Islam, Christianity and the GOP: Religion Baiting for Political Gains – Part One

I was reading an article by Rob Asghar (a Pakistani-American writer from Los Angeles ) in the Jordan Times titled, “The Trouble with American Christians’ Image of Islam”, and I started to feel defensive. He had taken quotes from Deuteronomy 20 (“the rules of war” chapter) and twisted them by quoting them out of context. The thought ran through my mind I’d write a Letter to the Editor in regards to the misinterpretations and how Muslims don’t like it when the Koran is misquoted.

In all fairness, I had to admit he had some valid points amongst his mistakes. He talked about Martin Luther’s past Semitic writings, which cannot be denied as they are true and do exist. It was fashionable to blame the Jews for everything back then, and if you do a little bit of Papal studying, you will also find the past Popes did not like the Jews, either. Rome had its own “Jewish ghetto” because that’s the way the Popes wanted it. Mr. Asghar also talked about the Crusades and the wholesale slaughter of Jews and Muslims along the path to Jerusalem . Again, anyone willing to look at the history books will indeed conclude he is correct.

I put down my pen and stopped as I realized I was being baited into an argument by a total stranger. Should I focus on the mistakes and reinforce the division, which is what he is attempting to shore up? No, because it’s only a symptom of a wider problem. It’s always been the disagreements people point out that keep us separated and angry at each other. There is always someone who profits from this type of division, but my question is why must this be?

It would be so easy and tempting to view this piece as it stands right now and mumble under your breath, “Here’s another ecumenicism freak!”, but I’m not for that at all. If I have come to accept the truth of Acts 4:12 (“ And there is salvation in no other One; for there is no other name under Heaven given among men by which we must be saved. ”), then I cannot be backing a one world style religion. Yes it’s true that Christ Jesus died for everyone who has ever lied and ever will live, in a testament of love and mercy. He paid our sin debt by hanging on the cross, for which I am grateful to tears.

We must always keep in mind Jesus never meant for an “us” versus “them” style religious practice – all Christians are called to spread the Gospel and testify to every living creature. I hate to tell you if you haven’t figured it out by now but that includes Muslims, too. So if Jesus died for the Muslims, the Hindus, the Satanists, the Atheists and Gay & Lesbian populations, who are we to restrict the flow of His healing, cleansing, and protective blood shed at the cross? The Bible tells us clearly not everyone will come to Him, which is why He said, “Let those who have an ear, hear.” What is our job as Christians? We are to spread His Word and to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess 5:17), as Paul told us, and the Godhead will do the rest.

The problem isn’t the “Islamofacists”; the problem is with the American think tank Zionists and Christian Zionists. To deny there are Islamic radicals would be foolish – they do exist, but most have been created by the insane policies of the United States government. Even the recent partial release of the National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) has confirmed radicalization has skyrocketed and we’re the cause. The radicals may have been born in Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib through a gestation of torture, but they were conceived in the halls of powerful Washington groups and by the likes of Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney.

How many times have we heard in political stump speeches that people all over the world want to be free and that it is a natural human desire? The next question that has to responsibly follow must be, “what happens when you free an oppressed group and then arbitrarily round them up and deposit them into prisons?” Please somebody tell me, what “good” has this done?

In Paul Bremmer’s quest to de-Baathify Iraq (which was started by Douglas Feith and others in the think tank world with high White House access), thousands were rounded up and put in jail because they were registered Baathists. There were two problems with this awful strategy. One, many innocent people were swept up and denied their freedom our boys had just given them with the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Two, if you wanted a government job (teacher, garbage collector) you had to be a registered Baathist, and if you weren’t a registered member, you might still get the job, but at a substantially lower pay grade.

The hard-headed political bunch in Washington has been throwing around a grenade of a word for awhile (Islamofascist) and yet with every outrageous move they made to compare Iraq to World War II Germany , they made the same exact mistake: they threw out those who could make the government run. General George Patton was right when he kept Nazis in power because he realized the government needed to start standing on its own two feet immediately if the post-war reconstruction was to be successful. In the end he paid a high price as he was removed for his command for not obeying orders. The White House did the same exact thing in Iraq per the think tank reports handed to Bremmer – they threw out the only running government in a giant purge, and the country still cannot stand on its feet three years later because of the think tanks’ short-sided vision and lack of grasp of history. “Those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it.”

There’s plenty to blame to go around in this mess. The Christian Right/Christian Coalition has made a mess of things as well. We’re told our citizenship is in Heaven (Philippians 3:20) and to render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and render unto God what is God’s (Mark 12:17). We’re told not to store up treasures here on earth (Matthew 6:19) and where our treasures are, that’s where our hearts will be (Matthew 6:21). How many times does Jesus have to say it before it becomes clear to us: let go of the things of this world, we’re here temporarily, and if we leave a mark on this world, it should be HIS mark, not ours.

Other quazen.com articles by this writer can be found here and relijournal.com articles here . If you enjoyed this article, consider digging it with others!