In the wooded hills of Montana, Idaho and Alabama, groups of self-styled “militias”—some of which use names like “Aryan” and/or “Christian”—train with weapons and explosives. Some are openly anti-Semitic and racist; some even advocate violent resistance to their own government.

Every legitimate Christian denomination denounces these kooks.

In the woods north of Toronto-and near Edmonton and Vancouver-groups of young men in militant, radical Islamist organizations gather to train with weapons and to parrot the hateful, racist anti-Israel, anti-American and anti-Christian rhetoric of al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbolla and the PLO.

Alas, very few mainstream Muslim spokesmen have ever denounced these kooks.

One reason may be that the principal victims of radical Islamic terrorism have mostly been their own co-religionists, whose silence the radicals coerce by intimidation.

Another reason may be the Muslim doctrine of al-Taqqiyah, which says it is permissible to lie to a kaffir (infidel) in order to advance the cause of Islam. Islam divides the whole world into two “houses”: Dar al Islam, the House of Submission (to Allah); and Dar al Harb, the House of War. The goal of Islam is to bring the whole globe into submission to Allah.

Christianity, too, seeks to embrace the whole world. Both religions are thus strongly “missions-minded”. But Christianity spreads its doctrine by love, service and self-sacrifice; the radical wing of Islam, for 14 centuries, has spread its doctrine by terror. And you cannot convert from Islam where Shari’a Law rules, for apostasy is a capital offense.

It has been estimated that only 10 to 15 percent of the world’s Muslims are radical Islamists; but on a base of one and a quarter billion Muslims world-wide, that’s an army of 125 to 185 million people who think they can please their god by killing Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Zoroastrians and Baha’is. And the spread of this Wahhabi doctrine is financed globally by Saudi Arabia, whose first monarch, Abdul Aziz ibn Saud, was a follower of the radical theology of Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab, “The Teacher”. The House of al-Saud and the Wahhabi fundamentalists have been allies since the middle of the 18^th century. It was Wahhabi warriors who established ibn Saud’s control of the Nejd and the Hijaz.

The doctrine of al-Taqqiyah was illustrated by the Muslim prophet Mohammed: after signing a 10-year peace treaty with the Qraish tribe of Mecca at the Oasis of al-Hudibayah, he violated that treaty just two years later, and slaughtered the Qraish (his own tribe!) to take over Mecca. This example of perfidy was cited by Yasser Arafat, the father of modern terrorism, to justify signing the Oslo Accords—which he called “a worthless piece of paper” and compared to the Treaty of al-Hudibayah.

Arafat was an Egyptian, and most of his PLO thugs were never “Palestinians”—a nationality that didn’t exist until 1967, when Arafat invented it. The so-called “West Bank” didn’t exist, either, until Jordan invented it in 1967: Judea and Samaria—what the Bible calls “the mountains of Israel”—actually became “occupied territories” in 1948, when the invading armies of TransJordan stole the region from the infant nation of Israel. TransJordan, the Arab state created by the League of Nations in 1922 for Muslims in Palestine, has never allowed Jews to settle there—unlike Israel, which allows Arab and Muslim residents full citizenship—indeed, some even hold seats in the Knesset.

It is this ancient hatred of Muslim Arabs for Jews that has ignited global terrorism in our time. We can be grateful that CSIS, the RCMP, and local police were able to uncover a terrorist plot in Canada before anyone was hurt. But terrorism will remain a danger until moderate Muslims emulate legitimate Christians by exposing and denouncing dangerous radicals hiding in their midst.

The time to show their commitment to peace is now.