The war on terror is a war of ideologies

On May 21, 2010, the State of Texas adopted a resolution for a new social studies curriculum. The
changes implemented were multifarious, but one of the primary effects was a shift toward a more
objective presentation of both Christianity and Islam. According to the resolution, the former imbalance
was a favorable view of Islam and a critical view of Christianity. The resolution referenced “politically-
correct whitewashes of Islamic culture and stigmas on Christian civilization.” The resolution maintained
that the Texas social studies curriculum watered down Islamic practices of Jihad, slavery, and oppression
of women, while denouncing the Roman Catholic crusades of the Middle Ages.

In the October 22nd edition of The Daily Cougar last year, Mai Tran expressed her opinion of the
resolution, saying “As a native resident, it is clear that Texas is already succumbing to the lunacy of ultra-
conservative principles.”

I take issue with Tran’s opinion on two points. First, the resolution passed was not a promotion of
conservatism but of objectivity. According to the resolution, the issue at hand was a diluted, glazed
over presentation of Islam, but a brutally factual (and possibly negative) portrayal of Christianity. The
purpose of the resolution was to make certain that the real truth about Islam and Christianity were both
taught.

Second, I would contend that “ultra-conservative” principles are anything but lunacy, but are in fact vital
to the freedom and security we enjoy as Americans.

As of 10 a.m. this morning, 5, 902 Americans have been killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation
New Dawn, and Operation Enduring Freedom combined. We are those whose freedom they died to
protect, and it is important that we honor their sacrifice by making an effort to understand why they
died and are dying each day.

Our men and women fight and die because of a worldview, an ideology, which dictates that every
person has a right to life and a right to freedom. Naturally, to stand up for this worldview means war
with those who hold an opposite and irreconcilable worldview – that of radical Islam, which views the
deaths of 2,977 Americans on September 11, 2001, as an event to be celebrated. Osama Bin Laden
himself expressed the disparity of views perfectly: “We love death. The U.S. loves life. That is the
difference between us two.”

This is why the “ultra-conservative” principles that led to the Texas social studies resolution are so vital
– they fight the same battles as our soldiers, but instead of in the desert, they fight it in the minds of our
youth, teaching them that each person is entitled to freedom and to life. The war on terror in which we
are engaged is a war of ideologies. The resolution passed is important because it protects against the
promotion of Islam. In no way should Islam be wholly excluded from the social studies curriculum, but if
we allow our own educational system to give quarter to or even promote the ideas of the religion that
spawned terrorism while denouncing the Christianity that founded our nation on principles of freedom,
the war on terror will be over, and we will have lost, conquered from within.

Daniel Cooney, Sophomore, Mechanical Engineering, [email protected].