"End of the Spear" and the struggle between Islam and the West

I went to see The End of the Spear today. Wow!

Go to the site and click on Behind the Spear and read it.

You dare not miss the first lines of the narration of the movie. It poses the question, can mankind, from different cultures, ever hope to get along? Can we live together without killing each other? The true story of the movie, though painfully violent, left me hopeful.

I am less hopeful about the current violent reaction to the cartoons that were published in Denmark insulting Islam and the Prophet. I don't think freedom of speech should give license to people so that they can insult and blaspheme.

On the other hand, the reaction that the media says is going on in the Muslim World is incredible. For those who have no hope in Jesus, and whose hope is that the West will prevail, this reaction should be frightening. Just look at the pictures in the link above. This could well be used to justify more war against Muslims. People in the West would be justified to think that their way of life is threatened by these attitudes.

The confusion among Western leaders about how to react to this is incredible. Religion just seems to throw us all into a tizzy. We don't understand it.

I read an article by Daniel Pipes in which he thinks outloud about what this means. Is this the clash of civilizations that Huntington was talking about?

Perhaps this will serve to remind us that the Kingdom of God is represented neither by the imposition of Western ways nor by the victory of Radical Islam.

The statement in the Pipes' last paragraph

It is a tragic mistake to lump all Muslims with the forces of darkness. Moderate, enlightened, free-thinking Muslims do exist. Hounded in their own circles, they look to the West for succor and upport. And, however weak they may presently be, they eventually will have a crucial role in modernizing the Muslim world.

contains a sub-text implying that "modernizing" the Muslim world is the path to peace. If we all just shared the same presuppositions of the Modern world, then all would be well and mankind could live at peace.

There is debate about whether moderate Islam is even possible or acceptable in Islam. I do not know. I am not a Muslim scholar. I do suspect, though, that modernization is not the hope of humanity.

At best, modernization is just one step along the path of humanity's violent history. Though it is a step that has been pretty comfortable to me, it may actually lead to the death of humanity (read CS Lewis, especially the science fiction).

Fortunately we know the end of the story. Anything that leads to death will be destroyed and replaced with the New Jerusalem (Rev 20,21).

This is what we are working and praying for. Keep praying.