I was just reading an article about a professor in Canada who was teaching ethics to his high school students. He showed them a photo of an Afghan woman who had had her nose and ears cut off by her husband. He then tried to get the students to engage in discussion about what they saw. He was not prepared for their response:
They said, "Well, we might not like it, but maybe over there it's okay." One student said, "I don't feel anything at all; I see lots of this kind of stuff."
Another said (with no consciousness of self-contradiction), "It's just wrong to judge other cultures."
(For the full article you can go here)
Where did this kind of crazy mentality crop up? According to Robert Stearns, the source is our public school systems that teach the religion of secular humanism.
In his book, No, We Can’t: Radical Islam, Militant Secularism and the Myth of Coexistence, Stearns asserts that in today’s world, three houses of belief exist: The house of Islam, the house of militant human secularism, and the house of Judeo-Christianity.
Stearn examines each house in detail, what their belief system involves and the impact each have on society.
The house of Islam is based on a committed devotion to the teachings of the Quran... this ideology combines radicalized religious obedience to the god Allah with sociopolitical force, using many different tactics (including violence) to assert Muslim supremacy in the world. The ultimate goal of this house is to establish an Islamic caliphate, a ruling kingdom that holds all lands under its sway. (pg. 24)
The house of Militant Secularism is “one of the most influential forces in the world today… its aggression lies in its appeal to the independent, prideful human spirit and the power of human accomplishments. Its prevailing belief is that it is unlikely there is a god, and if there is, this “god’ can be defined by us, because human beings determine their own destinies. (pg 24)
The house of the Judeo-Christian worldview: Adhering to the basic moral code derived from the ten commandments and Jesus’ teachings, this unique value system has grown to become the world’s single largest religion…the creeds of the faith have kept it strong and served as guardrails along the way. In recent times, cultural expressions labeled “Christian” but lacking real devotion and biblical truth have diluted the strength of the faith in this house.” (pg 25)
Stearn goes on to describe how each house views the other. He quotes political scientist, Samuel Huntington in his book, The Clash of Civilizations as saying that Islam is “not enamored with the secular approach to commercial influence that has captured the hearts of America and Europe. Islam has a different battle plan-one rooted in tribal customs and a staunchly Muslim identity-and it is actively at war with the West. (pg. 60)
While secular humanism differs from Islam and Judeo-Christianity in that it claims to believe in no moral absolutes (like the Canadian students) they are every bit as bent on making the entire world kow tow to their belief system. They have been relentless in their attack on religion-doing their best to oust it from the public arena and have been particularly effective in keeping it out of our public education system.
What’s so hypocritical about this is that secular humanism is in fact a religious belief and receives tax exempt status accordingly. When they demand “separation of church and state” they do not mean themselves. In fact since they hide the fact that they are an organized religion (however it is on public record) they have enabled their belief system to prevail in public schools while keeping every other religious belief out!
The humanist Charles Frances Potter, author of Humanism: A New Religion wrote:
Education is the most powerful ally of Humanism, and every American public school is a school of Humanism. What can the theistic Sunday schools, meeting for an hour once a week, and teaching only a fraction of the children, do to stem the tide of a five-day program of humanistic teaching.
(pg. 118)
What about Christianity? What is Christianity? The belief in God, personified in Jesus Christ, who through the ten commandments exposed man’s sinful nature so man could understand his need to be saved from his own wickedness. While Muslims define sin as not worshipping Allah and humanists deny its existence altogether, Christianity looks at the world with the eyes of God (as revealed in the Bible) and says,
“Yes! There is right and wrong! It is wrong to abandon your wife (or husband) and children; it is wrong to sell girls and boys into sex slavery; it is wrong to kill people through pogroms and concentration camps. It is wrong to cut off a woman’s ears and nose no matter what culture she belongs to!
It is right to love other people as yourself. It is right to love and honor and protect and even die for others. It is right to live honestly and work ethically and value life!
I had a friend from Germany who did not believe in moral absolutes. I asked her if what Hitler did to the Jews was not wrong. Her answer? “Well, I personally am against what he did but it was right for him and for Germany at the time.”
Since we both were holding our babies during this conversation, I asked her that if our government decided to take our babies away and experiment on them would she consider that wrong. She told me to shut up and walked away.
As Stearns so aptly points out in his book, every house believes in absolutes. ("There are no absolutes" is, after all, an absolute statement) The house that claims to believe in no absolutes is the least tolerant of all. They absolutely believe in the wrongness of Judeo Christian values and they are doing everything they can to eradicate it.
Here’s the sad irony: It’s the secularists that are paving the way for the Islamic extremists by their misguided notions of “tolerance,” little realizing that if Islam gains control of a country the first to be eliminated would be the secularists.
Stearns’ books is an eye-opening and disturbing look at the three houses of faith and by the end of it you will hopefully come to a better understanding as to how each faith is defined and how it is influencing our society and world at large.
I received this book for free from Bethany Publishers.
Robert Stearns is founder and executive director of Eagles' Wings a global movement of churches, ministries and leaders. He is publisher of Kairos magazine and co-founder of the worldwide Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem. For more information you can go to the following links:
2 comments:
Wow, I thought only Americans were fed this garbage about tolerating intolerance.
One of the big failures of the major religious figures in all major religions, in my opinion, is the glorification of "things" (holly grail, third temple, and yes, women's virtuousness) in order to explain ideas.
Thanks for the very thoughtful review of a very interesting book. I also read the article you linked to - amazing and disturbing.
http://www.ManOfLaBook.com
"Tolerating intolerance." That's a good way of putting it. Yes. As a Christian, I can't look at "things". I can only keep my eyes on God. Everything else will fail. Thanks for your response.
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