There's a lot of knee-jerk anti-religious sentiment out there. I'm frequently at fault. But there does need to be some understanding (if not sympathy for) religious sentiments (no matter how extreme we find them).
What follows is an attempt to convince American voters that offshoots of the Muslim Brotherhood like Hamas are legitimate negotiating partners that already fulfill many functions of a government.
The media constantly feeds us images of "radical Muslims" in strange clothes saying angry things in a language we can't understand. Of course, there are many people who support Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood in general who are quite reasonable and rational people. The New York Times had some good observations about the group:
So Mr. Fawaz decided to rebel. He adopted the serene, disciplined demeanor of an Islamic activist. In his sophomore year he was accepted into the student group affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, Jordan’s largest, most influential religious, social and political movement, one that would ultimately like to see the state governed by Islamic law, or Shariah. Now he works to recruit other students to the cause.
"I find there is justice in the Islamic movement," Mr. Fawaz said one day as he walked beneath the towering cypress trees at Jordan University. "I can express myself. There is no wasta needed."
Wasta is an Arabic word for "connections." It is a form of nepotism that keeps all of the resources (good jobs, investment and travel privileges) in the hands of a small elite. The rest of the population is left to struggle in relative poverty. Things like privacy aren't practical. The idea of living separately from one's parents before marriage is financially unthinkable. Unwanted pregnancies and alcoholism/mental illness could easily bankrupt the family. One can see how this might encourage austerity.
Religion can be, however, a source of hope as well. It is a tool for distinguishing the good from the bad and trying to create a "better" society. This is done by talking about the difference between "the age of ignorance" and "the age of Islam." Community service is central to to ideology of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. According to the Council on foreign relations
In addition to its military wing, the so-called Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigade, Hamas devotes much of its estimated $70-million annual budget to an extensive social services network. It funds schools, orphanages, mosques, healthcare clinics, soup kitchens, and sports leagues. "Approximately 90 percent of its work is in social, welfare, cultural, and educational activities," writes the Israeli scholar Reuven Paz
In fact, the mosque was a central gathering place in every Muslim community I've lived in. Once again, the New York Times:
In this environment, governments are forced to confront a reality of their own creation. By choking off democracy and free speech, the only space where groups could gather and discuss critical ideas became the mosque, and the only movements that had room to prosper were religion-based.
In any event, who are these Islamists? As far as I can tell, they're mostly college graduates with a specialization in science. They tend to be articulate, practical and from humble backgrounds.
So just imagine for a second that the only place you could talk about politics was a church. Would you ignore politics or would you take over the churches?