Religion is Disappearing. That’s Great for Politics.

Article by Michael Shermer, Publisher of Skeptic Magazine

Before the rise of the religious right in the 1980s, most politicians kept their faith to themselves. In 1945, for example, President Harry Truman wrote: “I’m not very much impressed with men who publicly parade their religious beliefs.” After his election in 1953 President Dwight D. Eisenhower joined a Presbyterian church, but when he heard the minister was publicly boasting about his new member the general commanded, “You go and tell that goddam minister that if he gives out one more story about my religious faith I will not join his goddam church!” John F. Kennedy discussed his Catholicism only when forced to do so by critics during the 1960 presidential campaign. In a 1964 interview with the Baptist Standard, President Lyndon Johnson explained, “I believe in the American tradition of separation of church and state which is expressed in the First Amendment to the Constitution.” Richard Nixon was famously a Quaker, but what he practiced can best be described as religious expediency—whatever worked politically. Gerald Ford called his religiosity “very personal” and wrote, “I am most reluctant to speak or write about it publicly.” Even the openly evangelical Christian Jimmy Carter prioritized his piety below that of most political issues.

This all changed in the 1980s, when evangelical pastor Jerry Falwell and his Moral Majority (famously characterized as “neither”) convinced Christian politicians that evangelizing for the Lord included knocking on doors within the beltway. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s Christian sects and faith-based organizations such as Ralph Reed’s Christian Coalition of America and James Dobson’s Focus on the Family used rallies and donor support to convince politicians and candidates that if they didn’t pander to religious voters they stood little chance of being elected. The result has been a nauseating display of political cheerleading for Christ, from proclaiming Jesus as your favorite “philosopher” to petitioning the almighty at the end of public political speeches to “bless the United States of America.”

Those days might be over. To those of us who are atheists, agnostics or “spiritual but not religious,” and who prefer to keep the Constitution and the Bible in separate drawers, the Pew Research Center has recently published data from a massive representative survey of 35,000 adult Americans, revealing that the fastest growing religious cohort in America are the “nones”—those who check the box for “no religious affiliation.” Such unaffiliated numbers have been climbing steadily out of the single-digit cellar in the 1990s into a now respectable two-digit 23 percent of adults of all ages, up from 16 percent just since 2007. More telling for politicians who cater their campaigns toward younger voters, 34 percent of millennials—those born after 1981, and the nation’s largest living generation—profess to having no religion. A third! That’s a viable voting bloc.

It is really the raw numbers that should give pause to any politician or candidate contemplating ignoring this voting bloc. There are today about 245 million adult Americans. This translates into 56 million religiously unaffiliated adults of all ages, more than either mainline Protestants or Catholics and second only to evangelical Protestants. This translates into 19 million more people who have no religion just since 2007, an encouraging trend for those who have grown weary of America’s slide toward theocracy.

The trend lines are as unmistakable as they are consequential. As the religious pig makes its way through the generational python—from the Silent Generation (b. 1928-1945) to Baby Boomers (b. 1946-1964) to Generation X (b. 1965-1980) to Older Millennials (b. 1981-1989) to Younger Millennials (b. 1990-1996)—the number of the faithful coming out the other end will inexorably diminish in both number and influence. In addition, people are changing religions—the Pew survey found that 42 percent of Americans currently adhere to a religion different from the one into which they were born and raised, further eroding the quaint notion of there being One True Religion. Yes, some people raised with no religion became religious (4.3 percent of U.S. adults), but four times as many went the other direction.

Imagine no religion. This is no figment of your imagination. It is happening now and it may be the most important trend of the new century. Indeed, pulling back for a big history perspective, the shedding of religious dogmas and the demolishing of ecclesiastical authoritarianism has been underway ever since the Enlightenment, and in my new book The Moral Arc I claim that this may well be the most important thing that has ever happened to our civilization.

________________________________________________________________________

Michael Shermer is the Publisher of Skeptic magazine, a monthly columnist for Scientific American, and a presidential fellow at Chapman University. His new book is The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity Toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom (Henry Holt, 2015). 

______________________________________________________________________

Changing Religious Landscape of America

A dramatic rise in the number of spiritually "unaffiliated" Americans, mirroring a decline in the number of American Christians, has occurred in the past seven years, signaling significant changes for mainline Protestant denominations and the Roman Catholic Church, a new report reveals.

According to the "America's Changing Religious Landscape" survey released early Tuesday by the Pew Research Center, 71 percent of Americans claim a Christian label, down from 78 percent in 2007, while 23 percent identify as "religiously unaffiliated," which includes atheists, agnostics and those who are spiritual-but-not-religious," up from 16.1 percent seven years ago.

The survey, which includes responses from 35,000 Americans and reprises a 2007 effort, shows unaffiliated ranks are growing "at a pace that is really remarkable," said Greg Smith, Pew's associate director of research.

Just under 6 percent of Americans identify as members of non-Christian faiths, including Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism, the report said, up from 4.7 percent in 2007.

"If the religiously unaffiliated are growing, and non-Christian faiths are growing, it follows that another group is declining, and that's the Christian population," Smith said. Still, "the United States remains home to more Christians than anywhere else in the world, but seven in 10 Americans identify as Christians" now, versus nearly eight in 10 earlier.

Evangelical Christians, whom Pew defined as people who said they were members of churches "including the Southern Baptist Convention, the Assemblies of God, Churches of Christ, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, the Presbyterian Church in America, other (smaller) evangelical denominations and many nondenominational congregations," make up the largest segment of American Christianity. The Pew survey put their numbers at 25.4 percent of the population, down nine-tenths of a point over the past seven years. Similarly, membership in historically black Protestant churches also remained steady at about 16 million, the Pew survey found.

The evangelical stability is interesting, said University of Notre Dame political science professor David Campbell, who was briefed in advance on the study, "because it shows the evangelicals are holding on to their ranks to a greater extent than the mainline Protestants and Catholics."

