Several months back, my church hosted a few missionaries to speak to our congregation about their work. Among them was a family who lived in Turkey. She said something interesting about Islam in Turkey in that the people, the common people, were getting fed up with Islam.
For whatever reason, it seemed that Islam wasn’t delivering on the promises that they were proposing. And while I don’t know the specific situations that were causing such discontent, I suspect it has to do with Islamists intertwining their religious ideology with a political one.
This is a profound observation because I believe that the political Islamic movements that are ongoing throughout much of the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and Asia, not to mention the smaller ones that are on this side of the world, are largely Statist movements. That is to say, they are intertwining their religious ideology of a better world with the secular one.
This is how Hamas was able to gain the majority once democratic elections were held in Israel for Palestine. Hamas, besides doing a lot of community work for their fellow Muslims, also promised many things that Statist politicians commonly promise, such as food for everyone, shelter, etc. I suppose this is the disadvantage to democracy because anyone who promises the people any kind of benefit will more than likely get elected most of the time. But the candidate who runs on either higher taxes or cutting benefits will more than likely lose. And since you can’t have it both ways, most politicians will lie.
I have always been wary of tying my Christian beliefs with my political beliefs. I have firmly believed that unlike most other religions, Christianity is apolitical and needn’t be tied down to a specific movement. While my morals are secure in Christ, I know that all that’s needed from other people is that they not commits acts of aggression against their fellow man. In this way, I can peaceably practice my faith while not having to worry too much about some gun attempting conversion through the barrel of a gun.
In the end, most of these movements fail largely because they cannot deliver on the promises they make. In other words, they are writing checks that they can’t cash. This is probably why Islam is breeding such discontent in countries like Iran and Turkey, where the promises of a better life are evident to many people despite letting Islamists take the reigns (to be fair, I don’t think Turkey has an extreme Muslim group running things).
This is also the reason why I am proposing that the United States military pull out of Afghanistan and Iraq, among the many other nations we have troops stationed in. In Afghanistan, I know of many missionaries who are willing to risk their lives to spread the Gospel among the Muslims there. There are even local converts who are going into the areas of the Taliban in order to proclaim the Good News to them. They will probably fail, but those actions bring me hope more than the United States military bombing them does. There is a better chance of bringing peace to that region if the Taliban disbands willingly because of the faith of the converted, rather than attacking them will.
While I do not realistically see their actions to be successful, I have heard stories and witnessed firsthand the power of God and I believe that with Him, all things are possible. So while I have no good reason for supporting them, I have hope through faith that God’s Will is done in these matters.
While the whole secular world watches as radical Islam seeks to conquer the rest of us, I am assured that God will prevail in the end because they are men after all. And it may be sooner than anyone realizes because of their error is promising their followers the moon, but never even reaching the sky in their efforts.