September 2006
"The clash we are witnessing around
the world is not a clash of religions, or a clash of civilizations.
It is a clash between two opposites, between two eras. It is a
clash between a mentality that belongs to the Middle Ages and
another mentality that belongs to the 21st century. It is a clash
between civilization and backwardness, between the civilized and
the primitive, between barbarity and rationality."
Dr. Wafa Sultan,
Syrian Arab-American
Dear Members and Friends,
There are some things in life that feel
so distant, and yet they are so remarkably recent. For me, the
events of 9/11 fit into this category. Five years have come and
gone since this expression of dramatic treachery, but the emotions
of this tragedy, now past, can easily be stirred up in the realm
of the immediate present.
This happened for me when my son Billy
was due to return stateside from Africa on the very day UK authorities
arrested 21 suspects planning to blowup 10 US bound airliners.
As usual, the would-be perpetrators of wanton and indiscriminate
murder were Islamic fanatics, ready to praise Allah even as innocent
people would perish.
Events of this type have been going on
for decades, but after 9/11 there was an extra push to promote
Islam as a “religion of peace”. While I once accepted this myself,
and parroted it from the pulpit, since that time I have had the
benefit of reading and listening to courageous women like Dr.
Wafa Sultan, Irshad Manji and Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Their points of
view stand as a critical prophetic witness in times when curious
attempts at political correctness and moral equivalence display
a tenacity completely beyond normal and dispassionate reason.
Perhaps it is comforting to believe that
Islam is actually a faith fundamentally based in harmony. That
hopeful hypothesis now requires support with enough evidence to
counter the manifestly consistent episodes of calculated butchery
inflicted all over the map on a dispirit population of men, women
and children united only in the fact that they are not Muslim
Jihadists. Maybe, buried in the Koran lies an unswerving, unqualified
principle of tranquility and grace. Even so, it would seem there
is an abundance of adherents all over the globe who somehow missed
this part of the curriculum. They grotesquely decapitate Filipinos,
Indonesians, Thais, Africans, Hindus, Buddhists and secularists
alike, screaming “Allah is great!” Amidst all this, how many mass
demonstrations denouncing this particular ugliness have occurred
in the Middle East, say in the last 50 years?
Certainly there are numerous followers
of Islam world-wide who are peaceful and wonderful individuals.
I have met many of these good and kind people personally and some
have described first hand the injustice of degrading doctrines
that disparage personal freedom and the divinely endowed equality
of men and women. Soteriologically, I have no doubt about God’s
eternal love for all Muslims, through Christ. Nevertheless, for
these folks a crucial moment has come. For years we have heard
it said that extremist purveyors of deliberately indiscriminate
destruction and suicide have “hijacked one of the world’s great
religions”. If this is indeed the case, then the time is long
overdue for the mainstream advocates of this faith to stand up
and take the plane back. This modern day reformation would take
courage, along with the conviction that one was part of a religion
worthy of rescue.
When the passengers of United 93 learned
that their own jet was going to be used as a human bomb, they
did not sit idly by. They took direct action against their captors,
putting themselves on the line to successfully turn a suicide
plot into an enduring act of self-sacrifice. In so doing, they
gave their own lives to save hundreds, and more likely, thousands
of others in Washington, DC.
The incarnation of God in Jesus Christ
produced a faith based in reason, where earthly life is redeemed
and precious. In the war against Islamic Fascism, mindless maniacal
hatred that mimics our enemies is not acceptable, it is heretical
and it cannot be successful. Naïve denial will not prevail either.
Personally, I believe millions of Muslims would rejoice in finding
the Way, and more, the Person of Jesus Christ. Not by terrorizing
compulsion, but compassionate invitation. In some sectors of the
Church, bringing people to Christ has become passé. Yet from my
perspective, God is not about preserving religion, but saving
people. As Christians, we would do well not to become apologists
for a system of tenets and beliefs we know nothing about. Far
better that we should be faithful evangelists for a Savior with
Whom we claim to be most familiar. Jesus is the Savior of the
World. May his love infuse the souls of those who practice evil
and may the purveyors of death come to find the path of eternal
life.
Godspeed,
From Reverend
William J. Keane,
Senior Minister of First Baptist Church of Branford
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