Although I do not agree with the doctrinal tenets of Islam for an enormous variety of reasons, and I furthermore contemn their unthinking threats of violence, I do sympathize with their abhorrence of American “popular” culture. For instance, in a recent article, “Terrorists threaten to kill Britney Spears, Madonna,” certain Jihad leaders interviewed on the radio accuse various pop icons of ‘spreading Satanic culture,’ and warn they ‘must be punished.’
The Committees Abdel-Al accused Madonna and Spears of “spreading this culture by the Americans as part of the war against Islam.”
Well forgive me if you find me prudish, but don’t you think these Jihadists have a point? I don’t in any way mean to advocate their threats of violence, of course, since Jesus taught us to overcome evil with good and to become living sacrifices in His mission of redemptive love… But are not people like Madonna, Britney Spears, and other pop icons of American culture part of the very reason why Islamic cultures might find America repugnant?
If the malaise of the pop scene doesn’t convince you, what about the holocaust of “abortion on demand,” pioneered and made fashionable in the USA? Or the flagrant exhibitionism of homosexuality that is paraded in the name of “freedom” here? Or the fact that the USA exports more pornography than all the other countries of the earth combined? Or how about the rampant gluttony, hedonism, drug abuse, drunkenness and untold avarice? Or perhaps it’s the thinly veiled hatred of religion in the United States and the worship of godless secular humanism, making matters of faith a “hate crime”? Indeed, does not the United States appear to be “the great prostitute, who sits on many waters” (Rev. 17:1)? Have not “the merchants of the earth grown rich from her excessive luxuries” (Rev. 18:3)? Could the United States, a nation with more military bases in more countries than any other in the history of the world (including the legions of ancient Rome), and whose flag now waves over the ancient land of Babylon (i.e., Iraq), be the heir to (Mystery) Babylon’s prophetic fortunes? Could not the United States be seen as building a new “Tower of Babel” with its empire-building and recent preemptive wars of aggression?
Too often Christians find themselves in the awkward position of “defending” the American way of life and thereby seem to acquiesce to the depravity of Hollywood culture. That does not necessarily follow, of course. A Christian can love his country and the freedoms enshrined in the US Constitution, for example, and yet decry the exploitation and the overall “pornogrification” of culture just as fervently as a Jihadist might. The difference between the sincere Christian and the Jihadist, at least regarding social activism, however, is that the Christian does not seek to decapitate those who disagree with him, nor does he feel the insecure need to threaten others with such talk. Christian love is not expressed at the edge of a sword….