The American Spectator : Christian-Muslim Fraternity

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Christian-Muslim Fraternity

By John W. Kiser on 2.22.11 @ 6:07AM

Why did the Algerian government honor a group of slain Trappist monks with all the pomp of a state funeral?

As events in the Middle East continue to unfold, there is growing concern about the treatment of minority Christians by majority Muslims. Sadly, that anxiety is being stoked by the more antediluvian elements of both faiths. A film that will soon be playing in major U.S cities deals with this issue forthrightly, but tells quite a different story -- a story symbolized by the recent media coverage of Christians and Muslims protecting each other when they prayed in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

Of Gods and Men won the Cannes Grand Prize du Jury last year. It too, is a story of Muslim-Christian solidarity. The film tells the true story of a group of French Trappist monks living in an impoverished Algerian community who must decide whether to leave or stay when threatened by a band of terrorists during the "Black Years" of the 1990s.

Despite pleas from the Vatican, French, and Algerian authorities to leave their monastery for a safer place, the monks stayed out of a sense of mutual dependence and deep friendship with their extended family of Muslim villagers. The Trappists had lived in harmony with their Muslim neighbors since their community was established in 1938 -- a harmony that continued until their kidnapping and murder in 1996.

After the monks remains were discovered, the Algerian government honored them with all the pomp of a state funeral. Letters from chagrined Algerians flooded the Catholic bishop's office in Algiers: "It's disgraceful…Islam's teachings are clear about the sacredness of live, love of neighbor, hospitality to the stranger….Pass on to our Christian brothers and the families of the victims our message of fraternity and friendship."

A woman doctor wrote, "We must water the seeds bequeathed by our monks. Our duty is to pursue peace, love God and respect people who are different."

This part of the story is sadly missing from an otherwise wonderful and true-to-life film. Do such people sound as if they are in a war with Christianity? Why were these monks so honored by the vast majority of Algerians, even by Islamists, if a clash of civilizations is occurring?

Because the clash -- if there must be one -- is less between East and West, and more between religious and secular. As men devoted to pleasing God, the monks often felt more at home in Algeria among Muslims than in secular France. In the West generally, people who take their religion seriously tend to be viewed as odd, even radical. Such a person threatens the materialistic assumptions of the consumer society and challenges the modern idols of democracy and the nation state.

But if Muslims love Christians so much, why were the monks killed? The question is like asking how Christians can be good people who embrace universal love if they spawn the Ku Klux Klan, kill abortion doctors, preach assassination of heads of state, and hatred of other faiths? Once the labels "hypocrite" or "bigot" for Christians or "fanatic" for Muslims are accepted caricatures, thinking ceases. Let the cartoons begin!

It was said of the monks' abbot, Christian de Chergé, that he would judge specific acts, but not people or whole governments. Condemn the sin but not the sinner. He was an optimist who believed that under the right influences people and governments can change.

Universal fraternal love may seem laughably naïve in a post 9/11 world. But "love" has nothing to do with sentiment and everything to do with good will, justice, and respect for others who are different. Dehumanizing labels help soldiers to commit the unnatural act of killing people, but empathy is needed to understand and progress.

A Trappist monastery is a microcosm of the world: A community of men or women, different by temperament, class, education, race and nationality who make a life-long commitment to love God by practicing the art of loving their neighbor. And it begins with a very rational precept, The Golden Rule: As you would want to be treated, so treat others. What a revolution if governments learned to do the same.

About the Author

John W. Kiser is the author of The Monks of Tibhirine: Faith, Love and Terror in Algeria.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (80) | Leave a comment

Michael Tomlinson| 2.22.11 @ 7:43AM

One can only be impressed by the monks and the Muslim outpouring of sorrow that followed their murder in the mid 90's, but the reality is that there is a significant strain within Islam (both in the Shia and Sunni sects) that is at war with the West and Christians as a symbol of the West. In nearly every country that is dominated by Islam freedom of religion is generally non-existent or at best nominal. Even in Afghanistan where Americans are dying in defense of freedom and the Afghan Constitution supposedly honors freedom of religion another Christian convert from Islam is being threatened with a state sanctioned death.

When Muslims speak of tolerance it means "special privileges or treatment" for them in civilized Western nations (nations they may be trying to undermine). Often their demands for special treatment are tatamount to execemptions from national laws and mores. One need only review how Muslims spat on the concepts of freedom of speech and expression in Europe over the Mohammed cartoons to see how opposed they are to basic Western ideas of freedom -- ideas that have root in Christianity.

The monks in their isolated community may have been living lives in honor of Christ, but they were in no way trying to make disciples for Christ. If they had been actively trying to convert Muslims the story may have been different and tears of saddness for their murder may have been joy in the eyes of Algerian Muslims.

Islam despite its apologists is not a religion of peace or tolerance. It is an ideology/theology committed to world domination akin to fascism or communism with a history of bloody invasions and forced conversions of dominate populations of other faiths (primarily Christian and Zooastrian to a lesser degree Hindus and Buhddists).

While there are examples of Muslims mourning the deaths of Christians there are many more where they are persecuting, enslaving and murdering the followers of Christ.

Ken (Old Texican)| 2.22.11 @ 7:45AM

Bottom line, the monks were murdered by their fraternity "brothers".

OLDRAY| 2.22.11 @ 8:16AM

Mr Tomlinson has it exactly right. The Islamic terrorist organizations are not abnormal expressions of Islam, they are the leading edge of the growing aggressive , anti-western force that is the body of Islam. The passive reaction of Western countries to the spreading power of this reactionary religion undermines the furture of our children and grandchildren.