Membership in mainline Protestant groups such as the United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the United Church of Christ, has declined 18.8 percent during the period, and the Roman Catholic population has dropped 13 percent in the past 7 years.

Smith said that while the most recent waves of American immigrants "are more heavily Catholic" than the rest of the population, the passing of older generations is reducing the size of the Catholic cohort. Also notable, he said, was that for every person who converts to Catholicism, more than six Catholics said they've left the faith.

The changes in the religious makeup of the country could, observers said, have an impact on social issues, political outcomes and even charitable donations in the future.

Because the unaffiliated have "a real aversion" to mixing pulpit and politics, Campbell added, "the rise of that group should concern people across the political spectrum." He said the language of American religion has long influenced the country's social and political actions.

"Just given the amount of charitable giving that comes through churches, and every social movement has come out of the churches," Campbell said, a rise of unaffiliated people means that if "we can't use that (faith-based) language" to appeal to people's consciences, "I think America will in the long run be for the worse."

Unaffiliated rise

The Pew study, Smith said, charts a dramatic rise in the number of religiously unaffiliated. He noted there are more unaffiliated (23 percent of the population) than either mainline Protestants (14.7 percent) or Roman Catholics (20.8 percent).

"The number of religiously unaffiliated adults has increased by roughly 19 million since 2007," the study stated. "There are now approximately 56 million religiously unaffiliated adults in the U.S.," second only in number to the number of evangelicals.

Moreover, the Pew study also showed that in every age category — the "silent" generation born between 1928 and 1945; the baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964; members of Generation X, born 1965 to 1980, and "older" millennials born between 1981 and 1990 — the number of unaffiliated people rose between 2 percent and 9 percent from 2007 until now.

Only the "younger millennials," born between 1990 and 1996 and who were not surveyed in 2007, were not measured for a percentage growth change. However, that group topped this most recent survey with 36 percent of respondents claiming "unaffiliated" status.

Smith held out little hope the unaffiliated would return to faith later in life. He noted the number of unaffiliated people, in an age cohort such as millennials, "tends not to change, but to tick up as they age." Fewer than six in 10 millennials identify as Christians, he added.

Evangelical author Ed Stetzer, who heads LifeWay Research in Nashville and was not briefed on the study results, said churches need to consider the specific backgrounds these people have when attempting to reach out to them.

"You need to ask and answer harder questions about why should a secular person have any interest in spiritual issues," he said. "There's no religious memory to appeal to" in today's unaffiliated, churches need to make a case as to why they should consider a Christian worldview at all.

Catholic, mainline decline

As the Pew study noted, some historically stable segments of American Christianity are now in decline.

"The large, traditionally white Christian churches, Catholics, mainline Protestants, continue to decline, and there appears to be an acceleration there as well," said the University of Akron's Green. "It's not just a decline in relative size, but also a decline in the absolute number. There are actually fewer members of those churches than there were several years ago."

Smith explained the decline in the Catholic population by saying it's in part a function of age. "Older generations of Americans among whom huge majorities are Christian and denominationally affiliated," he said. "Members of those (age groups) are beginning to pass away. Part of what's happening to explain those, they are being replaced by a younger generation of adults who are far less Christian and affiliated than their parents' generation."

The rapid, continuing decline of many historic "mainline" Protestant denominations has been "consistent" over the past 15 years, said Jeff Walton of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, a conservative Washington think tank.

Walton contrasted the mainline denominations' decline with growth found in more theologically conservative churches such as the Assemblies of God, a conservative Pentecostal denomination, or non-denominational associations such as the Vineyard or Calvary Chapel networks of churches, which he said show "pockets of significant vitality within the American Christian landscape."

Walton said the Assemblies of God "has been growing for over a generation and is now about 500 times the size it was in the mid-20th century."

In order to stem the decline, Walton suggested both "relational evangelism," where church members invite friends to their congregations, and a more compelling message that asks more of members than social activism.

"The Protestant mainline has focused so much on material needs and public policy that they've sort of become like a United Way with a religious veneer," he said.

Other religions grow

America's Jewish population, at 1.9 percent, is the largest among "other," or non-Christian, faiths in the country, the Pew survey found.

But it's "the Muslim and Hindu shares of the population (that) have risen significantly since 2007. And it is possible that the Religious Landscape Study may underestimate the size of these groups," according to the report, because the survey was only in English and Spanish, possibly restricting responses from people who principally speak other languages.

John Green, a political science professor at the University of Akron and a Pew fellow who was briefed on the study, noted the increase in non-Christian religions, Buddhists, Muslims and Hindus as "significant."

And while some individuals may shift affiliations to faiths comparatively newer on the American scene such as Hinduism and Islam, Notre Dame professor Campbell said birth rates and immigration may be more important factors.

"There is a lot of misunderstanding about how many Muslims there are," Campbell said. "I think almost all of it would be demographic, as you put it. In general, I would say, particularly with Muslims, it's going to be driven by a combination of immigration, their birth rate and the rate of retention, of being able to keep young Muslims within the faith."

Societal impacts

Overall, Green said, the changing American religious scene points toward potential shifts in politics. The era of Christian dominance in politics, particularly by the mainline churches, may soon be over.

"To the extent that numbers matter in politics, the total number of people that belong to a certain religious tradition has an important implication," Green said. "The number of white Christian voters is declining, and those (mainline Protestant) groups won't have the kind of dominance they once had" in the 1950s.

Green said it is unlikely America will see a rerun of 40 years ago, when the Revs. Pat Robertson, an evangelical, and Jesse Jackson, an African-American, both endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Jimmy Carter, at the time a Southern Baptist who continued to teach Sunday School classes during the campaign. While Robertson jettisoned Carter four years later, that election was a watershed moment in Christian political unity, he said.

Instead of counting on religious affiliations, political campaigns will turn more on questions of voter turnout, a candidate's personality and the "crisis of the moment" come Election Day, Green said.

