Conservative critic Dinesh D’Souza released a book in January titled The Enemy at Home: The Cultural Left and Its Responsibility for 9/11, in which he argues that American culture makes our war on terror as difficult as any American policy. Now let’s stop here and point out D’Souza’s mistake: to give any rational explanation for the actions of people who commit horrendous crimes is, in some way, to excuse their actions and blame their victims. America is no more at fault for the 9/11 attacks than it was for the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. Terrible evil is committed by people whose thinking is never justifiable.

Understanding Their Fear

That said, should we look at their thinking anyway? There is a reason to answer “yes”: we want to love our enemies.

While radical Muslims hate America for its military presence in the Middle East, for its support of Israel, and even for the Crusades of a thousand years ago, moderate Muslims, if not hating it outright, are afraid of a culture that exports sin around the world in the form of television, movies, fashion, materialism, the promotion of freedom at every expense, and the marginalization of religion to the private sector. The Enemy at Home points out what the liberal American media never would: that Muslims fear our mass media culture, one whose god is freedom, whose bible is the rejection of truth, and whose morality is “do whatever you want.” In this sense the book is a wake up call. The simple truth is that the pornography you and I try to keep off our television sets or block from our computers is broadcast all over the world, not just to our homes. Folks in Third World countries don’t know the difference between American movies and American culture (even we don’t sometimes). So they see us as the products we keep producing: violent, selfish, sexually immoral, and godless.

Why say anything positive about D’Souza’s ideas? Because what D’Souza has done was also done by the prophets of old. They called sin, sin. They blamed the nations for their evil. They preached the coming punishment of God, which he commanded them to speak. God spoke to these prophets. He gave them the message. And he has commissioned us to proclaim a message as well. For this reason it is legitimate for Christians to say certain actions are wrong and the things we do as a nation or culture may be offensive, even sinful toward others.

Christians can’t help but get exasperated when we hear people shouting on the one hand that pornography should be protected under free speech, and on the other that prayer should be banned from public schools. We know God comes first. How much more, then, will those who don’t live here, who don’t know there are Christians in America as offended as they are by much of American culture—how much more will they be angry, afraid, and convinced that ours is not a nation under God?

Loving Our Enemies

Fear and anger are no excuse for terrorism, but they are reason enough for Christians to ask, “What can we do reach out to those who fear or hate us?” Clearly we need to reach out with love. I was a member of a church in the 90s that brought refugees from the former Yugoslavia to America when ethnic cleansing threatened whole populations in what is now Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia. The refugees our church took in were Muslim. The church put about 70 people in apartments, arranged for clothing and food,
set up education in English, and helped them find jobs. Having never been so helped in their own country, many of these people became Christians, not because they were preached to, but because of the love they were shown by people of a different religion and culture. Doubtless some Christian Americans should also go to the people in Muslim countries and show Christ’s love directly to them—this is quite a risk, but one many Christians have already made. As for those of us who cannot go, I have one more idea.

I write about Christianity and culture. I care about American culture, about popular culture, media culture: books, movies, music, and games. It’s hard for some Christians to see why such things matter in God’s kingdom. Here I think we see a very clear connection. If our movies, television, music, and fashion offend people on the other side of the world because those actions are broadcast all over the world, then maybe we can love those who fear us by getting involved in the movies and TV shows, the music and fashion, and work toward changing the broadcasts. |L

Dr. Charlie Starr teaches English, Humanities, and Film at Kentucky Christian University in Grayson, Kentucky.

OTHER COLUMNS:
November 8, 2009 - Why I believe in God
October 25, 2009 - Commuting in days of evil
October 11, 2009 - Poets and don’t know it
September 27, 2009 - How Hollywood proves abortion is wrong
September 13, 2009 - Significance
August 30, 2009 - Dance alternatives
August 16, 2009 - Gluttons for gossip
August 2, 2009 - Truth from Twilight
July 19, 2009 - Visitor-friendly churches
July 5, 2009 - The Shack
June 21, 2009 - When forgiveness fails
June 7, 2009 - Re-imagining Education (Part Six)
May 24, 2009 - We are not alone
May 3, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part five)
April 26, 2009 - Conviction
April 12, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part four)
March 29, 2009 - An evangelistic proposal
March 15, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part three)
March 1, 2009 - He makes me sick
February 15, 2009 - Re-imagining education (Part Two)
February 1, 2009 - Spiritual insecurity
January 18, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part one)
January 4, 2009 - Church and politics
December 21, 2008 - Heaven’s music
December 7, 2008 - The church and marriage
November 23, 2008 - God and the president
November 9, 2008 - A time for courage
October 26, 2008 - Likes and dislikes: the Prince Caspian movie
October 12, 2008 - What’s that noise?
September 28, 2008 - Modesty matters (part two)
September 14, 2008 - All it takes is some TLC
August 31, 2008 - Modesty matters (part one)
August 17, 2008 - What would you fight for?
August 3, 2008 - Staying through the credits
July 20, 2008 - Honor to whom honor
July 6, 2008 - Tyler Perry and the movies you’re missing
June 22, 2008 - The peaceable kingdom
May 25, 2008 - Another generation grew up
May 25, 2008 - Technology and the Bible (part two)
May 11, 2008 - Technology and the Bible (part one)
April 27, 2008 - What is truth?
April 13, 2008 - And the geek shall inherit the earth
March 30, 2008 - A charactered God
March 16, 2008 - The college choice (part two)
March 2, 2008 - Good news can be hard to hear
February 17, 2008 - The college choice (part one)
February 5, 2008 - Ten suggestions for a godly standard of living
January 20, 2008 - Expelled: that “Bueller” guy’s pro-God movie
January 6, 2008 - Choosing a lifestyle
December 23, 2007 - Teachable TV?
December 9, 2007 - Owners or stewards?
November 25, 2007 - Christians teaching Christians to change TV and film
November 11, 2007 - My money is God’s business
October 28, 2007 - Navigating under the radar
October 14, 2007 - The things God values
September 30, 2007 - Movie moments
September 16, 2007 - God’s economics
September 2, 2007 - The best books to read
August 19, 2007 - There’s a rat in ‘separate’
August 5, 2007 - The art of reading
July 22, 2007 - Atheist chic
July 8, 2007 - Why books matter: the sequel
June 10, 2007 - Books: why they matter
June 3, 2007 - The non-impact of “The Lost Tomb of Jesus”
May 27, 2007 - The universal gospel
April 29, 2007 - Hope
April 15, 2007 - God in the dark
April 1, 2007 - The gospel goes to the movies
March 18, 2007 - What the Bible movies can teach us
March 4, 2007 - What will you hurt for?
February 18, 2007 - Why Heroes . . .
February 4, 2007 - Give peace a chance
January 21, 2007 - When fairy tales are true
January 7, 2007 - WYSIWYG lives
December 31, 2006 - What’s coming next?
December 17, 2006 - Mercy, mercy
December 3, 2006 - Proof of evolution!
November 19, 2006 - Hungering for God
November 5, 2006 - Violence and government, war and peace
October 22, 2006 - The mighty meek
October 8, 2006 - The Battlestar and the Bible
September 24, 2006 - Soap for the soul
September 10, 2006 - Right vs. cool
August 27, 2006 - The painful truth
August 13, 2006 - More Lies Hollywood Tells
July 30, 2006 - Christian counter culture
July 16, 2006 - The lies Hollywood tells