The Great Divide Amongst God’s Peoples

by Bill Platt

A Commentary by Bill Platt on the September 11, 2001 Terrorism Attack

This morning was just like any other morning in my household. That is until the telephone rang. Folks who know me know that I do not watch television, and they were calling to make sure that I was aware what had happened.

As the news was shared of two hijacked airplanes crashing into the World Trade Center towers, and the subsequent collapse of both buildings, I was in pure disbelief. Then the news of another hijacked aircraft crashing into the Pentagon was relayed. I hung up the phone believing that the news was simply too bizarre to be true.

I hung up and started my trusty Internet connection, and began to wonder if it could be true when both CNN.com and MSNBC.com were unreachable on either of my browsers. I finally managed to get into the Yahoo! News Room and realized that the bizarre did in fact happen.

I loaded my 18-month-old son into the car, and we headed to my mother’s house. We spent 12 hours riveted to the television set, amazed at the audacity of the terrorists and the carnage that they had methodically inflicted upon our great nation.

As an American, I share in the anger and resolute determination of the American people to extract justice from those who are responsible for this unspeakable act of terrorism. I also agree with the policy directions that seem to be coming from our President, that “we will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbored them.”

While it is far too early to really know who is responsible for this declaration of war against the United States of America, news agencies are suggesting that the short list of suspects has narrowed to a 90% likelihood that Osama bin Laden is responsible for this heinous attack.

As an American, I was disturbed by some of the things I noticed in the news coverage of this story. In one instance, the Fox News Network was interviewing the American representative of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). In the interview, the representative was very wise in noting that it is far too soon to speculate on who may have been responsible for today’s events. He wanted to emphasize that the PLO had no part in what happened in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington, DC today. The newscaster probed further if he could account for other Palestinian groups to which he had no connection, making very direct reference to Palestinians celebrating in the streets. In light of the complete clip, the representative of the PLO obviously detected the racial undertones in the questions that I had sensed also, as he pointed out that in this early stage that the perpetrators could have been of any race, including Chinese, Indians or others.

Being that Osama bin Laden is both Arab and a Moslem (a believer of the Islamic faith), I fear that our country will climb on the bandwagon of prejudice against and distrust of Arabs in general and followers of the Islamic faith.

I read on the news site MSNBC.com tonight, that the Moslems around the world and in the United States especially, are encouraging their members to keep a really low profile.

I would hope that the melting pot that has made America great will be strong enough to rise above base prejudice and realize that bin Laden represents the radical elements of both the Arab and Moslem communities. While America does have its enemies, America also has many friends in the Arabic communities and in the moderate Moslem countries.

Part of our world’s population is cheering this ominous attack against the United States. Yet, most of the world’s population stands in wonder of how anyone could deliver such an “evil” act against mankind. People all over the globe are asking “Why?”

The reason why is simple. It is a matter of religion. There are three religions on this planet that have marked themselves firmly into our history. They are Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. All three religions trace their roots to Adam and Abraham—Moses, Jesus and Mohammed are their prophets, respectively.

Each of the three religions proclaim the “one true God.” All of the three religions believe in Satan as the evil, and finally, each of the three believe that they are the owners of the “one true faith!”

Among the followers of these faiths, the Jewish people—the remnant of the Israelite’s—and the Christians are openly friendly to one another. Christians do recognize the Jewish people as among their protectorate due to the fact that Christianity is based on the Old Testament of the Israelites, as well as on the New Testament of Jesus Christ.

While Mohammed encouraged protection of both the Israelites (The People of the Book) and the Christians which came before him, some of his followers have declared a “Holy War” against both the Christians and Jews.

Osama bin Laden is among the Islamic believers who are fighting the “Holy War” against the Jews and the Christians. The warriors of the “Holy War” base their conflict on the verse from the Qur’an (Koran—the Holy Book of Islam) from the book of “The Immunity” [9:5]. The verse reads:

Then, when the sacred months are drawn away, slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them, and confine them, and lie in wait for them at every place of ambush. But if they repent, and perform the prayer, and pay the alms, then let them go their way.

From this verse, the “Holy Warriors” have decided that Christians and Jews alike are the “idolaters” and “Satan.” America, being a Christian nation, whom also provides substantial support to Israel and the Jews is considered to be the “Great Satan.” Western lifestyles are the tool of Satan to bring “evil” into the world of God.

According to the book, Religions East and West by Ward J. Fellows, on page 391, the author says that “the proponents of the literal holy war, or others who would use this verse, must disregard at least one hundred and twenty-four other verses that stress peace and toleration toward non-Muslims, especially Christians and Jews as theists.”

“Islam” literally means “submission to God.”

For many of the believers of Islam, if you sacrifice your own life in a fight against Satan, then you are guaranteed your place in heaven.

As Christians, it is easy for us to look at the actions of these people and declare that their actions against us are “evil” and “immoral,” yet for the radical Islamic follower, the actions that we Christians declare “evil” are in their beliefs, complete “submission to God,” their ticket to heaven.

History is littered with stories of the atrocities of the “one true faith” perpetrated in the name of God. Throughout the Old Testament of our Holy Bible, the Israelites committed mass destruction of whole tribes and cities of people. A look at Joshua 6:21 tells a story that is quite common in the history of Israel:

And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword (KJV).

Through the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the Christian church delivered mass murder in the name of God. While the stated purpose of The Crusades was intended to amplify Christianity and to “deliver the Holy Land from the hands of the infidel,” this had to be the darkest in the history of Christendom.

Even in modern day America, radical Christian fundamentalists harbor no reservations about killing an abortion doctor to prevent the practice of abortion in America. These radical fundamentalists honestly believe that they are doing the work of God.

My point is simple.

While each of us believe the actions of these terrorists are “evil” and “immoral,” in their own beliefs, they are righteous warriors doing God’s work, with God’s blessings. The radical Islamic fundamentalists do not have a corner on the hideous actions they do. Historic Israel and Christians, as well as modern day Christians, have done also in the name of God, things that I would consider “evil” and “immoral.”

As a Christian, I find it sad that I must say something as such about my own, but I must.

As we move forward into the future, I want for you to think on two things.

One, do not look upon the skin of the man, or upon the faith of the individual and assume that they are the enemy, because they are not. If the future proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that bin Laden and his followers were behind this worst act of terrorism on American soil, then remember distinctly that bin Laden and his followers are our enemy—not the general Arab community or the believers of the Islam faith.

The second thing I want you to think about. As long as we continue to call Islam “evil” and “Satan,” and they continue to call our people “evil” and “Satan,” then this war between the religions will continue to rage for centuries to come.