"The raw material of politics is changing," he added. "The (voting) groups that can be motivated to vote, their relative size is shifting." Green said motivating white evangelical voters will become less important, while future Republican candidates will have to find new ways of reaching non-white religious believers as well as the unaffiliated.  A&T

____________________________________________________________

Commitment to free speech? Some Thoughts and Questions...

What's the true test of one's commitment to free speech? It does not come when he permits people to be free to say or publish ideas with which he agrees. Not by a long shot. The true test of one's commitment to free speech comes when he permits others to say and publish ideas he deems offensive.

In March, a video surfaced of a racist chant by Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity brothers at the University of Oklahoma, a public university. It has brought widespread condemnation and the fraternity's suspension. Two fraternity students have been expelled. The University of Oklahoma's president, David Boren, said, "To those who have misused their free speech in such a reprehensible way, I have a message for you: You are disgraceful."

The Western world was shocked and outraged by another speech issue that led to the murder of 12 people at the offices of French satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris. Islamists were retaliating for what they considered the newspaper's vulgar portrayal of the Prophet Muhammad, an insult to millions of Muslims.

What's the difference between the actions of the University of Oklahoma administrators and the actions of the Islamist murderers in Paris? Both found the speech in question offensive. Both took actions against the people involved in that speech. So what's the difference? It's a matter of degree, but not kind. Both were unwilling to tolerate speech they didn't like. Of course, the difference in responses is by no means trivial — one being expulsion and the other murder.

The principle that applies to one's commitment to free speech also applies to one's commitment to freedom of association. The true test of one's commitment to freedom of association does not come when he permits people to associate in ways he deems acceptable. The true test comes when he permits people to associate — or not to associate — in ways he deems offensive.

An evangelical Christian baker in Colorado has been threatened with jailing for refusing to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex marriage ceremony. In 2012, for the first time in its 79-year history, the exclusive Augusta National Golf Club was forced to admit female members. At one time, blacks could not use restaurants, bathrooms, water fountains, public parks, beaches or swimming pools on the same terms as whites. In theaters, they could only sit in the balcony or in other racially designated areas. They had to ride at the back of streetcars and buses.

Permitting discriminatory practices in publicly owned facilities — such as libraries, parks and beaches — should not be permitted. That is because they are publicly financed by taxpayers and everyone should have a right to equal access. Denying freedom of association in private clubs, private businesses and private schools violates a human right.

Christian Americans are being hounded for their refusal to cater same-sex weddings. For those who support such attacks, we might ask them whether they would seek prosecution of the owner of a Jewish delicatessen who refused to provide services for a neo-Nazi affair. Should a black catering company be forced to cater a Ku Klux Klan affair? Should the NAACP be forced to open its membership to racist skinheads? Should the Congressional Black Caucus be forced to open its membership to white members of Congress?

Liberty requires bravery. To truly support free speech, one has to accept that some people will say and publish things he finds deeply offensive. Similarly, to be for freedom of association, one has to accept that some people will associate in ways that he finds deeply offensive, such as associating or not associating on the basis of race, sex or religion.

I am all too afraid that too many of my fellow Americans are too hostile to the principle of liberty. Most people want liberty for themselves. I differ. I want liberty for me and liberty for my fellow man.

_____________________________________________________

Walter Williams is an American economist, commentator, and academic. He is the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University, as well as a syndicated columnist and author known for his libertarian views.

_______________________________________________

Christians are Leaving the Faith in Droves and the Trend isn't Slowing Down

(REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi) Pope Francis reacts as he leads a Wednesday general audience in Saint Peter's square at the Vatican January 15, 2014. 

An extensive study done by the Pew Research Center has yielded some fascinating information regarding the trajectory of world religions over the next four decades. 

As of 2010, Christianity was the dominant world religion with roughly 2.2 billion adherents and Muslim's were second with about 1.6 billion adherents. If current demographic trends continue however, Islam is expected to catch up to Christianity midway through the 21st century.

Furthermore, people are leaving Christianity in droves. About 106 million Christians are expected to switch affiliation from 2010 to 2050 while only about 40 million people are expected to enter Christianity.

The religiously unaffiliated (athiests, agnostics) are expected to see the largest net gains from switching, adding more than 61 million followers. 

Christians are expected to see the largest net losses from religious switching.  In North America, the fastest growing religious groups are Muslims and followers of "other religions" (an umbrella category that includes Baha’is, Jains, Sikhs, Taoists and many smaller faiths). Christianity is expected to decline from 78 percent of the overall population in 2010 to 66 percent in 2050.

Here's what the dominant religious groups in the US are by county:

Unaffiliated religions are expected to rise over that same time from 16 percent of the population to 26 percent. By 2050, the United States will have more Muslims (2.1 percent of pop.) than Jews (1.4 percent).

In South America and the Caribbean, Christianity will see a slight dip over the next four decades, from 90 percent in 2010 t0 89 percent in 2050. Over that same time the religiously unaffiliated population will add 45 million followers increasing from 8 percent of the population in 2010 to 9 percent in 2050.

If the current trends continue beyond 2050 - which is a big if considering unforeseen events that can happen over a 40 year span (war, famine, innovation etc.) - then by the year 2070 the world's population of Muslims would roughly equal that of Christians.

Here are other chief findings from the report:

1. Islam will grow faster than any other religion over the next 40 years.

2. The number of Muslims will equal the number of Christians around the world by 2050. 

3. Atheists, agnostics and other people who do not affiliate with any religion – though increasing in countries such as the United States and France – will make up a declining share of the world’s total population.

4. The global Buddhist population will be about the same size it was in 2010, while the Hindu and Jewish populations will be larger than they are today.

5. In Europe, Muslims will make up 10% of the overall population.

6. India will retain a Hindu majority but also will have the largest Muslim population of any country in the world, surpassing Indonesia.

