Differences between Christianity and Islam are very real
Contrary to liberal propaganda, most conservatives are unequivocal supporters of the Constitution’s prohibition of any state religion and oppose most restrictions on the freedom to practice one’s religion.
But honest historians also acknowledge that there is little doubt that the entire fabric of our republic was woven throughout with biblical principles and a Judeo-Christian ethic. The Constitutional guarantees of restraint of government, individual responsibility, and equality of opportunity were grounded in biblical premise and assumed a universal belief in God.
At our founding and for the first 150 years of our republic, nearly all of America’s churches and synagogues, the public schools, and other public institutions generally respected and revered the Bible. Clearly, differences may have abounded in doctrines, interpretations, and emphasis but nearly all churches believed in the moral dicta enshrined in the Ten Commandments and the moral authority of scripture. Therein, a nearly universal and unspoken ethos prevailed in America which held that there were things that were always right, but also, that some things were always wrong. This helped much to unite society regardless of an immigrant’s place of origin or religious beliefs.
The “God” of America was the transcendent God of truth, righteousness, love and mercy. The clarity and ethic springing from this near universal attitude toward the Bible and the nature of God defined our culture and affected in varying degree our public schools, politics, and every social more.
But a new and troubling interpretation of our Constitutional protection from any state sanctioned religion has evolved in recent decades. This very principle which has long guaranteed every person’s freedom to believe anything or even nothing, is now twisted and distorted and abused. It is quite ironic that the demand for freedom and protection is mostly heard from those whose religion, should it prevail, would eradicate any such freedom and protection from all others. It is incomprehensible to suggest that it was our founders’ intent, even while guaranteeing that all of us should be able to worship God as we chose, to suggest that every religion or belief system is equal in truth and value. Neither was such freedom to believe ever thought to be without any constraint if/when such beliefs annulled the rights and safety and freedoms of others. Someone once remarked that anyone has the right to walk down a sidewalk swinging their fists. But their right to swing their fists, stops where someone else’s nose begins.
Only a dimwit would deny the logic of the premise that all religions can be equally true only to the extent that they are equally false. Certainly, if all religions are equally good then they must all be equally evil. But now, this mindless twaddle that insists on the equality of truth and the equal benefit of all world-religions is the constant mantra of today. President Obama along with many other liberals, constantly lectures us that all religions are equally good and virtually identical in purpose and nature. It seems that nowadays, the only wrong or dangerous belief is when Christianity teaches that Christ is God incarnate and, moreover, insists that the God of the Bible is the one and only true and sovereign God.
Is this the reason then that there is an ongoing effort of “powers that be” to silence or neutralize Christianity? All the while, they spare no effort to always excuse, defend, lie for, or ignore the inhumane, bizarre, and abusive practices of Islam.
The contention that all this mayhem is the sole fault of a very tiny fraction of Muslims is not very compelling. President Obama adamantly refuses to refer to or even make mention of “Islamic jihadists” or “Islamic radicals,” or, especially, “Muslim terrorists.” This on-going presidential political correctness creates in the opinion of many, a clear and present danger and imminent threat to national security. At the very least it seems a shameful dereliction of duty.
Our polytheistic leaning President’s consistent narrative that the atrocities of extremist Muslims involves only a very few radicals would be more believable were it not for the Muslims around the world who support radical jihadists. How, pray tell then, can these heartless barbarians be as beneficial to humanity as is biblical Christianity? Mr. President, do you really want to compare the “evangelization” programs of Islam with biblical Christianity?
Multiplied thousands of Christian missionaries have carried the Gospel of Christ around the world since the giving of His “great commission.” Even in a preliminary mission foray, the Lord had warned the disciple what to expect and how to respond as he said “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” Through two millennia, multitudes of his people have suffered cruel torture and given their lives in humble service to Christ. How dare political correctness, then, claim there is no difference between the true followers of Christ and the religious savages who without mercy or hesitancy abuse, enslave, or murder any who will not convert to Islam! The absurdity of our leaders to acknowledge these indisputable differences between Islam and Christianity is quite bewildering.
William “Ed” Nicholson is pastor of the Grace Baptist Chapel at Little Summit in Dunbar Townshp.