Since the outset of the Global War on Terrorism – and possibly
well before – there has been much debate as to why Islamic militants have set
their sights upon America and the West. George
W. Bush expressed the consensus among most Republican politicians and
commentators when he remarked that they hate us because of our ‘values.’ Ron Paul, in contrast, represents most Libertarians
when he attributes to America’s enemies a hatred of, not American liberties,
but American ‘foreign policy.’ According
to Jack Kerwick, a professor of philosophy, both groups are both right and
wrong. For failing to see this, they
argue past one another.
Kerwick says Ron Paul and others are
indeed correct when they note that jihadists in places like Iraq and other
Middle Eastern lands despise America because of what has been called an
“interventionist” foreign policy. Yet
they are sorely mistaken insofar as they assume that if only America disappeared
from the Islamic world, so too would our problems with Islamic violence
disappear.
Republicans, too, are correct in
charging jihadists with despising American and Western values, according to
Kerwick. But they are incorrect inasmuch
as they imply that Islamic militants have a problem with liberty, equality,
etc. as such. In other words, they are
incorrect insofar as they imply that it is the specific content of these value
that elicit the homicidal rage of jihadists. The latter certainly do hate our values; but
that’s only because they are our values … and not theirs. In short, they hate our values because they
are not Islamic values.
Kerwick goes on to say that this gets
to the heart of the matter: The “Bush” and “Paul” camps argue past one another
because both fail to reckon with the role played by Islam – not “Islamism,”
“Islamo-Fascism,” “Islamo-Nazism,” “radical Islam,” “Islamic extremism,” or
some other politically acceptable fiction; but Islam – in these violent clashes
with Muslims.
Muslims around the world routinely
engage in unspeakable acts of cruelty toward their neighbors in contexts that
obviously have nothing whatsoever to do with American values, American foreign
policy, or, for that matter, America.
The fierce persecution of Christians
… courtesy of their Muslim neighbors … is an epidemic. Yet, it is among the least talked about forms
of contemporary oppression. In Nigeria,
for instance, the persecution is “extreme,” according to Open Doors – an organization dedicated to combating anti-Christian
persecution. There are 183-million
Nigerians, of which 89-million are Christian. Yet Boko Haram (Islamic militants) has
rendered peaceful co-existence impossible. In northeastern Nigeria, Muslims have declared
a caliphate. Hundreds of children (boys
and girls) as well as women have been abducted; and thousands more have been
rendered homeless upon the destruction of their homes. In the twelve northern Sharia states,
Christians have been all but squeezed out.
Oliver Dashe Doeme of Maiduguri, a
bishop and the head of a diocese in northeastern Nigeria, gave an interview
with Catholic On-Line. He relays how over the last 5-years, Muslims
have all but reduced his diocese to ashes. Over 50-churches and chapels have been ruined,
and hundreds have been abandoned. More than
1,000-Catholics have been murdered. The
Bishop reports that Catholics are forced at gun-point or knife-point to convert
to Islam. If they fail to do so, they
are slaughtered. For the sake of saving
the lives of Christians, not just in Nigeria, but in the region, he pleads with
‘Western powers’ to intervene. Only
something of a military onslaught against Boko Haram can stop it, he believes.
But it isn’t just the Christians of
Nigeria that agonize at the hands of Muslims. Nigerians have it bad: According to Open Doors, out of 50-countries
worldwide, Nigeria is the 10th worse place for Christians. And it’s true that Muslims aren’t the only persecutors
of Christians. But in 40 of the earth’s
50-countries where Christians are made to suffer because of their faith,
Muslims are the culprits. In none of
these instances of Islamic violence and oppression does American ‘values’ or ‘foreign
policy’ play a role. Islam, however,
most certainly does.
Rev.
Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain
(Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel
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