Oh! Reilly!

I'm a fan of Bill O'Reilly. I listen to O'Reilly Factor radio and watch The O'Reilly Factor tv show. I usually agree with Mr. O'Reilly, but I'm very disappointed in his position on criticizing Islam. Mr. O'Reilly doesn't think that criticizing Islam, even if the criticism is true, is a responsible thing to do during the War on Terror. I couldn't disagree more.

We need to know our enemy. Too many Americans are stuck on the idea that we really are the bad guys and need to atone for our sins against Muslims and try to make them love us. Mr. O'Reilly would refer to such people as far-left loons, yet he sounds just like them when he blasts people like Pat Robertson and Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham, for "insulting" Islam.

I believe Mr. O'Reilly's heart is in the right place. He believes that criticism of Islam by public figures like Robertson, Graham, and others, plays into the hands of radical Islamists by giving them proof that Americans hate Muslims, proof they can show to other Muslims and get recruits and sympathizers. I understand that reasoning, but it's just plain wrong.

Radical Muslims hate us because, to them, we're infidels. We will never stop being infidels until we convert to Islam or submit to Islamic rule. Therefore, nothing positive we say about Islam will make them love us. It is our status as non-subjugated infidels that galls them; saying nice things about their religion doesn't change that status. I thought Mr. O'Reilly prided himself on being a no-spin guy, but when it comes to Islam he's one of the biggest spinmeisters around and wants everyone else to be spinmeisters, too. But spin won't win the War on Terror; truth will.

Winston Churchill and Ronald Reagan were vilified for daring to tell the truth about the great evil of their day. We now know that if their countrymen, and the world, had listened to them sooner a horrid war and great human suffering could've been avoided. Pat Robertson, Franklin Graham, and anyone else who "insults" Islam are the Churchills and Reagans of our time. Mr. O'Reilly should know that. I do.