Evangelicals Now
<< February 2002 >>

Letter from America

Fundamentalism, Islam and Christianity

There is another war going on beside the war on terrorism. It is the war to decide what interpretation of the events of September 11 will gain general credibility.

A few weeks ago, retiring New York Times columnist Anthony Lewis suggested that Attorney General John Ashcroft, a committed Christian, is as much an 'enemy of decency' as terrorist mass murderer Osama bin Laden. For 'Certainty', says Lewis, 'is the enemy of decency and humanity in people who are sure they are right, like Osama bin Laden and John Ashcroft.'

In other words, the proponents of secular liberalism are attempting to argue that the lesson of September 11 is that fundamentalism, of whatever kind, is wrong. They are saying that 'certainty' is wrong and that those who believe confidently in the truth of the Bible are 'fundamentalists', and to be equated with the fundamentalism of Islam. Instead the tenet of modern society which we must uphold and put our faith in is 'tolerance' and 'reason'.

American Christians, on the other hand, have interpreted September 11 as a call to repentance and an opportunity for compassion. They have been active in evangelism and good works. Many came to New York to deliver tracts. Many also came to offer practical service, free of charge, like cleaning out apartments caked in dust. Their compassion, as their evangelism, has impressed; a newspaper report noted that, for example, 'when Cille Powell of Summerville, SC, was in one apartment that lacked a toilet brush, she put on rubber gloves and scrubbed out the bowl by hand'. This Cillie Powell was a part of a Southern Baptist group, the very kind of organisation that would be condemned as 'fundamentalist'.

Besides the self-contradiction of being 'certain' but 'certainty' is wrong, three basic truths need to be maintained in order to win the battle for souls in the aftermath of September 11.

What's the difference?

The first is that Christianity and Islam are different. They believe different things. They have different views of God. They have different ideas of salvation. They both believe in one God - they are 'monotheistic' - but they are like chalk and cheese. And as much as one should and must assert that, of course, most Muslims are not violent, the violence of Islamic countries towards those who convert to Christianity is a matter of public record. Where Islam is strong - in the countries it controls - becoming a Christian can be a life-threatening step. As Harvard historian Samuel Huntington puts it, Islam has 'bloody borders'. Becoming a Muslim in the UK or the USA, in contrast, may be difficult but it is not usually dangerous.

Truth and love

The second truth that needs to be maintained is that certainty in the truth is essential to compassion. The great irony of the gospel of tolerance is, as Don Carson described it, that it is deeply intolerant: 'the gospel of relativistic tolerance is perhaps the most "evangelistic" movement in Western culture at the moment, demanding assent and brooking no rivals'. While it may be true that uncertainty is unlikely to be aggressive, it is also true that it is unlikely to stop aggression. Great evils amass when people do nothing about them because they do not care enough to be bothered to stop them. That was the lesson of the holocaust; may we not have to learn it again.

Firm foundation

The third truth that needs to be maintained is that civilisation, science, tolerance and all good is founded upon God and our faith in him. Modern science emerged in an atmosphere of prevailing Christian Protestant faith; the case can be made that it could not have emerged in any other atmosphere. When the Roman Empire began to collapse Augustine was forced to defend Christianity against the charge of having caused its fall. Today that kind of argument is easier to make. Christianity has a track record of establishing nations and peoples: 'Righteousness exalts a nation' (Proverbs 14.34).

The question is not, then, 'how confident are we?' But, instead: 'what are we confident about?' Extreme faith in Islam has certain consequences. Extreme faith in relativistic tolerance has others. Only faith in Christ is saving.

Josh Moody, Connecticut