Religion is not the enemy of democracy. Tyrannical religion is its enemy. Healthy religion must be equally yoked with democracy in order for it to survive. Christianity must never be put on an equal basis with Islam for this reason. Christianity, in its true essence, can never be tyrannical because its namesake didn't have an ounce of tyranny in His personhood. He was never violent, and He taught His followers to love their enemies [Matthew 5:44]. He was [and is] a valiant and supremely courageous spiritual warrior; and as such, transcended physical violence. Skeptics will point out incidences of tyranny being enacted under the name of Christ; but these are aberrations, as all true practitioners of the faith will attest. Violence, terror, and tyranny are the normal outflow of Islam as history has attested, because the Qu'ran endorses these activities as the highest form of religious practice: namely jihad. Mosab Hassan Yousef, Muslim turned Christian, has clearly elucidated this in his book, Son of Hamas, in which he describes Islam as a ladder, with the lowest rung being praise and worship of Allah; the middle rung acts of charity and service, and the highest rung, jihad. He explains that those on the lower rungs have guilt because they are not enacting jihad.
Islam lacks faith to the degree that it imposes its doctrine and suppresses public discourse. Christianity invests faith in the direction of freedom--in the human potential to seek and find Truth, which Christ claims to be. Jesus stands at the door and knocks [Revelation 3:20] but He never beats down the door and demands anyone to confess His messiahship or suffer at the hands of men. No one can be coerced into the Kingdom of God--only invited. Islam fails to recognize or trust this process characterized by the endorsement of freedom. It therefore appeals to violent men who need to control; and it induces guilt in those who are compassionate. The Qu'ran, whether it was the original intent of Muhammad or not, ordains and sanctifies sociopathy, promising to reward it in heaven. At it's highest level, it becomes populated by sociopaths, because compassionate men [like Mosab's father] cannot embody it; only support it from the sidelines, with the aforementioned guilt.
Democracy without the healthy leaven of Christianity becomes vulnerable to tyrannical religion. This is true because humans in all cultures have historically demonstrated an inner drive toward religion. The best efforts of atheism have no hope of eradicating this inner, seemingly hardwired, need in man. In fact, atheism becomes itself a type of religion, complete with its own evangelists, etc. But atheism can never win against sociopathic religion, with its promise of the afterlife. Only healthy religion [Christianity] can win this battle. Mosab Yousef and other Muslim converts are wonderful examples of this. Islam will not be defeated politically or militarily; it can only be won over by Christ Himself, Who already has an inroad because He is respected by the Qu'ran [though His historical actions and divine role are distorted therein]. Neither political systems nor atheism has this influence in Islam. That is why it is counter-productive, in the war against terror, for non-believers to work against Christianity. It would be much more intelligent for them to endorse and support the Christian faith, as they would support the military that protects us from the violence of Islam. The military and security forces can only hold at bay what Christianity can transform.
Democracy and the freedoms it endorses are children of the Judaeo-Christian faith--faith that recognizes God's freedom and His demand that His people be free from the tyrannies of man--even religious tyranny. The God of the Bible has entrusted us with free will, and the responsibilities that accrue thereto. Historically we [humans] have misused and abused that freedom, and we have suffered because of it; but God has not yet taken it from us, and He does not ordain that we deprive each other of it. He has given us His Holy Word--written, and in the flesh as Jesus Christ--and offers us His Holy Spirit to enable us to exercise our freedom in a manner that brings blessings and prosperity to the human family. Freedom, unfettered from the healthy restraints of Christianity, becomes licentious and decadent. And that drift in our nation has been the focus of much criticism in Islam and in developing countries who do not wish to import it; and from the Christian viewpoint we understand this, and agree with it. We disagree heartily however on the methods used to combat it. In addition to the imperfect but wonderful democratic system of government, innumerable ministries to the manifold sufferings of man have issued out of Judaeo-Christianity, as any objective study will attest; and it [Judaeo-Christianity] must and will continue to flourish on the earth in order for freedom and peace to flourish.
Contrarily, we are inundated daily with the violent and destructive fruit of Qu'ranic Islam. Any objective evaluation cannot deny this. We have to examine this reality in light of truth, avoiding any prejudice. Muslims, Jews, atheists and Christians must all seek the truth about this phenomenon. It is fair to say that any theology or ideology is responsible for the fruit it bears in civilization. Christianity is responsible for what Christianity spawns in the world. And Islam is responsible for what it spawns in the world. This is true no matter what perception the world outside that theology has of it. In other words, the non-Christian world is not responsible for how Christianity has responded to it. And the non-Muslim world is not responsible for how Islam has responded to it. No theology can blame anything or any people-groups outside itself for what it has spawned in the world. It can only be legitimate if it takes responsibility for the fruit it bears. And any theology, in order to be legitimate, must be able to stand in the arena of free expression of ideas. Any theology that violently or threateningly shuts out civil discourse that opposes it cannot be trusted as true. Truth does not need to be defended violently; it only needs an open arena of expression. The freedom of speech, including a free press, provided by our Constitution is vital in this regard, and they must be protected. One of the goals of terrorism is to suppress this freedom; and that fear must not dominate.
One of the freedoms that must be granted in any legitimate theology is the freedom of open doubt. Faith that is not tried in the fire of doubt can never be legitimate. A theology that labels doubt as heresy and ordains the punishment of that heresy can not be legitimate. And a theology that threatens physical harm, or even death, for apostasy [abandoning that faith] reveals that it is not secure in its tenets. If I must build a wall to keep my people from straying, or to shut out foreign concepts, I likely fear that there may be something better outside the wall. Or I do not trust my people to be mature enough to handle whatever truth may be on the other side of it. And fear of exposure [of adults] to ideas outside one's traditions can never be a legitimate motivator of theological doctrines. We must live in the freedom of love and faith; not confined behind the walls of fear. [Judas was free to betray Christ, and the Pharisees were free to crucify him; and He did not allow His disciples to use violence to protect Him. But God worked it all for good.]
I am not a scholar of the Qu'ran. I have, like anyone who is paying attention, seen some of the verses that are feeding the radical jihadists, and I have a basic understanding of Sharia as the law under which all Muslims must abide, and under which, according to the Qu'ran, all the world must ultimately be brought into "submission"--the very meaning of the word Islam". I can not see how, based on this understanding, Qu'ranic Islam can integrate with our Republican Democracy. They seem to be opposing forces that cannot mutually embrace each other as set forth in the Qu'ran and in our Constitution. In fact, Islam has and continues to violently and oppressively militate against every theology and political ideology that has touched its boundaries. In this light, I call upon all American non-Muslims [as well as all "moderate" Muslims] to diligently protect our Constitution. All our laws should be only in accordance with the Constitution; and any laws that are not should be confronted and, if necessary, civilly disobeyed, in the pattern of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960's. "One nation under God" should be deeply understood and vigilantly guarded as a reality--not a meaningless phrase. The Founding Fathers who instituted freedom of religion also instituted the Constitution. It is impossible that they intended to grant freedom to a religion that would usurp or undermine the Constitution.
And in all our endeavors to protect and defend what God has given us, we must be very careful to always be motivated by the courage, faith and especially love of Jesus Christ our Lord. Our method of jihad is to guard our hearts against fear and against hatred. To the degree that we are motivated by either of those, we are losing the battle.
Mark Graham
No comments:
Post a Comment