7. In the United States, Christians will decline from more than three-quarters of the population in 2010 to two-thirds in 2050, and Judaism will no longer be the largest non-Christian religion. Muslims will be more numerous in the U.S. than people who identify as Jewish on the basis of religion.

8. Four out of every 10 Christians in the world will live in sub-Saharan Africa.

__________________________________________________

Islam... a Religion of Intolerance, Violence and Terrorism

On February 15, 2015 a video surfaced that showed black-clad jihadists of the ISIS franchise in Libya, the Islamic State in Tripoli Province, beheading 21 Coptic Christians from Egypt on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, staining the waves with blood. These Christian victims were poor men from Egypt's rural areas who had traveled to Libya looking for work to support their families. The jihadists made it clear: They beheaded the men because they were "people of the cross, followers of the hostile [Christian] Egyptian Church." The killings raise the possibility that the Islamic militant group — which controls about a third of Syria and Iraq in a self-declared caliphate — has established a direct affiliate less than 500 miles from the southern tip of Italy. One of the militants in the video, speaking English, makes direct reference to that possibility, saying the group now plans to "conquer Rome."

Before the killings, one of the militants stood holding a knife and said in a North American-accented English: "O Crusaders, safety for you will be only wishes, especially when you’re fighting us all together. Therefore, we will fight you all together, until the war lays down its burdens, and Jesus, peace be upon him, will descend, breaking the cross, killing the swine and abolishing jiziyah. (The meaning of jiziyah:  a poll tax levied from those who did not accept Islam, but are willing to live under the protection of Islam, and are thus tacitly willing to submit to the laws enforced by the Muslim State).

Egypt launched swift retaliation, bombing at least seven locations in Libya. 

Meanwhile, Barack Obama still denied the religious causes of the violence when in his While House delivered statement said... "We offer our condolences to the families of the victims and our support to the Egyptian government and people as they grieve for their fellow citizens. ISIS's barbarity knows no bounds." Not only does Obama deny the religious motivations of ISIS, he dishonors victims by denying why they were murdered. Not knowing the enemy -- that's how wars are lost.

Christians are under siege all over the world... in the middle-east now the siege is deadly.  It’s beginning to feel like there is a war raging between Christianity and Islam.  Too many people are struggling to grasp the fact that these two religious traditions are indeed involved in a war without borders, without traditional battle lines, where the soldiers are not easily identifiable by the uniform they wear. 

The murder of Christians around the globe is an indicator of what is to come unless the march of ISIS and aligned radical Islamic groups are not stopped.

A simple Google search tells us that Christianity is the world’s largest religion, it has more ‘adherents’ than any other. However, that’s a little misleading. The most practiced religion, the religion where people believe and adhere to the teachings of that religion more than any other is Islam, and that is where the problems begin.

We hear the word jihad on a regular basis, but we often don’t understand what we are hearing. The Quran talks of two jihads, the Lesser and the Greater Jihad and this is where we fail to understand the motivation behind the different views.

The Greater jihad is the everyday struggle that Muslims face to grow in their faith and worship Allah, something most Muslims feel is the hardest thing they are asked to do, hence the greater tag. The Lesser Jihad is the struggle they face to build a good, stable Muslim society. It is the Lesser Jihad that allows Muslims to conduct Harb al-Muqadis, or what we often hear proclaimed as holy war.

A non-military Jihad [Lesser Jihad], one conducted by, an unofficial group of Islamists is not governed by the rules of the Quran, and that’s why we see the atrocities from “organized but unofficial groups” such a Shabaab, al Qaeda, Boko Haram and of course ISIS.

Just as Christianity encompasses different denominational groups, Islam also has different sects within it. Sunni, Shi’ite, Alawite and Wahabi are some examples. They all believe in Allah, they all follow the teaching of the Quran, but their interpretation of it is very different.

It is these differences that are stoking the fires of civil unrest in Iraq. This was bound to happen. When you remove a strong dictatorial leader, however bad he is [Saddam Hussein], and then you remove the force that removed that leader [U.S. military forces], there is a vacuum left behind that rival factions attempt to fill, and this is precisely what’s happening in Iraq, giving rise to ISIS.  The goal of ISIS... what is happening in Iraq will happen across the rest of the Middle East, and Africa until the winning sect is strong enough to take on the rest of the world.

There are three main tenants of Islam that most western nations do not understand.  They are...

Islam’s ultimate goal is to rule the world. Islamic theology provides two methods for this to be accomplished. The first is spiritual, as people are lured into conversion. The second is coercive through political and physical conquest of nations. For Muslims, there are no gray areas. They see the world in black and white. For them the world is divided into two big camps: the House of Islam and the House of War. The House of Islam are the Muslims, and the House of War are the non-Muslims, of every nation, in every corner of the planet. Muslims (the House of Islam) are in a constant state of spiritual/political/physical warfare with Non-Muslims (the House of War) until they subjugate them to Islam.

Islam always employs a carrot and stick strategy. The carrot and stick that is perpetually set before Muslims is the expectation of generous rewards in this life and in eternity for those who fight for Islam. On the other hand, those who falter are warned of severe temporal and eternal punishments.

Apostasy from Islam is not an option. Once-a-Muslim-always-a-Muslim, the only official alternative is death. There is no room for changing one’s mind. The door is wide open to join Islam, but there is no backdoor for those that would like to leave it.

The third point there is important. A person considered in Islam has the religion of the father, even if one does not practice Islam. Barack Obama, president of the United States of America, even if he doesn’t wish to be, is considered under the “law of Islam” to be a Muslim.  His father was Muslin and practiced Islam.

As no attempts have been made on his life, one can assume that Islam regards him as still being a Muslim, that he has not turned his back on the faith.  Or, it could simply be that no “opportunity” to exercise a jihad against him has yet presented itself.  

Unquestionably the Muslim activists of modern times are smarter and are using more sophisticated tactics than those of ancient times. The days of the primitive methods that were used to conquer the known world, between the 7th – 17th centuries, are long gone. Islam now applies carefully studied and sophisticated strategies to achieve their goals of global conquest.

