Proverbs 9:6  Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of understanding.

Part of what made the West great is our belief that there are simple and straightforward solutions to our problems.  Westerners see a problem like unsanitary drinking water and don’t respond with, “oh the Gods must be punishing us.”  We go “let’s figure out how to build a water purification system.”  What I have just described is the spirit of Americans in particular that I so love. What a country.

So when faced with examples of white supremacy and the constant brutality of Islamic extremism the solution we propose is, we must stop hate and legislate love.  I’m not about to suggest that hooded people burning crosses don’t hate semites or that Islamic extremist don’t hate the unconverted. I am also not about to suggest we don’t need to cleanse hatred from every corner of our souls. The Gospel I preach even commands, “Love your enemies.” My savior and hero died on a cross rather than organize a killing machine, that’s how deeply woven love over hate is emphasized in my religion.  

But, in my opinion, soft words aren’t going to soothe the hatred of extremist because the sustainer of their hatred is not offense but beliefs that lead to firmly held convictions. Westerners, or at least those who claim to speak for us in the west have jettisoned the notion of belief for the for the objectivity of science.  However, the rest of the world didn’t get the memo that we shouldn’t believe stuff anymore. We are in the philosophical global minority.  There are basically nine different philosophies that rule the world and only a fraction of us have rejected belief and deified people who spend their days peering through microscopes, telescopes and digging up old bones.  The very science that promises to save us from showing us the way is squeezing us together in a global community that is growing smaller by the day. Samuel Huntington in “The Clash of Civilization,” wrote.  “Airplanes, cell phones, the internet and mass-communication have knocked down all the old barriers that existed between civilizations — the world has never been smaller. “ “We are in the midst of the greatest clash of civilization in the history of the world because we cannot get away from one another anymore. At the center of this violent upheaval is the battle of beliefs.

When I made the assertion the other day that “conviction not hate is what is driving terrorism,” my old friend Rick Barry countered with an article written by members of the Caliphate entitled, “Why We Hate You, Why We Fight You,” which I read a year ago. The article does affirm that they do indeed hate us but it also makes it clear why.  The article repeatedly restates the conviction of their beliefs.  Here are four of the six reasons they give for hating us.  1. We hate you,first and foremost, because you are disbelievers; you reject the oneness of Allah.   2. We hate you because your secular, liberal societies permit the very things that Allah has prohibited while banning many of the things He has has permitted.   3. In the case of the atheist fringe, we hate you and wage war against you because you disbelieve in the existence of your Lord and Creator.   4. We hate you for your crimes against Islam and wage war against you to punish you.  The article concludes with this chilling pronouncement: “So you can continue to believe that those “despicable terrorists” hate you because of your lattes and your Timberlands, and continue spending ridiculous amounts of money to try to prevail in an unwinnable war, or you can accept reality and recognize that we will never stop hating you until you embrace Islam.” 

Whether it’s race based slavery, white supremacy or Islamic terrorist they all get their fuel from the same source; belief and the convictions of those beliefs. Race based slavery and racial supremacy has it’s roots in ancient beliefs espoused by Plato and Aristotle.  Plato believed that entire categories of people weren’t worthy of freedom.  He taught “we shouldn’t enslave Greeks but those outside the Greek World are barbarians.”  Aristotle believed that some races were created in such a way they were incapable of responsibility.   It really doesn’t matter if Aristotle and Plato were haters, their doctrine normalized oppression.  While Colonialist certainly took economic advantage of the beliefs promulgated by Greek philosophers, I would argue that the efficiency of raced based slavery would have never won the day, if not for the belief that certain people were less worthy of dignity than others.   

Yes, you should work at having kinder and gentler emotions toward others, but to eliminate rage and destructive dominance from your life, I think you need belief.  Here’s the famous Apostles creed which summarizes orthodox Christian beliefs. “I believe in God, the Father almighty,creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty. From there he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body,and the life everlasting. Amen.

Now there are political responses to hate, bigotry, racism and terrorism and you are welcome to influence elected official in any peaceful way you want with your opinions.  But may I ask you to consider a deeply personal counter response to those who whose beliefs lead them to hate, even at the expense of their own lives. I don’t admire them but I but I believe our response should be an equally strong counter belief that leads us to also have the courage of our convictions instead of this unhealthy and weak western world emotionalism. Allisdair Macintyre said Americans, “are governed by emotivism: the idea that all moral choices are nothing more than expressions of what the choosing individual feels is right.” May I challenge you to trade in American “emotivism” for belief. May I invite you to embrace a robust belief that will lead you to love, even to the point that is cost you dearly. The answer cannot be to keep rejecting belief. Look around at the meaningless and decadence each of us having our own tiny god within has produced.  You can’t just believe in love, because love is a reaction.  This why I say, belief is more deadly than hate and more basic than love. 

Will we change violent extremist by loving them?  I doubt it, but we will change somebody. We will change some place.  We will definitely change ourselves. Personally, I am not trying to save the world, because to save the world I would have to dominate it and to dominate I would have to eliminate all the people who wouldn’t cooperate with my peace plan.  In the words of a famous one, “it’s above my pay grade.”  I am mostly trying to live in such away that when I stand before Jesus some day, he will say, “well done, thou good and faithful servant.” (Matthew 25:21) That’s not passive and that’s not escapism.  This is high level engagement with my community.  I just don’t need people to change to be rewarded, because of  Matthew 25:21.  That’s what I believe.