During a recorded press event hosted by the White House earlier this month, the Obama administration was caught censoring French President François Hollande from mentioning “Islamic terrorism.” The White House claims that there was an audio mishap precisely when the word was uttered. Both President Hollande’s French and a translator’s English audio were apparently doctored to maintain the image that Islam is a “religion of peace,” as quoted by President Obama. It was only after the media pointed this out that the White House reuploaded the video in its entirety.

The notion that Islam is a peaceful religion is a figment of progressivist nonsense. No religion is a peaceful religion, and we must come to terms that Islam, to some degree, is motivating our enemies to kill.

This current administration has treated ISIS as a minor threat only conservatives are obsessed with, but after two dreadful years of ISIS expanding and attacking populated Western and Muslim cities, it became apparent that ISIS is growing stronger. Secretary of State John Kerry admitted, “Daesh is responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control, including Yazidis, Christians, and Shia Muslims.” “Daesh” is a covert way of disassociating the group’s Islamic roots.

In search of Europe’s most wanted bomber, Salah Abdeslam, authorities believed that he was in hiding with fellow ISIS members. However, he was recently arrested in Belgium, where his family and friends were protecting him conveniently in a neighborhood near his parents’ house, according to a Reuters article titled “Paris fugitive helped more by friends and neighbors than Islamic State.”

A Muslim community shielded a “Daesh” fugitive for four months, yet this statement would be considered Islamophobic by many apologists.

In a Pew Research poll conducted in 2006, Muslims aged 18 to 29 justified suicide bombings in several countries. Among Muslims in that age bracket justifying suicide attacks, Germany polled at 22 percent, Spain at 29 percent, Great Britain at 35 percent and France at 42 percent. Although this poll is a nearly a decade old, these results can explain an institutionalized trend among impressionable young Muslims.

Our problem is simple: Americans, especially progressives, are too busy and blinded by their ideology to recognize a global threat like ISIS is winning the war on terror by using the very same tactic the left uses on Republicans — identity politics.

There is a victim narrative that is sweeping this nation and certain parts of Europe. Radical Islamists are taking advantage of notions such as white guilt and privilege to downplay extremist activity as a Muslim solidarity movement.

When Facebook demonstrated sympathy for victims of terrorism on the day of the Paris attacks, many social media activists questioned why Kenya did not receive national attention seven months prior. The same social justice warriors, as some would call them, questioned the solidarity with Brussels because Turkey also had weathered a series of fatal ISIS attacks. Never mind the fact that France and Belgium are First World countries and African nations and Turkey had already faced Islamic terrorism for years, making their attacks less newsworthy and more expected. A typical response from a leftist blogger is to shift the victimhood from a majority-white nation onto nations represented by people of color out of guilt.

FBI Director James Comey has said ISIS investigations are taking place in every state. ISIS is active among us and empirically, its members are young Muslims like Abdeslam willing to kill themselves for a greater cause, but that is offensive. A positive message in the Muslim community is necessary, but an honest message is more appropriate than a disingenuous slogan like “religion of peace.” ISIS is radical Islam, and those who follow it oppose peace.

Christian Spencer is a general assignment writer. He can be reached at christian.o.spencer@gmail.com.