Next month I\nhope to speak at a conference in Norway. The organizers have asked\nme to speak on the subject of fear of Islam\/Muslims among Christians in Europe. Fear of Islam and Muslims is a topic that is close\nto my heart, because I believe it is one of the main reasons why Christians do\nnot share their lives (and in this context also the Gospel of Jesus Christ)\nwith Muslims in Europe. Of course, there is nothing wrong to fear Muslims who\nendorse violence and terrorism and whose sole purpose it is to destroy the\nfreedoms we have in Europe. It was normal for\nAnanias to be afraid to go to Saul, the persecutor of Christians who had come\nto his city. On the other hand, the story shows that even violent, persecuting,\nreligious fanatics can be changed into church planters. Ananias overcame his\nnormal fear and was a blessing to Saul (for the whole story read Acts 9: 1-19)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nevertheless,\nmost Muslims in Europe are not terrorists or fundamentalists, who use violence\nto obtain their goal: domination of Islam in Europe. Unfortunately, many Christians think they\nare. Although, they may not know the term, nor subscribe to all its features, I\nmeet many Christians throughout Europe who are\nsympathetic towards or even adherents of the so-called Eurabia theory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eurabia is a\nconspiracy theory that was popularized by Bat Ye\u2019or (Gisele Littman) in her\nbook Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis (2005).<\/em>\nOther people have followed in her footsteps and several books, articles, films that\nreflect the same sentiment. Bat Ye\u2019or and others who adhere to this theory\nare convinced that European Muslims want to establish continent wide Islamic\ndomination in the form of an Islamic state or caliphate, with Shari\u2019a law as\nthe constitution, using higher fertility rates and immigration as their main\nmeans of achieving this. They have proof of what they call the Islamization of\nEurope, particularly referring to\ndemographics. They consider Islam a threat to European civilization. They are\nvery suspicious of Muslims, pointing out that Muslims in Europe\nconceal their real intentions to establish Islamic dominance over non-Muslim\npeoples. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What concerns\nme is that I regularly read articles, books and blogs written by Bible\nbelieving Christians, who basically agree with this Eurabia theory. That the\nunbelieving world comes up with all kinds of conspiracy thinking is something\nto be expected, but how about Christians?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Are we not\nsupposed to be different? Thinking differently, behaving differently? Are we not called to love our neighbors, the\nforeigners and even our enemies? <\/p>\n\n\n\n How can we deal\nwith this conspiracy theory of Eurabia? A major problem with conspiracy theories is that it very difficult, if not\nimpossible to disprove. Fighting wrong or half-wrong facts with other facts\nseems to be a waste of time. I would rather look at attitude.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Accepting that\nwe, Christians, can be tempted to a wrong thinking, including conspiracy\nthinking such as Eurabia, what tools does the Bible offer us to resist this temptation?\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of all books in\nthe Bible, I particularly find the book of Isaiah helpful in helping us\nformulate a defense against the Eurabia theory. Of course, in Isaiah\u2019s time\nIslam was not a concern. They had plenty of other world powers that sought to wipe\nthem of the map. The people of God were concerned, fearful, frightened, they\nseem to loose everything they considered valuable. The world around them seemed\nout of control. In such a time conspiracy thinking can develop as seems to have\nbeen the case when God warns Isaiah: <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Lord spoke to me with his strong hand upon me,\nwarning me not to follow the way of this people. He said: Do not call\nconspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy; do not fear what they\nfear, and do not dread it. The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as\nholy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread, and he\nwill be a sanctuary..\u201d (Isaiah 8:12, 13)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n This verse makes clear that an important aspect of\na conspiracy theory is: fear of men. This\nverse also points to a cure against this kind of thinking, namely fear of God. The\nmore we fear God, understanding that history is His story and that He is Lord\nof past, present and future, the better we can resist the temptation of the\nEurabia theory. We do not need to give in to man made theories, growing out of\nfear and prejudice. We can trust ourselves, our Church and our continent to the\nEverlasting Arms of the Living God, who has shown His love for us and for\nMuslims by sending His Son to die for our sins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One might think\nthat a theory such as Eurabia is innocent, because it has no impact on daily\nlife and how our societies are developing. Unfortunately, this is not true.\nExtreme right wing political parties feed on Eurabia\u2019s thinking. While many seek\nto stop Eurabia from growing further by their use of words, others go a step\nfurther. Andres Behring Breivik, the perpetrator of the terrorist attacks in Norway in July 2011, was profoundly inspired by\nEurabia, as becomes clear from his tract: A\nEuropean Declaration of Independence.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I hope that my\nspeech in Norway\nnext month will prevent others to follow in his footsteps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Amsterdam, Bert de Ruiter<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Next month I hope to speak at a conference in Norway. The organizers have asked me to speak on the subject of fear of Islam\/Muslims among Christians in Europe. 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