They define their targets, and decide on the best strategies to reach them. Young women are reached through love and marriage. With African-Americans the race card is used. They are deceived into believing that Mohammed was black and that Islam was birthed on the African continent. To the needy, they use money. For most people, they polish Islam and present it in an attractively revised westernized form. The violent Quranic verses are carefully excluded from recruitment strategies. The peaceful verses of the Quran are emphasized. The fact is, according to Islamic theology, the early peaceful verses that were written in Mecca are nullified (abrogated), and replaced by later violent verses that were written in Medina. To the religious establishment they claim compatibility with the Judeo-Christian faith. They cite belief in Moses, Jesus, and the Virgin Mary.  

They concur with Christianity on the existence of Heaven and Hell. Regardless of their boast that they have some common ground with Christians and Jews, the fine print in Islamic teaching tells a very different story.   The war on Christianity by Islam has begun and it’s a fight to the death.  

What's Behind Islamic Jihadist Brutality?

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the declared caliph of the Islamic State, [ISIS] holds a doctorate in Islamic studies from the Islamic University of Baghdad—distinguishing him as highly knowledgeable of Islamic law, history and culture. Unlike these Western leaders, he is thoroughly familiar with the beliefs of Islam and teachings of its holy book, the Quran.

As caliph, the supreme ruler of the new Islamic nation carved out of Syria and Iraq, his determinations of what is allowable or forbidden is the law of the land. And as recent headlines have shown, Al-Baghdadi and his followers, like Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda before them, see no conflict between their tactics of murder and mayhem and their practice of Islam. In fact, they boast that what they do is the practice of Islam.

What, then, is the real truth? Is Islam a religion of peace, as western politicians say, or is it something drastically different? To understand the answer, we need to examine Islam's holy book, the Quran.

What are some of the teachings of the Quran that are leading to violence and bloodshed around the world?

The clear teaching of the Quran is that Islam is the supreme and only true religion, and that eventually the entire world will come under Islamic rule.

For example, Surah 61:9 states: "It is He [Allah] who has sent for His apostle [Muhammad] with guidance and the true faith [Islam] , so that he may exalt it above all religions, much as the idolaters may dislike it" (all Quran quotes from the Dawood translation, 1999). In the Quran, "idolaters" refers to all who practice non-Islamic religion including Christianity and Judism.

In line with this belief in the supremacy of Islam, Surah 2:193 gives this clear command: "Fight against them until idolatry is no more and [ Allah's ] religion reigns supreme." Again, "idolatry" in the Quran refers to any religion other than Islam, which would include Christianity and Judaism and any other belief system. To those who follow this verse and there are millions who do, if you don't worship Allah by the dictates of Muhammad, you are considered an idolater and therefore a legitimate target of this command. 

In the worldview of Islamic scholars and leaders, the world is divided into two spheres—the sphere or lands of dar al-Islam, meaning "the domain of Islam" (where Islam is dominant) and dar al-harb, meaning "the domain of war." A fundamental aspect of this worldview is that all non-Muslim lands must eventually be absorbed or conquered by Islam, preferably by peaceful conversion, but by force if necessary, thus they are "the domain of war." 

Most if not all of the Muslim world is united against Israel because it is considered an abomination of the land that was once dar al-Islam, part of the land of Islam, but has reverted to dar al-harb, or fallen back under control of the infidel, whether Jews or Christians.

This is a key reason why Muslims are so determined to bring the physical territory of Israel back under Muslim domination. Keep in mind that the Palestine Liberation Organization was founded in 1964, three years before Israel captured the West Bank and Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War—so Muslim determination to "liberate" Israeli lands long predates Israel's control of these areas and extends to all of Israel, period.

This is why Muslim leaders openly boast of their desire to liberate the land "from the sea to the sea"— from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, meaning no more Israel. This is why the founding documents of terror organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah openly call for the elimination of Israel.

Western governments, failing to understand this Muslim belief, regularly pressure Israel to negotiate with Hamas and the Palestinian Authority for a peaceful solution. But in fact there is no peaceful solution when the negotiating partners believe with all their heart and soul that Israel's land belongs to them and that it must be ethnically cleansed of Jews as stated repeatedly by Hamas and Palestinian Authority leaders. 

If Islam is to become the supreme and only true religion in the world as taught by the Quran, how is that goal to be accomplished? 

The answer is jihad or holy war against non-believers. The Quran commands violence and conquest to spread Islam. It contains literally dozens of such commands, such as these:

Surah 9:5 states: "When the sacred months are over slay the idolaters wherever you find them. Arrest them, besiege them, and lie in ambush everywhere for them."

Surah 9:73 reads: "Prophet, make war on the unbelievers and the hypocrites and deal rigorously with them. Hell shall be their home: an evil fate."

Surah 9:123 commands: "Believers, make war on the infidels who dwell around you. Deal firmly with them. Know that [ Allah ] is with the righteous."

Harvard University professor of government Samuel Huntington, commenting on the disproportionate involvement of Muslims in warfare and terrorism around the globe, coined the phrase "the bloody borders of Islam" in his 1997 book The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. At that pre-9/11 time he had no idea how prophetic the phrase would be.

In the 2005 book Religion, Culture and International Conflict: A Conversation (Michael Cromartie, editor), Professor Huntington wrote: "While groups from all religions have engaged in various forms of violence and terrorism, the figures make it clear that in the past decade Muslims have been involved in far more of these activities than people of other religions . . .

If you look around the Muslim world you see that in the 1990s Muslims were fighting non-Muslims in Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Chechnya, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Kashmir, Indonesia, the Philippines, the Middle East, Sudan, Nigeria, and other places. 

He went on to note that in the year 2000, 23 of the world's 32 armed conflicts involved Muslims. Similar numbers hold true today. A glance at a world map shows that nearly all of the world's wars are taking place around the edges of the Muslim world where Islam is pressing outward against non-Muslims. 

