There is no such thing. Anytime religion is mentioned as far as government is concerned, and even public life, people are mentioning “separation of church and state’. John Kerry himself said it with regards to the abortion issue, and I wrote apparently his sentiments are the same as the ACLU–it’s ok for you to be a Christian as long as you don’t act like one.

Actually, most people think that this statement “separation of church and state” appears somewhere in the Constitution in the first amendment. But the words “separation”, “church”, and “state”, do not appear in the first amendment.

The first amendment reads:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof….”

The statement about a wall of separation between church and state was made in a letter written on January 1, 1802, by Thomas Jefferson, to the Danbury Baptist Association of Connecticut. The congregation heard a rumor that the Congregationalists, another denomination, were to become the national religion. This was very alarming for people who knew about religious persecution in England by the state established church. Jefferson made it clear in his letter to the Danbury Congregation that the separation was to be that government would not establish a national religion, or dictate to men how to worship God. Jefferson’s letter, where the phrase “separation of church and state” came from, affirmed our first amendment rights.

He wrote:

I contemplate the solemn reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature would “make no law repsecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.

The reason Jefferson chooses the expression “separation of church and state” was because he was addressing a Baptist congregation; a denomination that he wasn’t a member of. Jefferson wanted to remove all fears that the state would make dictates to the church. He was establishing a common ground with the Baptists by borrowing the words of Roger Williams, one of the Baptist’s own prominent preachers. Williams had said:

When they have opened a gap in the hedge or wall of separation between the garden of the Church and the wilderness of the world, God hath ever broke down the wall itself, removed the candlestick, and made his garden a wilderness, as at this day. And that there fore if he will eer please to restore his garden and paradise again, it must of necessity be walled in peculiarly unto himself from this world.

The American people knew what would happen if the State established the Church like they had in England. Even though it was not recent history to them, they knew that England went so far as forbidding worship in private homes and sponsoring all church activities and keeping people under strict dictates. They were forced to go to the state established church and do things that were contrary to their conscience. No other churches were allowed, and mandatory attendance of the established church was compelled under the Conventicle Act of 1665. Failure to comply would result in imprisonment and torture.

The people did not want freedom from religion, but freedom of religion. The only real reason to separate the church from the state would be to instill a new morality and establish a new system of beliefs. Our founding fathers were God-fearing men who understood that for a country to stand it must have a solid foundation; the Bible was the source of this foundation.

They believed that God’s ways were much higher than Man’s ways and held firmly that the Bible was the absolute standard of truth and used the Bible as a source to form our government.

There is no such thing as a pluralistic society. There will always be one dominant view, otherwise it will be in transition from one belief system to another. Therefore, to say Biblical principles should not be allowed in government and school is to either be ignorant of the historic intent of the founding fathers, or blatantly bigoted against Christianity.

Each form of government has a guiding principle: monarchy in which the guiding principle is honor; aristocracy in which the guiding principle is moderation; republican democracy in which the guiding principle is virtue; despotism in which the guiding principle is fear. Without people of the United States upholding good moral conduct, society soon degenerates into a corrupt system where people misuse the authority of government to obtain what they want at the expense of others. The U.S. Constitution is the form of our government, but the power is in the virtue of the people. The virtue desired of the people is shown in the Bible. This is why Biblical morality was taught in public schools until the early 1960’s. Government officials were required to declare their belief in God even to be allowed to hold a public office until a case in the U.S. Supreme Court called Torcaso v. Watkins (Oct. 1960). God was seen as the author of natural law and morality. If one did not believe in God one could not operate from a proper moral base.

And by not having a foundation from which to work, one would destroy the community. The two primary places where morality is taught are the family and the church. The church was allowed to influence the government in righteousness an d justice so that virtue would be upheld. Not allowing the church to influence the state is detrimental to the country and destroys our foundation of righteousness and justice. It is absolutely necessary for the church to influence the state in virtue because without virtue our government will crumble — the representatives will look after their own good instead of the country’s.

