The American Spectator

p> BOB JONES IV ON ISLAM br> Re: Doug Bandow’s Stop the Martyrdoms : /p>

Thanks for printing Doug Bandow’s excellent article, “Stop the Martyrdoms.” Mr. Bandow does a great job in describing the persecution that occurs in Islamic countries, particularly to Christians.

Having said that, I must take exception to Mr. Bandow on one point. He says,”…[P]ersecution is an affront to any faith which claims to speak out on behalf of a loving God.” In point of fact, Allah is not conceptualized in the Koran as a loving God. Indeed, Allah is an utterly transcendent and unknowable God who will only be revealed in the last days when the world has been converted or subjugated to Islam. In the meantime, the Koran is quite specific about the way that non-believers or, as Moslems call them, “infidels,” are to be treated: They are to either (a) convert, (b) submit to Sharia, or (c) die. Persecution is entirely consistent with the transcendence of Allah because it discourages converts to Christianity and demoralizes those who practice the faith. If we assume that Islam shares a compatible world-view with Christianity (a loving God who cares for His creation and has sent His only Son to redeem it from sin), we miss a very real foundational difference between the two faiths and we risk encouraging Christians to overlook a clear danger not only to their faith but to the persons.

p>Thanks again for a great article. br> — (The Rev.) Robert T. Jones IV, Psy.D. br> Conyers, Georgia /p> p> THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE