As we watch Lebanon serve as the battleground between Israel and its neighbors, I get very tired of the "Islamofascist" explanation that dominates commentary. Amrican exceptionalism can blind us to just how like the rest of the world we are, especially to parts we don't particularly like.
Are Syria / Iran more dominated by religion that America? Are the decisions of the Syrian / Iranian leaders more determined by their religious belief and the need to accommodate the religious beliefs of their followers than we see here in the US? Do some of their political/religious leaders call for the killing of political figures from other countries (like Pat Robertson has) ? Do they look forward eagerly to world wide religious war (like the Chrisofascist end timers who run the Republican party)? Do they read bestselling fiction that rejoices in the deaths of millions of infidels (as featured in the very popular Left Behind series)? Do they think that their religion is under deliberate attack by popular culture (my pastor thinks so)? Do think that their religious beliefs should replace any secular regime (Catholic doctrine until Vatican II)? Do they want to turn public education into an arm of the locally dominant religious sect (as has happened in too many places in the US)? Do religious disputes control their national debate (abortion, rights of women, homosexuals)? Do they rile up the yahoos (as the Republicans have called them) with religious concerns so that they don't notice that the country is going to pieces?
I had a gentleman get very in my face about "those people" and how they have ruined what we did in Iraq. He meant the Iraqis, not the soldiers who raped and murdered a 14 year old and her family. Catholics get one very important thing right - Original Sin. We are all sinful and that should make us humble in judging others.