Government was never meant to be our master as in a ruthless monarchy or dictatorship. Instead, it was to be our servant. The founding fathers believed that the people have full power to govern themselves and that people chose to give up some of their rights for the general good and the protection of rights. Each person should be self-governed and this is why virtue is so important. Government was meant to serve the people by protecting their liberty and rights, not serve by an enormous amount of social programs. The authors of the Constitution wanted the government to have as little power as possible so that if authority was misused it would not cause as much damage. Yet they wanted government to have enough authority to protect the rights of the people. The worldview at the time of the founding of our government was a view held by the Bible: that Man’s heart is corrupt and if the opportunity to advance oneself at the expense of another arose, more often than not, we would choose to do so. They firmly believed this and that’s why an enormous effort to set up checks and balances took place. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. They wanted to make certain that no man could take away rights given by God. They also did not set up the government as a true democracy, because they believed, as mentioned earlier, Man tends towards wickedness. Just because the majority wants something does not mean that it should be granted, because the majority could easily err. Government was not to be run by whatever the majority wanted but instead by principle, specifically the principles of the Bible.

Our U.S. Constitution was founded on Biblical principles and it was the intention of the authors for this to be a Christian nation. The Constitution had 55 people work upon it, of which 52 were evangelical Christians.(3) We can go back in history and look at what the founding fathers wrote to know where they were getting their ideas. This is exactly what two professors did. Donald Lutz and Charles Hyneman reviewed an estimated 15,000 items with explicit political content printed between 1760 and 1805 and from these items they identified 3,154 references to other sources. The source they most often quoted was the Bible, accounting for 34% of all citations. Sixty percent of all quotes came from men who used the Bible to form their conclusions. That means that 94% of all quotes by the founding fathers were based on the Bible.

The founding fathers took ideas from the Bible and incorporated them into our government. If it was their intention to separate the state and church they would never have taken principles from the Bible and put them into our government. An example of an idea taken from the Bible and then incorporated into our government is found in Isaiah 33:22 which says, “For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king…” The founding fathers took this scripture and made three major branches in our government: judicial, legislative, and executive. As mentioned earlier, the founding fathers strongly believed that Man was by nature corrupt and therefore it was necessary to separate the powers of the government. For instance, the President has the power to execute laws but not make them, and Congress has the power to make laws but not to judge the people. The simple principle of checks and balances came from the Bible to protect people from tyranny. The President of the United States is free to influence Congress, although he can not exercise authority over it because they are separated. Since this is true, why should the church not be allowed to influence the state? People have read too much into the phrase “separation of church and state”, which is to be a separation of civil authority from ecclesiastical authority, not moral values. Congress has passed laws that it is illegal to murder and steal, which is the legislation of morality. These standards of morality are found in the Bible. Should we remove them from law because the church should be separated from the state?

Our founding fathers who formed the government also formed the educational system of the day. John Witherspoon did not attend the Constitutional Convention although he was President of New Jersey College in 1768 (known as Princeton since 1896) and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. His influence on the Constitution was far ranging in that he taught nine of fifty-five original delegates. He fought firmly for religious freedom and said, “God grant that in America true religion and civil liberty may be inseparable and that unjust attempts to destroy the one may in the issue tend to the support and establishment of both.”(4)

In October 1961 the Supreme Court of the United States removed prayer from schools in a case called Engel v. Vitale. The case said that because the U.S. Constitution prohibits any law respecting an establishment of religion officials of public schools may not compose public prayer even if the prayer is denominationally neutral, and that pupils may choose to remain silent or be excused while the prayer is being recited. For 185 years prayer was allowed in public and the Constitutional Convention itself was opened with prayer. If the founding fathers didn’t want prayer in government why did they pray publicly in official meetings? It is sometimes said that it is permissible to pray in school as long as it is silent. Although, “In Omaha, Nebraska, 10-year old James Gierke was prohibited from reading his Bible silently during free time… the boy was forbidden by his teacher to open his Bible at school and was told doing so was against the law.”(4)

The U.S. Supreme Court with no precedent in any court history said prayer will be removed from school. Yet the Supreme Court in January, 1844 in a case named Vidal v. Girard’s Executors, a school was to be built in which no ecclesiastic, missionary, or minister of any sect whatsoever was to be allowed to even step on the property of the school. They argued over whether a layman could teach or not, but they agreed that, “…there is an obligation to teach what the Bible alone can teach, viz. a pure system of morality.” This has been the precedent throughout 185 years. Although this case is from 1844, it illustrates the point. The prayer in question was not even lengthy or denominationally geared. It was this: “Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our Country.” What price have we paid by removing this simple acknowledgment of God’s protecting hand in our lives? Birth rates for unwed girls from 15-19; sexually transmitted diseases among 10-14 year olds; pre-marital sex increased; violent crime; adolescent homicide have all gone up considerably from 1961 to the 1990’s — even after taking into account population growth. The Bible, before 1961, was used extensively in curriculum. After the Bible was removed, scholastic aptitude test scores dropped considerably.

