Islam and Christianity--the struggle continues

This fourth and final blog from God Is Back deals with Christianity's interaction with Islam. I found this fascinating and important today as the West confronts an aggressive Islamic faith.

The authors see the world in a deadly cycle of Western advance and Islamic reaction. They say there are good reasons for thinking that globalization will gather pace in future years, and, therefore, there will be clashes far into the future. As a result, the authors spend a great deal of time dealing with the struggle between Christianity and Islam. Specifically, they wish to deal with who is winning the religious struggle.

They believe the main advantages are with Christianity, not Islam. For one thing, America's war on terror makes it more difficult to spread the Islamic message. Contributions to Muslim charities have fallen in the last several years. For another thing, Christians are much more enthusiastic than Muslims about translating their holy book. Followers of Islam believe the Koran is the literal word of God in Arabic, which makes Muslims uncomfortable with translations.

Another advantage Christianity has is its ability to turn the Bible into a commercial enterprise. Koran production is dominated by the state, but the Bible is put out by many different publishing firms. Consider also the user-friendliness of both books. There are Bibles in everyday language or slang. Plus, there's more innovation with Christianity. Here's one example -- there are now BibleZines, crosses between Bibles and teenage magazines. Another advantage in this area is the sophisticated dramatizations that can be purchased of the Bible with well-known actors and state-of-the-art sound effects.

One more advantage Christianity has over Islam is the wealth of its believers. The United States, the world's richest most powerful country, can do so much more with missionaries and media organizations than any other country.

T religious freedom in the West allows Christianity one further advantage. Look at what is in the heartland of Islam -- a theocracy. The open marketplace in religion for the West promotes innovation while the Muslim world's closed marketplace promotes nothing but rigid conservatism.

The authors consider one other important advantage Christianity has -- the relative ability to thrive in the face of modernity. Islam has never had a huge debate about the relationship between faith and authority. Christianity, on the other hand, has resolved those debates in a way that has rendered it well equipped to thrive along with modernity. The Muslim world has never had a reformation or an enlightenment. The Arab world lags behind the West in economic success as well as political maturity. Muslim economies are falling behind despite the huge income from oil. Islam, in addition, has a bigger problem with the notion at the heart of Western modernity -- individual conscience. Add to that other defects in Islam--doctrinal splits, reformers who look only to the past, and ingrained hostility to pluralism.

The test of pluralism is how a society views conversion, the freedom to join a religious community or leave it. You know how that is treated in the Islamic world. It's seen at best as a grave sin and at worst a crime that should result in punishment. This aversion to pluralism poisons everything, according to the authors. It encourages unthinking deference to authority and tradition.

The authors do see some grounds for hope, but not in the Muslim world. They believe Turkey, Europe, and the United States may provide some reforms. However, since this book was written, Turkey seems to be drifting back into the stifling, closed, conservative Islamic world.

Toward the end of the book, the authors turn again to the genius of our Founding Fathers. They say America does a better job than any other country of combining religious vitality with both religious diversity and religious toleration. They believe the First Amendment still achieves its two goals -- it keeps churches firmly apart from the state and protects churches from the state.

Overall, God Is Back is an interesting look at religious fervor in the world today. You might like it, but I'd suggest waiting until a paperback copy comes out to save some money.