The Dilemma of the Moderates both Muslims and Christians
It is ironic that those who are supposed to be in the best position to lead their nations; the moderates, are now caught in the cross-fire between the two “Far Right Wings” on both sides of the fence.
On one hand, the extreme right of the Christian Faith; represented by the Evangelicals, have uncovered their deep hatred to Islam and Muslims. They were successful in overtaking the highest authority in the US, and hence the world. The control of the extreme right of the Christian faith is frightening not only to members of other faiths, but to the rest of their own Christian faith members; such as the Roman Catholics and the Liberal Protestants. The history of the Neo-Evangelicals; as per the “Wikipedia Encyclopedia”, the new-right evangelicals are the fundamentalists who:
“Within the United States, fundamentalism was originally a movement beginning in the late 19th century of Christian evangelical conservatives, who, in a reaction to modernism, insisted on adhering to a set of core beliefs. Fundamentalists, in this sense, have engaged in criticism of more liberal movements. The original formulation of American fundamentalist beliefs can be traced to the Niagara Bible Conference in 1878. In 1910, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church distilled these into what were known as the "five fundamentals", which were:
The major belief of the Christian extremists is the religious right of the Jewish state to exist, not from a humanitarian perspective as was before. Also, the concept of the anti-Christ being the Muslims, and the inevitability of the battle of “Armageddon” on the land of the anti-Christ against the infidels (the Muslims in this case) are features of the Neo-conservatives' faith. Thank God this is not what the majority believes in the West.
The take over of such a religious cult is described by a Baptist Reverent:
“Evangelicals ...have waited in the wilderness and now, in the fullness of time, they have come into possession of what they felt was once rightfully theirs,” says the Rev. Peter Gomes, a Baptist theologian at Harvard University.
“And so, with [George Bush in] the White House, Tom DeLay...in the House of Representatives, the attorney general, talk radio, the conservative Fox News...these are parts of the army that has finally come into its own.”[2]
The rise of the Evangelicals has allowed the fundamentalists of that extreme to lead the United States and direct its policies further away from its inherent “Secularism”[3], which their forefathers for the last four centuries fought and died for. This gave way to a “Faith” that promotes a religious-based state, which exactly opposes the faith of the majority of the Americans. Thus, signifing the emergence of a “Religious State” in the United States, following the model of the Jewish State in Israel. It was clearly announced by the President of the US that the War is a Crusade, which only means that the state is religious. Sadly, very few have noticed the former fact in its true colors!
It isn’t any more a matter of politics, or the choice of the people. It is now the dictated neo-evangelical faith upon the future of the majority of the American people. The moderates, who are caught in the middle, live the consequences of a war that they never wanted. They have to pay the price of others’ theology and political suicidal fault. It is evident, from the narrow margin that's left by US-controlled media for people to freely express their true opinion, that the Christian moderates want to restore the way life used to be. Their politically extreme administration claims that life forever changed after Sept. 11th, and will never go back to normal. It was wiser to deal with the issue of Sept. 11th from the view of the moderates; i.e. as an isolated incident, and study the spectrum of the Islamic movements to find a way to co-exist on mutual basis, rather than promoting and accepting the invitation to a wider, more vicious confrontation. Hence, opening the door for an extremely destructive wind to blow into human society.
These events not only signified the emergence of the “Religious State” in the US, but they also announced the “Death of Democracy” without even an official burial! Democracy, as defined by the West, means the rule of majority. Any honest individual, regardless of their religious background, would accept the fact that this is no longer the nature of American policy. It is the rule of the Neo-Evangelicals; the Christian extremists.
On the other hand, and due to the persistent policies of the USA in the Middle East, the far right wing of the Islamic spectrum represented by the Jihadis of Ahlul Sunnah[4], are now almost in charge of the future of the Ummah. The emergence of the Jihadis is solely attributed to the consistent ways and methods which the US adopted in dealing with the Middle East. It was truthfully noted by Anonymous author in his frank and revealing book: “The Imperial Hubris, Why the West is losing the War on terror?”[5], that the present policies of the US hinge on the following pillars:
Helping dictatorships to rule and continuously corrupt Muslim countries.
Challenging the Work of God, by:
Pushing consenting governments of the Middle East to change school curriculums to reflect a more secular ideology, which is rejected in Islam.
Limiting, controlling and tracking Muslim donations to help other Muslims; a duty that is sacred in Muslim faith.
Seizing assets of many individuals and organizations, and arresting many people without trial, which to most Muslims, is the equivalent of waging Jihad against Muslims.
Deliberate attach and dismemberment of lands of Muslims, such as the case in Iraq and Afghanistan, and previously, the unsuccessful attempts in Somalia and Lebanon.
Supporting the Jewish state without any reservations against the Arab countries, no matter what aggressive practices are taken by this puppet state. It is a result of the ‘Faith” of the neo-right extremists in power.
Controlling the oil wealth of the Middle East to the advantage of a handful of the “American royalties”, such as the Bush family, Cheney, and the likes.[6]
It is rather important to mention that these policies were established long before the takeover of the Evangelicals in the US. Previous administrations adopted some of these policies from a different perspective than that of the present religious-based approach. It was solely the greed and the sinful appetite for the wealth of the Middle East, with no reference to any religious aspect. However, now it is both greed and religious extremism that led to the full confrontation between the two civilizations. It is also the ‘religious” face of the policy that allowed it to go that far in aggression.