There is no such thing as a pluralistic society; there will always be one dominant view. Someone’s morality is going to be taught — but whose? Secular Humanism is a religion that teaches that through Man’s ability we will reach universal peace and unity and make heaven on earth. They promote a way of life that systematically excludes God and all religion in the traditional sense. That Man is the highest point to which nature has evolved, and he can rely on only himself and that the universe was not created, but instead is self-existing. They believe that Man has the potential to be good in and of himself. All of this of course is in direct conflict with not only the teachings of the Bible but even the lessons of history. In June 1961 in a case called Torcaso v. Watkins, the U.S. Supreme Court stated, “Among religions in this country which do not teach what would generally be considered a belief in the existence of God are Buddhism, Taoism, Ethical Culture, Secular Humanism and others.” The Supreme Court declared Secular Humanism to be a religion. The American Humanist Association certifies counselors who enjoy the same legal status as ordained ministers. Since the Supreme Court has said that Secular Humanism is a religion, why is it being allowed to be taught in schools? The removal of public prayer of those who wish to participate is, in effect, establishing the religion of Humanism over Christianity. This is exactly what our founding fathers tried to stop from happening with the first amendment.

1. Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson Writings, Merrill D. Peterson, ed. (NY: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 1984), p. 510, January 1, 1802.
2. John Eidsmoe, Christianity and the Constitution (MI: Baker Book House, 1987), p. 243.
3. M.E. Bradford, A Worthy Company: Brief Lives of the Framers of the United States Constitution (Marlborough, N.H.: Plymouth Rock Foundation, 1982), p. 4-5.
4. John Witherspoon, “Sermon on the Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Men” May 17, 1776; quoted and Cited by Collins, President Witherspoon, I:197-98.

NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only.

The DNC has put together a medley of clips from the debate meant to show President Bush’s “frustrated” reactions to Kerry’s comments (they should have seen my face!). I’m glad Bush showed some honest emotion. But what is more interesting in the DNC compilation is to watch Kerry’s countenance — it looks exactly the same in every shot!!!! Too much botox? Or too much coaching? (This is probably one of the funniest clips I’ve ever seen….)

NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only.

http://www.thespiritofislam.com/books/islamandterrorism/

In my internet surfing and forum travels, I have been running across some very interesting facts and information having to do with Islam.

This website is very interesting; it contrasts Islam versus Christianity. For some reason, I had assumed that “Allah” was God. “Allah” is not God, as Christians see him.

The Spirit of Islam

Allah is not love. Allah is not the “Father”.

Take a look at how this doctor contrasts the differences between the Islamic ideology and the Christian ideology. More and more, I get the impression that what we’re dealing with here is a Satanic Cult.

Some time ago, I watched a show on television where it was talking about how Christians are moving out of Jeruselum. Now I have a better understanding as to the reason why.

The First and Gracious Phase of Islam

When the prophet Muhammad began to call people in Mecca to Islam, he was weak. He needed the help of the Jews and the Christians, so he praised them. Here is what the Koran, the holy book of Islam says about Jews and Christians at that time:

Verily, those who believe [Muslims] and those who are Jews and Christians and Sabians whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day and does righteous good deeds shall have their reward with their Lord. On them shall be no fear nor shall they grieve. (Surat Al-Baqarah 2:62)

In this verse the Koran puts Jews and Christians at the same level and privilege as Muslims.

There are many kind verses quoted in the Koran from this first and gracious phase of Islam. Muslim Clerics used such verses to establish that Islam is a religion of freedom and peace. However, these verses were abrogated lately, which means they were cancelled.

The Second Phase of Islam

The later phase of Islam, and I may say the permanent phase of Islam, according to the doctrine of abrogation in the Koran, came when the prophet Muhammad migrated to Medina and organized a strong army. When he saw that Jews and Christians rejected his prophethood and Islam, he commanded the Muslims to change the Kibla, the direction in which Muslims turn when they pray, from Jerusalem to the Kaaba in Mecca. At that time in history the Kaaba was a shrine for 360 idols.

