More Extreme than Radical Islam

As a few of my closest friends know, I’ve found myself quite emotional in the last few days, avoiding the media as much as possible, as I work on my book about the refugees, and prepare to speak to my church about them at our upcoming Thanksgiving service on Tuesday night. This morning, I found this in my notes, some of which I wrote while in the Middle East.

I took a washcloth and wiped the dust from the glass top of the kitchen table in my furnished apartment in Amman, Jordan. The dust storm left its mark everywhere, much like the refugees. It didn’t matter whether you tried to avoid them or not. There were ways to insulate yourself, to ignore them, but at the end of the day, they could not be completely ignored.

I had read about it before I ever left the United States.

“The storm has been making its way to Israel from Iraq and Syria over the past week,” an Israeli newspaper announced (see footnote).

“The storm also hit Lebanon’s coastal capital of Beirut on Tuesday, a day after it engulfed the eastern Bekaa Valley,” the paper added.

The refugees were also coming from Iraq and Syria; now a dust storm was coming from Iraq and Syria. The dust storm, like the refugees, had moved into Lebanon and Jordan. Like the refugees, the storm came without warning.

It just came, and settled.

I don’t mean to compare the refugees to dirt, but I was struck by the far-reaching effects of the storm, propelled by the wind of war.  And, for that matter, they do get treated like dirt at times.

I’m not an expert on either ISIS or the refugees, but I do feel that anyone confusing the two must know them even less than I do.  I’ve done some reading on ISIS, and I’ve sat and listened to a healthy cross-section of refugees, in their own houses or tents.  I see no logic for confusing the two, from either the perspective of ISIS or the refugees.

Let’s take it from the ISIS side first, the one I know less about and have no personal experience with.  If the books I have read and listened to are correct, ISIS is smart, wealthy, powerful, and already inside many countries.  As I understand from my limited reading, the terrorism in France was from within, from European citizens.  If there was a refugee involved (which doesn’t appear to be clear), the terrorism was almost certainly not depending on that refugee.  I fully believe that anyone who fears that ISIS is waiting in the refugee camps for asylum, or standing in a refugee red tape line, is grossly underestimating them.

Then, from the refugee side, the side I know a bit better.   It blows my mind-truly- that anyone would think that after grabbing your children and fleeing from dropping bombs and gun blasts (from ISIS or the government or the rebels is not important), after crossing a valley with people shooting at you and barely making it to safety, and seeing bodies decaying in the dust beside you, after depending on donations of food to stay alive and worrying that your children will not get an education…after being humiliated because you have to ask for help for the first time in your life…after all this, and then after being the lucky one to receive refugee status in a foreign country, after passing all the paperwork, after getting your family finally to a safe place where they might have a safe and peaceful future…after all this, your plan would be to walk into a crowded American supermarket or stadium and blow yourself up, knowing you would ruin the lives of your family forever.

I’m not saying there aren’t people who wish to do this; I’m saying, they aren’t in this population.

Maybe that’s too strong of a statement, because there are probably exceptions to every rule, and I don’t have extensive experience or education on this.  But speaking from my own experience of sitting cross-legged on the floor listening, this is what I believe.

I won’t comment much on what America should do.  I don’t enjoy politics, and I believe I am part of the kingdom of Christ first, and America second.  Even if America accepted 10,000 Syrian refugees, that would be only 0.25% of the  total number of refugees outside of Syria, to say nothing of the ones inside or the refugees from other countries.  However, the United States has been very generous with funds, by far the biggest donor in the world to the United Nations refugee fund, not to mention private groups.  I believe that God blesses generosity.

Back to Christ.  If you take a look at the Sermon on the Mount, he doesn’t comment a lot on refugees, on people fleeing from the war.  He does talk about ISIS though, if you will forgive my paraphrase: “If an ISIS warrior takes your coat, give him your cloak also.  If he asks you to carry his luggage for a mile, carry it for two miles.”  (footnote 2)

And, I believe with all my heart, that Jesus’ words are the only doctrine more extreme than true Islam, and the only strategy that will eventually overcome it.

1.)  http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-shrouded-in-dense-sandstorm

2.) Matthew 5:40-41.  In another Scripture, Christ also tells us to flee if we are persecuted.