Brian Mc| 2.22.11 @ 10:54AM

A video entitled, "Fitna" opened my eyes wider than I cared to have them opened. The writing is on the wall. The golden rule is a beautiful thing until others, (whose sole intention is to take advantage of it's precept), use it in order to force submission to their cause, whether it be communism or Islam makes little difference. The results are the same...bloodshed and slavery.

"Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us..." OUCH...and so, it goes. Where is the government whose chief purpose is the defense of our Republic? Is fighting fire with fire our only recourse on the personal level due to the failure of the command structure of the DOD and will it soon come to that? Historians speak of "The Dark Ages" as if they are in the past. This world is still in the dark until all turn towards the one, true light. In the meantime, I watch domestic/cultural tribulations march in lockstep from within as the hordes begin to pound at the 9/11 gates...and I am dismayed at the fate we are bringing upon ourselves. I continue to pray for our Nation and its leaders, but with little hope for what we are passing down to my grandsons. Only there can I curb my skepticism.

All American American| 2.22.11 @ 8:33AM

Good Lord why is this dhimmi stuff on Amspec? Conservative site should be EDUCATING Americans about islam, not lulling people into a false sense of security.

Anyway, do you not even SEE THE IRONY of this article? Where were the "beloved muslim brothers" when the islamists came to kill the monks? Why don't we focus on that? Why? Because they were doing what good "moderate" muslims do, turning the other way in a sign of implied consent to the islamists.

You do yourself and dhimmis like Guardiano proud when you bring up the KKK and abortion docs and stuff. Notwithstanding there'd have to be about 17,000 more abortion clinic attacks JUST TO CATCH UP to the the islamist attacks SINCE 9/11, but is that what Christ taught? Is killing infidels what mohammed taught?

That's the bottom line. No amount of misleading, ignorant, dhimmi articles can change the words of the koran and hadith.

I tell you what I tell all dhimmis: Ignorace of islam is not going to save you from it.

Occam's Tool| 2.22.11 @ 1:56PM

The Somali Islamic terrorists just killed the 4 Americans. They were not Jews, but Bible distributing Christians at sea. Ron Paul supports the Terrorists against Israel.

Clint| 2.22.11 @ 3:01PM

Tool Job is a Slandering Liar, with a fixation against Tea Party Favorite Dr.Ron Paul.

"Newscaster: These attacks on US ships off the coast of Africa pose a huge problem for the US Navy. The issue is real estate and manpower, just how do you police an area larger than the Eastern Seaboard of the United States while trying to fight two wars in the Middle East at the same time.
Ron Paul: Well, the term is Letter of Marque and Reprisal. It was used in our early history, ironically to fight piracy. And that means that Congress gets involved. We have an enemy. Somebody wants to attack or doing some damage to us, but there’s no government to declare war, so it’s a token type of declaration of war where you give the authority to the individuals involved, which would be the ship owners and the captain of the ship and it would be an international agreement that they will be authorized to be official representatives of our country and that they can, under the rules of war, fight anybody who wants to take their ship, which means that they would be armed and the pirates would know this and that they would have to defend those vessels."

Doctor Right| 2.22.11 @ 4:12PM

Hate to burst your bubble, but Ron Paul is NOT the "Tea Party favorite".

That's absolute nonsense.

The Tea Party is NOT a formal political party, and there's been no formal nominating process. The pathetic attempt by the Paul-ies to imply that some type of selection has been made is a joke...Like the idea that Ron Paul will ever be President.

Paul is unelectable. Deal with it.

Clint| 2.22.11 @ 5:04PM

You're Nonsense Sport.
Dr.Ron Paul Is A Tea Party Favorite.
Do Your Homework.

"Tea Partiers in two camps: Sarah Palin vs. Ron Paul
Palin, who topped the list with 15 percent, speaks for the 43 percent of those polled expressing the distinctly conservative view that government does too much, while also saying that it needs to promote traditional values.

Paul’s thinking is reflected by an almost identical 42 percent who said government does too much but should not try to promote any particular set of values — the hallmarks of libertarians. He came in second to Palin with 12 percent. "

http://www.politico.com/news/s.....35988.html

All American American| 2.22.11 @ 4:18PM

Occam, I heard that on the radio. Sad.

As far as Ron Paul goes, I think he's great on most domestic stuff but woefully naive when it comes to dealing with islamists.

Occam's Tool| 3.1.11 @ 12:28AM

I would concur with that comment. Jim DeMint on most domestic stuff, but votes with Dennis Kucinich on foreign policy, which some of us would know (Not you, triple A, I'm sure you do) if they bothered to look at Thomas.

JP| 2.22.11 @ 8:36AM

Mr Kiser, despite a propounderous of evidence to the contrary, believes that Christian and Muslims can "get along" if they can just control thier own extremists. Yet, from Nigeria to Thailand Muslims slaughter any and all infidels. And in Muslim lands, dhimmi's are now routinely murdered. In Egypt, around 1940, 35% of its population was Coptic. In Lebanon, 55% of its population was Marionite Catholic as late as 1976. Even in Iraq, the Chaldean Catholics (who can trace thier church to St Thomas) once numbered as high as 20%. In all of these nations save Lenbanon, Christians now number below 5%. In Lebanon, Christians still account for 20% of the population. But that number is dropping.