Then Muhammad exterminated Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula. He renounced Jews and Christians as polytheists, therefore impure and defiled. As such, Muhammad commanded that they never come near the Kaaba in Mecca. To this day no Jew or Christian can enter the Mecca, or come near Al-Kaaba, the Holy shrine in Saudi Arabia. Here are the words of the Koran:

O you who believe [Muslims] the Mushrikun [polytheists and unbelievers in Allah and the Message of Muhammad] are najasum [impure, defiled]. So let them not come near Al-Masjd Al Haram [the Kaaba in Mecca] after this year. (Surat Al-Tauba 9:28)

This is the phase of Islam we encounter today.

To be sure Islamic Terrorism was practiced in Muhammad’s days. The Koran commands Muslims to terrorize and strike the necks and smite the fingers and toes of the infidels [Jews and Christians]. The Koran says:

I will cast terror into the hearts of those who are infidels, so strike them over the necks and smite over all their fingers and toes. This is because they defied and disobeyed Allah and His Messenger [Muhammad]. And whoever defies and disobeys Allah and His Messenger, then verily, Allah is severe in punishments. This is (the torment), to taste it; and surely, for the infidels is the torment of the fire. (Surat Al-Anfal 8:12-14)

Before September 11th, we saw Islamic terrorism in Egypt—where many Egyptian Christians were murdered—in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and other parts of the world. When the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., occurred on September 11, 2001, Americans woke up, as from a nightmare. Their financial and military institutions had been attacked. And a third plane was aimed to destroy the White House, the executive institution. But, thank God, it crashed in Pennsylvania.

On that day, Americans began asking three questions:
First, “Who are those people who attacked us?”
Second, “Why do they hate us?”
Third, “What motivated them to commit these horrific attacks?”

Before answering these three questions, I have to say that there are three kinds of Islamic Terrorism:

First, physical terrorism,
Second, intellectual terrorism,
Third, psychological terrorism.

By discussing these three kinds of terrorism, we will have the answer for our three questions.

Physical Terrorism

Shortly after the barbaric attacks, the investigations of the CIA and FBI concluded that the attackers were deeply religious young men from Saudi Arabia and Egypt, who dedicated their hearts, minds, and souls to the religion of Islam. Blas Pascal, a mathematician who lived in 1670 AD, said, “Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.”

The hatred ignited by the teaching of the Koran, in the hearts of those young men who attacked us was so horrible. It blinded them from thinking or imagining the agony and suffering of those thousands of innocent men and women who were murdered in the attacks and the terrible grief of those loved ones who were left behind.

The most horrible thing is that those attackers did not feel any sense of guilt. The Koran taught them that their acts are not acts of evil, but rather acts of a high level of righteousness intended to eradicate the infidel Christians from the face of the earth. The Koran taught them also that there is a great reward waiting for them in paradise if they die as martyrs.

The Koran taught them that their sins will be forgiven, and each one of them will be married to one hundred virgins, with wide lovely eyes in paradise. These are the words of the Koran:

And if you are killed or die in the Way of Allah, forgiveness and mercy from Allah are far better than all that they amass [of worldly wealth].
(Sural Al-Imran 3:157)

Verily, Allah has purchased of the believers [Muslims] their lives and their properties for (the price) that theirs shall be the Paradise. They fight in Allah’s cause, so they kill (others) and are killed. It is a promise in truth, which is binding, on Him. (Surat Al-Taubah 9:111)

The Koran describes life in paradise in the following verses:

Eat and drink with happiness because of what you used to do. They will recline (with ease) on thrones arranged in ranks. And we shall marry them to Hur (fair females) with wide lovely eyes. And we shall provide them with fruit and meat such as they desire. (Surat Al-Tur 52:17-20,22)

Paradise is all sensual, nothing spiritual.

