Enemy of the State: Karen Armstrong

David Horowitz's Enemies List identifies religion scholar Karen Armstrong, the author of The Battle for God and A History of God,as an enemy of the state. Her crime: she claims that Muslim homicide bombers are motivated by 'absolute hopelessness,' not hatred."

The General has read both of the books referred to above, and was shocked at her claim that the origins of modern Christian fundementalism are similar to those of Muslim and Jewish fundementalism. She just doesn't seem to understand that we're different because God is on our side.

You can hear her speak her anti-American heresy here.

From Horowitz's Enemies List:

KAREN ARMSTRONG

* Professor at London’s Leo Baeck College
* Justifies Palestinian suicide bombers as being motivated by “absolute hopelessness,” not hatred
* Outspoken critic of Israel and America

A former Catholic nun who teaches Christianity and comparative religion at London’s Leo Baeck College, Karen Armstrong has written a best-selling book called Understanding Islam. While she is an outspoken critic of Israel and of America’s role in Mideast affairs, she turns a blind eye to the dangers posed by Islam’s most extremist and violent factions. In fact, she goes so far as to rationalize and justify Palestinian suicide bombings.

Armstrong recounts how, during her time in Israel in the mid-eighties working on a documentary about St. Paul, she heard some Israelis refer to “dirty Arabs.” As a result, she explains, she instantly recognized that “there was something fundamentally wrong” in Israel. Today’s Israelis, says Armstrong, “cannot believe that it is not 1939 any more; the Israeli people are emotionally stuck in the horrors of the Nazi era.” Moreover, she says that “the Israelis can do what they want because America will always support them.”

[...]

Insisting that there is “nothing... anti-Western” about Islam, she calls for a reinvigorated jihad by her Muslim friends, whom she advises to “march down the street at Ground Zero in New York, call it ‘Muslims against Terror.’ [Muslims] need to know how to manage the media.”

Update: Carl Ballard writes Horowitz