Why Only Islam Gets an “-ism”

Notice the linguistic asymmetry.

We refer to Muslim societies as “the Muslim world,” but Christian societies as “the West.” That alone quietly insulates Christianity from blame for the 20th century’s fascisms, totalitarianisms, and democides, all of which arose overwhelmingly in historically Christian civilizations.

Likewise, when fascism in Muslim societies dresses itself in religious language, we label it Islamism — as if it were a natural outgrowth of Islam itself. But when fascism in Christian societies wraps itself in Christian symbolism, we don’t call it Christianism. We call it nationalism, authoritarianism, or simply politics.

These terminological choices do real work. They smuggle in the assumption that Muslims are uniquely prone to religious fascism, while Christianity is treated as merely a cultural backdrop — coincidentally present, never causal.

The result is an astonishing illusion: that Islam explains Muslim-world authoritarianism, while Christianity somehow explains nothing at all.