Another picture of paradise is described in the following words:

I looked at Paradise and found poor people forming the majority of its inhabitants; and I looked at Hell and saw that the majority of its inhabitants were women (Sahih Bukhari 4:464 see also Bukhari 7:124, 7:125)

The second picture:

Water flowing constantly and fruit in plenty whose supply is not cut off and reclining on couches raised high: verily we have created from them (women) of special creation and made them virgins of equal age. (Surat Al-Waqiah 56:31-37)

The third picture:

Gardens and vineyards and young full-breasted virgins of equal age and a full cup of wine. (Surat Al-Naba 78:32-34)

With these pictures of paradise—dreaming about one hundred virgins awaiting each one of them—those young people with their Egyptian leader Muhammad Atta committed suicide and died with their victims.

Preparations for the September 11th attacks took many years. Ben Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahri with their associates of men of very evil minds began to test the Americans with terrorist attacks. They saw that Americans ran away from trouble in Beirut, Lebanon where 243 marines were murdered. Americans ran away from Somalia, and they did not do anything when they were attacked in Saudi Arabia, Nairobi, and Yemen.

Ben Laden, who is from the radical Wahhabi Islamic sect established in Saudi Arabia in the 18th century, and with roots even well before that, concluded that America is a paper tiger. Hit Americans hard and they will collapse. Ben Laden thought, that the time had come to establish an Islamic Empire, where Islam would be the only recognized religion in the world, and the sharia (law) of the Koran will be the only law. Ben Laden and his followers were in great shock, when they saw what America did in a short time in Afghanistan. They saw that America is not a paper tiger but a fierce tiger.

They are now living in hiding, somewhere in an Islamic country. That indicates that there are Muslim countries who harbor terrorists and sympathize with Ben Laden’s beliefs and terrorism. If Islam is a religion of peace and freedom, Ben Laden should be arrested by the Islamic country, which gives him refuge. For Ben Laden and his associates to be given refuge, in any Islamic country is a declaration that Islam and terrorism are associated.

Last November, Russian president Vladimir Putin made a strong statement. The London Telegraph reported on November 12, 2002, the following:

Islamic radicals are pursuing the systematic annihilation of non-Muslims…president Putin said that western civilization faced a mortal threat from Muslim terrorists, and claimed that they had plans to create a world wide caliphate which means a world wide Islamic Empire.

At this point I will mention but a few of the physical terrorist attacks committed by Muslims after the September 11th.

On April 22, 2002, four Islamic fundamentalists kidnapped and killed Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter, in a barbaric, horrific way, just because he was an American Jew.

On May 12, 2002 a gas cylinder was set on fire under Milan’s huge Gothic cathedral in an apparent bid to cause an explosion. Police found a cloth scrawled with the Islamic cry “God is great” nearby (The Washington Times, May 13, 2002).

On October 23rd Chechen Muslim gunmen seized the Moscow Theater and took hundreds of people hostage. 129 hostages died and 41 hostage-takers were killed (The Washington Post, January 26, 2003).

On November 28, 2002, suicide bombers destroyed an Israeli-owned beach resort in Mombassa Kenya, shattering lives of villagers outside Mombassa. The terrorists tried to attack an Israeli jet liner taking off from the airport nearby, but they failed.

On December 30, 2002, gunman killed 3 U.S. missionaries at a hospital in Yemen. Those were medical doctors serving the Yemeni people for many years (The Washington Times, December 31, 2002).

On January 7, 2003, British anti-terrorism police discovered traces of ricine, a highly toxic poison in a north London apartment. Six Africans, all of North African origin, were arrested. Prime Minister Tony Blair said after the arrest “this danger is present and real and with us now, and its potential is huge” (The Washington Post, January 8, 2003).

Time will not allow me to tell you about many other terrorist attacks around the world. The most recent ones are the murder of the American diplomat in Amman, Jordan, and the attack on the club in Bali, Indonesia.

We have heard through the media, that the terrorists attacked us because we stand with Israel against the Palestinians. This is a totally false accusation. Many centuries before the existence of the state of Israel, in the year 1895, the Turkish Muslims massacred more than 60,000 Armenian Christians in many cities in Turkey and crushed them like grapes during the vintage in one night. There was no Israeli-Palestinian conflict during that time. Those butchers were motivated by their Koran.

When we say that Islam and terrorism are related to each other, is this a false accusation? Is it to insult Islam? Or is it a fact based on the clear worlds of the Koran?

