This past week our nation marked a very sad
anniversary: September 11th. It has been five years now
since that terrible day when the World Trade Center Twin
Towers were felled and a fiery gash marked the
Pentagon. But, for the bravery of the passengers of
Flight 93 even more carnage would have occurred.
Now, five years into the War on Terror, we in the West
have yet to openly admit what is truly happening. We are
in the midst of a clash of civilizations, a war of opposing
religious faiths. We in the West – and by the West I
mean not only the United States and Europe, but also all
countries in the world which share our Judeo-Christian
heritage – we are handicapped, perhaps fatally so, by
several things. First, we fail to name this war for what it is
– an attack on the Judeo-Christian tradition on which not
just our nation, but also our very civilization is built: that
this is a War of Islam against Christendom. Secondly, we
fail to admit this because we in the West have lost our
faith. We cannot adequately wage a war of faith when we
live and move in a spiritual vacuum. It is this spiritual
vacuum in the West, the unmooring from our Judeo-
Christian heritage that makes Islam attractive to many.
Historically speaking Islam spread at the point of the
sword – from its very beginnings. Christianity, by
contrast, spread, not by taking lives, but by Christian
martyrs offering their lives as examples of faith in Christ
Jesus and of His Love. The early Church quickly spread
and flourished throughout much of the world that we now
think of as Muslim. North Africa, Syria, Egypt, Palestine,
the Lebanon, what we now call Turkey, were all Christian
until they were forcibly islamicized. Our Christian Faith is
not spread by force, but may be defended by force. But,
such a defence is only effective when bolstered by Faith.
This was dramatically demonstrated at the Battle of
Lepanto in 1571 in which the Holy League of Roman
Catholic nations repelled the Turks as much by prayer as
by the fighting prowess of its forces.
Very poignant to my mind is the fact that three days
after September 11th we celebrate the Triumph of the
Cross. And this gives me hope. If we renew our faith in
Christ Crucified and by truly living out our faith in such a
way as to spark a like renewal in others and throughout
our society then we will indeed triumph. But, if the West
continues to forsake the Cross we will lose…