A colleague of mine at work, who is a retired air force officer, is a solid Christian. Now, he is. He was raised in a Jewish family, but they weren't really religious. They were the all too common "agnostic" Jews. That is, they really don't practice the religion and aren't sure they even believe God exists. So, how are they Jewish? Ethnically, the Jewish people were Hebrew, but in modern times many Jews consider themselves Jews in the ethnic sense and not the spiritual sense.
My colleague said he grew up in such a family, but always felt empty. So, later, as an adult, he began reading the Torah, then the Bible and the Koran. He said by the time he finished the Koran he was convinced it was Satan's creation. It was Satan's attempt to draw people away from Jesus Christ, from his message, and to create his own following. Many of the Muslim beliefs are in line with Judeism really, even down to the way they treat their food. What Jews call "Kosher" is essentially the same thing as what the Muslims consider "Halal." Interesting. I've found the two religions very similar, which makes this idea of them being mortal enemies silly, because they have far more in common with each other than with Christianity. But I digress.
Anyway, my friend said he liked what he saw in the Christian Gospels and its message and felt at peace with the religion, which he found truly was a message of peace and brotherhood. What he told me about the Jewish community's views and the reaction of his family to his becoming Christian was eye-opening to say the least. He said, for many Jews, his family included, you can be Jewish -- although preferrably a modern reformed version versus the traditional orthodox -- or you can be atheist, either is fine with them. But to become a Christian is akin to a mortal sin. They were horrified he had done so. The funny thing is, he's not the first person I've know to say this. A contractor I worked with some years ago was a devout Orthodox Jew, something he became later in life. He said his family was horrified at that, didn't understand it and thought him nuts. They, again, thought of themselves as Jews, but only in the ethnic sense. In both cases, these people I knew experienced their families distancing themselves from them. Odd behavoir I think. It's not like they joined the Taliban or something!
Anyway, to finish what I had been talking about in my previous note.... Sure, there are peaceful Muslims. Most want to live their lives without violence. However, as some very important former Muslims have said, including the son of Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the mastermind of 9/11 himself, those who do not revert to violence are not completely devout in being Muslim. Those who become completely devout and follow the Koran in its entirety WILL support violence against the non-Muslim world because it's part of the religion. That's a pretty damning statement coming from a family member of one of the key Al Qaeda figures and a former Muslim himself. It's the modern, sensible people who call themselves Muslims who are not that way. They ignore those parts of the Koran and Hadith that call upon them to commit violence against non-Muslims and otherwise threat non-Muslims as a lower form of life.
Of course, any such talk is likely to get you a fatwah placed on your head... a death sentence. Just another indication of what kind of religion we're talking about here. I see it as I read more of the Koran. It has messages of peace, but then turns to violence and repression in a heartbeat.
Again, this seems to follow what the Assyrian Christian Iraqis were telling me about the religion and what it was like to live under Islam as an "infidel." This was also confirmed by a Sudanese immigrant turned U.S. Citizen who was serving with us as a translator. The Muslims have committed outrageous acts of violence against the Christian community in Sudan. He had to leave years ago to escape it. He moved to Egypt and was there for nearly 9 years, but as much as he liked Cairo, he was never treated as anything other than a foreigner. He would never be allowed to become an Egyptian citizen. He finally came to America and eventually earned his citizenship.
You know what? He said he had volunteered to serve as a translator -- he's fluent in Arabic naturally -- as a way of serving his new country. He's not Christian. He said he's spiritual, but not certain of his thoughts about the existance of God. But he knows that the Christians he's known have always been warm and friendly to him, while Muslims have often treated him with distain. He felt America had opened its heart to him and welcomed him as one of us, whereas he felt a foreigner in his own country, and in Egypt for so many years, he was never accepted as anything but some outsider.
I am no expert on the subject, but I wanted to know who we were dealing with, and these evenings I spent, after my work shift, with the Assyrians, this former Sudanese, etc., were very enlightening. Put what I was told in context with what I've been reading about Islam, and I can say this... I tend to believe my retired Air Force Officer colleague is correct in his assessment. Not all Muslims are bad and violent, but that's simply because of their own internal values overriding what is otherwise a very questionable religion.
