Friday, August 27, 2010

It's Not the Mosque I Worry About

There is such an uproar now about the building of an Islamic Mosque at Ground Zero in New York. While I certainly understand the passionate opposition by people who were deeply wounded by the attacks of 9/11/01, my concerns go far beyond the building or its location. I'm concerned with the eventual Muslim takeover of the United States.

Before you write me off as a complete nut case, allow me to explain. In a culture like ours where people get impatient if it takes more than 2 seconds to download a feature length movie, we don't fully grasp the idea of a 10 year plan and can't even fathom a 100 year plan. The long slow process of transforming a culture escapes our notice entirely. Just because we don't understand it doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

In 1999 I made my first trip to Kenya in East Africa. Our team served a missionary training college that included students from eight different African nations. One day we had the chance to go with some of these students on an evangelistic foray into a local neighborhood. As we walked the several blocks a student from Sudan struck up a conversation with me. He shared his fear that Kenya was at risk of being taken over by Muslims and converted into a Muslim nation. Curious, I asked why he feared this. Here's what he shared with me...

Many years ago Sudan was a predominately Christian nation. Over time...decades...Muslim people began moving into Sudan. At first they were ridiculed, persecuted and oppressed. Slowly they began to fit in. Marrying Sudanese women, opening small businesses, running for local political positions. Eventually these Muslims were accepted into the Sudanese culture. They continued to seek positions within the government and many rose to greater and greater levels of power. The day finally came when they held a majority control of the Sudanese government. They began passing draconian laws outlawing Christianity. They fully implemented Sharia Law. They ruthlessly stamped out Christianity and began wholesale persecution of Christians. Perhaps you've heard of Darfur.

Make no mistake about the intentions of the Muslim faith. It has at its core an unwavering dedication to see that all people everywhere submit to Muslim law. They tolerate no other faiths in those countries where they dominate the government. Whether 'moderate' or 'extremist' the Muslim religion is dedicated to the eradication of all other faiths and toppling skyscrapers in New York City isn't the only way they pursue this agenda. The more effective way is to invest decades becoming acceptable members of our society. They will cry out for tolerance and understanding. They will weep at being discriminated against and plead for us to accept them as peace loving people of faith. They will make a compelling case for us to allow them to practice their religion in peace because, after all, who are they hurting.

Then, ten or twenty or thirty years from now, while we're all watching reruns of Glee over a microwaved dinner government officials will show up at our door to enforce the removal of all Bibles and Christian symbols from our homes. Christian owned businesses will be shut down and churches will be boarded up. And somewhere inhospitable (Amarillo or Phoenix) a Christian refugee camp will be established for all those who resist the Muslim controlled government of the United States of America.

The longer we wait to realize that we're involved in a faith based holy war the more likely the scenario I paint is to happen. We Americans can pretend that religion doesn't affect our day to day lives but there are people who actually allow their faith to dictate their every move, to inform their lives and to set the course of history. We ignore this truth at our own peril and we invite the growth of the Muslim faith in this country at the risk of losing our religious liberty.

Don't dismiss me as a crackpot.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I see a bit of a loophole here. Ultimately this is a political decision made by an Islamic lobby to "apologize" for the attacks that took place on 9/11. Two articles you stated that Christians are above politics, where's the "faith" that Christianity will prevail?

Tim said...

Let's not confuse the United States with Christianity. Christianity has flourished most under extreme oppression. In fact Juvenal once said, "Comfort is more ruthless than war." Should the Muslim agenda to take over the United States succeed it will actually strengthen the Christian church as people won't be able to just go through the motions without consequence. Christ said, "My kingdom is not of this world." So the concept of Christianity 'prevailing' in the human sense of political control is mistaken. That goes to the argument about the church not being dragged into politics. God's kingdom is above all that and those of us in his kingdom must recognize that.