Kuwaiti Progressive Scholar: All the Good is in Secular Thought, All the Evil in Religious Thought

From MEMRI. Everyone, I am of two minds about this article. I can understand how Amal al-Baghdadi might conclude that what he calls religious thought is a bane of humanity and ought to be abolished. Muslim religious thought is the only religious thought he knows. He further maintains, however, that the Western world has progressed only by ditching Christian religious thought. Of course, his idea of Christian religious thought is the Roman Catholic Church during the Dark Ages.

Now I have my own particular quarrels with the RCC, which touch on the works gospel that they promulgated for centuries--and profited from, too, at the expense of thousands of more-deserving souls as well as of the Truth. I would encourage this Kuwaiti to study the Reformation, and more than that the Anabaptist/Baptist tradition, before he makes up his mind about all religious thought being inherently evil.

This illustrates the secular side of the three-cornered war that is now raging. To see it come from an Arab quarter is fascinating, certainly. The trouble is that if a purely secular outlook is offered as the only alternative to "Muslim religious thought," then that way lies the Beast from the Sea [Revelation 13]. And when that happens, everything that Dr. Al-Baghdadi says about Muslim countries will play out in the Beastly regime--many times over, and "on steroids"!

However, I appreciate him giving some credit where credit is due:

There is no church in the secular Christian world in which a priest stands and curses anyone who disagrees with his religion or prays for trouble and disaster to befall them, as do the preachers in our Friday sermons. [Moreover,] our religious thought has no parallel to the message recently pronounced by the present Pope regarding the importance of peace for all.

I'll vouch for that. My particular pastor is very learned in the Word of God and has not hesitated to criticize members of his flock for letting the world influence them. But I have never heard him call for anyone's head. The Bible doesn't even allow that--because we're all of us sinners, we all need a Savior, and our trust in Him is the only thing that can save any of us--not repeat not any after-action report, real or forged, about our exploits on earth--and certainly not any report that someone killed another person. If anything, the Bible tells a Christian to let the other guy strike him a fatal blow--so long as no life is at stake but his.

Al-Baghdadi goes on:

There is no non-Muslim religious institute that teaches its students to hate the Other, claiming that he is considered an infidel, doomed to hell, regardless of whether he was of any use to mankind. This hatred is present in the curricula of the Islamic religion.

Well, I'll admit that this is not quite accurate. True enough, we Christians do not hate other people, if by the phrase "I hate someone" one means "I wish someone were dead." Still, we all offer this warning: all the good works in the world will not save a man; only a belief in Christ and repentance ("getting his mind right") of his sinful nature can save anyone. That's not our call: that's God's call. But by the same token, even the worst works in the world will not prevent a man from being saved--so long as he'll get his mind right and confess not just his sins but that Christ is the Lord and Savior of mankind. The real thing that will seal a man's fate is turning his back on God. Unfortunately, we've all done that from the day we were born. Fortunately, any of us has a way out--and it doesn't involve killing anyone.

More to the point, the probable spiritual destination of any opponent of the Christian faith is not a judgment for any Christian to make--and absolutely is not a warrant for any Christian to "help someone along" to go to the Great White Throne Judgment. Rather, that is something none of us would wish even on our worst enemies.

This, however, is something I can't quarrel with:

Throughout [Muslim] history there has not been one Muslim judge who strived to attain justice for a non-Muslim who was wronged, whereas the U.S. and Europe have saved many peoples from oppression, while sacrificing human life and property in order to save other [peoples.] [In this context] one cannot but note the benevolence of the secular toward the Kuwaitis when they decided to liberate Kuwait and reinstate the honor of its government and its people.

Thank you, Dr. Al-Baghdadi, for that! Of course, if you'll study Christian thought more closely, you'll see that equal justice under law is a Christian precept. It derives from the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. That's a Rule that Jesus repeated at least three times on the Sermon on the Mount.

This last excerpt really threw me for a loop:

Do you know why Allah helps the secular country? Because it is just. Why doesn't He help countries that build mosques every day? Because these countries are oppressive.

Well, I must disclaim any such help--not merely because the "Allah" of which he speaks is not God at all, but mainly because it's just not fitting for Christians to claim any special Divine favor for human institutions of any kind.

Sure, I know it's confusing, even for someone like Amal al-Baghdadi. Jesus will sort it all out, however, when He returns to earth to rule it directly for a thousand years.