The Jihad against Muslims.

Cathy Young presumes that Islam is only a religion ("The Jihad Against Muslims," June 2006). It would be more accurately positioned as a sociopolitical system. Since its origins in the seventh century, it has been involved with warfare directed at converting the world to Islam. If it were not for the Battle of Tours and the Battle of Vienna the Muslims undoubtedly would have triumphed.

As we look at the last 100 years of Islam, its weakness and inadequacy should not be confused with a reluctance to fulfill its dogma. The same lesser jihad goes on. It is what the civilized world is now fighting, but we euphemistically call it "terrorism."

Young implies that at some point the negative view of Islam goes too far and results in a form of bigotry. But we always have a right to accept that people are who they announce they are. There is nothing in any creed of Islam that sanctions any Muslim's right to peacefully coexist with, or have mutual respect for, any other religion. Any accommodating words in the Koran are directed only toward fellow believers. All others must be converted, oppressed through dhimmitude, or killed.

If someone conveys that he is Muslim we have the right to believe him. The onus does not fall on the outside world to verify that someone who declares he is a Muslim does not actually believe what Islam demands he believe. It is his requirement to come forward and reveal that he is outside Islam and therefore an Islamic heretic.

Andrew R. Joppa

Naples, FL