Destiny Phillips Coats

As young believers in a Christian environment, we often forgot the rest of the world does not think the same as we do. 32 percent of the world is composed of Christians across the globe. 63 percent of Americans claim to be affiliated with a church. That is 247 million people out of roughly 321 million people. With those huge numbers and big percentages, why does it seem like around the world, but specifically America, Christianity is being vehemently opposed? This is because there are strong competing worldviews in direct opposition to Christianity. One’s worldview affects the way he sees himself and those like him, those different from him, and the world itself. Two opposing worldviews to Christianity today are Islam and Marxism. As young Christians, it is extremely important to understand these main worldviews before we enter the adult world so we can be knowledgeable when spreading God’s word and understanding the times.

In examining both of these worldviews, one must know the key terms that build the worldview itself up. When an American hears “Islam,” words like religion, Allah, terrorist, and Muhammad are things that come to his mind. Things like this come to their minds because when America as a nation has interacted with Islam, it is typically associated with these words also. Personal encounters with Islam will cause individuals to have more, less, or different words be associated with Islam also. What is Islam in and of itself? Islam is defined as a theistic worldview centered on the life of the prophet Muhammad that derives its understanding of the world thought the teachings of the Quran, Hadith, and Sunnah. Key words to understanding this definition are theistic, Muhammad, Quran, Hadith, and Sunnah. Theistic is an adjective for something that believes in the existence of god. In the Muslim religion, there is one “true” god. Islam originated from revelation given to Muhammad from the angel Gabriel. Gabriel is an angel from the Christian faith. Muslims, Islam’s followers, believe themselves to worship the same god as the Jews. “God” in Arabic is “Allah.” The Quran is the holy book of Islam. It is full of dictations from Muhammad, which Muslims believe is the direct word of Allah. The “Hadith” is the oral history of Muhammad’s teachings, rulings, and the actions of himself and his early companions. The Sunnah is the specific part of the Hadith describing Muhammad’s exemplary actions. This definition of Islam as a worldview explains where the ideas that shape the worldview come from. Muslims view themselves, others, and the world per the teachings found in their main doctrine, the Quran.

Unlike Marxism, Post Modernism, and Secularism, Islam is not only a worldview but also a religion. Because of the religious practices and teachings of Islam, a perception of life itself is also developed. The three perceptions worldviews deal with are oneself and those like him, others, and the world. “Islam” translated to English is “submission to the will of god.” Based upon the Quran, the world itself is divinely created by the one true Allah. They see the world in complete “submission” to Allah. Because everything is in submission to Allah, everyone is a Muslim at birth. Muslims see themselves as inherently Muslim. They are in submission to Allah. If Islam claims everyone is Muslim, how does it explain the lack of the whole world worshipping Allah as one Islamic body of believers? Those who do not believe in Islam are seen to be in rebellion against Allah. Based on the Islamic worldview, the world is divinely created and in submission to Allah; people themselves are born inherently Muslim; those who deny Islam are in rebellion against Allah. If an entire group of people see everyone unlike them, in rebellion to their deity, what is the action to be taken? In the Quran and exemplified in the Hadith, Muslims are to wage jihad or “holy war” against those in rebellion against Islam.

According to Islam, jihad has two meanings. Translated to “struggle” in English, jihad is both the inner spiritual battle of every Muslim to fulfill his/her religious duties and the outer, physical struggle against the enemies of Islam. Just like any other religion, practices and rituals come with being a part of Islam. These include following Shariah Law and participating in the Five Pillars of Islam. This is the inner jihad. The outer jihad is to physically fight against those who do not believe in or submit to Allah. Do all Muslims believe they are called to fight against those who do not agree with their worldview? No. The population of Muslims who actually wage war on “infidels” or nonbelievers is very little, but those who do are simply following the teachings of their worldview. Both forms of jihad are justified in the Quran. Examples are in Surrahs 3-5.

And their Lord hath heard them (and He saith): Lo! I suffer not the work of any worker, male or female, to be lost. Ye proceed one from another. So those who fled and were driven forth from their homes and suffered damage for My cause, and fought and were slain, verily I shall remit their evil deeds from them and verily I shall bring them into Gardens underneath which rivers flow — A reward from Allah. And with Allah is the fairest of rewards (Surrah 3:195).

This passage is one of many that claims those who fight and perish for the name of Allah will be pardoned from all sin and greatly rewarded by Allah. A lot of Americans think because a very small percentage of Muslims are openly radical, the faith of Islam itself is not a threat, just those specific jihadists (those who practice the outer holy war against infidels). However, what is the danger of a worldview that believes everyone is in direct rebellion against god and is to be warred against? The one word answer is terrorism. Does every Muslim seek to destroy the lives of infidels? No. But Muslims look at the life of Muhammad and his followers like Christians do the first century church. They desire to emulate them. Muhammad and his followers spread Islam by military conquest. They used violent force to convert people to their faith, thus creating a culture of people who believe in Islam as a worldview. They used fear to create Islamic societies. Like the Christian religion, Islam shapes the way you think. The way one thinks will have a huge bearing on his actions. Because of the early Caliphs and how they interpreted their religion, they acted violently toward nonbelievers, creating one of the strongest empires the world has ever seen. What is to stop Muslims today from rising and waging war on all the world for the sake of Allah? People around the world cannot afford to think groups like ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and political powers in Iraq are simply all about power. What they are doing is tied to their faith, their worldview. If the rest of the world is not careful, we will find ourselves fighting a battle we welcomed into our own backyard.

