Drive Time Extremist Talk Radio is Dangerous

It is with a certain amount of trepidation that I mention WHO Radio personality Steve Deace in this space. Mr. Deace’s views are rarely worthy of much discussion and I fear little positive comes from providing another forum to further air his brand of extremism. However, Mr. Deace has stepped over a line and I cannot sit quietly and let him go unchallenged this time.

Mr. Deace finds Nidal Hasan’s shouts of “Allah is great” during the rampage at Ft. Hood irrefutable evidence that an entire religion is not peaceful. On his daily blog, Mr. Deace expanded on what he said during his Monday broadcast by writing, “Contrary to conventional wisdom, Hasan may have done America a favor if we heed the warnings after the fact that we ignored beforehand, which sadly cost 13 brave and loyal Americans at Ft. Hood their lives. If we stop lying to ourselves and accept the grave determination of the religious ideology that allegedly drove Hasan, then those 13 Americans didn’t perish in vain.”

Hasan is twisted and deeply troubled. The mental demons that haunt Hasan convinced him that his religious beliefs gave him authority to carry out the brutal and vicious attack. The nutbags who committed the atrocities of 9/11 felt the same way. However, Islam is not the only religion with followers who use its teachings to create fanaticism.

It was not too long ago that White men with sheets over their heads committed crimes against minorities, Catholics and others in our country. The Ku Klux Klan and related entities often used religious vehemence to recruit the weak minded and incite violence. The acts of these criminals can no more be used to condemn Christianity than the acts of the dangerous sociopaths who do so in the name of Islam.

Mr. Deace suggests the fight our nation faces is one centered on religion, not one based on protecting liberty and freedom. Conveniently for Mr. Deace, he has come to the conclusion that his religion is the one the U.S. should protect first. He goes on to state that Muslims cannot be loyal to country and should be barred from serving it. “Islam is an ideology opposed to the American ideal every bit as much as communism or Nazism were,” he wrote.

Mr. Deace says his religion “doesn’t provide too many roadblocks” to prevent him from following the U.S. Constitution. While it would be bitterly ironic, I hope for Mr. Deace’s sake the day doesn’t come when some fool with a radio show suggests Mr. Deace’s religious roadblocks make him an enemy of the state. Our Constitutional freedom springs from mutual respect and a system of law that grants rights to every American based on our being human, not our religious affiliation.

I am anything but a religious expert, but I do know that nearly 25% of the world population identify themselves as Muslim and I have come to know many peaceful and patriotic Americans of this faith. Peace will not be found on the road outlined by Mr. Deace. If we identify an entire religion as the enemy, we close ourselves off to the world by becoming like the zealots we despise. We must root out evil and kill it, but we must not condemn the many because a few madmen hide behind their religious doctrine.

When asked to speculate on the lives lost in the ghastly 9/11 terrorist attacks, New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani responded, “the number of casualties will be more than any of us can bear ultimately.” We could not know then how painfully accurate that statement was. This Veterans Day finds Americans still grappling with the price we pay for our commitment to preserve freedom.

Since New Year’s, 141 American servicemen have been lost in Iraq, 288 have been killed in Afghanistan and, last week, 13 Americans died in the Ft. Hood shootings. As we pause to remember veterans lost and to thank their fellow patriots who have sacrificed mightily in service and returned home, we also pray for those who defend us today in every corner of the world.

Religious teaching and Faith drive many Americans to commit themselves to protecting and defending liberty, freedom and human rights throughout the world. However, it is not our similar religious beliefs that bind us together as a nation, but our oath to protect and defend each other even when those beliefs are divergent.

This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register blog entry.

The photo above is of a 1926 edition of The Good Citizen which was published from 1913 until 1933 by the Pillar of Fire Church at their communal headquarters in Zarephath, NJ.