Posted on 05/10/2003 6:06:50 AM PDT by Seti 1
EVANGELICALS' ANTI-ISLAM REMARKS ARE TESTAMENT TO IGNORANCE
WASHINGTON -- Evangelical Christianity's leaders, meeting here this week, performed a great service for the geopolitical health of the world. They denounced as "unhelpful" and even "dangerous" the outrageous anti-Islam remarks made by some of the movement's star preachers over recent months. The Rev. Franklin Graham was not there. He was in San Diego at a "mission." But his words of the last year and a half -- that Islam is a "very evil and wicked religion" -- clearly hung over the landscape.
Nor was the Rev. Jerry Falwell at the conference, sponsored by the National Association of Evangelicals and the Institute on Religion and Democracy. His words last year on "60 Minutes," that the prophet Mohammed was himself a "terrorist," had an equally cloying effect on the meeting, along with those of the Rev. Pat Robertson, who recently said that Islam only wants to "co-exist until it can control, dominate and then, if need be, destroy."
It seems that many in the organized evangelical community, with its extraordinary 45 million Christian members in America, are finally getting sick of such prejudiced outbursts -- and about time, too! Don't we have enough problems in the world without these otherwise respected and even sagacious "men of the cloth" and "men of God" carrying on in such a manner in the name of their faith and their country?
First of all, one has to wish they had ever bothered to read a history book on Islam.
For nearly 800 years from 711 A.D. onward, the Islamic Moorish state in Spain ruled over one of the most brilliant, cultured and tolerant states in world history. "Al Andalus, the ornament of the world," historians called it. In the capital city of Cordoba, the city's library housed some 400,000 volumes, compared to hundreds in the largest libraries in Latin Christian countries.
Historian Maria Rose Menocal wondered over the magnificent "culture of tolerance" in this Moorish Spain. "Their illumination of the rest of the universe transcended differences of religion," she wrote. "It was in Al Andalus that the profoundly Arabized Jews rediscovered and reinvented Hebrew poetry ... Christian palaces and churches, like Jewish synagogues, were often built in the style of the Muslims," and one synagogue in Toledo even "includes inscriptions from the Koran ..."
Today in many parts of the Muslim world, one finds impressive learning and tolerance. Turkey's secular state directly controls Islamic education and even the training of the Muslim preachers; Tunisia began reforming Islam in the 1830s, and that country's Islam today is advanced and highly tolerant; in the Sultanate of Oman, where the distinct Ibadi Islam is the way of life, tolerance is built into every level of life.
In some of the less lucky Muslim countries -- Algeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Sudan, Egypt to a certain degree -- after the colonial powers left the Arab world in the 1950s, and after the Koran became available to interpretation not only by clerical authorities but every preacher, a kind of Arab "Protestant Revolution" came into being. But this was a violent one, and one far removed from the old authorities.
In this untethered Islam, the apocalyptic mystique and message of an Osama bin Laden could grow because the Muslim world had become a society under stress and duress. Strangely enough, this same apocalyptic message -- always ending in terrible destruction and the conversion of "the other" -- is strikingly similar to the Armageddonite message of many evangelical Christians. Both ideas are in part responses to the alienating modern world.
Islam in history was sometimes brilliant, tolerant and just; sometimes debauched, intolerant and unjust -- almost exactly like the history of all great religions.
Second, one has to say that these gratuitous and unbalanced insults to the Muslim faith, which have been broadcast through globalization across the entire world, have played a major role in further radicalizing Muslim society.
Pakistan's religious parties are taking over more and more of the crucially important border areas with Afghanistan, the moderate Islamic authorities are lying low as the radicals crow about American prejudice against Islam, and classic Muslim groups like the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt are strongly on the rise again. Is this really what these men of the cloth want to see happen?
Third, it is becoming clear, in part through conferences such as the one here, that these spokesmen are becoming somewhat of an embarrassment to their flocks. Do evangelicals really want to appear to the world to be unschooled in the complicated histories of the great religions; to be seen as politically throwing their support to Ariel Sharon's expansionist policies on the West Bank? Do the masses of good, smart, cultured evangelical people really believe that Armageddon will be more moral than a Palestinian state?
I was raised as a Baptist in Chicago, and I have great respect for evangelical religions, so, please, no attacks on that basis! But I also know from years of working overseas, not to speak of simple observation of humanity, that the way you contain radicalism -- any radicalism -- is to gradually, persistently and justly drain out the poisons from the swamps, thus drying up the wellsprings for terrorism and diverting the rivers of hatred.
