It is astounding to realize that millions of Middle-Eastern Muslims hate the West (and the USA in particular). I am not talking about the terrorists -- barbarian savages who launch suicidal attacks on innocent men, women and children. I am speaking of day laborers and artisans, mothers and school-children, regular people sometimes referred to as "the Arab street." Political correctness says they hate us because they disagree with our democracy, our capitalism, our cherished freedoms -- often summed up as our "way of life." That is a comfortable answer, to be sure, but it is also wrong. In fact, widespread Muslim animosity toward us is grounded in Islamic religious conviction.
By saying this, I am not suggesting that Islamic convictions are correct. Aside from rejection of polytheism and a call to obey God, Islam offers little in common with biblical faith. It speaks of one God but denies his incarnation in Jesus Christ. It honors Jesus as a prophet of God who was virgin-born and ascended to heaven but denies that he was God's Son, that he died on the cross or was raised from the dead. It teaches that Jesus will come again but says that he will convert the world to Islam when he does. Its scenario of last things includes a form of heaven and hell but bases both destinies wholly on human merit rather than on God's undeserved grace manifested in Jesus' atonement and appropriated by faith. Islam provides for polygamy, denigrates women and inflicts cruel and inhumane punishment on those who trespass against its harsh morality. But what is there about Muslim teaching that fans hatred among its adherents?
In the first place, Muslims see non-Muslims as "infidels" (unbelievers) and regard the military presence of "infidels" in Muslim countries as gross sacrilege. This applies especially to Saudi Arabia, home to Islam's holiest sites. Secondly, Muslims abhor the lewd and decadent lifestyle regularly displayed in popular Western television programs, movies, music and fashions -- all of which they see invading their own countries despite their best efforts to keep these out. Finally, Muslims consider any land ever inhabited by Muslims to rightfully belong to Muslims forever, regardless of passing years or changing circumstances. This includes the present land of Israel, which Muslims occupied off and on from the eighth century after Christ until the establishment of the State of Israel in 1947.
Because the U.S. steadfastly supports Israel's existence (which I believe it should) and usually its policies involving Palestinian neighbors (which I believe sometimes require a more discerning eye), Muslims not only generally regard the Israelis as unlawful occupiers but the U.S. as equally guilty co-conspirators. I totally, absolutely and unequivocally reject Muslim logic in this regard, but no good is served by pretending that this is not the way most Muslims view the world and our place in it.
"So what if Muslims hate my country?" I ask myself. Should we do anything differently for that reason? As one Christian citizen of the U.S., desiring to think with "the mind of Christ" but not presumptuous enough to suppose that I always do, I raise some questions for further thought. For example, do we too easily go along with the immorality that characterizes contemporary American culture? Must Muslims be the voice of conscience for our country? I certainly do not want the Muslim (or non-Muslim) world to associate the media-promoted life of sex, drugs and booze -- or even of materialism, self-centeredness and entertainment -- with "Christianity."
I am not a politician but I cannot help wondering: must we maintain military forces in Saudi Arabia, supporting an autocratic ruling family that denies religious freedom to Americans as well as to its own citizens, even while sponsoring Wahabism -- a radical form of Islam that produces terrorists by the score? Does our dependence on Middle Eastern oil as our major energy source forever align us with a totalitarian regime that despises our faith and values? Must geopolitical calculations concerning global balances of power outweigh all other considerations? Has the urgent warning by U.S. founding father George Washington to avoid foreign entanglements become meaningless in the 21st century? Finally, does our unwavering commitment to Israel's security not permit and oblige us to criticize its leaders when they sometimes make wrong choices (as both Jewish and Christian Scriptures say all humans regularly do)?
We live in a troublesome world of only precarious stability. At the very least, we ought to think clearly and know what we are doing. Better information equips us to make better decisions. Misapprehensions and incorrect assumptions set us up for easy manipulation by advocates with axes to grind and by politicians of any party. Some "solutions" to global turmoil are easily recognized as extremes -- "appease" and "annihilate" are opposite examples that quickly come to mind. My concern is not only with our answers; it bothers me that I hear so few questions.
Is there hope for peaceful coexistence, if not for reconciliation? Given the radical dissimilarities between the Islamic world view and our own, the fundamental, irreconcilable and conflicting truth claims held by both camps, and the constant provocation of the Muslim masses by strident jihadist extremists, such a prospect seems humanly impossible. But humans will not have the final word and we need not finally to despair. Instead, as Christians, we can cling to those certainties that transcend politics both national and global. God -- and only God -- is totally trustworthy. His kingdom -- and only his -- will last forever. Whatever happens in the meantime, whether we thrive or suffer, whether we live or die, we are safe in his hands.
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