fnord:

There are many people who post at the Belmont Club who aren’t lizards. It would not be wise to equate “lizardoid” ideology with American politics, or even American conservatism. Repticons (or “lizardoids”) are a small minority even among American conservatives, just as al-Qaeda is a small minority among Muslims.

That said, there is a big difference between talking to Muslims and talking to “Islam”. “Dialogue with Islam” is essentially a theological discussion one would have with an imam, a mosque preacher, or an ayatollah. This is not to be confused with having Muslim friends. And guess what? I do have Muslim friends; some of them hate al-Qaeda more than I do.

There is an amazing amount of ignorance spread about religion, and a considerable amount of it was spread by Karl Marx. Despite or perhaps because of the theological overtones of Karl Marx’s ideology (Berdeyev regarded it as a theological heresy), the entire idea of religion being the “opiate of the masses” has become rather popular, never mind the historical role of religion in shaping human psychology and the historical role of clerics (priests, ministers, rabbis, imams, druids, et cetera) as de facto community organizers.