The ugly face of Islamic terrorism has showed that face again.

I’m referring, of course, to the attempted hijacking of the FlyDubai plane by the co-pilot.

It was an extremely close call, averted only by heroism.

This is an enormous worldview issue. It comes down to the fact that civilization is and always is an achievement. Civilization is also more vulnerable than people think. 

Civilization built this aircraft—able to withstand the stressors put on it in the terrifying descent.

And civilization established the rules—rules having to do with which airliners are certified to fly and which are not.

And we’re talking about “rules” of moral behavior. 

This was not in the case of this airplane, a mechanical problem.

This was a moral problem.

And the moral problem, at its core, can be summed up as the forces of civilization juxtaposed with the forces of anti-civilization.

Thank God—this time—civilization won.