Battle for God---part 3

ISIS---why now and what does it mean? ISIS, the Islamic state of Iraq and Al-sham, is the culmination of a fundamentalist movement that his been brewing ever since the fall of the Ottoman Empire. In short, when Muhammad died, he left in place an organization that was governed by a man with great power who enforced Islamic law. This man was called the caliphate. He called the shots, decided who had committed sin, etc. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the position existed in name only. Why? Because one of the requirements to be a REAL caliphate is to have authority over people and the only way this can occur is to reign over territory. This requirement shows the difference between Al-qaeda and ISIS. ISIS seeks territory because this justifies their establishment of a caliphate. Al-qaeda does not seek territory because they do not strictly abide by the Koran, as does ISIS.  Understand that this is a huge difference----also understand that Islam is not a religion of peace and that ISIS is not dishonoring the teachings, as many would have us believe. They are following it to the letter. The prophet said not to destroy crops UNLESS they were in the land of the infidel. He also said it was okay to enslave people, to put women in concubines, and to punish those who disobey Islamic law by crucifixion or beheading.  This is Islamic fundamentalism and ISIS does not cherry pick from the teaching----they follow it literally. Most Muslims do not follow this but those who honor the role of the caliphate are a different breed of cats.
 
The greatest blunder in America’s history was the invasion of Iraq by W. This enabled the rise of ISIS because it made possible the gain of territory. Were the policy makers so blind not to see this possibility?  And once this war began it was easy to recruit because of the “us vs. them” argument. And then there are the masses of people who have been taught about the coming emergence of a true caliphate who are ready to give their lives to obey.
 
Let me pause a moment to say that unless we understand history, we are doomed to----well, you know the rest. Okay, think about this a moment. If the Southern Baptist leadership in the 20th century had been handed the power to rule the nation, what kind of nation would we have? Would it be a country where people could speak their minds, embrace diversity, love those who disagree with us? I don’t think so. Extreme fundamentalism is dangerous, people! As a friend once told me, there is no need to be so open minded that our brains fall out but close-minded might be worse.
 
Next post I will give my thoughts on how to deal with ISIS.