Whereas the Bible teaches us to love our neighbors, the Quran teaches Muslims to "make war on the infidels who dwell around you”— to fight your neighbor. 

It's also worth noting that many Muslims believe that the only sure way to enter paradise (in their view of the afterlife) is to become a martyr fighting for Islam. They draw this belief from Surah 22:58: "As for those that have fled their homes in the cause of Allah and afterwards died or were slain, Allah will surely make a generous provision for them in paradise. [Allah] is the most munificent provider. He will surely admit them with a welcome that will please them. All-knowing is Allah, and gracious."

In Islamic thinking, as soon as a martyr sheds his first drop of blood, he is guaranteed a place in paradise. And when he arrives, he has waiting for him 72 young, dark-eyed, beautiful virgins to be his perpetual companions in paradise. This is one reason so many young Muslim men are willing to die as suicide bombers, because they are guaranteed entry into paradise as soon as they blow themselves up, since they are dying in the cause of jihad.

The Quran also says that Allah will punish those who do not wage jihad as he commands. Surah 9:39 warns: "If you do not go to war, [ Allah ] will punish you sternly, and will replace you by other men." In other words, if you're a Muslim and don't wage jihad, you will be punished and Allah will choose someone else to fight in your place. 

The Quran also commands using terror and cruelty in waging jihad. Surah 8:59-60 states: "Let not the unbelievers think that they will ever get away. They have not the power so to do. Muster against them all the men and cavalry at your command, so that you may strike terror into the enemy of Allah and your enemy, and others besides them who are unknown to you but known to Allah." 

This is why the Sunni fighters of the Islamic State [ISIS] are so viciously cruel. Knowing this verse, they use terror to strike fear into their enemies to demoralize them and cause them to give up their will to fight. Those whom they capture, Shiites whom they consider apostates or non-Muslims, they brutally execute in accordance with what they read in their holy book.  

The Quran even mentions specific methods to sow terror, which the Islamic State fighters are using. Surah 8:12 states: "[Allah] revealed his will to the angels, saying: 'I shall be with you. Give courage to the believers. I shall cast terror into the hearts of the infidels. Strike off their heads, strike off the very tips of their fingers!'"   So what the Quran tells them to do, they do. When their holy book tells them to strike off heads, they do exactly that.

The civilized world has been horrified to see Islamic State fighters, like al-Qaeda fighters and Iraqi terror groups before them, brutally decapitate captive soldiers, as well as Western journalists and aid workers. Perhaps you have seen clips from some of the beheading videos shown on news reports or posted on the Internet. You may have wondered as I did, what the Arabic-language shouting and chanting signified.

Most of us already knew the meaning of the shouts of "Allahu Akbar"—"Allah is great" or, more properly, "Allah is greater" (than any who would oppose them). With a little research I learned the significance of the chanting often accompanying the shouts. The murderers are chanting verses like the one above telling them to behead infidels. They are simply quoting their scriptures in the Quran.

Yet Western leaders assure us, as President Obama did in a Nov. 16 White House statement after the beheading of American hostage Peter Kassig, that such acts "represent no faith, least of all the Muslim faith . . ."

Another Surah that illustrates Allah's cruelty is Surah 5:34-35: "Those that make war against [Allah] and His apostle [Mohammad] and spread disorder in the land shall be slain or crucified or have their hands and feet cut off on alternate sides, or be banished from the land. They shall be held up to shame in this world and sternly punished in the hereafter."

Here Allah commands torture, crippling and maiming of prisoners. Crucifixion is a horrible form of torture and execution, and they practice it with relish. A brief search of the Internet will produce hundreds of photos showing Islamists carrying out and celebrating such practices.

What does the Quran teach about slavery? Although little is said about it in Western media, slavery remains alive and well in parts of the Muslim world. While the slave trade in the Americas during the 1600s, 1700s and 1800s has been rightfully condemned, the focus has largely been on the white slave owners and slave traders, with little said of the Arab Muslims who first enslaved Africans and sold them to whites from the American colonies.

This, too, was approved in the Quran. Surah 47:4 says: "When you meet the unbelievers in the battlefield strike off their heads and, when you have laid them low, bind your captives firmly." Those who follow the Quran literally have long understood this to mean that when Muslims defeat their enemies, they are allowed to either kill them or enslave them.

According to early Muslim writings, Muhammad—who is viewed as the ideal man whom Muslims are to emulate—sold, traded and confiscated slaves, clearly making himself a slave trader.

A particularly appalling aspect of recent Muslim conquests is women and girls being taken captive to be used as sexual slaves. This happened with the capture of Yazidi towns in northern Iraq by the Islamic State and the kidnapping of hundreds of schoolgirls by the Islamic Boko Haram movement in Nigeria. This, too, is specifically allowed in the Quran. Notice these verses:

Surah 23:1-6 says: "Blessed are the believers, who are humble in their prayers, who avoid profane talk, and give alms to the destitute, who restrain their carnal desires, except with their wives and slave-girls, for these are lawful to them."

Surah 33:50 states: "We [that is, Allah speaking of himself in the plural] well know the duties We have imposed on the faithful concerning their wives and slave-girls. ( We grant you this privilege [satisfying their sexual desires with slave girls]) so that none may blame you."

A Nov. 5, 2014, report by the International Business Times was headlined "Shocking: ISIS Official 'Slave' Price List Shows Yazidi, Christian Girls Aged '1 to 9' Being Sold for $172." The article went on to describe a price list for sexual slaves on an Islamist website: "In the name of Allah, most gracious and merciful. We have received news that the demand in women and cattle markets has sharply decreased and that will [affect] Islamic State revenues as well as the funding of the Mujaheddin [jihadist fighter] in the battlefield. We have made some changes. Below are the prices of Yazidi and Christian women."