So, I'm not sure what Kiser's point is. The reality is clear: non-Muslims are brutally oppressed where Islam reigns.

Mistral| 2.22.11 @ 8:36AM

Mohamatenism is a religion of peace, is it? This is one of the greatest fabricated lies uttered by politically correct, liberal ignorami who have never read the Q'uran in its entirety and who have never lived and worked among these people. This is a militant evangelising quasi-communist political movement that is only disinguishable from pure Marxist communism by a fabricated god & make up prophet.
The Trappists lived out their ideal to the end which is admirable but this should not be confused with a religion that is anything but peace-loving and tolerant. Quite the contrary in fact. Read its so-called scritpures and study the true history of the movement - that will dispell all fantasies.

Louis Jenkins| 2.22.11 @ 9:12AM

There is a war with Islam, and we're in it. And those who do not want to be, unless you're Muslim you too will be in it, although it may be brief.

John| 2.22.11 @ 9:29AM

a great article. the murder of the monks filled the whole of the Muslim world with revulsion. the people of the book -Jews christains- are revered in Islam and held in high esteem. it saddens me greatley that on many occasions Muslims have not done enough to honour and protect these people. I'm hoping that the revolution in the arab world will adress this issue as a priority. The way forward is a dialogue between the faiths, a reduction in demonising rhetoric, a world order based on mutual respect and not armies. the Islamic world is a natural bedfellow of the west. unfortunately the current geopolitics hides this very important fact.

W| 2.22.11 @ 10:36AM

John, we will believe it when the deeds match the words.

john kiser| 2.22.11 @ 2:39PM

go to www.truejihad.com to learn about the kind of Muslim that jihadi can aspire to. Emir Abdelkader 's life is one of deeds matching word and as a warrior, being studied in Pakistani madrasas to steer students differently. Do you always judge a groups by its worst practitioners? I prefer to seek the good from which to measure "falleness." If not me, try Col Alan King. He used the Koran to disarm ignorant Muslims with their own scripture ( Twice Armed, Zenith Press 20006, by army Col Alan King . Or try a contempory Mohammed Yunesi, founder of Grameen Bank and micro loan pioneer/

W| 2.22.11 @ 3:14PM

Mr. Kiser, are you the same john w kiser who is a directroof the Cordoba Initiative, the group that wants to build a mosque on ground zero?

tatosian| 2.22.11 @ 7:43PM

America already is an Islamic society

By John Kiser

"Yes, we need the Cordoba House complex to set an example for the rest of America and for the world, and so the fear and hate mongers don't win"

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.....ciety.html

Good call W.

Occam's Tool| 2.22.11 @ 1:57PM

Bullpuckey, John. You lie.

Occam's Tool| 2.22.11 @ 2:01PM

I don't think so. 270 million non-Muslims have been murdered in the name of Jihad.

Doctor Right| 2.22.11 @ 4:13PM

Give them time.

Nobody kills Muslims like other Muslims.

Ken (Old Texican)| 2.22.11 @ 10:27AM

"John"
It really is a gulf that cannot be crossed.
The allah you worship is a bully.
The Creator I worship is Just and loving.

W| 2.22.11 @ 10:35AM

Christianity does not "spawn" the KKK or assasination of abortionists and heads of state. What kind verb is 'spawn?" It is sloppy thinking to reach an equivalence between the daily terrorism done by muslim terrorists and the supposed "spawn."
The koran specifically encourages killing of "infidels," but there is no equivalent command to kill muslims in the New Testament.
The fact remains that these monks would not have been killed in secular France as they were in muslim Algeria.

John| 2.22.11 @ 11:22AM

When it comes to terrorism the Muslim world is more sinned against than sinners. The Quran is the only holy book that talks about the saving of a life being equivalent to saving the whole of humanity. The Quran is the only holy that's tales about there being no compulsion in faith. when refereeing to Jews Christians it uses only the most beutiful words. It is not the Quran or Islam that is the cause of any violence but occupations, colonisation which is still taking place. In Algeria the coup was supported by the west. two hundred thousand people were murded. It was in this murderous climate that produced fanatics not Islam.

tatosian| 2.22.11 @ 12:04PM

koran 9:5
Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor-due, then leave their way free. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful."

George| 2.22.11 @ 12:38PM

State the specific acts of terrorism committed against the Muslim world since 1948, state who, what , when, where, why.

L. Ross| 2.22.11 @ 1:12PM

John, you are a funny, funny guy. I recommend a career in standup for you.

Doctor Right| 2.22.11 @ 4:16PM

Ummmm...what's your real name, "John"?

"I'bn F'ar-T'in"?

Or is it "Ron Paul"?

Go sell crazy someplace else.

Mistral| 2.23.11 @ 5:38PM

You should read the whole Q'uran John with bthe large parts that talk about violenbce against infidels & taxing them if they submit. Also, you ignore their history of aggression in spreading their violent militancy through the sword. Your tale is pure revisionsim.

Occam's Tool| 3.1.11 @ 12:31AM

John. Dear Lord, you are Delusional. Why don't you and Clint and Ron paul form a mutual admiration society.

Clint, Ron is pro-terrorist. Look at his votes. He wouldn't support a letter of marque, which is an asinine thing to do when you have the world's biggest navy anyway, with the power to wipe the Somali pirates out, which is what should be done.