The words of the Grahams, the Falwells and the Robertsons have exactly the opposite effect. It is infinitely good that serious evangelicals are speaking out in other tongues.
SS. "many". Yea right!
The words of the Grahams, the Falwells and the Robertsons have exactly the opposite effect. It is infinitely good that serious evangelicals are speaking out in other tongues
SS. And the thousands of Muslim clerics who preach murder everyday are just a figment of everyones imagination.
Literal adherence to Islam ……violence/peace probability spectrum ……Literal adherence to Christianity VIOLENCE
Amazon.com: Books: Through Our Enemies' Eyes: Osama Bin Laden, ...
This book is the one all Americans must read to understand why radical Muslims, such as Osama bin Laden and his followers, have declared war on America and the West. Furthermore, this book accurately describes the severity of the threat they will continue to pose, with or without bin Laden’s leadership, to our national security. To win the war against terrorism, the author argues, we must first stop dismissing militant Muslims as "extremists" or "religious fanatics." Formulating a successful military strategy requires that we see the enemy as they perceive themselves—as highly trained and motivated soldiers who fervently believe their cause is righteous. Militants throughout the Islamic world are enraged by what they believe is Western aggression against their people, religion, and culture. Though bin Laden declared war on America years ago—not once but twice—Americans were complacent in the face of his violent threats. Such misguided arrogance, according to the author, stems from the increasing secularization and moral relativism of American society and culture. Even if bin Laden is brought to justice, the author warns, the dangers posed by radical Islamic militants will not disappear. We must be prepared for a protracted war against terrorism. This important book will make a major impact on how America thinks about its enemy and itself.
Reviewer: Newt Gingrich (see more about me) from Washington, DC United States |
This is a remarkable book well worth reading by anyone who wants to know how dangerous our opponents are and how difficult the war with terrorism could get. The author is described as "a senior U.S. intelligence officer with nearly two decades of experience in national security issues related to Afghanistan and South Asia." He was forced to publish the book anonymously because it is so different from the pre-September 11 analysis of his employing agency.
His own disgust with the American intelligence bureaucracy is evident in his acknowledgments when he cites Mark Helprin about men who "knowing very little or next to nothing, take pride in telling everyone else what to do." He continues with praise for young civil servants "whose work ethic, intellectual honesty, and personal courage inspire awe and-if unleashed-are more than match for America's foes, foreign or domestic. Too often, however, their work is stymied by senior officers of my own generation. Mostly men, these senior officers have made careers by keeping silent in the face of unfairness, avoiding risk, and refusing to make decisions . . . Fortunately, most of the Republic's younger civil servants recognize with Helprin that this behavior is 'more than a pity, more than a disgrace, it is despicable'" (xiv).
The current strategy of focusing narrowly on Al Qaeda, Bin Laden, and body counts "is the road to disaster, for the positions and force bin Laden has presented are a far more lethal and varied threat than that posed by any of those we have labeled as 'terrorists' over the past quarter century. The strength of his personality and message is likely to lead to an enduring legacy that will long survive his departure from the scene" (xvii).
"The forces of bin Laden, then, are waging war on America in God's name; they have made it clear that their goal is not the tactical one of inflicting pain, but the strategic one of defeating the United States 'in the same way in which the USSR suffered humiliation at the hands of the Afghan and Arab mujahedin in Afghanistan.' In the United States before the events of 11 September 2001, however, there was almost no recognition that bin Laden's war is well under way. The first step in countering the forces that bin Laden has established is to listen more patiently to what he said in the past and to understand the personal, historical, and geopolitical contexts in which he thought, spoke, and acted" (xviii).
Americans will find this book disturbing in part because the author uses American revolutionary war patriots' words to frame each chapter. His point is to drive home that the sincerity and intensity of our founding fathers can be matched by equal intensity and sincerity in Islam. He is arguing that the movement opposing us has a religious fervor, a systematic intensity, and a willingness to learn and use the advantages of a free society to defeat that very freedom.
This is a sobering view of a deeply religious movement with the passionate commitment of those who are doing God's bidding and a willingness to kill Americans by the millions if they can find the right mechanism with which to do it.
Anyone who reads this book will be deeply sobered by it and will reflect on how much bigger and longer our campaign to defeat the Reactionary Islamists will turn out to be.