At the same time a video posted online appeared to show Islamic State fighters at what one of them called "slave market day" while quoting Surah 23:1-6 (cited above). The men discuss prices for girls and women from $100-300 depending on the age and eye color—with green or blue eyes bringing a higher price.

An October online edition of Dabiq magazine (published by an Islamic State jihadist group) boasted after the capture of the Iraqi town of Sinjar that "the enslaved Yazidi families are now sold by the Islamic State soldiers." It then explained that "the Yazidi women and children were then divided according to the Shariah [Islamic law] amongst the fighters of the Islamic State who participated in the Sinjar operations." Thus, as war booty, they were divided up and sold as pieces of property.

The sad truth about the Middle East today is that we are seeing a revival of the original Islam Muhammad brought to the world in the seventh century.

Muhammad's new religion caught fire, fueled by power and plunder. The Islamic State is repeating Muhammad's early conquests—burning churches, looting monasteries, enslaving and forcibly converting the powerless, and callously executing those who stand up to them. It is vigorously enforcing sharia law—cutting off the hands of thieves, stoning adulterers and blasphemers, whipping criminals and banning anything that stands in the way of Islam.

In defiance of the major Western powers, it has brutally butchered American and British citizens, decapitating them and posting videos of the murders on the Internet for the world to see. The message is unmistakable: Allah is on their side, and they have nothing to fear from the major world powers.

Until Western leaders wake up from their willful blindness and face the grim reality of the jihadist worldview that is motivating the Islamic State as well as Hamas, Hezbollah and countless other groups and movements, that part of the world will remain a powder keg waiting to explode and take down much of modern civilization with it. 

_____________________________________________________________________

The Tragedy of Human Trafficking in Thailand

For all of us being a child means playing, laughing, eating ice cream, being surrounded with loving and caring parents. For many many children in Thailand, this is just a mere dream of the impossible. 

Thousands of Thai children are tricked, drugged and then sold or abducted into prostitution.   Some are sold away by financially desperate parents, on the promises that their children will have a better life, a job and a bright future.

Trafficking in human beings for the purpose of prostitution is described as “the modern day slavery”. As Orlando Patterson, a Sociologist at Harvard University defined it, “slavery is the permanent, violent domination of impoverished, alienated and generally dishonored persons”. It robs the individual of her honor, self respect and self consciousness. 

For decades, THAILAND has been a well known destination country for migrant children and adults in search for better economic conditions. The true nature of this kind of Human trafficking in the "land of smiles" is often underestimated by the government and international non-governmental agencies.

WHY?  We might ask, why would this modern form of slavery exist today? There are several factors: (1) it generates tremendous profit for the criminal organizations that perpetrate the sex trade; (2) poor parents sell their daughters and in some cases even young boys into prostitution, often unaware of what they have done;  (3)  debt bondage to afford basic necessities like food, land or tools. 

It’s very simple and looks quite innocent; a well dressed Thai criminal playing a rich broker arrives in the small mountain village of northern Thailand to “hunt” for new fresh bodies, preferably young and innocent virgins because they bring higher price and pose less of a threat of exposure to STD’s. He lures parents into selling their daughters by bribing them with few hundreds dollars or pretends to represent a factory worker from far off a land who is not related to sex trade and who recruits new workers for his factory. The parents sign the debt agreement (with a mutual understanding that the daughter may only return once she has paid her debt through the labor). Many of the girls being sold believe that they are going to work as housemaids, in beauty salons, shops, bars, or restaurants. 

In reality they are transported to a southern brothel usually in Bangkok, where they are introduced to prostitution forcefully by being beaten, raped, and put to work servicing 10 to 20 men a day.  The immediate and forceful application of threats and terror is the first step in successful enslavement. Their abductors use a combination of physical and mental abuse, threats of revenge and even death.  At first, the young girls try to resist sexual encounters, but are then badly beaten and some even killed. As a form of psychological control the girls are constantly raped to degrade, humiliate, and to break down their resistance by destroying one crucial thing, their sense of self worth. 

Most of the brothels are surrounded by electrical fences making it impossible for the girls to escape.  They have only a few days off a month, and a daily allowance of about $1.20, that must must pay for their food and all other expenses. 

This harsh treatment causes a tremendous psychological trauma for those young children. Just within few hours of being brought into the brothel those girls are still in shock from the fears of being taken from their homes and families. The youngest of the children have little understanding of what is happening to them.  The experience is overwhelming and causes horrible lifelong psychological trauma.

Another major reason why child prostitution in Thailand exists and flourishes is due to governmental corruption and a political system which enables the issue of sexual slavery to be ignored and minimized. 

It is documented fact, that many high ranking Thai law enforcement officials are paid of by pimps and brothels’ owners and are themselves regular customers.  Thus not only overlooking the social problem, but also supporting it by participation.  Currently it is illegal under Thai law to have sex with girls less than fifteen years of age. Many Thai politicians and community leaders want the age limit raised to sixteen or eighteen and include boys as well since there is no mention of them in the law. However the pervasive corruption and financial return stands in the way of improving the conditions and punishing those responsible.

It should be noted that Thai culture regards sex not as sin but as a normal, every day “leisure” activity depicting women as sex objects for the pleasure of men. Wives often send their husbands to brothels because they view this unattached form of sex as not threatening to martial stability.   In some parts of Thailand prostitution became a fastest and most convenient way of making good money and many are not willing to give that up even if it means hurting the innocent.

What are the statistics on child prostitution in Thailand?  Thailand is currently known as a “Disneyland for pedophiles” and has up to 600,000 AIDS cases and a huge sex-for-sale industry that impacts the Thai economy to such an extent that government is not motivated to restrain its proliferation.  The sex-trade is driven mostly by European and American tourists who come to “rent” what they want. It is estimated that the number of prostitutes in Thailand  is more than 2 million. Among which 20% of Thailand prostitutes are 18 or younger. 

