Color-Man, 2 July, Amman, Jordan
A distressed Muslim mother sits across from me here at the Amman airport. Her cheeks are flushed and her eyes weary. An infant rests on her lap, and two other youngsters crowd around her knees. One of them wails inconsolably. The mother wears the traditional burke. I see other women too at the gate in the same garb. Ten or so of them are traveling solo. Where are their husbands?
Islam is oppressive. It asks for everything—body, mind, and soul—and gives very little back. It does not offer freedom, or equality, or justice, or mercy. It suppresses women. It brainwashes children. It satisfies none.
Some people say that Christianity brainwashes people in the same way. The prayer-emitting mosques crowning each street corner are much akin to the Medieval churches of old, as I think of it. I think of Tetzel and his indulgences. Both religions have offered—at one time or another—salvation through works and acts of penance. Both have deceived nations, waged wars, and killed thousands. So what is the difference? Why do I believe in Christ? Why not Mohammed? Or even better, why not forsake all religions and their deceptive ways?
Because there is a difference. It lies not in the actions of a religion’s followers—radical or otherwise. The difference is at the core. What did Jesus teach? What did Mohammed teach? If we look to the true heart, there are no similarities. C.S. Lewis tells us that we can’t look at Christ as a mere moral teacher. What Jesus said was radically different than anything that had been said before. He said that he was the Son of God, and that to have life we need to eat his flesh and drink his blood. Either he was a liar and a lunatic, or he was who he said he was. And if we believe he was God, we can also believe in his teachings. But not before. And at the core of those teachings is justice and moral law, but also freedom, mercy, joy, forgiveness, reconciliation. There’s no place for those things in Islam, or any other religion in the world. I pick the religion for sinners and mess-ups, who need—more than prayer wheels or Mecca—grace.
Drew
Islam is oppressive. It asks for everything—body, mind, and soul—and gives very little back. It does not offer freedom, or equality, or justice, or mercy. It suppresses women. It brainwashes children. It satisfies none.
Some people say that Christianity brainwashes people in the same way. The prayer-emitting mosques crowning each street corner are much akin to the Medieval churches of old, as I think of it. I think of Tetzel and his indulgences. Both religions have offered—at one time or another—salvation through works and acts of penance. Both have deceived nations, waged wars, and killed thousands. So what is the difference? Why do I believe in Christ? Why not Mohammed? Or even better, why not forsake all religions and their deceptive ways?
Because there is a difference. It lies not in the actions of a religion’s followers—radical or otherwise. The difference is at the core. What did Jesus teach? What did Mohammed teach? If we look to the true heart, there are no similarities. C.S. Lewis tells us that we can’t look at Christ as a mere moral teacher. What Jesus said was radically different than anything that had been said before. He said that he was the Son of God, and that to have life we need to eat his flesh and drink his blood. Either he was a liar and a lunatic, or he was who he said he was. And if we believe he was God, we can also believe in his teachings. But not before. And at the core of those teachings is justice and moral law, but also freedom, mercy, joy, forgiveness, reconciliation. There’s no place for those things in Islam, or any other religion in the world. I pick the religion for sinners and mess-ups, who need—more than prayer wheels or Mecca—grace.
Drew
posted by Unknown at 10:33 AM
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