The West should come back to Christ if it wants to defeat the terror of the Caliphate
Milan (AsiaNews) - The atrocities of the "Islamic Caliphate" in Iraq and Syria have shaken the West, which in its political-economic-religious-moral crisis is becoming more and more indifferent to what is happening in countries close to us and to the thousands of desperate refugees (about 100,000 since the beginning of the year) who found refuge in Italy.
Since ISIS (Islamic Caliphate of the Levant and West) was born, it has carved out for itself a large territory in Syria and Iraq through demonic and horrific violence against those who do not convert to Sunni Islam, forcing the United States and some European countries to intervene. It seems the Western public opinion has become aware of how much hatred moves the nightmarish ghouls who wave a black flag.
This is anti-Christian hatred but also hatred against the West and our way of life, which they see as a mortal enemy for Islam because it destroys the foundations of the Islamic religion: liberal economic development and welfare, democracy, human and women's rights, science and technology, universal literacy, freedom of the press and costumes, etc.
Islamic civilisation is founded on obedience to God (of course, the God of Islam), whilst Western civilisation is based on man who builds the future through his reason, his freedom, his rights. Our civilisation, which has deep Christian roots, believes it can do without God. Islam means dependence on God, while the West means (to those peoples) human development without God, secularism, practical atheism, "secular morality" (that is, "do-it-yourself" morality, the absolute primacy of individual conscience that ignores God and Jesus Christ, etc.).
If this brief analysis is correct, or at least plausible, it should also indicates how to deal with radical Islam's threat to the West and be brotherly towards Islamic peoples, most of whom are opposed to the violence of the Caliphate, which is spreading not only in the Middle East, but also in Nigeria, the Central African Republic, Mali, Libya, Sudan, Mauritania, and threatens the governments of Egypt and Algeria.
Recent history has shown us a few things:
1) War does not solve anything. In fact, it worsens the situation (see the two wars in Iraq). Anyone who hopes for a new crusade and a new Lepanto does not take into account 1.3 billion Muslims who will unify against the West if attacked.
2) The reform of Islam will come from the education of Islamic peoples through school and the freedom of historical-critical research into Islamic sources, to contextualise the Qur'an and Muhammad in the modern world, as was done in the Church through the Councils and the succession of 265 popes that the led it;
3) The West can help this maturing process by helping refugees and the persecuted, dialogue with "moderate" Muslims and Muslims in the West, respect for the truth in describing the atrocities of the guerrillas and Islamic terrorists, denouncing the Qur'anic and historical roots of Islam, as the extermination of the Jews is attributed to the racist ideology of the Nazis. Dialogue without respect for the historical truth becomes a hypocritical fiction that does not serve nor convince anyone.
4) Most importantly, if the West wants to talk to and meet the challenge of Islam, it must return to Christ. The civilisation that we Christians founded satisfies no one today, not even our people who started it. It is a civilisation without a soul, without hope, without children and without joy, which are a sign of too many failures in a society without God. We have not yet figured out that the Ten Commandments and the Gospel are the guidelines that God gave to us humans, whom he created, to live a life that leads to peace, fraternity and solidarity, true development, justice and peace (see the summary in the Populorum Progressio).
If the West does not recover its "Christian roots" and does not place them at the foundation of its life and culture, only war and self-destruction of our peoples remain.
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