Christian and Islamic Fundamentalists

A little over four years ago, the New Yorker ran a story on how it was that Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's intellectual mentor and former head of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, came to hate the United States so much. His mentor, another Egyptian, whose name is Sayyid Qutb, had studied in the USA and though initially loving it here ultimately formed the view that we were spiritually deficient as a people. He saw lots of churches but didn't see religion having much of any impact on American life. He found particularly problematic seeing boys and girls dancing together in a church in Colorado. His conclusion was that American and Western European values were a threat to Islamic values. Of course, his and al-Zawahiri after him were not garden variety Muslim values. They were and al-Zawahiri still is a radical fundamentalist. You have to be to think killing women and children is a good thing.

Interestingly, there was a story on the front page of the Columbus Dispatch this morning saying the same thing about American values but this time it was a leader of a Ohio Christian Fundamentalist movement, one Marilyn Reinking. She sees her Christian values as being "under attack," as the Dispatch put it. Her concerns are with

Abortion. Same-sex marriage. Pornography. The Ten Commandments removed from public places. Prayer banned in public schools.

I wonder how Ms. Reinking would like it to hear that she feels about America's values pretty much what Ayman al-Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden do.

Al-Zawahiri and bin Laden would have a bit different list. I suspect they would not care about the Ten Commandments per se but would surely endorse the view that religious writings should be on display in public places. I don't know how Muslims feel about abortion but I wouldn't be surprised if they opposed it. Muslim fundamentalists have a lousy track record when it comes to recognizing women's rights including a woman's right over her own body. They would be one with Ms. Reinking in regard to same-sex marriage, I would imagine, and would share her view that pornography is a bad thing. Of course, most people oppose pornography but a Right Wing Christian's idea of pornography would be different from that of a typical liberal or even a moderate. In the same issue of the Dispatch, there is a story about a Frisco, Texas teacher being relieved of duty, i. e., fired, for taking her grade school class to a museum where it seems they may have seen a nude statue or a painting of a nude. I suspect that fundamentalist Muslims wouldn't much like seeing nude statures in public places. I am sorry but I feel like my values are under attack by both the Christian Right, as well by Fundamentalist Muslims.

Finally, we have the separation of the church and state. Muslim Fundamentalists totally oppose such a separation. Just how strongly the Christian Right opposes the separation of church and state is not clear but Ms. Reinking thinks that there should be prayer in school and that is a good start to closing the gap.

There are two battles in the "war" on terroristic Islamic fundamentalists. One is a fight against their criminal acts. Another is an intellectual fight. It was, in fact, the latter that has led to the former, at least historically. And what we have is Ms. Reinking basically agreeing with terroristic Islamic fundamentalists on some of the most basic elements of this intellectual battle, the most important of which is the separation of church and state. It is this that makes our democracy such as it is what it is. It protects us from people like Ms Reinking. I don't mean to tar Ms. Reinking with my anti-terrorist brush. She has shown no inclination toward violence though some fundamentalist Christians have. However, I see her as even more dangerous to American democratic values than are Fundamentalist Muslims since they aren't going to influence us at all.

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Tags: Islamic Fundamentalists, Christian Fundamentalists, Sayyid Qutb, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden, Religious Right Wing, Frisco Texas