A very close friend of mine gave me for Christmas a book entitled, “The Suicide of Reason.” It is not a manuscript for the casual reader, but it is an outstanding commentary on what the author calls tribalism or fanaticism.

Since I read on average about 5 books a month, it is not often that I discover one that keeps me pondering for days on end, but this book did. The theme of the book is simple: Western Civilization is threatened by a religious culture that by its very nature is the antithesis of our own. In other words, Islam is out to purge us from the pages of history.

Many of us, I being one, have had a difficult time with this proposition. It is simply not rational. From my pragmatic and western sense of logic the idea of a group whose purpose it is to seek the cultural genocide of another is implausible.

Yet I am reminded that history is polluted with despots, tyrants and ideologies that have attempted to do the same. It is not easy admitting that you might have been wrong or misjudged the ideological current or intentions of your adversary, but the dream stops here.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are in an epic battle for survival! The news media and many politicians have hidden behind such terms as “Radical Islam” as a scapegoat for the truth. Islam and Chistianity are at war. The Crusades of a millennium past are raging once more, and what is at stake is life as we know it.

We can no longer afford to be idle in mind, body or spirit.

Sadly, President Bush, even with all of his good intentions, was dead wrong in his heartfelt belief that all mankind yearns for freedom. They do not! President Bush, like me, simply neglected the other side of history, the barbarism and tribalism of humankind’s failed attempts to civilize themselves.

“Multi-culturalism” is a term created by a liberal society in order to hide itself comfortably from the penetrating light of harsh reality.

I will be silent no more. I encourage every minister and church to reinstitute the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag in the liturgy of the church. Christian hymns of God and country should be vocalized by every congregation and choir throughout the land. It is time we preach about the greatness of our religion and culture without shyness or shame. We must waste no more time taking the “Banner of the Cross” to the people of the world.

/s/Dr. Andrew Brasher
Cornerstone Baptist Church, Batesville