The green flags of Hamas are now waving victoriously over the Palestinian region of the Middle East.  The victory of the radical Jihadists surprised everyone, even the winners.

It surprised Americans because we believe logic and rational thought will eventually win out in a public debate.  That’s our world view, but it’s not the world view in Palestine. 

It also surprised us because we believe in democracy.  We believe in the right of people to determine their own destiny and choose their own leaders.  We believe that radical ideas ultimately are exposed and rejected.  That’s what happens in America.  But that’s not what happens in Palestine.

Americans and other westerners continue to misunderstand Islam.  Our political pundits insist upon analyzing the Muslim world through the lens of western democratic thinking.  But it doesn’t work. 

It doesn’t work because Muslims are taught a completely different view of reality than Christians.  And it is very, very different than the world view of liberal secularism that dominates most western political thought.

Muslims are taught that everything that happens is the will of Allah.  Their world view is extremely fatalistic.  They are taught that Allah’s will is for the entire world to be ruled by an Islamic dictatorship such as Iran or Saudi Arabia.  Muslims are taught that it is not only permissible, but even required that they kill anyone who gets in the way of Allah’s world domination.

Muslims don’t believe in innocent victims because they are taught that everyone who does not worship Allah, even a child, is an infidel who can legitimately be destroyed to further the cause. 

One would think that September 11 would have been a loud enough wake up call to get the attention of western secularists, but apparently it still hasn’t worked. 

Thankfully, President Bush is finally addressing radical Islam as the enemy.  In the past, he has generally referred to the enemy as “terrorists” but has carefully avoided naming Islam.  He changed that in his State of the Union address last week. 

More than likely, the victory of Hamas in Palestine contributed to the President’s change of language.  The very real threat of nuclear weapons in the hands of Iran is probably a contributing factor as well.

President Bush is still very optimistic that democracy can be established in Iraq.  I don’t think it will work.  The victory of Hamas in Palestine should show us that democracy can’t function outside a Christian world view. 

That’s not to say that only Christians can live in a democracy (though several of America’s Founding Fathers believed that), but that Christian though must be imbedded somewhere in the foundation of the society’s thinking.

Christianity teaches us that man has a free will.  It teaches us that God gives us the right to determine our own destiny.  It teaches us that man created in the image of God has a spark of divinity, however flawed, that causes us to aspire to ideals greater than our own self-interest.

Continuing to misunderstand and underestimate our enemy is a dangerous mistake.