Anthony| 2.22.11 @ 11:29AM

The only time Christians and Muslims can get along is when they live in countries dominated by Christianity. Ther are no mass murders of muslims in the Christian west and Muslims can practice their faith peacefully in these countries. In almost all Muslim countries, however, the opposite is true, the best a Christian can hope for is maybe someone in the government will be outraged by their murder.

All American American| 2.22.11 @ 4:21PM

That is until the muslims become the majority. Then its sharia for everyone, dhimmitude or death for non-muslims.

Maybe Kiser thinks he'll get some kind of exhaulted dhimmi status or something? Hate to tell you Kiser but when your idiotic usefulness for islam has run dry you'll just be another infidel to convert or kill.

A Balrog of Morgoth| 2.22.11 @ 11:32AM

John ignores the inconvenient fact that many of the muslim lands currently "occupied" only became muslim through conquest.

John| 2.22.11 @ 12:53PM

Yeh the west never conquered any lands. it was only the Bedouin Arabs of the desert who would create. incredible a few thousand bedu conquer the known world.
after the fall of Muslim Spain all muslims Jews were exterminated. Eight hundred years of history wiped out. I won't mention Iraq crusades Palestine Kashmir Bosnia etc etc. by comparison Islamic civilisation has been an exemplary.

W| 2.22.11 @ 1:24PM

What is a muslim jew? And if you are so tolerant of jews, why are you dedicated to destroying Israel?

tatosian| 2.22.11 @ 2:44PM

One has to give credit to Mohammed for incorporating the violence and barbarity of those few thousand Bedouin into a religious, supremacist ideology.

An ideology just as dangerous today as it was in the 7th century.

Without that violence Martel doesn't stop Islam's bloody advance at Tours 100 years after Mohammed's death.

Without that violence there are no crusades, no Arab Muslim African slave trade, no Sobieski , no Barbary pirates, no slaughter of Armenian Christians, no Huitler/Haj Amin el-Husseini connection, no Munich, no Klinghoffer murder, no 9/11 and no Beslan.

Violence and intolerance drove Mohammed. And Mohammed, the ultimate example of Muslim manhood, drives present day Islam.

No thank you.

Doctor Right| 2.22.11 @ 4:20PM

Conquered?

No. We liberated them.

The Muslim world likes to spin this fantasy that the Holy Land was originally Muslim, and it was invaded by Christian "interlopers".

This lie has been swallowed hook, line, and sinker by liberals, morons, and college students.

Christianity existed in the Holy Land 700 years before Islam was created by the pedophile otherwise known as Mohammed. Jerusalem was the capital city of a Christian Kingdom right up to and during the Crusades.

And then there were these people called...now what was it...Jews! They were there for a few thousand years before that, even.

The interlopers were the Muslims.

Mistral| 2.23.11 @ 5:42PM

Poor John your revisionism has completely rewritten history - which books do you read?

MikeBee| 2.22.11 @ 12:01PM

Kiser is correct, that it is possible for Christians and Muslims to live together in peace. You have to understand what their neighbors were like. What is a Trappist monastery like? The men in a Trappist monastery live in total cloister, not allowed to leave the monastery, and live their entire lives there, living, working, and praying, cut off from the world around them. The Muslim society surrounding the monastery didn't mind their neighbors and their neighbor's religion, as they never interacted at all.

So, we all become Trappist monks, and radical Muslims will leave us alone. Easy, right? Oh, wait! -- someone had to kill those monks. Who was it, anyway, and why?

john kiser| 2.22.11 @ 12:55PM

Ken- Before jumping to such a conclusion, suggest you read my book. The Monks of Tibhirine. I have European friends whose parents would never set foot in the US because "America is such a violent place." Fat, gun toting, religious fanatics, is a British stereotype. is it true? partly. There is no Islam and no Christianity--only muslims and christians of different stripes. If don't want to read me , try Col Alan King: Twice Armed. He was the Army's chief civil affairs officer in Iraq who used the Koran to peacefully disarm ignorant Muslims.

W| 2.22.11 @ 1:27PM

Do us a favor, stay in Britain. We "fat, gun toting, religious fanatics" saved your ungrateful ass in WW1 and WW11. I am sure the majority of British do not share your left wing,dhimi opinions.

Occam's Tool| 3.1.11 @ 12:38AM

Dear W,

I am not so sure that the majority of Britons are not dhimmis, sir.

You are totally correct on WWI and WWII. May I recommend the works of John Mosier.

Ken (Old Texican)| 2.22.11 @ 2:23PM

Mr. Kiser,
I am very sorry. I spent years in the middle east. I watched Muslim men have their Saturday night entertainment stoning women.
They are commanded to lie, (Tacquia) by the Father of Lies they worship.
Get over it.
I live in Texas...in the wild wild west don't you know. I am armed...always...as are many Texans.
I have never had to shoot anyone on this side of the oceans.
"An armed society is a polite society.".....if it is a Judeo-Christian society.

john kiser| 2.22.11 @ 2:46PM

stoning is Old Testament fun Judeo -Christian tradition.
Curse of Ham--old testament rationalization for lynching niggers, clearly a cursed and inferior race.
Kill a Commie for Christ--remember that one
We can all pick our horror stories.

Ken (Old Texican)| 2.22.11 @ 3:02PM

Mr. Kiser,
now you have descended to simply lying. HMMM, let's see. Who was it that said, "He who is without sin cast the first stone"?
I will give you a hint. It wasn't muhamed.

Doctor Right| 2.22.11 @ 4:52PM

Christians DO NOT adhere to the Laws of the Old Testament.

Those Laws were designed for a purpose. That purpose was realized 2,011 years ago.

