And the New Yorker...
The Blame for the Charlie Hebdo Murders
...A religion is not just a set of texts but the living beliefs and
practices of its adherents. Islam today includes a substantial minority
of believers who countenance, if they don’t actually carry out, a degree
of violence in the application of their convictions that is currently
unique. Charlie Hebdo had been nondenominational in its satire,
sticking its finger into the sensitivities of Jews and Christians,
too—but only Muslims responded with threats and acts of terrorism. For
some believers, the violence serves a will to absolute power in the name
of God, which is a form of totalitarianism called Islamism—politics as
religion, religion as politics. “Allahu Akbar!” the killers shouted in the street outside Charlie Hebdo. They, at any rate, know what they’re about.
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