Tag: Breakpoint

Understanding the Threat of Islamism to Christians and Western Values

The global surge of Islamist activity, marked by violent acts, protests, and religious tensions, has sparked significant concern for Christians and Western societies. From terrorist attacks in New Orleans and violent demonstrations in Europe to widespread grooming and abuse scandals in Britain and brutal persecution of Christians in Africa, these events reflect both historical patterns of conquest within Islam and the modern implications of Islamism. This escalating threat underscores the urgent need for vigilance, prayer, and support for persecuted Christians worldwide.

The rough start to 2025 did not start on January 1. On New Year’s Day, a U.S. Army veteran plowed a truck into a crowd in New Orleans in a terrorist attack done in the name of the Islamic State. A few hours later, pro-Palestinian demonstrators blocked Sixth Avenue in New York, calling to globalize the intifada. Across the Atlantic, a report was released about Muslim “grooming gangs” preying on lower-class white girls in Britain, although “grooming” is too mild of a descriptor for what the report claimed.  

Since 2000, 250,000 British girls have been drugged, sexually assaulted, and trafficked. Those who reported their assaults were blamed or ignored. Fathers who attempted to rescue their daughters were arrested. People who tried to expose this behavior were imprisoned. Apparently, officials were afraid of being labeled racist or being accused of inciting racial tensions. They were more fearful of being insensitive than protecting girls from sexual abuse and exploitation. 

Across Europe, Christmas markets were attacked and disrupted by Muslim demonstrations. In many European cities, Muslims regularly pray publicly in areas in acts designed to cause maximum disturbance. This is something rare in actual Islamic nations and indicates the intent of Muslims to claim new territory as their own. On New Year’s Day, immigrants, mostly Muslim, rioted in Brussels, Berlin, and other cities. 

Also, in what’s become a terrible tradition on holy days in Nigeria, Christians again suffered a series of murderous attacks over Christmas at the hands of Islamic Fulani herdsmen and ISIS-related groups. According to a report from Open Doors, at least 25 were killed, some while returning from a Christmas Day church service. 21 Christians were also killed in Christmastide attacks in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

Most Muslims are peaceful and would condemn such attacks in the name of their faith. However, a significant percentage of Muslims are Islamists, and Islamists who believe that Islam is destined to rule the world often think that jihad is how this domination will happen. Islamism is not an aberrant form of Islam, as is often claimed. In view of the history of Islam, Islamists more closely reflect the life of Mohammed and the history of Islam than is often acknowledged. 

Mohammed, a merchant turned religious leader turned warlord, initially attempted to convert the surrounding Arabs by preaching to them. When that failed, he turned to raiding and sought conversions by military conquest. As his power expanded and Mohammed’s raiding extended into Persia and the Byzantine Empire, he allowed his warriors to take non-Muslims as sex slaves, similar to what is happening today in Britain. 

Mohammed’s successors also expanded Muslim territory by conquest. In fact, conquest is the primary means by which Islam has spread across the world. Some groups, like the Turks, converted to Islam to avoid slave raids. Others allied with the Caliphate for economic reasons or to obtain better military technology. In some areas, Muslims were welcomed as merchants and granted concessions until, when they were strong enough, the Muslims took over those regions. A recent parallel is Lebanon, once a majority Christian country until Palestinian refugees consolidated enough power to topple the government.

Muslims often claim that jihad does not mean “religious war” but rather “struggle” and that the “greater jihad,” according to the Qur’an, is the struggle to submit to the will of Allah. That is true according to the Qur’an, but in Islamic literature and history, jihad overwhelmingly refers to religious warfare. In principle, jihad as warfare is to be defensive. However, in practice, and according to Mohammad, anyone who is called but refuses to convert to Islam is a threat to the Islamic community and subject to jihad.  

The early chapters of the Qur’an contain statements prohibiting coercion in religion, as well as positive statements about Christians and Jews. However, these statements are considered by Islamists to be abrogated by later statements prohibiting friendship with Christians and Jews. Included in these later passages are particularly vicious statements against the Jews. Historically, in Muslim countries, Christians and Jews were considered second-class citizens, with limited rights and increasing prohibitions on their behavior, often designed to humiliate them.  

Many critics and scholars suggest that Islam needs a Reformation, like what happened in the sixteenth century within Christianity. Arguably, Islamism is that reformation, a return to the authoritative sources of Islam, a literal reading of the Qur’an, an embrace of Sharia law, and an emphasis on the personal example of Mohammad.  

