A speaker often met with protest came to Penn State on Monday night, yet the event was calm and raised more questions from students than opposition.

Dinesh D'Souza, a former policy analyst for the Reagan administration and a best-selling author, spoke to a crowd of about 50 students and community members in the Osmond Building.

In the past, D'Souza's visits to Penn State have been met with much opposition from students, according to Collegian archives. However, Monday night's speech was not met with any forms of protest.

D'Souza's speech reflected the topic of his book, What's So Great About America?

He discussed the paradox of America as "simultaneously the most loved, yet most hated" nation in the world.

D'Souza said the appeal of America to immigrants is the idea that they will make money when they come to the United States, and to young people the appeal is the ability of choice.

D'Souza said he immigrated to the United States from India when he was 17.

"My destiny would've been given to me," D'Souza said, referring to if he had remained in his birth country. "In America, I am the architect of my own destiny."

D'Souza said Europeans dislike the "red" America they see, and other countries dislike the "blue" America they see, but neither is able to see the whole picture.

He attributed this problem to the limited amount of American culture people from other countries are exposed to. D'Souza said they only see pop culture and Hollywood versions of our culture and that some people in other nations do not realize that Americans actually go to church.

D'Souza said this is how Osama Bin Laden and other fundamentalists are able to recruit others, by saying Americans are pagans and atheists.

"We need to show the other America that goes to church and has family values," D'Souza said.

D'Souza said calling the current conflict in the Middle East a "war on terror" is a misnomer.

"Terrorism is not an opponent, it is a tactic used by an opponent," D'Souza said.

He also said "suicide bomber" is an erroneous term because it's not that these people want to die.

"The guys who died in 9/11 hated America more than they loved life," D'Souza said.

Regarding the American troops currently in Afghanistan, D'Souza said he had heard someone say that America had only moved the Afghan people from the 11th century to the 14th, not the 21st.

"That's progress," D'Souza said. "The goal isn't perfection, it's progress."

D'Souza spent a decent part of his speech talking about past United States foreign policy decisions, some of which have been met with opposition.

"In the real world, the choice is between the bad guy and the really bad guy," D'Souza said.

He added that current radical Muslims feel Islam is under attack.

"Christianity is a religion of belief," D'Souza said. "Islam is a way of life."

Of President Barack Obama, D'Souza said he is acting cautiously, but the United States will give him room because of the current economic situation.

He did disagree with Obama's statement that America is not a Christian nation, but a nation of citizens, saying that it was "not particularly illuminating."

He did, however, tell one audience member he was being too extreme when the man suggested that Obama leaned toward fascism.

"I think it's important," Steve Fiehler (senior-communications) said about D'Souza's speech. "The biggest issue of our time is the clash between the Islamic world and the Western world."

While Fiehler said he didn't agree with everything D'Souza said, he added he was still able to learn a lot from him.