Friday, September 21, 2007
Missionary to Islam
At my last First Things meeting, we had a guest, a young man who has been a missionary to an Islamic country. It's one of the the more moderate ones. Regardless, he was invited to leave by the secret police. He has a blog that you may want to spend some time with. He confirms many of the darker things you don't really hear on the News, like the fact that true believers are not allowed to be friends with non-Muslims, Muslims who convert to Christianity risk death, and the total lack of a level playing field in Islamic countries.
We also spent some time discussing the magazine, of course. One fascinating article by an African Anglican Bishop showed us that martyrdom is not just first century stuff. African Anglicans in Uganda can point to a Bishop killed by Idi Amin just a few decades ago, and the way that it led to massive conversions TO Anglicanism. They see Christianity in a more basic, elemental, and real way than we do. For us, persecution is having to take down the Ten Commandments from a courthouse. For them, persecution is a bullet in the middle of the night.
There is another ominous trend that was discussed in this issue, under the general principle of the end of Free Speech in the US. We have our congress discussing hate speech, which really seems to mean anything that someone in the protected group du jour doesn't like. It will be a VERY short jump to banning quoting the Bible on any moral issue. The article talks about the attempts to ban debate on "Global Warming." Is the Earth warming? I have no idea. But I do know that when people start labelling dissenters as "dangerous" or "minions of industry" then we have moved way beyond science into politics. Remember the old Nixon quote about "follow the money?" Who benefits from the populace being frightened? How about fund raisers, news media and their advertisers, politicians who use the issue to get elected, and governments who use the issue to try to gain economic advantage over rival governments? How about scientists who are desperate to get their research funded? Makes me crazy!
We also spent some time discussing the magazine, of course. One fascinating article by an African Anglican Bishop showed us that martyrdom is not just first century stuff. African Anglicans in Uganda can point to a Bishop killed by Idi Amin just a few decades ago, and the way that it led to massive conversions TO Anglicanism. They see Christianity in a more basic, elemental, and real way than we do. For us, persecution is having to take down the Ten Commandments from a courthouse. For them, persecution is a bullet in the middle of the night.
There is another ominous trend that was discussed in this issue, under the general principle of the end of Free Speech in the US. We have our congress discussing hate speech, which really seems to mean anything that someone in the protected group du jour doesn't like. It will be a VERY short jump to banning quoting the Bible on any moral issue. The article talks about the attempts to ban debate on "Global Warming." Is the Earth warming? I have no idea. But I do know that when people start labelling dissenters as "dangerous" or "minions of industry" then we have moved way beyond science into politics. Remember the old Nixon quote about "follow the money?" Who benefits from the populace being frightened? How about fund raisers, news media and their advertisers, politicians who use the issue to get elected, and governments who use the issue to try to gain economic advantage over rival governments? How about scientists who are desperate to get their research funded? Makes me crazy!