Why do you refer to blacks as "n******"?

Anthony| 2.22.11 @ 5:42PM

Are you kidding me? Your anti-Christian bias comes through clearly in that post. If you ever sat down and read the New Testament you'd know there is never a justification for lynchings or stonings. As for racism, the New Testament clearly states there are no ethnicities in Christ. However spend a day reading the Koran and you'd be amazed at the calls for violence against others.

Frisbee| 2.22.11 @ 9:41PM

Stoning was never a Christian tradition, unless you mean dying by being stoned.

Clint| 2.22.11 @ 3:15PM

Kenny The Squirrel also has problems with We Catholics & Those of Us, who's names " End In Vowels".
Kenny Is Lookin' For A Problem.

Occam's Tool| 3.1.11 @ 12:34AM

I don't care what your name is, pal, or how it ends. For me, it ends in "ite." As in Catamite. Which you are, and will always be, for terrorist child raping scum. And, given your description of semites as "Sand Monkeys," you have no room to talk, Terrorist Catamite.

Tina Trent| 2.22.11 @ 3:49PM

Goodness, Mr. Kiser, how quickly you abandon these principles you are claiming to teach, as in compassion, brotherhood, looking beyond differences, ad infinitum.

So Americans are "[f]at, gun toting, religious fanatics, [sic] is a British stereotype.[sic] is it true?[sic] partly.[sic]"

Precisely how does this abusive, prejudiced stereotyping of an entire nation play into your parade of virtues here?

You are a fraud, the sort of fraud quite typical of those who feel compelled to preach to others about their alleged lack of cultural sensitivity, in my experience. Pull back the mask, and what appears is someone projecting their own hatreds onto others, usually whilst trying to slick a fat check in exchange for the sensitivity lessons they claim to emanate.

No, I won't bother reading your book.

All American American| 2.22.11 @ 4:23PM

Tell ya what Kiser, instead of reading your book I'll read the actual, you know, words of the founder of islam. I'll read the koran and hadiths and make my judgment based on that, not some dhimmi's "enlightened" interpretation of it.

john kiser| 2.22.11 @ 5:08PM

Please do. Just read it all.
BTW, I have not interpreted anything. Just told a true story about the good, bad and the ugly in Algeria -- Christians and Muslims. Try Themonksoftibhirine.net. The french seemed to like it as did manyAmericans.

W| 2.22.11 @ 5:58PM

Mr. Kiser, are you the same john w kiser who is a directoe of the Cordoba Initiative, the group that wants to build a mosque on ground zero?
Why did this group use the name Cordoba, a city in Spain, that kicked out the muslim invaders 600 years ago? Is it part of the concept to re-conqueror Spain and other countries?

Doctor Right| 2.22.11 @ 4:55PM

Fat, lager-swilling, racist, inbred louts with footy hats and scarves and pudgy, pasty women with buck teeth and bad skin who...

Oh, sorry...That's Britain, NOT America!

Occam's Tool| 3.1.11 @ 12:36AM

And don't forget, the worst educated general populace in all of Europe.

Dr. Right, you are a treasure.

john kiser| 2.22.11 @ 1:49PM

Actually, Mike, the monks were quite untrappist -like. they had by necessity to interact with the natives-who came to the monastery in the 1950s to take refuge from French bombs being dropped on their villages in the mountains. The monastery was a safe haven and the village of Tibhirine grew up around it. One of the monks was a medical doctor who had a clinic and treated all comers, even the women. The monks celebrated birthdays and holy days with their neighbors and the muslims would come to the ordination ceremonies of the novices. they shared their water supply and borrowed their tractors etc.. They were so involved with their community that the terrorists who had to Koranically justify their killing accused them of proselytizing. Which they weren't.
Muslims who have not been "westernized" are corporatist in their thinking. Just like the Catholic Church or Ford Motors. And Ford Motors would not allow GM to come to its campus to recruit employees. Marines don't send recruiters to Army bases.

My book, Monks of Tibhirine, might interest you. The superior of the monastery chose to serve in Algeria after its independence because a Muslim policeman and fellow believer in One God ( Christians are Believers, not infidels, though the Trinity is confusing and smells of polytheism, and of course Jesus was prophet not God) had saved his life during the war. Christian de Cherge served in the French army as a civil affairs officer and his job was to befriend Muslims and make them"feel French." This courageous actof intervention in the face of the FLN terrorists, cost Christian's Muslim friend his neck and orphaned 10 children. It was an act of sacrifical love--and confirmed for Christian de Cherge his belief that the spirit of Jesus is in all humans ( he was an early acceptor of Vat II thinking). If you like your stereotypes, definitely don't read the book--which shows the many different faces of Islam through the eyes of Christian monks. Many of them had served in the french army.
And, yes those bombs were "Christian" bombs in Muslim eyes . The French occupation of Algeria in the 19th cent was done under the sign of the Sword, the Plow and the Cross. Christianity has a sweet and sour taste in the countries subject to European colonization. "Political" Christianity was not so pretty.

W| 2.22.11 @ 3:48PM

Mr. Kiser, are you the same john w kiser who is a directro of the Cordoba Initiative, the group that wants to build a mosque on ground zero?

All American American| 2.22.11 @ 4:16PM

Hey Mr Kiser why won't you anser this question? Either you are or you aren't. Why are you afraid to answer?

Not answering is very "Obama" of you.

W| 2.22.11 @ 5:55PM

because he is the director. he does not want to defend building a mosque on ground zero.

