Waxhaw Exchange
Sunday, October 11, 2009
11
D’Souza: ‘A restoration of values’ Q&A from 1 Q: How does the world solve those problems? A: I think that the radical Muslims have gained a lot of support by portraying America as a godless and immoral society. And that is a major part of their recruiting technique: to say Muslims should stand up for God and fight against the great Satan, which is us. Ironically, (atheist debater Chritopher) Hitchens’s view is, “Yeah, we are the great Satan. We are the leading power of the infidels.” ‘Infidels’ is the Muslim word for unbeliever. In a way, when bin Laden says, “America is the godless society,” Hitchens says, “Yeah, that’s why we’re fighting you.” In my view, we are a society rooted in Christian values, and I think if the world knew that, it would be harder for radical Muslims to portray us in the way they do. A restoration of Christian values would not only be better for us at home but would also make us safer. It would weaken the propaganda of the radical Muslims against us. It’s hard to portray us as an atheist society if it was made very clear that we are a more Christian society. Q: Is radicalism unique to Islam? A: I don’t know of any other religion that has al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah. I don’t know of any other religion that has a radical division similar to radical Islam. As far as I know, there haven’t been any Buddhist suicide bombers. There’s been no Hindu bin Laden. Islam is unique in producing a radical movement. You might have isolated cases [in other religions], but these guys are so marginal. Very often they’re not mainstream. If you look, there are 2.3 billion Christians in the world. ... There’s no such movement. Whereas in Islam, it’s different. You look at a group called Hamas; when you had free elections in Gaza a few years ago, Hamas won. There’s no Christian movement of kooks that’s large enough to even pay attention to it. I can’t name a single Christian organization that would qualify as the equivalent of al Qaeda. Now you have kooks like the KKK, but they’re motivated by racism, not Christianity. ... They’ll rewrite the Bible so he’s a cross burner and all kinds of wacko stuff but no one would claim that’s mainstream Christianity. Q: What are the factors that create extremists? A: I think that what’s creating extremism in the Muslim world is a profound sense that the Muslim world, which was once very strong, has become very weak. If you really think about it, if you took away oil and the money that comes from oil, the Muslim world would be like sub-Saharan Africa. The Muslims know that. How did they end up in such a mess? The mess I’m referring to is the Muslim world today has fallen behind so badly behind the West. One small country – Israel — can beat the entire Muslim world put together. That’s hugely embarrassing. ... The Muslims know all this. They feel like they’ve been humiliated by the West, conquered by the West, dominated by the West. And it’s bred a lot of political and economic and social frustration. And that is the breeding ground for radicalism and terrorism. Q: How do we prevent radicalism? A: In the Cold War, with the Soviet Union, there was a military component to it. There was also a war of ideas in which America was trying to promote the best of American values: democracy, freedom, equality.
And we had huge government organizations promoting those values across the Iron Curtain in the former Soviet Union. We’re not doing that now. We have a military side in the Muslim world and that’s it. Nothing else. My suggestion would be a governmentdriven effort to promote the best of American ideals in the Muslim world. That’s something we haven’t been doing. Q: What impact do you think Christian missionary work has on Western and Arab relations? A: I think it’s minuscule. How many missionaries are trying to convert Muslims? Not that many. It’s not that easy to do. Muslims are very hard to convert. There are not very many Muslims converting as a proportion. Muslims are very devout. They’re not easy to turn around and win over. It’s easier to convert a Hindu or someone who’s not very devout. But the Muslims are very hard to convert. So there are some Christian missionaries that are trying and there are some converts but it’s not a significant factor. Q: If it has a minuscule effect, then why are there efforts in the Muslim world to block Christian missionary work? A; I think Muslims don’t like it and within their own countries they try to block it. ... I think in the Muslim world, in places like India, there is an opposition to missionaries. The reason for the opposition is mainly this: they feel Western missionaries have a lot of money. They think, “We have a small village. The missionaries will come in, build this tent, have lots of food and all these young people will run over there and want to convert. Not necessarily because they believe in the religion but because they want all the stuff. They’re bribing the natives into converting to Christianity. That’s the allegation, that’s the charge, that’s what people say. Indians feel missionaries are taking advantage of the poverty of the locals. I don’t think that that allegation is fair, but I am trying to help you understand why people are objecting to it. Q: Why do you think there’s a growing secular population in the Western world? A: Many of us learn Christianity when we are young. I call it Crayon Christianity. It’s a really simplified form of Christianity. When we go college, suddenly you are confronted with questions that ask you how you know the things you claim to know. For many people, this Crayon Christianity is hard to defend and they find themselves pulling away from it. So the university often is a place where skepticism meets Christianity and skepticism wins. Why? Because Christians are not taught how to effectively defend their faith. One reason why I think the Charlotte Apologetics Conference is a useful thing is because it helps to equip Christians to recognize what we believe and why. Q: How should churches combat the growth of secularism? A: Churches are very focused on what you would call Bible education. The Bible says this and the Bible means that. That’s pretty much what pastors are trained to do: to explain the meaning of the Bible. If someone were to say, “How do I know what to believe in the Bible? How do I know it’s true?” that falls outside the normal training of a typical pastor. They assume the people looking to them already agree with the word of God. That’s probably true: most people in the pews already accept the Bible, you don’t have to prove it. For young people, your mind is inquisitive, you ask questions, and I think those questions are
good. They’re not being adequately addressed in the church. Apologetics is the art of defending the faith on the basis of reason, and that needs to be a bigger part of what churches do. The thing about it is, a lot of churches and Christians don’t recognize the importance of apologetics. So one reason I think it’s good we’re having this debate, is it’s sort of a wake-up call about what atheists are saying out there. We really need a response, we really need to address these issues. A lot of Christians are not often out there listening to what these atheists are saying. ... Hitchens is probably the biggest name on the other side, so I’m glad they’re bringing him in this time. • Those interested in registering for the conference can visit www. nationalapologeticsconference.com. It costs $99 to attend the workshop and conference. To attend the debate as well, the total will be $119.
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