Please listen carefully to these verses from the Koran:

(1) The Prophet Muhammad urges Muslims to fight in the cause of Allah,

O prophet Muhammad urge the believers [Muslims] to fight. (Surat Al-Anfal 8:65)

(2) The Koran commands Muslims not to befriend Jews or Christians.

O ye who believe [Muslims] take not the Jews or the Christians for your friends and protectors. They are but friends and protectors of each other. And he among you that turn to them [for friendship] is of them. (Surat Al-Maidah 5:51)

(3) The Koran commands Muslims to fight Jews and Christians.

Fight against those who believe not in Allah, nor in the Last Day, no forbid that which has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger [Muhammad] and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth (Islam) among the people of the Scripture [Jews and Christians] until they pay the Jizyah with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. (Surat At-Taubah 9:29)

We have to understand that Jizyah is a special high tax to be paid only by Jews and Christians who live in Islamic countries and who do not want to renounce their religion and convert to Islam.

(4) The Koran declares that those who wage war against Allah and Muhammad must be crucified and tortured in a sadistic manner.

The recompense of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger Muhammad and do mischief in the land is only that they shall be killed or crucified or their hands and their feet be cut off from opposite sides, or be exiled from the land. That is their disgrace in the world, and a great torment is theirs in the Hereafter.
(Surat Al-Maidah 5:33)

(5) The Koran commands Muslims to fight the infidels who are neighbors and close to them:

O you who believe [Muslims]! Fight those of the infidels who are close to you, and let them find harshness in you; and know that Allah is with those who are pious. (Surat Al-Taubah 9:123)

(6) The Koran commands Muslims to convert non-Muslims to Islam by force:

Kill the Mushrikun (polytheists, Christians and non-Muslims), wherever you find them, and capture them and besiege them, and lie in wait for them in each and every ambush. But, if they repent and perform As-salat (public prayer with Muslims) and give Zakat (Islamic alms), then leave their way free. Allah is oft forgiving, most merciful.
(Surat At-Taubah 9:5)

(7) The Koran commands Muslims to fight non-Muslims until they exterminate all other religions and make Islam the only religion in the world:

And fight until there is no more Fitnah (disbelief and worshipping of others along with Allah) and (all and every kind of) worship is for Allah (alone).
(Surat Al-Bagarah 2:193)

There are almost one hundred verses in the Koran calling Muslims to Jihad, holy war against Jews, Christians, and non-Muslims. Do these clear verses of the Koran indicate that Islam is a religion of peace?

Intellectual Terrorism

There is another kind of terrorism in Islam: intellectual terrorism. Islam is a prison with no way out. Once a person enters that prison, he cannot leave it alive. In Islam, the democratic right to free thought and individual decision concerning religious matters is totally denied. We have more than one example of this intellectual terrorism, I will mention but a few.

The first is Salman Rushdie. Salman Rushdie was born to a Muslim family in Bombay, but spent much of his life in London, England. He wrote a book entitled The Satanic Verses. Muslims though this book was an insult to the Prophet Muhammad and Islam. So Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini issued an order to assassinate Rushdie and promised $5 million to the one who would kill him. Khomeini, Iran’s spiritual leader at that time, said in a statement read for him on the radio in 1989: “Anyone who died attempting to kill Rushdie,” he promised, “would go straight to paradise.” Rushdie’s head is very expensive!!

The second is Dr. Farag Foda, the great author who was assassinated in Cairo, Egypt in 1993 because he wrote many books exposing the true face of Islam and Islamic society. He was accused of being an apostate Muslim and was shot and killed in front of his son.

The third is Professor Nasr Hamid Abu Zeid, who was accused of being an apostate Muslim because of his books about the Koran. The court in Egypt ruled that he must divorce his wife, Ibihal Younes. He fled from Egypt and is now living with his wife in Holland.

The fourth is the well-known Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz, who became the first Egyptian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Muslims stabbed him in front of his house in an attempt to kill him. The man is over 80 years old. They wanted to kill him because they thought that he insulted Muhammad in his novel, The Children of Gabalawi. It is of great importance for any American or any secular Muslim to know what kind of society he or she will live in if fundamentalist Muslims rule.

Psychological Terrorism

That brings us to the third kind of terrorism in Islam: psychological terrorism.
Instilling fear in the hearts of those who disobey the Koran is a vital factor in Islam. This psychological terrorism was practiced when the Taliban regime ruled Afghanistan. During that period of time any woman who would show more than her eyes was flogged in the street. Music, television, even sports were not allowed.

