| As an American, I was disturbed by some
of the things I noticed in the news coverage of this story. In one instance,
the Fox News Network was interviewing the American representative of the
Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO).
In the interview, the representative was very
wise in noting that it is far too soon to speculate on who may have been
responsible for today's events. He wanted to emphasize that the PLO had no
part in what happened in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C. today.
The newscaster probed further if he could account for other Palestinian groups
to which he had no connection, making very direct reference to Palestinian's
celebrating in the streets. In light of the complete clip, the representative
of the PLO obviously detected the racial undertones in the questions that
I had sensed also, as he pointed out that in this early stage that the
perpetrators could have been of any race, including Chinese, Indians or
others.
Being that Osama bin Laden is both Arab and
a Moslem (a believer of the Islamic faith), I fear that our country will
climb on the bandwagon of prejudice against and distrust of Arabs in general
and followers of the Islamic faith.
I read on the news site MSNBC.com tonight, that
the Moslems around the world and in the United States especially, are encouraging
their members to keep a really low profile.
I would hope that the melting pot that has made
America great, will be strong enough to rise above base prejudice and realize
that bin Laden represents the radical elements of both the Arab and Moslem
communities. While America does have its enemies, America also has many friends
in the Arabic communities and in the moderate Moslem countries.
Part of our world's population is cheering this
ominous attack against the United States. Yet, most of the world's population
stands in wonder of how anyone could deliver such an "evil" act against mankind.
People all over the globe are asking "Why?"
The reason why is simple. It is a matter of
religion. There are three religions on this planet that have marked themselves
firmly into our history. They are Israel, Christianity, and Islam. All three
religions trace their roots to Adam and Abraham --- Moses, Jesus and Muhammad
are their prophets, respectively.
Each of the three religions proclaim the "one
true God". All of the three religions believe in Satan as the evil, and finally,
each of the three believe that THEY are the owners of the "one true
faith!"
Among the followers of these faiths, the Jewish
people --- the remnant of the Israelite's --- and the Christians are openly
friendly to one another. Christians do recognize the Jewish people as among
their protectorate due to the fact that Christianity is based on the Old
Testament of the Israelites, as well as on the New Testament of Jesus
Christ.
While Muhammad encouraged protection of both
the Israelites (The People of the Book) and the Christians which came before
him, some of his followers have declared a "Holy War" against both the Christians
and Jews.
Osama bin Laden is among the Islamic believers
who are fighting the "Holy War" against the Jews and the Christians. The
warriors of the "Holy War" base their conflict on the verse from the Qur'an
(Koran - the Holy Book of Islam) from the book of "The Immunity" [9:5]. The
verse reads:
"Then, when the sacred months are drawn away,
slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them, and confine them,
and lie in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they repent, and
perform the prayer, and pay the alms, then let them go their way."
From this verse, the "Holy Warriors" have decided
that Christians and Jews alike are the "idolaters" and "Satan". America,
being a Christian nation, whom also provides substantial support to Israel
and the Jews is considered to be the "Great Satan". Western lifestyles are
the tool of Satan to bring "evil" into the world of God.
According to the book, "Religions East and West"
by Ward J. Fellows, on page 391, the author says that "the proponents of
the literal holy war, or others who would use this verse, must disregard
at least one hundred and twenty-four other verses that stress peace and
toleration toward non-Muslims, especially Christians and Jews as
theists."
"Islam" literally means "submission to
God."
For many of the believers of Islam, if you sacrifice
your own life in a fight against Satan, then you are guaranteed your place
in heaven.
As Christians, it is easy for us to look at
the actions of these people and declare that their actions against us are
"evil" and "immoral". Yet for the radical Islamic follower, the actions that
we Christians declare "evil" are in their beliefs, complete "submission to
God," their ticket to heaven.
History is littered with stories of the atrocities
of the "one true faith" perpetrated in the name of God. Throughout the Old
Testament of our Holy Bible, the Israelites committed mass destruction of
whole tribes and cities of people. A look at Joshua 6:21 tells a story that
is quite common in the history of Israel:
"And they utterly destroyed all that was in
the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass,
with the edge of the sword." (KJV)
Through the twelfth and thirteenth centuries,
the Christian church delivered mass murder in the name of God. While the
stated purpose of The Crusades was intended to amplify Christianity and to
"deliver the Holy Land from the hands of the infidel," this had to be the
darkest in the history of Christendom.
Even in modern day America, radical Christian
fundamentalists harbor no reservations about killing an abortion doctor to
prevent the practice of abortion in America. These radical fundamentalists
honestly believe that they are doing the work of God.
My point is simple.
While each of us believe the actions of these
terrorists are "evil" and "immoral"; in their own beliefs, they are righteous
warriors doing God's work, with God's blessings. The radical Islamic
fundamentalists do not have a corner on the hideous actions they do. Historic
Israel and Christians as well as modern day Christians, have done also in
the name of God, things that I would consider "evil" and "immoral".
As a Christian, I find it sad that I must say
something as such about my own, but I must.
As we move forward into the future, I want for
you to think on two things.
One, do not look upon the skin of the man, or
upon the faith of the individual and assume that THEY are the enemy, because
they are not. If the future proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that bin Laden
and his followers were behind this worst act of terrorism on American soil,
then remember distinctly that bin Laden and his followers are our enemy ---
not the general Arab community or the believers of the Islam faith.
The second thing I want you to think about.
As long as we continue to call Islam "evil" and "Satan", and they continue
to call our people "evil" and "Satan", then this war between the religions
will continue to rage for centuries to come.
Commentary by Bill Platt. Ponca City, Oklahoma
USA
© Copyright 2001, Bill Platt / Free Reprint Rights in Electronic
Email and on Websites. For "Print" Reprint Permissions, please contact Bill
at:
mailto:bplatt@windstormcomputing.com
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