As Franck Salameh argued, “One ought to imagine the assaults that Voltaire, Rousseau and other eighteenth-century luminaries mounted against Christian dogma being described as ‘racism’ or ‘Christianophobia’ by their contemporaries—and their modern offspring. Indeed, it is likely that Christianity might have remained ossified, unable to evolve, had it been left to its own devices, immune from criticism.”

Europe is facing today in as much a struggle for its own soul and mind as a struggle against the creeping despotism of Islamism and Salafism. To shy away from this two-pronged struggle is to lapse into what Islamists call “jahiliyyah”!

Robert G. Rabil is a professor of political science at Florida Atlantic University. He is the author of Embattled Neighbors: Syria, Israel and Lebanon; Syria, United States and the War on Terror in the Middle East; Religion, National Identity and Confessional Politics in Lebanon: The Challenge of Islamism; Salafism in Lebanon: From Apoliticism to Transnational Jihadism; and most recently The Syrian Refugee Crisis in Lebanon: The Double Tragedy of Refugees and Impacted Host Communities. He tweets at @robertgrabil.

Image: Sri Lankan mosque at sunset. Pixabay/Public domain