This has been a popular image on leftist webpages for some time, and its past time for a critical examination.
The intent of this meme is pretty obvious: it implies that the patriotic, got-touting Christian American woman on the left is essentially the same as the militant Muslim woman standing on the right. Both are shown carrying their scripture of choice in one hand, and a firearm in the other.
From this, we’re supposed to leave with the idea that radical Christianity and radical Islam aren’t fundamentally different, and therefore both religious approaches should merit equal criticism.
The problem here is that the facts don’t add up.
If there has to be a “radical” Christian in America, your best example would probably be the Amish. The community makes a point to exclude itself from the rest of contemporary society, and is rigid in the applications of its belief system.
Radical Islam has not been shown to manifest in the same way. The Amish are known for many things, but terrorism isn’t one of them. Followers of radical Islam are motivated to spread their ideology by force, evidenced by the countless terror attacks in Europe over the past few years. On these grounds alone, drawing a comparison between radical Christianity and radical Islam is not much of an argument.
~ Facts Not Memes