It’s called SEX TOURISM.  The Thai government has found that since tourism is a quick way to earn foreign dollars it cannot easily stop, (nor does it want to), this lucrative and degrading business.  A beautiful country, beautiful women, and inexpensive living enable the sex industry to annually earn more money than any other economic segment of the Thai economy, including the drug trade, weapons sales, lotteries and sports gambling.

There are two parts to the Thai policy of promoting tourism: one is to sell the physical and cultural beauty of the country; the other is to promote the Thai people, which of course includes sex-related services. "Amazing Thailand," an ongoing tourism campaign, promotes to foreign men, to come and see Thailand’s beautiful women… and to enjoy the thriving sex industry.

The men arrive from Europe and the US, and often find a tour bus waiting at the airport to take them straight to the girls. All of this is organized through the Internet — and not only in Bangkok, but Chiang Mai and the other tourist cities of Thailand. There is an urgent need to control this trade. The men pay the girls $4, sometimes $5. After the pimp and brothel has taken their share, the girls are left with less than the price of a meal.

Child prostitution is a serious social problem in Thailand. Prostitution is a form of enslavement that currently involves more than 2 million; perhaps 800,000 of that number are children under the age of sixteen, bought and sold for profit.  

The Thai culture has a long history of prostitution but the problem has never been as grave as it is at present. Prostitution has been a way of life in Thailand from time immemorial, and has not been considered an evil by Thai society. The blame can be found in the habits of Thai men, the government’s focus on foreign tourism, and in the inactivity and lack of concern by the minority Christian community and even Buddhist temples. The latter take the position of "Hear no evil; See no evil; Speak no evil," and do little or nothing to counter the evil of prostitution.

THE IMPACT of turning a blind eye.... Two girls who suffered and paid the ultimate price...

One is a girl named Nang Hom who was sold into prostitution by her father when she was just seven years old. The money from the transaction went into financing father’s heroin addiction.  She was drugged and forced out of her home in neighboring Burma to one of Thailand’s brothels where she lived for five years.  that would make her 12 or 13 years old.  She was serving 20 men or more a day and engaging in various distorted sexual activities for no pay.  She was finally rescued by police.  However it was too late, she was tested HIV positive and some time later died.

Another Thai girl named Fon dropped out of school at the age of 12 because of her family had no money to provide uniforms and tuition.  She was lured into a big city with promises of a job and a better life.  She was imprisoned and forced to have sex in a local brothel with many different men every day.  Her attempts to escape ended in severe beatings.  Because of the severe beatings she became very sick and couldn’t perform daily sexual services, so the owner of the brothel seeing no profit from her, tossed her out on to the streets. Later, she had a baby who died of AIDS related illness at birth and she herself died a short time later.

THINK OF THE CHILDREN!  Nobody worries about these kids, about their needs, about their hopes and their dreams.  Virtually all of them experience some form of post traumatic stress disorder. They experience images of trauma like beating, rape or screaming ever day, crying in despair is the closest friend they have. These children constantly think of reasons why their parents sold them, why their pimps mistreat them and blame themselves for all the pain in their lives. “What is wrong with me?” is the question they ask.

These are the thoughts that haunt these lost and forgotten children of the sex-trade in Thailand and all across southeast Asia. These kids don’t think about bicycles or ice cream or going to school... they live every day in pain and darkness, with little hope for a future.  

WHAT CAN BE DONE...?

Thailand focuses almost exclusively on the victims and doesn't addressed the demand side. 

Adults are the end users of sexual exploitation. Foreign men from Europe and America.  More needs to be done to educate people about the legislation that prevents such acts as well as the importance of the rights of the child in Thailand.

Focus on the quality of education in Thailand. Education is the key to countering the exploitation of people in the long-term, and benefits society as a whole – including the key players in modern-day slavery: from victims to perpetrators and communities, behaviors and attitudes are changed with education.

Experts concede that human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal activity in the world and one of the most lucrative. Overall the International Labor Organization estimated the human trafficking industry at over $51 billion per year.   Some estimate that as many as 34 million people exist in slavery worldwide, more than twice the number of slaves transported during the entire Trans-Atlantic slave trade. The problem is clearly large and growing. 

What does the Bible teach about human trafficking? This question cannot adequately be answered without a clear understanding of God’s value of human life. The Bible records that when God created humans, He created them in His image (Genesis 1:26). Every life is of infinite value and God loves all individuals.

How can people today practice these biblical principles of helping those in the bondage of slavery? First, we must pray for those in bondage.  As James 5:16 notes, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”  The enslavement of young girls and boys in Thailand the purposes of the sex-trade the sex is a clear need that requires God’s power for any adequate change to occur.

Second, we must speak out on behalf of those in need (Proverbs 31:8-9). Missionaries from all denominations serving in Thailand must begin to address this situation through educational and focus discussions among tribal peoples. Mission organizations that serve southeast Asia, especially Thailand, must begin to align with rescue organizations that literally invade brothels and snatch young girls to safety.  Once safely away, these girls need to be brought into a nurturing and loving home-like environment to begin the long recovery process.  Perhaps God is calling you to be one of the people who would speak out and help provide justice to those without a voice... in Thailand?

Third, we must act to help those in bondage. These actions can involve a variety of means, ranging from volunteering with anti-trafficking organizations to financial giving to teaching about the topic where you live.   

A growing number of organizations have emerged in recent years that provide new opportunities for Christians to serve in this area. International Justice Mission (www.ijm.org) provides many international opportunities, while others, such at Mercy Movement (www.mercymovement.com) concentrate on addressing the issue in the United States, where many girls from Thailand end up working as prostitutes on the streets of America’s cities.

In summary, human trafficking is a gross indignity against men, women, and children who have been created in God’s image. 

As followers of Jesus Christ, we have a responsibility to pray, to speak out against human trafficking and modern slavery, in thailand and anywhere it exists in the world, and to live in ways that help create change in the lives of those impacted by this tragic crime against our children.