Once again, another prominent evangelical preacher, Ted Haggard, has been caught with his pants down, for receiving "˜massages' from a homosexual prostitute, as well as buying hard drugs through him. Ted Haggard denied having sex with the male prostitute, which sounds just as credible as Bill Clinton's denial of entering Monica Lewinsky. What is a fact is that Ted Haggard's wife could not provide the same "˜massage' as the male prostitute that he hired! Because, who would buy something that is already available to them? The three previous well-known cases of sexual scandals involving prominent TV-Evangelists were Jimmy Swaggart, Marvin Gorman and Jim Bakker. So, Ted Haggard is not the first, and most certainly, he will not be the last.

Can anyone cite a prominent Imam or an Islamic Scholar, who was caught red-handed in a similar scandal? Even in the entire history of Islam, you would be hard pressed to find a single case. I am not gloating, but merely pointing out the words of the Bible: "by their fruits you shall know them" (Matthew 7:15-16), to those Christian-Zionist zealots and the nasty TV-Evangelists like Pat Robertson that are constantly foul mouthing Islam. The reality shows Islamic scholars and prominent Imams have "˜only' produced the best fruits. This is something the sincere followers of Jesus should think about and reflect upon. 

The cult of TV-Evangelism is also a potential money-making lucrative business. Thus, many more have been caught embezzling funds raised from their followers than in sexual scandals. To increase your revenue, you need to raise your profile and ratings. Consequentially, some have resorted to claiming they are in direct communication with God. One TV-Evangelist, Oral Roberts, claimed that God told him to raise $8 million, otherwise he would be raised to the heavens, and consequentially he raised $9.1 million. Another is Peter Popoff, who was exposed for his apparent healing miracles and prophetic acts, which were in fact part of an elaborately stage-managed setup, including planting of people in the audience.

Such examples illustrates how gullible so many Americans are, giving millions to a man who simply makes a claim of receiving divine revelation, without offering any proof. Even more gullible are those who believe that these charlatans can perform miracles. One of these idiotic preachers approached me, claiming that they can cure AIDS, and all sorts of illness through their healing powers. Well, I then retorted "in that case you should put the medical profession out of business by now, and perhaps also rewrite the laws of physics in the process".

This level of ignorance, naiveté and religious superstition amongst the US masses, may explain why the politicians and the media have been able to manipulate the masses so easily on issues like terrorism, war on terror etc. It is even more surprising that ordinary Americans still flock to these fraudulent TV-evangelists. Because, by now any rational person would become a sceptic of these characters and adopt the assumption that: those who are still preaching are simply the ones who have not been caught as yet. May be it is also time to test the followers of Ted Haggard, and ask them: "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at Ted Haggard."

The Catholic Church also face similar problems, as their celibate priests are often caught relieving their natural sexual desires on boys and girls that they are entrusted to look after. I find it strange that celibacy can be advocated as something positive. Imagine all the men and women decided to be celibate in following the example of Jesus. You would have created the biggest suicide bomb in human history! Inevitably, the Catholic Church will have to do a u-turn on this issue as they had to do on Galileo.

Clearly, both the Protestants and the Catholics are frustrated as they are losing followers to other religions and many more to the non-religious based ideologies. In addition, they have failed to halt the tide of Islam penetrating into Europe and the US , despite the intense propaganda against Islam. Surely this is a better example of a miracle, in comparison to those shown by the fraudulent TV-Evangelists! In frustration, came the notorious anti-Islamic comments from the Pope, and recently a German priest, Ronald Weisselberg, committed suicide in protest about the rise of Islam in Europe . 

It is unfortunate for the Christians that they see their battle with Islam and not with the secular forces around them. Militant secularism has been continuously diluting Christianity, thus making it irrelevant, over the last three to four hundred years. It has got to a point where insulting the fundamentals of Christian faith is tolerated, not because the Bible says so, but the dictation of militant secularists. To keep silent, when ones parents are insulted is not an act of tolerance but one of a shameful coward, and this same principle should be applied even more rigorously to the divine message, because it has a higher status.

A consequence of this dilution of Christianity has led to many Christians confusing Biblical values with Secular values. Often they use secular values to interpret the Bible. As an example, "equality of sexes", which means women can hold positions which were traditionally barred for them on religious grounds. The Bible itself goes against the notion of gender equality; you have from Adam to Jesus, male dominated Prophets sent by God, so by secular criteria God must be sexist. A son and not a daughter of God were sacrificed to redeem the sins of mankind, meaning a female sacrifice is not good enough!

Take another example of homosexuality. While a section of Christians oppose homosexuality, another has adopted it as legal, to the extent that they have gay priests. Clearly, the Christians are confused on such a fundamental issue. The underlying argument for those who favour homosexuality is drawn not from the Bible, but from secular notion of equality, regardless of one's sexual orientation. In that case where does one draw the line? Will the constant repetition of Christian "˜love' ad nauseam extend to anyone regardless of their sexual orientation? In that case, why not extend that love to Ted Haggard and let him continue his duty. Now is the time to demonstrate the notion of Christian love and forgiveness that we keep hearing about.

The final example of their confusion is the attack on Muslims for practicing polygamy, while they advocate monogamy. Which I find perplexing, because the Old Testament contains ample example of polygamy, and in contrast, the New Testament indicates the trend towards celibacy as Jesus never married. I fail to see where the Bible endorses "˜only' monogamy. Those who cite Adam and Eve as evidence of monogamy fall flat on their faces due to it not being decisive, because where was the evidence prohibiting Adam from taking more than one Eve? Nor does the Bible say the only the example of Adam and Eve must be followed. As stated earlier, the evidences in the Old Testament clearly permits polygamy. Hence, to claim that the Bible only permits monogamy is to contradict the contents of the Bible.

