Terrorist arrests in Germany debunk 'Islam religion of peace' argument

Terrorist arrests in Germany debunk 'Islam religion of peace' argument

One of the nation's leading experts on Islam says the recent arrest of three suspected Islamic terrorists in Germany illustrates the folly of those who insist that Islam is a religion of peace.

According to news reports, the three terrorist suspects were from an al-Qaeda influenced group that was motivated by a "profound hatred of U.S. citizens." German prosecutors say they were arrested on suspicion of plotting imminent massive bomb attacks on U.S. facilities in Germany. Authorities are saying the three -- two of whom are German converts to Islam -- had trained at camps in Pakistan that were run by the Islamic Jihad Union, and had obtained some 1,500 pounds of hydrogen peroxide for making explosives.

Robert Spencer, director of Jihad Watch, a project of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, says there is no doubt that the terrorist suspects were motivated by the "same ideology that brought down the Twin Towers on 9/11 and is responsible for all the other terror attacks we see."

Spencer says this plot again debunks the argument that Islam is a peaceful religion that has somehow been hijacked by extremists. "That's one thing that shows how false and hollow this analysis is. That this tiny minority of extremists seems to be distributed all around the world and not to be effectively opposed by the peaceful Muslims," he points out.

He shares that he is not surprised that two of the suspects were actually converts to Islam. According to Spencer, the current "age of rampant moral relativism" in the West makes Islam attractive to many people because of its "moral certainty and its unwillingness to compromise with the spirit of the age." He warns that unless Europe comes to grips with the demographic realities, Germany and other countries will become Islamic. Spencer's latest book is called Religion of Peace? Why Christianity Is, and Islam Isn't.