A decidedly Christian argument against the Christian Science Monitor article:
Barack Obama – Muslim apostate?
For Al Qaeda, the answer – and the implication – is clear.
from the May 19, 2008 edition
Found here: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0519/p09s02-coop.html
Dear Sir or Madam:
This letter is in response to the article entitled: Barack Obama – Muslim apostate? For Al Qaeda, the answer – and the implication – is clear. By Shireen K. Burki from the May 19, 2008 edition.
As a Christian, I am shocked to find that The Christian Science Monitor finds the willful propagating of unfounded fear in your fellow citizens, your fellow Christians, to be conscionable behavior. Christ’s example is one of love, one of faith, one of forgiveness. Yet over and over so-called Christians everywhere use hate and fear to push an agenda that is anything but Christian.
Furthermore, this story is skewed in its understanding of what provides motivation for anyone around the world to want to attack America. For us to be the enemy of Islam, we must act as an enemy. And we have done exactly that. Rather than acting as true Christians, we have done as they bid us do. We sought revenge. We attacked – proving their point. And everyday we stay in Iraq, a nation that had NOTHING to do with 9/11, we continue to be the occupying infidels they paint us to be. We have tilled the soil and made fertile the recruiting grounds. And after five years, we are putting a whole new generation at risk to be brainwashed into their cause. Some may say we had no other choice, but I ask you did Christ have a choice against the Romans? Could He not have used His power to vanquish them – as Satan bid him do? He passed His test, while we failed ours.
Be clear, it is George Bush and all who served with him that made Bin Laden laugh as played us like a fiddle. Bush has been Bin Ladin’s dream foe. Bin Laden set the trap and Bush took the bait. I can only imagine what dismay he may have felt had we not reacted to 9/11 as he wanted and expected us to. I ponder often the possible outcome had we declared that an act of injustice not war, punishable by law not war, and asked a world-wide judicial presence that included Arab states and Muslim leaders to investigate and render a judgment.
Where there is injustice in the world, there will always be violence. Jesus called us to right the injustices of the world, not by war, but through faith, and love, and charity. I wonder if we had sought to admit our mistakes and right our wrongs; to spend billions to feed and help moderate Muslim families rather waste trillions trying to kill fanatics who simply don’t care if they die while fighting invaders (if faced with invaders, we’d feel the same way); I wonder if their recruits may have opted to go back to their families and live a better a life rather than continue blowing themselves up.
Many of us are now coming to realize that George Bush has hood-winked Christians everywhere pretending to care about the right to life. He has done nothing to protect life. He sends our young people to die. He has shown he cares more about corporate interests that the aim of Christians – to hold to the sanctity of life and to be guided by the life of Jesus in how we are called to live the gift of life. He welcomes death as a useful means to an end and calls it patriotic.
No, it is not the abandoned child of a Muslim assuming the presidency that threatens our security. It is our own inability as Americans and as Christians to wake up to what is going on. It is our failure as individuals and as a people to live as we have been instructed to live and to have faith that following Jesus teachings really does work. No it’s not easy. If it was, why would we have needed Jesus in the first place?
Please, no more lip service! Christian Science Monitor, do you have the fortitude of faith to turn a critical eye inward? Shine the light of truth on yourselves and ask which master you are serving. If you find you really intend to serve our Lord, than you best look harder at the type of stories you run. It is time to tell the truth about how miserably we are failing to live up to the teachings of Jesus Christ – and chief among them is this war based on lies and fear. The kind Ms. Burki seeks to perpetuate.
Image what Jesus would write if He was authoring a letter to you about this article. I dare say He wouldn’t be anymore proud of the “keepers” of the faith in our day than He was of those in His day.
Most Sincerely, Rima Bonario
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