According to the medieval Christian theology, sex was the necessary sin of the flesh, it served procreation; continuation of the human race. Perhaps this negative attitude was inspired by Jesus remaining celibate. That may explain why they get critical or to be precise they get envious, when they see Islam encourages Muslim men and women to engage in a healthy sexual life and produce children. Women were known to complain to the Prophet (Sall Allaahu`alayhi wa sallam) against men who pursued extreme austerity and neglected their marital duties. The Prophet (Sall Allaahu`alayhi wa sallam)) scolded such men, reminded them spirituality is not just in worship but also looking after your wives and family.

This negative attitude towards sex, I also find from secular sceptics, they criticise Islam for permitting too much sex in the way of polygamy, while at the same time they advocate and promote sexual freedom. How bizarre! Yet these people hilariously class themselves as "˜freethinkers' , when they have not yet reached mediocrity, which is evident from their statements.    

The fanatical missionaries knock on people's doors, inviting them to the gospel or go berserk on evangelical TV stations claiming the truth of the Bible over all religions, usually by mocking them. The underlying message is: "my religion is better than yours". It is hypocritical to mock other religions and then preaching to them about love and turning the other cheek. As Muslims we are prohibited from mocking the Gods of other religions, and passing derogatory remarks. For sure, we do not have the equivalent of Pat Robertson, Jerry Fallwell etc. It seems these missionaries are prepared to even sell their religion, and exploit the poverty of poorer nations to gain converts; such type of behaviour is disgusting and betrays the message of Jesus. 

Often I get Christian nutcases emailing me with one sentence that usually says: your religion is false and you should accept Jesus as saviour. Sometimes they use obscene language against the Prophet (Sall Allaahu`alayhi wa sallam)) and then end with lecturing me about the "˜love' of Christ! Do they expect that I should jump in the air proclaim Hallelujah, I have been saved, now I can see, I can see, like Eddie Murphy often does in his movies. It is time for the voiceless moderate Christian to come out and give a better representation of their religion and marginalise the fanatical missionaries, and the fraudulent TV-Evangelists. 

Another Christian fanatic lashed out at me, saying that Islam was built on murder. I retorted that gruesome murder was the central pillar of Christianity and to the extent that the metaphorical drinking of Christ's blood and eating his flesh is symbolically re-enacted in Church gatherings. If there was no crucifixion of an innocent man, there would be no resurrection and thus no Christianity. He then claimed the murder of Jesus was an act of love, but then God displaying Human sacrifice like the pagans used to; and how can one see love in such a brutal act where the father-the-God allegedly permits his only "˜begotten' son or God-the-son to be crucified in this manner, while the God-the-Holy- Ghost remained a spectator?

I am not interested and nor do I have the desire to criticise Christianity, but we do have the right to respond and we will. In any case, our battle is with liberal democracy and Capitalism, and not the remnants of secularised- Pauline-Christia nity that is trying to save itself from getting fully digested within the secular framework.  

There has been a frantic attempt to portray the non-moderate Muslims in the image of these true Christian fanatics, who are ready convert people by force, if they are given the opportunity. As one genuine priest wrote on Osama Bin Laden's calm appearance and presentation has left many confused. Largely because of their own propaganda, they had already built up a false perception. Their expectation was to see an angry bearded man, who would be waving a gun and screaming vengeance. The reality is the reverse. Force conversion has been a feature of Christianity and not Islam; and angry emotional men can be seen thumping the Bible irrationally on the TV.  

In their zeal to confront Islam, the fanatical Christian missionaries will go to any lengths. They even side with people who actually mock Jesus (PBUH), and even those who hate Jesus (PBUH) from the heart by calling him a liar and His mother a prostitute. How strange, they side with such venomous people and scorn Muslims, who have never shown such contempt towards Jesus (PBUH), which would be an act of apostasy according to Islam. On the contrary Muslims have shown utmost devotion to Jesus and his Mother (PBUH). If anyone insulted Jesus (PBUH), it is the Muslims who are far more likely to come to His defence than the Christians, because the Christians must live up to the tolerant image set by their neo-secular Gods.

Sometimes, I wonder if the Christian zeal is driven by insecurity. Perhaps these missionaries find tranquillity when they see others adopt Christianity, helping them to deal with their own uncertainty about Christianity. For sure, the complex and contradictory notion of the Trinity is bound to raise doubts. Another factor is the central concept that an innocent man can be tortured to death for the sins of others, which contradicts the notion of natural justice.  

Muslims on the other hand always supported the Christians and the Jews against the unbelievers and pagans, because we consider them to be the people of the Book and hence a degree to closer to us. The most prominent example of that is from the battle between the Persian and the Romans during the life of the Prophet (Sall Allaahu`alayhi wa sallam)). The pagan Arabs was taunting the Muslims for the defeat of the Christian Romans by the Persians, who were polytheists. The Prophet (Sall Allaahu`alayhi wa sallam)) and His companions sided with the Romans, and prophesised that the Romans would win in the next battle. So they did! Similarly an excellent example was set by the Christian King of Abyssinia , when He came to the defence of the Muslim refugees against the Arab polytheists.

Instead of attacking Muslims and Islam, the Christians should seek a better alliance with the Muslims and help us to challenge the transitory and vague values of secularism. In my opinion, no one else is capable of leading a resistance to militant secularism. Therefore, Muslims have always been the primary target and will remain so for the foreseeable future.   

Copyright © 2006 by Yamin Zakaria