"Reconciliation", by Benazir Bhutto-a Reaction

The former Prime Minister of Pakistan and recent martyr to the cause of democracy in Pakistan and around the world, Benazir Bhutto, left behind a powerful book, finished as her life came to a tragic end.

"Reconciliation" covers a lot of territory in its three hundred pages.

She lays charges at the feet of the West for what we have done as a ‘civilization’ to exacerbate conditions that have led to our global war on terror. She lays out the tragic but still-hopeful history of her beloved nation and her family’s sacrifices to build a sustainable democracy. She speaks of her beloved Islam and indicts the extremists who have sought to turn her religion into a sponsor of terror instead of a sponsor of peace. She takes to task and then takes apart the governing paradigmatic foreign policy essay “The Clash of Civilizations” by Samuel Huntingdon.

She leaves us with several conclusions. First, democratic ideals are NOT antithetical to Islam. Second, the “global war on terror”, in large measure, is a battle within Islam between moderates and extremists. Third, much foreign policy by the democratic powers of the West, especially the United States, has fed into the battle within Islam. Fourth, if the West would feed the democratic processes at work in Islamic nations, the ideals could emerge and as they did, as the economic benefits were advanced to the people of these nations, extremism would be starved on the vine.

What job does that leave for Christianity? How does the Church, seeking to fulfill the Great Commission, consider its role in the workings of Pakistan and other Muslim nations? Extremist Islamic rhetoric equates any mission work we do as continuing the Crusades of eight centuries ago. Even moderate Islamic reaction to the presence of missionaries has been to outlaw such behavior. There is also an identification of Western missionary activity with perceived Western ‘imperialist’ activity.

I believe peacemaking is part of the Great Commission. According to 1Timothy 2, God desires everyone to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. The purpose for that is mentioned one verse earlier, so that we may lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and dignity. Maybe our place in the mission field of the Islamic nations is to take the lead in bringing real peace, in bringing real, sustainable economic growth, in bringing real freedom. Maybe the place we must start is in the deeds that mark us as believers in Jesus Christ. The words will follow.

Remember the hymn, “They will know we are Christians by our love.”