Voltaire Won't Stop Jihad
Voltaire Won't Stop Jihad
I hope that secular readers will pardon me for an intra-Christian column, but the attitude of Christians toward Islam is one of the critical problems we face in fighting jihad, so I think it is worth addressing. In a thought-provoking piece at the worthy group-blog The American Catholic, Christopher Blosser mulls over remarks by the late, great Fr. Richard John Neuhaus: ....
... We should instead be arguing energetically that Muhammad was not a prophet, that Islam is not true, that many of its practices outrage the God of Abraham, and its followers should abandon their false religion for the true one. What the West needs now is not a Muslim Voltaire, but an Arabic Saul of Tarsus.
We should insist energetically that non-Muslim minorities in their countries receive the same human rights that Muslims demand in the West. Inosofar as these rights are not granted, we should oppose the influx of Muslims into any Western country, foreign aid to any Islamic government, and the public acceptance of Islam as a legitimate religion. While we cannot betray our own traditions by restricting the basic rights of Muslims, we should fight their faith tooth and nail by every legal and moral means, oppose the construction of mosques, boycott Muslim businesses and imports from intolerant Muslim countries, and make it clear that a price must be paid for Islamic hypocrisy. But for Christians, none of this cuts to the heart of the matter—which is and always must be winning souls. We face a spiritual enemy, and only spiritual weapons will in the end avail.
Posted by Roland Shirk on March 12, 2011 10:50 AM
I hope that secular readers will pardon me for an intra-Christian column, but the attitude of Christians toward Islam is one of the critical problems we face in fighting jihad, so I think it is worth addressing. In a thought-provoking piece at the worthy group-blog The American Catholic, Christopher Blosser mulls over remarks by the late, great Fr. Richard John Neuhaus: ....
... We should instead be arguing energetically that Muhammad was not a prophet, that Islam is not true, that many of its practices outrage the God of Abraham, and its followers should abandon their false religion for the true one. What the West needs now is not a Muslim Voltaire, but an Arabic Saul of Tarsus.
We should insist energetically that non-Muslim minorities in their countries receive the same human rights that Muslims demand in the West. Inosofar as these rights are not granted, we should oppose the influx of Muslims into any Western country, foreign aid to any Islamic government, and the public acceptance of Islam as a legitimate religion. While we cannot betray our own traditions by restricting the basic rights of Muslims, we should fight their faith tooth and nail by every legal and moral means, oppose the construction of mosques, boycott Muslim businesses and imports from intolerant Muslim countries, and make it clear that a price must be paid for Islamic hypocrisy. But for Christians, none of this cuts to the heart of the matter—which is and always must be winning souls. We face a spiritual enemy, and only spiritual weapons will in the end avail.
Posted by Roland Shirk on March 12, 2011 10:50 AM
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