On names and clarity

Western thinkers must begin to recognize the difference between Islamism and Islam, or we are headed toward an ideologically defined battle with one quarter of humanity.

That’s the entire point of Newsweek’s Is It Islamic or Islamist?

I’ll add “jihad” and “Jihadism” to the mix. The political or social philosophies of Islamism and Jihadism (note my use of -ism and capitalization) are different from the religion of Islam and the concept of jihad. It’s comparable to equating Judaism and Zionism, with the added disadvantage that we are essentially using the same word for two different concepts.

So stop it.