I have known Dr. Amjad Hussain for a long time. The retired surgeon is charming and polite and I enjoy his company. As a columnist, he has been a voice of reason in Toledo's Muslim community, speaking out against atrocities and extremism and promoting moderation, as well as interfaith and inter-cultural harmony. But his latest column published Monday in The Blade -- you can read it here -- shows a disdain for Christian evangelism that is surprising; maybe even shocking. The column is generating a lot of response, and I can see why.
Separation of church and state is always a valid topic for debate, although I personally think that phrase is abused by anti-religious forces. While the U.S. government cannot and should not impose a state religion, the courts have gone too far in barring any and all interaction between religion and government. I am sure that was not the intent of the framers of the Constitution, who came to America to escape government-imposed state religions in Europe and drafted a document that would ensure their freedom to worship as they desire in the new world.
However, although Dr. Hussain uses the church-state separation issue to get into the topic, saying the U.S. military has allowed Christian groups to send religious and proselytizing materials to the American troops overseas, his main point of contention is the desire of Christians to evangelize. He said he feels people have the right to believe whatever they want, but not to try to convert others.
He is kidding himself, but not too many others.
The truth is, Christians and Muslims both believe that their religion is the one true faith. This is the nature of these two belief systems and their innate worldviews. Devout followers of both religions find it impossible to NOT want to help others, to NOT share their joy and excitement and spiritual peace and eternal well being, with those who do not see the light in the same way.
This well-intentioned desire to help others goes beyond giving people a meal or a handout. This is more important, this is a matter of eternal life.
Unlike the more inclusive teachings of Hinduism or Buddhism, Islam and Christianity are in theological conflict, with both groups professing exclusivist answers to the big spiritual questions.
Muslims are just as committed to evangalizing the world as are Christians. As the nefarious Islamic terrorist Osama bin Laden said last week, for example, one way to end the war in Iraq is for all Americans to convert to Islam.
That ain't going to happen, folks.
Meanwhile, since we are sharing this ever-shrinking piece of real estate we call planet earth, people of all faiths must learn to live in peace and harmony.
We can live together and discuss our beliefs, and naturally the ultimate goal for those who wholeheartedly believe they have the divine truth is to lead others to make willing, informed, and reasonable conversions to what we consider the one true faith. If not, so be it. We can still be friends, neighbors, co-workers, etc. It is not a matter of conversion at sword-point, nor does it mean exacting vengeance by using airplanes or people as bombs.
Sending evangelical Christian literature to American troops is a far cry from forcing people to convert. The soldiers, as individual American citizens, are free to use the materials as they see fit. They can hand them out to Afghan or Iraqi citizens if they want to, when and if the opportunity arises. It has nothing to do with forced conversion, nor is it a violation of church-state issues.
Toledo, Ohio
Sept. 12, 2007.