Clearly, the rise of Islamism around the world holds serious implications for Christians and the West. Even more, the implications are immediate for our persecuted brethren in Islamic countries and in borderland territories like Nigeria. Pray for these brothers and sisters in Christ living under Islamic rule.

By John Stonestreet – President of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, and radio host of BreakPoint, a daily national radio program.

Source: Christianity .com

Defending child sacrifice: The ultimate expression of cultural relativism

By John Stonestreet, Glenn Sunshine, Wednesday, September 03, 2025

Unsplash/K. Mitch Hodge
Unsplash/K. Mitch Hodge

Recently, a history teacher from Littleton, Colorado, went viral for praising the way the Incas, her favorite empire, sacrificed children. She also reprimanded “white education” for wrongly teaching generations of Americans that the practice was bad. I’m not making this up. 

After noting that human sacrifice was common within most ancient civilizations, the teacher clarified that the Incan version offered victims from the upper class because they were closer to the gods. Also, the Incas drugged children before leaving them to die of exposure on top of a mountain. Objections to this cultural practice, she continued, are primarily due to a white perspective, which focuses on the negative aspects of great civilizations while ignoring their wonderful accomplishments. 

Defending child sacrifice is the ultimate expression of cultural relativism. In this view, all cultures are equally valid, except white cultures that judge others. To paraphrase a former colleague, there is no difference between cultures that love their neighbors and cultures that eat their neighbors. 

Of course, this teacher’s innovative defense of the Incas misses a few important points. First, children as young as four were sacrificed. Even if they could consent at that age, does that make it any less horrific? But of course, they cannot. The teacher fails to mention evidence of a 4- to 5-year-old child who was tied up before being buried alive. The simplest explanation for drugging the young victims is minimizing resistance … not kindness. 

To that point, is there any scenario in which drugging a child and leaving her to die could be considered kind, even if that were the intent? Just as inconvenient to this narrative are the Incan sacrificial victims found who died from strangulation, suffocation, and being stabbed in the back.  

The most important motivator for this Incan practice is that it was considered an honor for a child to be chosen for sacrifice. So, children were frequently “volunteered” by parents in order to curry favor with the emperor. Children were offered when an Incan emperor died, on the birth of his heir, at times of crisis to lure the gods to their side, and for other ceremonial occasions. 

Another aspect of this conversation neglected by the teacher is, what changed? Why is this kind of child sacrifice today universally viewed as abhorrent. The answer is Christianity. 

Believing that every human being is made in the image of God, Christians from the earliest centuries argued for the inherent dignity of the marginalized in society, especially women, slaves, and children. Christians in Rome opposed the practice of infanticide, rescuing unwanted infants who were left to die and raising them as full members of the Christian community. They also opposed abortion. 

Thus, the defense of children became a feature of Christian witness throughout history. For example, in the 19th century, missionary Mary Slessor was known for rescuing twins who had been left to die. The tribal people of Nigeria believed one twin was always a child of a demon. Her actions ended that deadly practice.  

To be clear, sacrificing children continues to be one of the most consistent features of this fallen world. Today, aborted children are the victims of our wrong ideas about sexuality and the meaning of life. Most embryos created during the process of in vitro fertilization are deemed to be “excess,” and left to die in freezers or medical experiments. Children are taught to be confused about who they are and thus become experiments of medical sterilization and surgical mutilation, and victims of the latest religious hysteria of adults. Christians who oppose these practices today are in good company within Church history. 

As the western world detaches from its Christian foundations, we should expect that more children will be devalued and harmed in more ways. A consistent feature of pagan societies is for children to be in danger. We should expect the same as a society repaganizes.  

On the other hand, a consistent feature of Christians within a pagan society is that they worked to protect and defend children. This remains the calling of the Church today.

This article was originally published on Breakpoint.

John Stonestreet serves as president of the Colson Center, equipping Christians to live with clarity, confidence, and courage in today’s cultural moment. A sought-after speaker and author on faith, culture, theology, worldview, education, and apologetics, he has co-authored five books, including A Practical Guide to Culture, A Student’s Guide to Culture, and Restoring All Things. John hosts Breakpoint, the nationally syndicated commentary founded by Chuck Colson, and The Point, a daily one-minute feature on worldview and cultural issues. Previously, he held leadership roles at Summit Ministries and taught biblical studies at Bryan College (TN). He lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with his wife, Sarah, and their four children.

Glenn Sunshine is a professor of history at Central Connecticut State University, a Senior Fellow of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, and the founder and president of Every Square Inch Ministries. He is a speaker, the author of several books, and co-author with Jerry Trousdale of The Kingdom Unleashed.

Source: Christian Post