By Tim Wildmon | AFA President

I guess you could call me an Islamaphobe. I have a fear of what the expansion of Islam will do around the world, particularly in North America and especially in terms of terrorist activities against non-Muslims. Islam is unlike any other major religion on the world stage today. In many ways it is a religion of bondage, not of freedom.

As proud as I am of President Bush and our military – and as much as I supported the cause of going to war in Iraq – I have real doubts about a democracy being possible in that country. Islam has not proven itself conducive to individual rights, respect for varying opinions, free speech, freedom of religion, etc. Some American Muslims have come to respect freedom, but I don’t see it in the Middle East. I see a bunch of dictators and terrorists. But in Iraq, I hope they can embrace freedom for all.

Already you have some of the Shiite Muslims – the persecuted majority under Saddam Hussein – starting a populist movement to make the new Iraq an Islamist state. If I were retired U.S. Lt. General Jay Garner, I would hold a press conference and say this: “I have a message for all of you who want to see the new Iraq become an Islamist government, ruling the masses with oppressive and inhumane Islamic laws. You need to listen to me clearly – it is NOT going to happen. No way.

Now you can march in the streets and thank the American troops you now have the right to do that. You can beat your chest, jump up and down, you can celebrate your religious faith by cutting yourselves if you want and you can even shout profanities about America and Israel – but it’s not going to make one bit of difference. We are not going Taliban here. So get that out of your minds, show some gratitude, enjoy your newfound freedom and hopefully we can make some progress in rebuilding your nation – with American tax dollars I might add – after Saddam’s 35-year reign of terror. Have a nice day.”

Talk about a man with a mountain in front of him. It took the U.S. seven years in Japan and four years in Germany after World War II to fix things the way we wanted and those countries didn’t have all the various Islamic sects and ethnic groups to deal with.

Along these lines, I recently interviewed an author by the name of Don Richardson who wrote Secrets of the Koran. Based on 30 years of studying the Muslim world and living in Iran for 15 of those years, Richardson makes a very compelling case that it is the goal of Islam to dominate the world and to impose Sharia (Islamic law) on all people. Scoff if you will, but here are some interesting facts to consider:

• Muslim immigrant percentages in the population of various European nations range from 10 to 20%. (While the birth rate among other Europeans is in steep decline.)
• There is not one single true democracy – save possibly Turkey – among the 55 Muslim nations in the world.
• At least 40 million Muslim youth are now in religious schools, called madrasas, studying the Koran and extremist traditions.
• Mohammed engaged in 47 battles and the Koran includes 109 specific verses urging war.
• There are 1.3 billion Muslims in the world today. Let’s just say that one percent of them are – or will become – potential jihad wackos. You are talking 13 million wackos. (One of these nuts who converted to Islam happened to be a U.S. soldier who allegedly threw grenades into the tents of his comrades murdering several of them and maiming others at the beginning of the war.)

I don’t believe Islam is a religion of peace as does President Bush. I don’t know if he really believes this or feels compelled to say it for political reasons. I believe there are peaceful Muslims who either don’t read the Koran or don’t take it seriously, but the religion itself seems to create hatred for non-Muslims among way too many of its followers.

America is the Great Satan because we are seen as a Christian nation. Add that to the fact that we are the best friend of the only democracy in the Middle East – Israel – and you have perpetual contempt for us in the Muslim world.

According to the New Testament, Muslims worship a false god. My own view is that the only hope for progress on fronts such as human rights, civility, self-government, economics, education, medicine, science, religious liberty, etc. is to send thousands of Christian missionaries into the new Iraq. The problem with that is – just like the Baptist hospital workers in Yemen reported recently and the many other stories over the last couple of years – you might just be killed in the process precisely because you are Christian.