Yet another column on terror, religion... as if you wouldn't have read enough already

Any written thought on terrorism today will find two words linked. Muslim terrorism. The deeds that we have witnessed -and suffered- along the past few years had produced tons of paper dedicated to the debate of this new phenomenon, muslim terrorism. But is this muslim? Truly, Islam is an expanding and militant religion. But terrorist? Even in the orthodox idea of jihad, that fairly misunderstood term, we will not find a call for the assassination of non-involved infidels. Jihad, as a matter of fact, can translate as the continuous struggle that believers follow in the road to self improvement. Today is vital to recognize that the deeds of Al Qaida and Mohamed B's as what they are. A desperate attempt of doing politics. They are not the expression of a culture that, among other things, has given to the west mathematics and Khayyam.

Recognizing that terror is the deed of the excluded of a psychotic criminal that uses death as a tool of political struggle opens the door to a much-needed debate for whatever might be called progressive west. Religions are, even today, a relevant source of ethical values. Ranging from Weber, who laid the link of the protestant ethos and the successful development of capitalism in Europe, to the theology of liberation, which in South America organizes social movements around communal solidarity, religion has played a relevant role in the creation of western societies.

Now is the moment in which the west should recognize that other ways of development are possible. Not only the Christian, or the secular are the paths to open and progressive societies. The acceptance of the other, that chooses for development within the road delineate by christians instead of the secular program, is a step that the west long ago has done. it is time then to recognize once and for all that Islam can play the same role. Tolerance for other ethos, is not only an ethic imperative in itself, but a needed development. Let people commit themselves to their own values, accorded to the law of the land. Lets focus the debate on terrorism as the threat that it actually is, a political threat.

Even the most superficial analysis of the right wing rethoric, shows that the recognized threat from terrorism is the threat to security. And that is true. Better and more efficient actions are needed to prevent the tragedy of a terrorist attack. But the ultimate threat that scarcely make it to the political debate, contradictorily enough, is the political threat. Terrorism not only faces us with the grisly view of body bags and destroyed buildings, but also with the painful alienation of our own neighbors. A tolerant, and multicultural society, is one in which their individuals live together, without the fear for the different neighbor. Beyond the potential success of their deeds, the discovery of terrorist cells in the hearth of netherlands faces us with the fear that our neighbor, that different person that goes to a mosque instead of a church, is a terrorist, and that fear is what we should fear the most. Fear of the other can only led to a dysfunctional society. That is the long term threat of terrorism that we should be able to defeat.