Sometime in the next few months, a member of the Las Cruces Islamic Society will give the invocation at the beginning of our Doña Ana County Commission meeting. What will be significant about this event? Nothing. And that is the way it should be.

A couple of weeks ago, someone on a local radio show commented that because of a quote in the Koran (the religious text of Islam) talking about holy war by the sword against infidels, all true Muslims wish to kill all non-Muslims. This type of blanket statement is not only disputed by facts but leads to much of the anti-American sentiment running through the Islamic world. Let us take a brief look at the facts.

What is the nation with the largest Islamic population? Indonesia, with over 200 million Muslims, is a republican-style democracy with a secular government consisting of executive, judicial, and legislative branches. Sound familiar?

Are there majority Muslim countries allied with the United States? Yes, quite a few. For example, Turkey (a nation of roughly 23 million people, 99% of whom are Muslim) has been a member of NATO since 1952. Turkey is a secular democracy. It should also be noted that we are working closely with such nations as Egypt, Pakistan, Iraq, Jordan, and recently even Libya to pursue a peaceful future for the Middle East.

How many US Citizens are Muslim? While the total is a matter of debate, estimates range from 1.1 million to 7 million, depending on the study. For comparison, the population of New Mexico is just under 2 million.

Have there been Muslims elected to national office in the US? There will be very soon. A candidate, Keith Ellison, is very close to becoming the first Muslim elected to the US Congress this November—representing a district in Minnesota.

Even with only these brief statistics it can be seen that, with the exception of a very small number of Islamic terrorists, the United States and the Islamic faith share a peaceful, mutually-beneficial relationship. However, many in our society believe that we should be at war with all Muslims in a pure “us-against-them” battle.

Frankly, it is an us-against-them battle. But the “us” and “them” are not what anti-Muslim extremists would have us believe. The “us” is moderate forces, both non-Muslim and Muslim, who wish to see freedom, the protection of basic rights, and democracy flourish throughout the world.

The “them”? They are extremist Muslims who seek to destroy western society and force a religiously dominated culture on all people. They include members of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda, Hamas, the Iranian Ayatollas, and various other similar groups throughout the world. The words and actions of these groups (calling for the extermination of Israel, grouping western civilization as the collective great Satan, carrying out the Sept. 11 attacks, etc.) make them the enemies of not just the United States, but of the entire modern world. Because of their actions, we must seek their total destruction.

In case this point hasn’t been clearly, let it be said one more time: Separating moderates from extremists in this way does not make you an apologist for the actions that have been taken against this country. We need to defend our people. Acts taken against us should be met with the full measure of American military, economic, and diplomatic power while those threatening future attacks must be stopped.

However, once we recognize that the battle is between moderates and extremists, there is a great deal of work that we moderates must do. It begins with standing up to those who make the mistake of stereotyping all Muslim people as terrorists who wish to kill us. The people who do that use the same argument that Muslim extremists use when calling for the destruction of the Western World, even though we are obviously not all out to corrupt the Islamic religion. Muslim extremists want nothing more than to start a war between Islam and the West. Anti-Islamic extremists are unintentionally helping them do just that.

Additionally, the many more moderate Muslims need to stand up in a straightforward and unified way to distance themselves from the extremists in their midst. They must do more to prevent the religion that they hold dear from being perverted by extremists.

When we begin to stereotype all Muslims as dangerous extremists, as I heard expressed on local talk radio recently, it means that our fears have defeated our reason. We are stronger than that. As FDR, who faced down two of the greatest threats in America’s history (fascism and economic depression) put it, “We have nothing to fear, but fear itself.” As long as we do not give in to our fears, we moderates (both non-Muslim and Muslim alike) will always prevail.