Secret Combinations

I don't often get religious in my blog, but I will this time. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we include as part of our scriptures "The Book of Mormon," which covers the religious history of several groups of people in South America. From time to time their society struggled with a secret (and sometimes not-so-secret) conspiracy that sought for power and wealth, known as the Gadianton Robbers.

Today I was reading a quote from an interview by Scott Atran with an Bali Islamic leader Abu Bakar Bashir, when something he said sounded familiar:

SA: What can the West, especially the US, do to make the world more peaceful?

ABB: They have to stop fighting Islam. That's impossible because it is sunnatullah [destiny, a law of nature], as Allah has said in the Koran. If they want to have peace, they have to accept to be governed by Islam....We'll keep fighting them and they'll lose. The batil [falsehood] will lose sooner or later. I sent a letter to Bush. I said that you'll lose and there is no point for you [to fight us]. This [concept] is found in the Koran.

SA: How can the American regime and its policies change?

ABB: We'll see. As long as there is no intention to fight us and Islam continues to grow there can be peace. This is the doctrine of Islam. Islam can't be ruled by others. Allah's law must stand above human law. There is no [example] of Islam and infidels, the right and the wrong, living together in peace.
(emphasis added)

So in other words, if we want peace, we have to be at least ruled by Islamic law, if not convert to Islam. There is no other option.

Now, compare that with an except from "The Book of Mormon," 3rd Nephi, chapter 3, in which a Gadianton leader writes to the leader of the land:

Therefore I write unto you, desiring that ye would yield up unto this my people, your cities, your lands, and your possessions, rather than that they should visit you with the sword and that destruction should come upon you.

Or in other words, yield yourselves up unto us, and unite with us and become acquainted with our secret works, and become our brethren that ye may be like unto us—not our slaves, but our brethren and partners of all our substance.

And behold, I swear unto you, if ye will do this, with an oath, ye shall not be destroyed; but if ye will not do this, I swear unto you with an oath, that on the morrow month I will command that my armies shall come down against you, and they shall not stay their hand and shall spare not, but shall slay you, and shall let fall the sword upon you even until ye shall become extinct.

I should mention that I know full well the average follower of Islam does not share this extremist belief. I know that most are willing to live and let live. Others, not so much--but at least they're not violent about it.

But there is a definite extremist element who have openly declared their intentions. In the "Book of Mormon" the people didn't feel any particular need to open a "dialogue" to better "understand" the Gadiantion robbers and their reasons for wanting to conquer them. They saw the threat and acted to put down that threat. And they succeeded, at least for a time.

I don't want to "understand" the Islamic extremists. What is there to understand? Do people really expect me to believe that they don't really mean it when they say I will convert to Islam or die? They've shown their hand. Their intentions are clear. It's us or them, folks.

At the risk of sounding intolerant, I vote us.