Militant Islamism’s war on all of us appears to be accelerating. Christians, Jews, Hindus, atheists, women, gays, and millions upon millions of Muslims who reject the Islamist template—all of us are considered to be Quranically sanctioned targets for elimination by a demented and determined enemy. We can continue to make believe that jihadists are merely reacting to intolerable provocations by the perfidious West, or we can credit them with possession of a well-developed supremacist theology of global expansionism, and with a desire to resuscitate medieval values. Militant Islam’s war on pluralism and modernity has a thousand fronts, and, in the minds of jihadists, the crimes of their enemies are limitless. Here is a partial, and only partial, list of activities for which Islamists have imposed the death penalty recently:
- Vacationing in Egypt
- Shopping in Nairobi
- Going to work in New York
- Flying in an airplane in the U.S.
- Riding a train in Madrid
- Riding a bus in London
- Attending a wedding in Amman
- Guarding a Canadian memorial
- Praying in an unapproved mosque
- Being Jewish
- Visiting a nightclub in Bali
- Going to school in Russia
- Going to school in Peshawar
- Drawing cartoons
- Being a Wall Street Journal reporter in Pakistan
- Practicing free speech in Bangladesh
- Being a French engineer in Pakistan
- Working in a bank in Istanbul
- Riding a ferry in the Philippines
- Drinking coffee in Mumbai
- Making a movie critical of the treatment of women in Islam
- Publishing bibles in Turkey
- Sleeping in a hotel in Islamabad
- Standing outside a military recruitment station in Little Rock
- Praying in a church in Egypt
- Shopping for Christmas presents in Sweden
- Buying fish in Nigeria
- Making a pilgrimage in Iraq
- Watching the Boston Marathon
- Being a Christian girl in Nigeria
- Sunbathing in Tunisia
- Practicing journalism
And the crimes of the people who were murdered in Paris on Friday include: Liking music, eating, and drinking.
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