Doctor Right| 2.22.11 @ 4:58PM

"My book, Monks of Tibhirine, might interest you."

You presume far too much, Nigel...

John| 2.22.11 @ 12:46PM

Context context context. ANd once more. Context. The Quran was revealed to the Bedouin people of the deserts of Arabia over a period of 22 years. For 12 years the prophet against his family. For 10 year the prophet his city medina against all the pagan tribes of Arabia. some of the verses are aimed against the genocidal policies of the pagans . But in those battles only a few hundred would die on all sides. after the bloodless fall of mecca - the Bedouin arabs entered Islam in legions. The rest is history .

Frisbee| 2.22.11 @ 9:50PM

I think once the Devil saw that Christianity was winning the world over from paganism, he decided to let the Arabs convert from paganism to monotheism. He invented through Mohammed the barbarous and murderous and unyielding monotheism known as Islam and unleashed it on the Christian world. Islam is superior to paganism intellectually and spiritually, but it is a denial of Christianity and that makes it a grave evil.

IzeHavitt| 2.23.11 @ 2:43AM

Frisbee, You've nailed it. Think about it, folks. The Bible informs us that the devil has two basic purposes. He either wants to be worshipped as God, or he wants to thwart the purposes of God.The former is what got the devil kicked out of heaven in the first place. For details, see Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. As far as thwarting the purposes of God, he uses deceit and distortion of the truth to do so. And it's worked very well with Islam and The Left. There's a guy named Sam Shamoun who is an Arab-Christian. He has done an excellent expose' of Islam on a video entitled Challenge of Islam. It's available on Men's Network(?.com?) Shows the specific distortions and half truths the devil has used through the centuries to effect his counterfeit. And remember,too, a counterfeit has to look good in the first place. Otherwise, no one would give it any credibility. But it's still a lie.

Frisbee| 2.23.11 @ 9:08PM

Thanks IzeHavitt:

I would like to add, though, that the Ishmaelites are mentioned in the Bible very accurately:

"The angel of the LORD also said to her: "You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard of your misery. He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers." Gen 16:11-12

As monotheistic descendants of Abraham, they do worship the one true God, but they predate Moses and do not know the name YHWH.

Ken (Old Texican)| 2.22.11 @ 2:15PM

We don't blame you, John.
your allah commands you to lie. Alium, y, Backra, y, Ba-ad Backra.
(today, tomorrow and the days after tomorrow.)
Your lies won't be sold here at The Spectator. however.

David| 2.22.11 @ 2:58PM

Bottom line, mainstream Islam is a religion of force and the sword.

IF everyone in the world were to convert to Islam, there would still be no peace. Everyone would have to choose among Sunni, Shia, Salifast, Wahabbist, etc.

Unlike Christianity, with its various denominations who live in peace with one another, Islam teaches intolerance, it is the Muslims' sacred duty to kill other Muslims who don't adhere to their own brand of Islam.

There will never be peace as long as Islam is a practiced religion.

Ken (Old Texican)| 2.22.11 @ 3:03PM

David,
thank you.

David T| 2.22.11 @ 3:29PM

David--Generally, I agree with you, but be careful. Christians battled Christians in the century or so following the Reformation. And you only have to look to the past 30-40 years to be reminded of all the internecine violence in Northern Ireland. But, of course, the teachings of Jesus are far superior to those of Muhammad.

roadmaster| 2.22.11 @ 5:22PM

What a total load of crap! Mr. Kiser is terminally naive if he thinks Islam is anything other than the brutal, oppressive, destroyer of civilizations and culture that it has always been.
There is no such animal as a moderate Moozlim. In the cult of Satan, you are either a devout warrior for Jihad. or supporter. Any deviation from the strict interpretation of the Koran constitutes apostasy and you'll be marked for death.
I work daily with Moozlims, several whom are as friendly and helpful to me as I am to them, BUT when push comes to shove, I have no doubt they would slit my throat in a skinny minute if their Imam tells them to.
Hopefully, my Christian witness will show them the way to the love of Christ, and steal them from the indifferent Allah (Satan).

David| 2.22.11 @ 7:55PM

David T, funny, that is the initial of my last name, too. I was soooo confused for a minute - ha ha. I am happy that you didn't go into anything more specific because nothing has existed in Christiandom that comes close to the Islamic religi0n.

Roadmaster, I too have had very friendly relations with Muslims from Pakistan and Iran. I found them much more open to discussing religion than Jews have been. Usually, Jews say to keep your religion in Sunday School. The Muslims were much more open to hearing what I and other Christians believe.

I recall a friendship I developed with one who worked at a convenience store where I would stop and buy a soda on the way home from work every day. He even helped me move my furniture and he and his Muslim friend joined my family and I for dinner.

After about 3 years of knowing this guy, he talked one day about his brother and his flirtations with Christianity. I asked this seemingly rational friend what he would do if his brother converted to Christianity. He immediately and matter of factly said I will KILL him. I laughed it off, and he said, NO, I WILL KILL HIM. Wow, was I stunned.

As I said, there will NEVER be peace in the world as long as people believe in Islam. It is incompatible with everything civilized and everything that involves FREE CHOICE. Allah forces you to worship him, while the Christian God allows us to choose. The two cannot be reconciled. And again, even within Islam, they kill one another for not adherring to a particular sect.