In Saudi Arabia, a woman is banned from driving a car or from walking down the street alone, or without covering all her body with the hejab. Women in Islam live under constant fear of beating or divorce. The Koran says the following in Surat Al-Nisa Chapter 4:34:

As to those women on whose part ye fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them, refuse to share their beds (which means do not have sex with them) and beat them.

Add to all that the threat against any Muslim who apostates from Islam (renounces Islam). He or she is to be executed. Today we are hearing on radio and television many Muslim Clerics saying that Islam means peace. The truth is that the word Islam means submission, not peace. A Muslim is one who is in submission to Allah. Since Allah is invisible, so submission should be to the sharia (law) of the clerics who interpret the Koran. Peace is granted only to Muslims.

Islam divides the world’s population into two camps, Dar Al-Harb (House of War) where Jews and Christians live, and Dar Al-Islam (House of Islam) where Muslims live. They believe that Jihad, Holy War, should continue against those who live in the House of War until they are all exterminated or converted to Islam.

Fundamentalists dream of a global Islamic empire. They believe that if they destroy America and western countries they will achieve this dream.

Christianity and Islam

Al-Shaab, the weekly newspaper of the Labour Party, published in Egypt, wrote the January 27th issue, that this symposium of Christian Coalition of America is aimed to create hatred for Muslims in the US.

Let me tell the Muslims, we cannot hate you, because we are commanded by Christ our Lord to love you, even after that horrible attack on the 11th of September. These are Christ’s words in Matthew 5:44-45:

Love your enemies, bless those who curse your, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.

Meantime, I would like to say to the Muslims that there are major differences between Christianity and Islam. Christianity created free societies, where freedom of religion is granted. Muslims took advantage of this freedom and built hundreds of Mosques in England, in Australia, in Canada, and in the United States of America. While in Saudi Arabia, they do not permit the construction of even one church. In Afghanistan, during the reign of King Zahir Shah the only existing church, which had been built by president Eisenhower’s request of King Zahir, was demolished on May 17, 1970.

While the Saudis distribute thousands of copies of the Koran in the US and elsewhere, they do not permit even one Bible into the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This is one major difference between Christianity and Islam.

The other major difference, which really should be the first, is the denial of the crucifixion of Christ in the Koran. We have the testimony of many witnesses, who saw with their own eyes the crucifixion of Christ, and the print of nails in his hands after his resurrection, and testified that he was crucified, and sealed their testimony with their blood, yet the Koran attacks the cross and denies the crucifixion of Christ. Listen to the words of the Koran, in Surat An-Nisa 4:157, that they said:

We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah,” but they killed him not, nor crucified him. Only a likeness of that was shown to them. And those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no [certain] knowledge. But only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they kill him not.

Charles Haddon Surgeon, who was called the prince of the British preachers said the following:

Leave out the cross and you have killed the religion of Jesus Christ. Atonement by the blood of Jesus is not an arm of Christian truth; it is the heart of it. The cross answers the question of every human being. Who will pay the penalty for my sins? Christ paid that penalty when he shed his blood on the cross.

This is the greatest major difference between Christianity and Islam.

Conclusion

Now, how do we solve this problem of Jihad and Islamic Terrorism? I have two suggestions to the Muslims.

First: It is the responsibility of the intellectual Muslims, and they are many, to join hands and declare to the Muslims and Muslim countries that the verses of the Koran calling for Jihad and killing of Jews and Christians were for Muhammad’s time. These verses should not be applied in our modern civilizations for they create havoc.

Second: I would suggest to all Muslims, since they shout in every occasion, “Allah Hu-Akbar” (Allah is greater) to leave Allah to defend Islam. If Islam is the only religion He accepts, then let him defend it. Using young men and women to be suicide bombers is an insult to the greatness of Allah, if they really believe that Allah is great.

I would advise Muslims to join the forces of freedom and advanced inventions, to make the planet earth a better place for human life instead of making it a jungle of beasts.

To the Christians, I would repeat the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). Preach the gospel to the Muslims, they most of all, are people who need to hear and know and understand the gospel of the love of God, demonstrated by the death of His son on the cross.

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