In the editorial offices of a French magazine this week, murderous Muslim butchers put an emphatic and bloody exclamation point on President Barack Obama’s 2012 declaration before the United Nations that, “The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam.”

And even before the broken bodies of the dead French cartoonists had been removed from the scene of their slaughter, Muslim apologists of the American political left were taking to cameras and keyboards to make sure the apparent greater crime of political incorrectness was not perpetrated.

CNN pundit Sally Kohn sent out a barrage of PC tweets that repackaged the foolish charge made years ago by fellow left-winger Rosie O’Donnell that, “radical Christianity is just as dangerous as radical Islam.” You can be forgiven if you’re struggling to remember the last time monks with suicide belts stormed a mall food court or a group of knife-wielding nuns beheaded an infidel before mass. Both scenarios elicit laughter because such behavior is totally out of the ordinary for followers of Jesus. 

Can you find nutjobs claiming to be Christian who have committed violent acts? Of course. But in every example you cite, you must also admit without exception that the offender didn’t justify his actions by referencing Christian Scripture, was not acting in accordance with the teaching of any mainstream Christian denomination, nor do there exist large groups of Christians dedicated to implementing such a strategy.

Former elected chairman of the Democratic Party Howard Dean appeared on MSNBC actually attempting to say the same about Islam.  “I stopped calling these people Muslim terrorists,” he proclaimed -- as though Howard Dean or anyone on the left has ever used that phrase with regularity. “I think ISIS is a cult. Not an Islamic cult. I think it’s a cult,” he stammered.

This is precisely the same nonsense we’ve been hearing from American liberals for years. Simply recall that after the horrific attack at Fort Hood, where Muslim terrorist Nidal Malik Hasan jumped onto a table, shouted “Allahu Akbar” and massacred Americans in cold blood, the Obama administration labeled the event “workplace violence.” Or go online and watch Attorney General Eric Holder refuse to even act like he understands the phrase “radical Islam.” When you do, it should become apparent why events like this continue to happen. We are paralyzed with fear at the thought of honestly acknowledging the problem we face is within Islam itself.

Every time Islamic jihadists strike, our society frantically searches for some reason to explain what provoked them: American foreign policy, the invasion of Iraq, a preacher in Florida who threatened to burn a Quran, the establishment of Israel after World War II, the events at Abu Ghraib, offensive cartoons, and on and on and on.

But lost in this silly sideshow is the truth that Islam has been imitating their warrior prophet and fighting the world since the 7th century. 

Yes, thankfully there are a large number of Muslims today who choose to interpret their holy book in a manner that allows them to live at peace with others. But we can’t deny the reality that Islam is the only religion in the world where there is an open discussion within the faith about whether it’s acceptable to saw off journalists’ heads, burn children alive who don’t renounce their faith in Christ, massacre thousands by using jetliners as missiles, or slaughter cartoonists at a satirical magazine. And again, those acts of terror aren’t the product of some modern movement of Islamists who misunderstand and pervert their scriptures. It has been this way since Muhammad was perpetrating the violence himself.

The stark difference between Kohn and O’Donnell’s “radical Christian” violence and Islamic terror is the difference between despicable acts and despicable teachings. There’s a reason that Alexis de Tocqueville wrote over a century ago, “I studied the Quran a great deal. I came away from that study with the conviction that by and large there have been few religions in the world as deadly to men as that of Muhammad.” 

Multiculturalist blather and politically correct garbage prevent us from acknowledging that simple reality. Pretending there is some moral and ethical equivalency between all faiths is cultural suicide. Muhammad proclaimed, “I have been ordered (by Allah) to fight against the people until they testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.” Three Muslims in France merely followed that example this last week. That’s the real problem we continue to ignore.

Pete Heck is a speaker, author and teacher who hosts a weekly radio broadcast on WIBC. Follow him @peterheck or email peter@peterheck.com.