E2. One Man’s Terrorists is Another’s Freedom Fighter

Is Islam itself Destructive or is terrorism an abuse of Islam?

Is there an absolute morality? One man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter.

What do Terrorists fear most about America?

What convictions are worth living and dying for?

The terrorists believe “jihad” (literally meaning “struggle”) is what their god had in mind for humanity, but Islamic terrorists interpret this as all out warfare. The Islamic moderates consider jihad no more than the struggle of the soul. Osama bin Laden believes that morality is a totally public matter, interwoven with religion, and that his followers are doing the world a favor by ridding it of any culture that privatizes religion and morality. Anything and everything is justified by his ultimate goal of killing those, who stand in the way of the greater good of a totalitarian religion.

As much as we need a healthy fear of what those who hate America can use against us, we must with equal awareness consider the ridicule that genuine faith in God suffers in our country at the hand of radical academics. Sit in on some intellectual arguing from the liberal side of any issue and it becomes clear that relativism is the guiding cultural belief. They are “absolutely certain” that there are no absolutes. These have tossed out the Creator in our national ethos and worldview, with dramatic implications. It emasculates our country of its essential strength, because our moral strength and spiritual commitment will determine our future.

Yet, even those who believe in complete relativism, still believe with intuitive certainty that some acts are just plain wrong.

Evil = the destruction of what life was essentially meant to be.

How do we determine what is evil? Do we do so intuitively or rationally, when one is so personal and the other so beyond reason? I say Evil is the set of all those choices we can make, which will ultimately lead to self-destruction; ie their consequences do not “work” in the long run.

Pure practical reason, even with a good knowledge of the facts, will not take you to morality. Reason cannot lead you to morality and it cannot argue against an amoral or egoistic lifestyle. In the extreme, your very hope of moral reasoning is irrational. Is the universe we observe simply a product of random chance? Richard Dawkins from Oxford says, “The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is at the bottom no design, no purpose, no evil, no good. Nothing but blind pitiless indifference. DNA neither knows nor cares. DNA just is. And we dance to its music.” Tell the victims of 911 that there is neither good nor evil; that the terrorists are merely dancing to the indifferent music of a blind, pitiless universe.

Knowledge without morality is deadly. This is the world we have been introduced to by the terrorists, who don’t believe in good and evil. This is the terrifying reality we face in a world of thinkers, who think “thinking” is bereft of an ultimate Thinker.

Our only Hope was penned into the American Constitution, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” This sets our country apart from most of the nations of the Earth. Our value is not derived from government benevolence or from the mercies of democracy. Instead, democracy and individual dignity derive from the transcendent reality of a Creator. Take away the Creator and we are at the mercy of the powers of the moment. What the terrorists fear most is a morally strong America.

Is America a Christian Nation? Certainly it was not founded on an Islamic, Hindu, or Buddhist worldview, however valuable some of their precepts might be. Only within the Christian framework could a nation have been conceived, which recognizes God Himself bestowed intrinsic dignity on us.

We are not the result of natural cause, but of a supernatural one. Freedom, even with its risks, has been endowed upon us by our Creator. Yet, with this recognition comes the responsibility to be moral and that morality is based on the character of the Creator. God provides the blueprint of what Life is supposed to be. He cannot self-destruct by His very nature, which is why He is pure goodness by definition. [He can do no evil, because evil choices by definition must lead to self-destruction.] Hence, by drawing from His character we can avoid the breakdown of our own lives and the destruction of our purpose. A moral framework is the heart of any nation’s belief, because in the moral framework the value of a person is defined. Worship of the Creator is the glue that binds life together.

America has a natural affinity with countries that uphold moral precepts such as:

- Freedom is given, but tempered by mutual respect and justice

- Guarding the dignity of everyone regardless of race, origin, or creed

- Government is established to maintain order, but authorities are to avoid abuse

- Laws are made but on the foundation of civility and safety of the people

- The Family is affirmed as the sacred trust of the parents.