Tony in Central PA| 2.22.11 @ 8:42PM

While I think it is wonderful to see the outpouring from some Muslims on behalf of Christians, the reality is that in Muslim majority countries, this is not at all common. There is and has been what amounts to a religious cleansing going on in many of these nations for some time. The worst example in the past century or so being the Armenian Genocide. While this was an extreme example, the reality is that millenia - old Christian communities are gradually being eliminated around the Middle East.
Christians are told to expect this, whether it comes from religious or nonreligious enemies and it will continue. Mr. Kiser apparently doesn't know this.

Sam| 2.22.11 @ 10:27PM

"Why were these monks so honored by the vast majority of Algerians, even by Islamists, if a clash of civilizations is occurring?"

Because they were dead.

"But if Muslims love Christians so much, why were the monks killed?"

Because Muslims do not love Christians so much.

Marc Jeric| 2.24.11 @ 3:02AM

There is a great confusion in the West about Islam; it is not a religion - it is a political program consisting of the following steps:
1) Conquest, preferably by force of arms; then
2) Conversion - voluntary or forced; if resisted then
3) Slavery; if resisted then
4) Mass murder.
The entire 1300-year history of Islam is consistent with the above. Religion of peace? You must be joking!

Vasu Murti| 2.25.11 @ 1:00AM

"But if Muslims love Christians," asks John W. Kiser, "why were the monks killed? The question is like asking how Christians can be good people who embrace universal love if they spawn the Ku Klux Klan, kill abortion doctors, preach assassination of heads of state, and hatred of other faiths?"

YES! My point exactly.

And I don't think I'm being "laughably naive," either!

I would like to see organized religion take up the struggle for animal rights. Religion has been wrong before.

It has been said that on issues such as women's rights and human slavery, religion has impeded social and moral progress.

It was a Spanish Catholic priest, Bartolome de las Casas, who first proposed enslaving black Africans in place of the Native Americans who were dying off in great numbers.

The church of the past never considered human slavery to be a moral evil. The Protestant churches of Virginia, South Carolina, and other southern states actually passed resolutions in favor of the human slave traffic.

Human slavery was called "by Divine Appointment," "a Divine institution," "a moral relation," "God's institution," "not immoral," but "founded in right." The slave trade was called "legal," "licit," "in accordance with humane principles" and "the laws of revealed religion."

New Testament verses calling for obedience and subservience on the part of slaves (Titus 2:9-10; Ephesians 6:5-9; Colossians 3:22-25; I Peter 2:18-25) and respect for the master (I Timothy 6:1-2; Ephesians 6:5-9) were often cited to justify human slavery.

Some of Jesus' parables refer to human slaves. Paul's epistle to Philemon concerns a runaway slave returned to his master.

The Quakers were one of the earliest religious denominations to condemn human slavery. "Paul's outright endorsement of slavery should be an undying embarrassment to Christianity as long as they hold the entire New Testament to be the word of God," says contemporary Quaker physician Dr. Charles P. Vaclavik. "Without a doubt, the American slaveholders quoted Paul again and again to substantiate their right to hold slaves.

"The moralist movement to abolish slavery had to go to non-Biblical sources to demonstrate the immoral nature of slavery.

"The abolitionists could not turn to Christian sources to condemn slavery, for Christianity had become the bastion of the evil practice through its endorsement by the Apostle Paul.

"Only the Old Testament gave the abolitionist any Biblical support in his efforts to free the slaves. 'You shall not surrender to his master a slave who has taken refuge with you.' (Deuteronomy 23:15) What a pittance of material opposing slavery from a book supposedly representing the word of God."

In 1852, Josiah Priest wrote Bible Defense of Slavery. Others claimed blacks were subhuman. Buckner H. Payne, calling himself "Ariel," wrote in 1867: "the tempter in the Garden of Eden...was a beast, a talking beast...the negro."

Ariel argued that since the negro was not part of Noah's family, he must have been a beast. Eight souls were saved on the ark, therefore, the negro must be a beast, and "consequently, he has no soul to be saved."

The status of animals in contemporary human society is like that of human slaves in centuries past. Quoting Luke 4:18, Colossians 3:11, Galatians 3:28 or any other biblical passages in favor of liberty, equality and an end to human slavery in the 18th or 19th century would have been met with the same kind of response animal rights activists receive today if they quote Bible verses in favor of ethical vegetarianism and compassion towards animals.

Some of the worst crimes in history have also been committed in the name of religion. There's a great song along these lines from 1992 by Rage Against the Machine, entitled "Killing in the Name Of".

Someone once pointed out that while Hitler may have claimed to be a Christian, he imprisoned Christian clergy who opposed the Nazi regime, and even Christian churches were subject to the terror of the Nazis.

Thinking along these lines, I realize that while I would like to see organized religion support animal liberation (e.g., as was the case with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the American civil rights movement) rather than simply remain an obstacle to social and moral progress (e.g., 19th century southern churches in the U.S. upheld human slavery on biblical grounds), this support must come freely and voluntarily (e.g., "The Liberation of All Life" resolution issued by the World Council of Churches in 1988).

Religious institutions can't be coerced into rewriting their holy books or teaching a convoluted doctrine to suit the whims or the secular political ideology of a particular demagogue.

American liberals argue that principle of the separation of church and state gives us freedom FROM religious tyranny and theocracy.

Conservatives argue (the other side of the coin!) that one of the reasons America's founding fathers established the separation of church and state was to prevent government intrusion into religious affairs.