Really? 400,000 volumes?
Were they all Korans?
I think were talking about idyllic Islamic Spain here, the one that Maimonades had to flee circa 1000 AD. Did 400,000 titles even exist then?
ML/NJ
This is not the "Grahams, Falwells or Robertsons" speaking here:
Analyst Doug Bandow said, "I think the Saudi human rights record is about the worst in the Middle East. I mean, if you were a Christian or you were a woman you would probably prefer to be in Iraq than in Saudi Arabia. Yet we embrace the Saudis. It's a terrible record. There's no political freedom. There's no economic liberty. If you want to practice Christianity, you know if you want to live a life with any sort of freedom, that's not a place you can be."
Saudi dissident Ali Ahmed's family is persecuted in Saudi Arabia because his relatives are Shia Muslim, the wrong kind in Sunni Saudi Arabia. He has testified before Congress on a land where women are property, converts to Christianity are executed, and people are taught to hate.
Ali said, "What they teach that Jew — I’m not talking about Israel here — I'm just talking about Jew, period, is the most disgusting creature on earth, you know, you should hate that person with a passion. [And] the cross is a sign of evil."
Here are the words of Sheik Said al Brake at one of Saudi Arabia's largest mosques:
"Muslim brothers in Palestine, do not have any mercy or compassion on the Jews, their blood, their money, their skin. Their women are yours to take, legally. Allah made them yours. People should know that Jews are backed by the Christians, and the battle that we are going through is not with Jews only, but also with those who believe that Allah is part of the Trinity, and those who said Jesus is the son of Allah, and those who said that Allah is Jesus, the son of Mary."
Another well known Saudi cleric has publicly prayed for Allah to "terminate" the Jews, whom he described as "the scum of humanity... the rats of the world... pigs and monkeys."
Historian Michael Ledeen said, "That's a Saudi doctrine, the official doctrine of the Saudi state. Then they export this doctrine, not only to the terrorists, but they've built thousands of mosques and religious schools all over the western world, over a thousand in the United States alone, which have the same textbooks, translated into English, the same doctrine, the same nutty ideas — kill a Christian go to heaven, kill a Jew go to heaven, kill an Israeli, kill an American and go straight to paradise. This is Saudi money, Saudi text, Saudi doctrine."
The doctrine is known as wahhabism, and it flows out of Saudi Arabia, first in the form of money, to nations like Nigeria, where wahhabi influence is increasing. It also goes to the Philippines and Indonesia, where a jihad continues against Christians. And it exists in the United States, where Saudi money has built mosques and schools.
Saudi religious money has only one string attached: you must teach wahhabism, the same doctrine taught to a very famous Saudi named Osama bin Laden. There are said to be 7,000 wahhabi academies around the world.
Ali Ahmed read to us from Arabic wahhabi textbooks used in Saudi academies here in the United States. "The question is can you love Christians and Jews? And the answer is no, you can't," the book said.
The Attack On The World Trade Center And The PentagonSecularists
are Muslims who do not have a knowledge of the contents of the Quran and only know a verse or two to justify enjoying their life such as: "Wealth and children are the adornment of the life of this world" (Surat AI-Kahf 18:46). Moderates
know the Quran but seek to make their faith relevant to modern life. They try to reconcile the contradicting verses in the Quran in such a way that Muslims may tolerate Jews and Christians living among them. They emphasize the verses that came to the Prophet Muhammad when he was weak militarily and in need of the support of Jews and Christians.
Islam's Immigrant Invasion of Europe: What sense is there in respecting those who don’t respect us?
Ignorance of the dangers of the evil islamic savages has caused us great grief. We must continue to hold these monsters accountable.
To do otherwise would be ignorant and STUPID.
On 19 Dec, 2002 PBS aired a two hour film on the life of Muhammad. There was noteworthy Islamic funding for this show. The film told the story of Muhammad's life and included most of the important events that affected his life and the lives of his followers. Throughout the film various Muslims or sympathetic academics commented on these events. Muslims from various walks of life spoke highly of Muhammad and presented him in a lustrous light.
However, significant details were omitted or glossed over. This includes many of Muhammad's violent acts. Additionally, many of the comments were inaccurate according to the Islamic source materials. When the film is put to the test, against the real Islamic source materials, it is obvious that this film was nothing more than Islamic evangelism of an ignorant and naïve American public.
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