[iwar] [fc:Islam.and.the.making.of.Christian.martyrs]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-10-30 17:45:34
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From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net>
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Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2001 17:45:34 -0800 (PST)
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Subject: [iwar] [fc:Islam.and.the.making.of.Christian.martyrs]
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                            Bill Murchison
                          October 30, 2001
              Islam and the making of Christian martyrs

 As the man said, a religious war -- the man being Osama bin Laden,
his most recent targets (or those of his fervent disciples) being
Christians.
Now, it's true that plenty of the prophet Osama's original targets in
the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were Christians, but that was
only one of the offenses chalked up against them.
The men, women and children butchered last Sunday in the Pakistani
town of Bahawalpur were Pakistanis, singled out specifically for their
Christian faith. They were practicing that faith when into the church
burst the gunmen, spraying death all around. A total of 16 died. It
was like the old days in the seventh century -- kill the infidel dogs!

The bin Ladenites certainly have a way of clarifying their intentions.
We might somehow have gotten the notion that they hate only Americans.
We find instead that what really agitates them is America's
identification with a religion that doesn't pass muster in Mecca and
Medina. The corresponding gesture on our part would be a Jerry
Falwell-led attack on a mosque full of worshippers. Except that you
don't see such an attack, nor will you. The virulent hatred on display
in the world is remarkably one-sided.
The virulence is odd when you think about it. Christianity as a menace
to Islam? Not as modern-day Christians see it. These couldn't be
stirred up at any price for an old-fashioned "crusade" -- literally, a
military venture to advance the cross of Jesus Christ.
Such warlike ways as they ever had, Christians dropped several
centuries ago, in the pursuit of tolerance. Tolerance, a product of
the Enlightenment, meant, roughly, "If you're bound and determined
you're going to hell, I'm not going to stop you." To this position,
still more "enlightened" 20th century Christians added a qualifier:
"That's assuming there IS any hell."
In the proclaiming and defining of the faith, modern Christianity
couldn't be any more, shall we say, non-aggressive. Consider a recent
resolution from the Episcopal Church's executive council, urging that
Christians, in response to Sept. 11, "engage in local inter-faith
dialogues among peoples of the three Abrahamic faiths"; this, while
the U.S. government pursues "policies that promote the eradication of
terrorism through justice and reconciliation abroad." Among policies
the Episcopal Church would like our government to adopt is the
"commitment of .7 percent of the gross domestic product to foreign and
humanitarian development ... "
Whatever the butchers of Bahawalpur might imagine, proposals of this
sort don't come under the heading of "militant Christianity," booted,
spurred, and hungering for vengeance. Perhaps we could add, praise the
Lord for that.
Still, not to know your enemy is the biggest mistake a potential
victim can make. Not to appraise our present challenge in religious as
well as secular terms would be to disable our present and prospective
responses.
Just because American Christianity is about as bloodthirsty as a
cocker spaniel doesn't mean Islam is housebroken in quite the way
Western statesman and pundits have diplomatically been portraying it.
Our adversaries have weighed us on Meccan scales; we have been found
seriously, if not fatally, wanting.
As plain as Osama's beard is that Christianity's central secular
offense is the emphasis it puts on freedom (with ultimate consequences
left to God/Allah).
Freedom, a Christian invention, logically offends the unfree -- those
who live in closed societies and who, proud rather than ashamed of it,
discourage or actively oppose free choice.
Islamic societies vary in their emphases, but a common denominator is
cultural oppression. Pakistan ("Land of the Pure") restricts the
practice of Christianity; Saudi Arabia (Land of the Bin Ladens)
virtually obliterates that right, even for foreigners.
Sudanese Christians, that's different. The country's Islamic
government lets them worship as they like -- provided they don't mind
being killed instantly for the privilege, or thrown into prison, or
sold into slavery.
Quickly -- name me three "Christian" countries that denigrate and
oppress their Moslems the way Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Sudan
denigrate and oppress their Christians.
OK, two then.
One? Do I hear one ... ?

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