According to Anonymous, the policy of extremists Neo-Evangelicals in the US that promotes the lie that "Muslim fundamentalists attack the US because they hate the American lifestyle and freedom and that they do not want democracy" is a failed and disastrous policy. No sane human being wages such a war, especially knowing that he is the weak party, just to protest the acceptance of Gay marriage in the States, or because of Demi Moore’s naked portrait on the cover of Play Boy magazine![7]
The moderate Christians, within the common people rather than the political arena, have always been reluctant to get into such confrontations. They have always perceived Islam, with all the differences between the two faiths, as a large accepted religion that has to be treated on fair basis. This was manifested, politically, in the way Islamic activities, like other religious activities in the US, was tolerated over the years. Islamic activities are now persecuted, whether it is thinking, writing or acting! The right to even think for Muslims is now persecuted and prosecuted! Muslims are considered guilty until proven otherwise. This was the dramatic change which the neo-right has introduced into American politics. They succeeded in dragging the American moderates to a crusade that was never welcomed by the majority.
On the other hand, the Jihadis without a doubt, responded to these policies by escalating the confrontation between the East and the West to a point where it seems inevitable to face the full consequences of such confrontation. Imagining the size of the crisis and the picture of such confrontation is a blow to the mind.
It is not an easy task, as the extremists of the Neo-Evangelicals now come to realize, to change the essence of the Islamic faith, or invade its land and be welcomed by cheers and flowers! It is much more difficult than what the simpleton extremists imagined. No mater how they calculate the risk, it boils down to the resistance of 1.2 billion individuals who will not easily accept their faith to be flirted with.
In short, the policies of these Christian extremists have opened an endless pool of membership to join the other far right of the Islamic spectrum; the Jihadis. They have no one to blame except themselves.
Moderates of the Islamic spectrum, like their Christian counterparts, are caught in the middle. They believe that the spread of the Word of Allah and the proper understanding of the concept of Tawheed (the complete and comprehensive Tawheed) is the way to revive the Ummah and change the internal fabric of the Islamic society, exactly following the steps of the Prophet PBUH in the Meccan era. This process would have helped to strengthen Muslims and would have led to a change from secular political systems in Muslim countries to the governance by Islamic Laws. The way the West lives, by no means and to no one's care, has an impact on the policies of any Islamic government or influence on any Islamic theorists’ line of thinking. It is simply not within the Islamic agenda to attack other countries under such circumstances to change their way of life! It was not, as the moderates see it, to their advantage to move the fight for their freedom and faith outside the borders of the Islamic land, as it is not to the interest of the Christian moderates to fight outside of their own land. Moderates give an example of a household that is being invaded from time to time by a group that holds several copies of the key to the house. The solution is not to beat up the guy you catch inside, since others will come back using other keys. The solution is to change the lock altogether. The keys in this example are the rulers who permit the abuse of the land and the wealth by the West. Changing the lock is the stand of the Islamic moderates, through the spread of the concept of Tawheed and changing the fabric of the society to be worthy of gaining victory over the seculars and assume control over their own destiny. It was a fatal tactical error that gave the opportunity to the Christian extremists to escalate the confrontation from their side. Both sides were working relentlessly to escalate the confrontation, while the voice of the moderates was lost in the midst of the rhetoric.
The dilemma that the moderates on both sides of the fence face is ironically very similar. Both have to live with the consequences of what they never initiated or approved. The Christian moderates, represented religiously by the Roman Catholics and Protestants and politically by the Liberals and the Democrats, said it many times: although they did not approve the way the US government rushed into war in the Middle East and they perceive it as wrong, they have now to support their troops fighting on foreign land. Similarly, the Islamic moderates, being Muslims, feel that although it was not their call to move the confrontation outside the land of Muslims, they certainly sympathize with their fellow Muslims specially civilians who are being killed by the dozens every day and everywhere around the globe. It is a war and Jihad that they did not initiate, but have to live with it and emotionally support their brethrens, at the very least. They however, always look to establish ties with moderates of all faiths in order to forge better understanding and cooperation on common goals, within the Islamic frame, and without compromising the fundamentals or details of the Islamic faith; which is contrary to the counterfeit “integration” groups who do not know how the psychology of Muslims work nor the basics of the Islamic call.
It is rather important for both sides of the moderate continuum to understand the equation that is in place. The Christian moderates have to fight the urge to join the unwanted fight and add to the fuel of a looming crisis. Both sides should raise the voice of reason in dealing with this conflict. The only way, as I see it, is to stop the aggression, change the face of the American policy, and defeat the extremists who, according to many analysts, took over power illegitimately. This will give way to the voice of reason within the Islamic spectrum to make the call to stop the fighting, and to return to the home front, to try to work on improving and eventually changing the face of the Middle Eastern policies that have been governed by illegitimate secular laws for the past few decades.
The hope of the moderates is to be able to claim what belongs to them; shaping the future of their nations. Islamic moderation is not, as the Neo-Evangelicals want to promote it, changing the essence of Islam. It is rather to more strictly adhere to Islam, as revealed to the Prophet PBUH, and to govern by the Laws of Allah . These Laws are the only way to make peace between the two civilizations, as it guides its followers to be just and fair even with the enemy. Christian moderates have to push for more realistic and fair play when dealing with Islamic nations. It is not to their advantage to try to strip Muslims of their own freedom, wealth and, ultimately, dignity, just to achieve the luxurious life they are being promised to live.
This is the only chance for both sides to re-think and act upon the wisdom of intellect.
[2] Posted on 02/07/2004 12:57:55 PM PST by Libertarian444
[3] Secularism: is the separation between religion and the state, due to a view of the world that has no religious bases.