Clinging to perfection.

Any form of government, secular or religious, that relies on its perfection to back up its policies greatly fears the loss of that perfection. Look at communism under Stalin. Two major famines occurred, one in the 1920s and one in the 1930s. During the '20s the USSR asked for and received help. In the 2nd famine Stalin refused any and all help and allowed roughly 20 million to die in order to maintain the myth that there were no problems in the "perfect" communist paradise.

Radical Islam is much the same. It relies on a version of reality that is based on the assumption of the perfection of Islam. If that perfection is marred, Islam itself becomes like any other religion; that can't be allowed.

Comment by BeckyJ on "Reform is alive and well within Islam, but it will only happen by those from within Islam..." By Althouse, 3/13/06.