by James Glaser
October 24, 2005

I was in church today and the minister was talking about how Christians are waging a war against the forces of evil. He used candles as an example of what side we are on. A lighted candle represented Christians, and he said we were on the side of "good" or the side in the light. He took an unlit candle, and said that this candle represented the forces of evil or the dark.

He went on to say that in our nation's war on terrorism, suicide bombers were so committed to their side that they would give their life for their cause, and he asked how many of us were willing to give our lives for Christ. I don't think he was trying to recruit Christian bombers.

I thought about what he was saying. I think those people who become suicide bombers don't picture themselves as fighting for the dark side. I think, they think we are the dark side, and they are fighting against evil.

So, we have two sides in this war on terrorism, and both sides feel they are fighting against evil.

Our side feels wronged by the September 11th, 2001 attack on our country and some how George Bush and Washington morphed that attack against our country into a war against Iraq, a country that never attacked us, a country that never had the ability to attack us.

Today we are still in that war, and a part of that war is the suicide bomber. Many Americans and thousands of innocent Iraqis have been killed by suicide bombers. We in the West have a hard time understanding how people can be so dedicated to a cause, that they would use their lives as weapons.

That brings me back to the minister with the two candles today. That same comparison is probably used in the Middle East, only we are the unlit candle and the lit candle is the Muslim. You wonder how they can think that, after all we have always been the "good guys," and how could anyone see us differently?

For decades now, Muslims have been calling us the Great Satan. Just like we don't understand them, Muslims don't understand us, but there is one big difference. Muslims get to see our Hollywood movies and television shows.

Muslims have very strong moral beliefs, some what different than ours, but very strong. When their Mullah or Minister starts talking about how sinful and evil Christians are, the people in their Mosque only have to think of the last movie about sex in America or how Hollywood can glorify crime. Many have lived here going to school or they watch our TV by satellite. Sex in the city, Fear Factor, or any of the many other sick television shows prove to them that we are on the dark side.

Many Americans will tell you that those movies and TV shows are just that... shows. They are not real, but to the rest of the world, they are real. Our movies and television shows are what the world judges us by.

We have some ministers telling us that Muslims are evil and we have some politicians telling us the same, but the Muslim world can see what America is like in Technicolor. They don't just have religious leaders and government officials telling them that Christians are evil, they have our porno magazines, movies, sick television shows as exhibit A, B, and C.

We wonder how a person can blow themselves up to kill Americans or innocent Iraqis in an effort to get our troops out of their country. It doesn't seem that hard for me to understand. These people have been taught that Christians are evil, and that we work for Satan. Not only are they taught that, the have visual aids in the form of our media to prove it. So, these people are convinced that Christians are evil. George Bush comes along proclaiming that we are a Christian nation. These people who become suicide bomber have proof positive with our commercial media that we are evil. (Sure we know that Hollywood movies are fiction don't we?)

So, ask yourself, if you knew without a doubt that the nation that was occupying your country was working directly for the devil, would it be that hard to give your life to protect your loved ones from them? These bombers think they are doing good, they think they are saving their people from Satan, and they know they will go to heaven if the make the sacrifice.

Meanwhile over here, we make the claim to be Christians, and that we are the good guys, but all the while we are showing the world that our way of life is like a Hollywood movie or one of our television shows.

As sick as we feel these suicide bombers are, it isn't that hard to see how they have gotten so fanatical about wanting to kill Americans. Our job should be to start showing the world what we are really like. I know there is a 1st Amendment, and the media can do what it likes to make money, but American commercial media has pretty well convinced a large part of the world that we are sick and evil. If you think about it, when our entertainment industry sinks as low as it has to make a buck, that in itself, makes us pretty sick and evil.