Often people think Communism died with Stalin. That is not true. The average person also is not completely aware of what Communism means or where it comes from. Communism is a societal structure that flourishes under the worldview developed by Karl Marx, Marxism. Marxism is an atheistic and materialistic worldview based on the ideas of Karl Marx that promotes the abolition of private property, public ownership of the means of production (i.e., socialism), and the utopian dream of a future communistic state. Key terms to understanding Marxism as a worldview are communism, socialism, class struggle, atheistic, and materialistic. Communism is the Marxist ideal of a classless and stateless utopian society in which all property is commonly owned and each person is paid according to his or her abilities and needs. Socialism is an economic system based upon governmental or communal ownership of the means of production and distribution of goods and services. Class struggle is the economic and social differences between the upper and lower classes. Atheistic is a descriptor meaning a thing does not believe in the existence and or relevance of God. Materialistic is a descriptor meaning a thing believes nothing exists except the material world we can see and observe.

Like Christianity and Islam, Marxism as a worldview tells a
“metanarrative” — a single, overarching interpretation (or grand story) of reality. Christianity and Islam start with divine creation. Because Marxism is atheistic, it cannot entertain divine creation. The only thing left to believe is evolution. Marxism’s “holy book” is The Communist Manifesto written by Karl Marx himself. Marx starts his metanarrative with the world history of class struggles. In this first portion of the manifesto, Marx explains the historical misfortunes of the world as a struggle between the rich and the poor or the “bourgeoisie” and the “proletariat.” He gives example of master and slave, lord and serf, and upper and lower class. What is the cause for class distinctions? Money! Money is the deciding factor between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. So to Marx, the problem and solution for mankind is economics.

Before Marx’s time, democracies, republics, feudal systems, monarchies, and dictatorships had been tried. None seemed to work because of the corruption of the bourgeoisie from their money. Marx concluded in a society where everyone works, one is paid according to that work and what he needs to live, with nothing more and nothing less; everyone can be happy and equal. This is communism. Communism is a societal structure in which there is no such thing as “mine” but instead “ours.” Everything within society belongs to the people. No matter how much more work one does over another, he walks away with only what he needs. Everything is owned by everyone. The strong make up for the weak and everyone gets their fair share. This seems all good and fine until one stops and thinks. How many people are going to be willing to release all their revenue to benefit those who did not work for it? Not very many. Marx knew this. He knew communist perfection or “utopia” (an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect) could not be obtained without violent overthrow of the bourgeoisie by the proletariat, the oppressor by the oppressed.

The societal enemy of Marxism is the rich or bourgeoisie. The economic enemy of Marxism is capitalism. Capitalism is an economic system in which capital assets are privately owned, and the prices, production, and distribution of goods and services are determined by competition within a free market. Two words that obviously make capitalism an enemy of Marxism are “privately” and “competition.” Marxism is all about the abolition of private anything and everything. Competition implies there will be someone on top and someone on the bottom. Marxism desires for all people to be on an equal playing field at all times. If communism calls for the equal distribution of wealth always in perfect harmony, how does one get there from capitalism? The answer is socialism. According to Marx, socialism is the path to communism and will inevitably always end up at the communist utopia. Socialism is a word more of us are familiar with. Recent presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is a proclaimed socialist. Europe is governed by a social democracy. China and North Korea are governed by a cross between communism and dictatorships with an economic combination of socialism and capitalism as well. We can see from these few examples Marxism is not dead but very much alive and well in influential parts of the world. So as a worldview, how does Marxism view its followers, outsiders, and the world?

Marxism’s view of the world is evolutionary. Evolution is progressive — always moving forward and getting better. If the social end in Marxism is communism, they view the world and people as always progressing toward socialism and eventually to communism. Marxists believe the world will inevitably arrive at utopia through a communist state. Marxist claims those who believe and drive society to this social end is the oppressed, the proletariat. Everyone against this inevitable social end is the rich, the bourgeoisie. The problem with Marxism is not its diagnosis for the world but rather its prescription and treatment. Because Marxism is atheistic, good and evil, moral and immoral do not have a universally understood standard. Instead, good or moral is anything and everything geared toward the advancement of the proletariat and the eradication of the bourgeoisie. Bad is everything in opposition to the proletariat. This definition of good and bad justifies all behavior that progresses the proletariat agenda. This is what must concern the world. Today it might seem like people desiring marriage equality and cheap affordable all-inclusive health care is a simple policy fix. But if a generation of people viewing good as what supports the agenda they have, a violent overthrow like that of Germany during WWII will overtake hundreds of modern day societies.

Unlike Islam, it is not our job as Christians to wage war on nonbelievers. God tells us in Scripture not all of mankind will come to the knowledge of Him. We know there will be those who vehemently deny the faith. We know there will be people who try to manipulate the faith to suit their own ideologies. With that knowledge, what must we do? We are called to love all those who are made in the image of God and spread the Gospel with everyone regardless if they become believers or not. Both Islam and Marxism seek to wrongfully control mankind. Islam seeks to war against all in opposition to it. Marxism claims all actions, no matter how vile, are good if they progress to communism. Moreover, Marxists believe the only way to reach utopia is through violence. What an oxymoron: violence will bring about peace? That goes completely against the current natural order of violence and disorder creating more violence and more disorder. Islam and Marxism believe all who are opposed to them deserve death and punishment. Christianity proclaims those who do not believe are to be loved and witnessed to until the point of death. God does not call us to wage war against His opposers, but rather show them love, thus revealing His character. Scripture contains all the tools necessary to build a case for itself against any argument. God foresaw all the ideas His truth would face. Because God declared we “are the head and not the tail,” we can always come out on top in any argument or situation if we present the truth contained in the Scriptures. However, it is our duty to also understand what we are up against so we might be able to defend the hope within us properly and adequately.