The Individual vs. The Collective

Paul Belien says the Anti-Jihad Manifesto misses the mark when it pits democrats against theocrats. He says:

The battle that is being waged today is a battle between those who defend the right of individuals against the right of collectivities.

The Islamists and the secularists (including the priests and bishops among them) have more in common than the Islamists and the Christians (including the agnostics among them), because the latter acknowledge that at the heart of Christianity is the individual with his individual responsibility before God. Without Christianity, individual responsibility would not have become the centre of European civilization.

This is an excellent point and goes a long way towards explaining how the Left can find common cause with the Islamists.