An interview with Zuhdi Jasser...

Zuhdi Jasser was in the film "The Third Jihad"...please read this entire interview...

David Brooks recently wrote that the media's initial downplaying of Hasan's religion was a charitable impulse, but a paternalistic and morally unserious one. Do you agree?

I couldn't agree more, and I would go one step further. We have to acknowledge that there are Muslims who believe in this country and who are going to lead the effort to defeat the ideology that kills people like [the Fort Hood victims]. But we also have to acknowledge that there are other Muslims and versions of Islam that are truly a threat to this country. Every time leaders or media or government discuss Islam, they need to discuss both.

If we look at events like [Fort Hood] and conclude that that's what Islam is, then we're going to alienate the allies we most need: Muslims like myself who want to have a civil war within the faith to marginalize the Islamists. We want to go through the same process the West went through, to push the theocrats to the side. I think there were very religious Christians who did that. We're not going to have that debate if we're not willing to talk openly about religion.

It's funny, but we were a lot more comfortable discussing religion in the public square in 1789 than we are today.

We've got to get more comfortable taking religion seriously. I can't tell you how frustrating it is to see in the media, some of these guys from CAIR and other organizations compare this stuff to Christian abortion clinic bombers. It could not be more incorrect, and even dangerous, simply to dismiss these people as lone wolves. The denials must stop. It is time for a frank public accountability and responsibility from American Muslims about the role of political Islam in creating Hasan and future Hasans.