Those who adhere to biblical Christianity are remarkably similar to those who adhere to the Taliban - the brutal fundamentalist Islamic militia that enacted the age of terrorism in America. That's the message being heralded by Democrats in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 suicide attacks that rocked our nation.
According to a report in Newsweek, Democratic Party officials plan to smear fundamentalist Christians who back the Bush administration by actually linking us to the Taliban. The Newsweek account said that top party strategists "are planning a daring assault on the most critical turf in politics: the cultural mainstream."
"The theory goes like this," explained the newsmagazine. "Our enemy in Afghanistan is religious extremism and intolerance. It's therefore more important than ever to honor the ideals of tolerance - religious, sexual, racial, reproductive - at home. The GOP is out of the mainstream, some Democrats will argue [this] year, because it's too dependent upon an intolerant 'religious right.'"
The Taliban, which controlled 90 percent of war-torn Afghanistan prior to U.S. retaliation, had established an unrelentingly harsh regime. Under the Taliban's strict interpretation of Islamic law, leaders enacted forbidding policies. Women were particularly subject to this cruel regime - they could not work or attend school, were required to be covered from head to toe outside of the home and had medical access severely restricted.
So inflamed with religious fervor were the members of this group, several sacrificed their very lives to enact the horrifying suicide attacks that will live in our minds forever.
This is the group with whom we - conservative Christians - are being compared. I'd laugh if it were not so frightening.
The Democrats are gravely desperate to regain the White House. It is quite clear that the Democrats have been taken aback by President Bush's acumen. Prior to Sept. 11, party officials were still referring to him as an illegitimate president. Today, however, many people who voted for Al Gore are saying that they might not do so today.
The worst news for Democrats is that a recent New York Times/CBS News poll revealed that nearly three out of every four black Americans approve of President Bush's performance. The surge in support from African-Americans is greatly significant. In fact, the Times reported that many blacks seemed almost "sheepish" in admitting that they had voted for Mr. Gore. They said that Mr. Bush had shown them something during the last three months, and that they would at least consider voting for him in the future.
This, of course, is terrible news for Democrats, as the majority of Americans now comprehend that George W. Bush is truly the man for this fatal hour.
Instead of accomplishing a true political strategy to reclaim the White House, Democrats have targeted evangelical Christians. If comparing the so-called "religious right" to the Taliban is the best strategy the Democrats can come up with to take back the House of Representatives and strengthen their hold on the Senate in 2004, their efforts will be a complete political failure.
But it is the social implications of this strategy that I find particularly disturbing. In America, conservative people of faith continue to be the only group that can be rigorously denounced and persecuted without the American Civil Liberties Union stepping in to defend them. It has become fashionable to detest and denounce Christians because we adhere to true and defining standards - something the situational ethicists in the Democrat Party cannot comprehend.
The Democrats are conducting this slander and smear campaign against faith-based voters - what I call the mainstream of America, from Billy Graham across the gamut. Not only is it a failed political strategy, it sustains the anti-Christian zeal that is frequently carried out in public schools against students of faith.
This anti-faith strategy was evidently motivated by the recently retired leftist New York Times columnist Anthony Lewis, who advanced the Christian-Taliban analogy in his final column: "I see a time of challenge to a basic tenet of modern society: faith in reason … But the phenomenon of religious fundamentalism is not to be found in Islam alone. Fundamentalist Christians in America, believing that the Bible's story of creation is the literal truth, question not only Darwin but the scientific method that made contemporary civilization possible."
Finally, he warned, "Religion and extreme nationalism have formed deadly combinations in these decades, impervious to reason."
This is overt anti-Christian sentiment that is really like comparing the Jewish Holocaust victims to their Nazi persecutors.
Most Christians in America conduct lives of diligent faith. We certainly care for our fellow man and simply wish to share the peace that we have discovered through our faith in Christ. We do not wish to enslave or kill those who disagree with us, even though we are characterized as harboring such intentions. However, because we do in fact reject Darwinism, abortion and sexual depravity, we can expect a continued acceleration of the vicious attacks against us.
And what should be the Christian's response to these shameful accusations?
Jesus' words hold the answer in Matthew 5:41: "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you …"
May God be magnified even as His people are spitefully maltreated and demonized by those who are desperate to resume their political power.