I agree with Reverend Marc Wessels, Executive Director of the International Network for Religion and Animals (INRA), who said on Earth Day 1990:

"It is a fact that no significant social reform has yet taken place in this country without the voice of the religious community being heard. The endeavors of the abolition of slavery; the women's suffrage movement; the emergence of the pacifist tradition during World War I; the struggles to support civil rights, labor unions, and migrant farm workers; and the anti-nuclear and peace movements have all succeeded in part because of the power and support of organized religion. Such authority and energy is required by individual Christians and the institutional church today if the liberation of animals is to become a reality."

Occam's Tool| 3.1.11 @ 12:48AM

More data is always useful on authors. Note John W Kiser, from his website:

My books have a contrarian flavor: profiles of entrepreneurial scientists in the Soviet Bloc (Communist Entrepreneurs: Unknown Innovators) when the popular view was one of technological incompetence in the communist world; Muslim-Christian harmony (2006 French Siloe Prize winning Monks of Tibhirine: Faith Love and Terror in Algeria) when people were touting irreconcilable differences between Islam and the West, and now Commander of the Faithful: A Story of True Jihad. Abd el-Kader was a man of deep faith combined with chivalrous humanism and intellectual openness that made him a hero in both the East and West. Commander of the Faithful is the third book of an Abrahamic trilogy that began unwittingly with Stefan Zweig: Death of a Modern Man (1995).
Zweig was one of the most prolific and widely read writers of the 1930s and 1940s. I loved both his fiction and non fiction. For beginners, I would recommend Beware of Pity which ranks with the best Russian novels. Joseph Fouché, is a brilliant biography of a power hungry, ex-Jesuit who, as Police Minister, was one of the most politically astute and cold-blooded opportunists in Napoleon’s government. I became perplexed by Zweig’s suicide in 1942, living safely in Brazil, wealthy, world famous and with young new wife. Still read in Europe, Zweig today is virtually unknown in the United States. This book is only available commercially in French (University of Toulouse Press)

Reflecting back, I have come to realize these books have a common thread. Indirectly, they are about the role of faith, or its absence, in guiding and sustaining people in desperate times.

Other writings by Kiser related to Algeria
"Elkader shows how to build friendships with Muslim world," Des Moines Register, 10/10/2008

“Iraq, Amundson and the Zouaves,” Marine Corps Gazette, 8/07

“From Algeria to Iraq,” Marine Corps Gazette. (web version http://mca-marines.org/gazette/2006/06kiser.html)

“News from Algeria,” Eisenhower Institute (web) 6/9/04

“The Algerian Microcosm: Monks, Muslims and the Zeal of Bitterness,” Cistercian Studies Quarterly (38:3) 2003

“Letter from Algiers,” Middle East International, 6/01

From Russia to Writing:
The first time I wrote for the sheer pleasure of writing was after I returned from traveling across the Soviet Union in 1969. The trip was a graduation present to myself after finishing an MBA at the University of Chicago. I became fascinated by Soviet culture, the diversity of people, their friendliness toward Americans, and their great knowledge of American literature. The complete absence of a commercial mentality was both refreshing and sometimes frustrating, especially in restaurants. My observations on everything from Russian play on the beach to their habit of starting breakfast with offerings of vodka and cognac were translated into vignettes which I read for friends-my unpublished Russian Reminiscences. I wanted to somehow put Russia on my career path.
My newly found interest in Russia was followed by a detour. America was burning-race riots and Vietnam had plunged the country into turmoil. The University of Chicago was in a war zone. I decided to get involved at home before launching myself into foreign adventures. HUD's Model Cities Program became my vehicle to do service for my country. Model Cities sent large chunks of discretionary money to cities crying for help, and sent me to Tuskegee, Alabama. After two years in Tuskegee's Model Cities program I went back to Chicago to "do consulting" using my vast knowledge of on-the-ground realities of federal grant making.

Then, my Russian siren called me. I returned to Washington where I had moved after business school. I was studying Russian and found myself writing inflammatory articles for Foreign Policy Magazine saying that the Russians had advanced technology and American companies were buying it.

I was contracted by the US Department of State to investigate, document, and explain this "reverse technology flow" phenomenon from the USSR and Eastern Europe. For four years, I sleuthed, interviewed, and finally wrote reports that provided the first comprehensive documentation of the deal flow of Soviet bloc technology to the US, mostly as intellectual property rights: patents and trade secrets. In 1980, I founded Kiser Research Inc to probe the commercial secrets of the communist bloc. We helped industry to put Russia and Eastern Europe on the map as places to seek better or cheaper mousetraps, and acted as midwives in the process. But my heart was never in technology but rather going into the unknown. I am not really a techie, but a liberal arts student with a penchant for history and languages (BA History, University of North Carolina; MA History, Columbia University). I like creating bridges to different cultures and subcultures. My first book, Communist Entrepreneurs, described how creative minds succeeded in the communist system, where its deficiencies were often prods to innovation.

After fifteen years and too much traveling, I needed a change and so did my wife. In 1994, I took my family to Nice in France for a year of bathing in French culture, the subject of a book yet to be written. My French sabbatical led me to a change of life style. I turned over Kiser Research to my colleagues and have since focused my life on writing and raising pigs.

sex toys| 7.4.11 @ 1:14AM

The fact that Trump has come out against the Korea-U.S. trade deal and this week's pulling of a vote on a trade deal in the House by the leadership shows there a very fluid House GOP caucus against the kind of trade deals which benefit only corporate interests and infringe upon U.S. sovereignty