- Children are honored as models of faith and tenderness

- The value of a person is defined within the context of a moral framework

All of those countries base their fundamental worldview on Judeo-Christian assumptions. The fundamental tenet that, “life is intrinsically sacred, because God created it” – though there may be significant diversity over specific doctrines. Islam is different because its teachings go beyond a created order to a geo-political theory. In the theocracy of Islam, a particular religious belief is compulsory. Christianity is a message of a personal relationship with God, albeit a message that has moral implications for one’s political perspective. But it never endorses control of a people by force in order to propagate the gospel*. The power of its truth is moral and rational, but never political. Moral force has its own way of conquering, but by definition it is never compulsory. Religious freedom is a freedom to believe or not to believe. There is no religious freedom in Islamic countries and this is why the moderate Muslims do not generally find the courage to speak up against the violence supported in the name of their religion, wherever it is found.

George Washington’s farewell address made two principle points. First, he said, “Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion.” He was speaking of a religious worldview not a particular religious code. This was a warning against any attempt to build a moral framework apart from God. America functions within a moral framework that is only meaningful when attached to a Creator. He also said that, “reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.” Many seek a Christian education for their children because they want a moral basis and not the weakness of naturalistic assumptions.

The closing paragraph of the Declaration of Independence ends with these words, “ And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.” Sacredness of life and the protection of God are woven into the fabric of our national existence. 911 may be a clarion call to America to realize that the fight ahead cannot be won by might alone, but by the strength of America’s soul. We must choose between an amoral world and a world that acknowledges a moral basis for life itself, which can only be rooted in God. He gives us our purpose, and any violation of that will breed evil and self-destruction will follow. In the shadow of jihad, our moral basis for existence will be tested first.

· The reign of the “Holy Roman Empire) 538 to 1798 was the dark ages because Christianity was suppressed in the name of a compulsive worldview. There was no religious freedom in that empire. It was in this context that Islam was born as an alternate compulsive worldview. But then, “Teaching as doctrine the commands of men” has been the norm throughout the history of mankind, spawning most wars. Christ taught us that God has a better world view.

Isn't it interesting how Muhammad Atta and his gang of righteous terrorists were hanging out in nude bars looking for prostitutes prior to their epic flight. Hypocrites. Their tactics included a number of things anyone would consider wrong, such as mass murder, in the name of a god who will not guarantee them an everlasting happiness unless they die in a "holy war".

I believe that Islam was founded on the teaching of fallen angels, just as was Mormonism. I believe this in each case because of the doctrine itself, the details of how its prophet received the revelations, and the fact that the revelations themselves were later superceded by other revelations. [In the case of Joseph Smith many prophetic revelations were proven to be false.]

It started through the visions of its prophet, Muhammad at the age of 40 (circa 610AD). At that time he retired to a cave for extensive periods of contemplation and meditation. On one occasion, according to my sources, he told his wife that he had been visited by an angel, who ordered him "to recite". From that command came the "Koran", which literally means "to recite". At first he was confused by this, but his wife convinced him that he could well be called by God. When he started believing that, he claimed to be God's spokesman, with his wife (a wealthy widow 15 years older than him) as his first follower. It was only by battles and wars that he gained a large following in Arabia. He died in 632 AD, causing an immediate struggle for leadership. The Sunnis wanted to elect a new leader, while the Shi'ites wanted a man from Muhammad's on bloodline. Three of the first four caliphs were assassinated.

Under the third caliphate of Uthman any variant readings of the Koran were burned, causing critics to charge that the text had been tampered with. A large body of interpretive literature was developed to explain the Koran:

- the Hadith is the most important composition. It is the collected sayings and deeds of Muhammad.

- the Sunna is the body of Islamic social and legal customs

- the SIra is the biographies of Muhammad

- the Tafsir is the Koranic commentary or explanation.

Apparently, all accounts of the Koran and the early years of Islam are derived from these sources, complied and written mostly from the mid-eighth to mid-tenth centuries. The Islamic sects differ over how much importance is to be applied to each source.

It is also enlightening that Muhammad himself stated in the Koran that his later revelations superceded and voided his earlier ones. This doctrine of Abrogation is unique among any sacred scriptures according to scholars, but I see the same thing in the Book of Mormon and the life of Joseph Smith. Regarding the Koran, the importance of knowing which verses abrogate others has given rise to the Koranic science known as Nasikh wa Mansukh, the Abrogators and the Abrogated (see "Islam: Muhammad and His Religion", by Jeffrey1982, p66).

30 December 2002

For more on this and a response to any questions, please email any comments to nasamike@nasamike.com

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