who behave as destructive adolescents, until they grow up and become responsible.

Salim Mansur writes, in an article (it's a good article… read it.) in the Toronto Sun, that the increasingly common self-contradiction of Muslims is very similar to the irrational and inexplicable behavior of an adolescent. Islam's defenders claim their religion is one of peace and introspection, and yet its followers have killed dozens of people and burned many buildings in a display of outrage over some cartoons.

Mansur points out that Judaism is in its 58th century, Christianity in its 21st, and Islam in its 15th. "We might express the ages of these three faith-tradtions in terms of humal life span," he writes, "with Islam being in its adolescent years, Christianity having entered into its adult years, and Judaism well past its middle age."

The rest of the world looks on and shakes its head as Muslims act as if they don't understand the consequences of their own actions, or even have a rational reason for their actions in the first place. For instance, yesterday Muslims in Nigeria "protested" the now infamous cartoons, leading to 16 deaths and several burned down buildings. "They went on the rampage, burning shops and churches of the Christians. The protesers killed the others. Some were even killed in the churches," according to Joseph Hayab of the Christian Association of Nigeria. How do 12 cartoons in a Danish newspaper lead to dead Christians in Nigeria? They don't, at least not logically. And yet, this seemed like an appropriate response to the blasphemous cartoons of the Prophet.

Hopefully they will gain some self-control as they grow up. And, hopefully Western civilization will continue to bear with Islam as it struggles toward maturity. As one of my friends, Matt Waite, said in an e-mail message to me the other day, "Every day, I become more and more convinced that the reason we aren't knee deep in a holy war is because of western literacy and religious tolerance. The true Islamists want a holy war. If we were as intolerant as they are, I think you'd see something akin to modern day crusades going on."

I don't usually agree with Matt, but I'm afraid he's right.