COMMENTARY: Communism Failed to Destroy Christianity; Islam Extremism Will Also Fail

Before the year 1991, communism was the greatest threat to Christianity. It was the year 1917 when the Bolshevik Revolution brought communism -- along with its atheistic philosophy -- to Russia.

And it was the year 1945 -- at the end of World War II -- when Russia began to occupy several Eastern European countries and to impose its atheistic communist doctrine on these countries. Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia were some of these countries in which Christians were no longer free to worship, because they lived under communist rule.

Fortunately for Christians in these countries, the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, and communism was replaced with capitalism. The former Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe regained their independence, and the Christians in these countries were able to practice their religion again without fear of being persecuted by communist rulers.

Today, Christians living in many countries around the world are encountering a different threat to their Christian worship: Islamic fundamentalism. The fact is that Christians are being killed in Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan, and other predominantly Islamic nations just because they are Christians. Indonesia -- which has more Muslims than any other country in the world -- has indicated that it wants to get rid of all Christians who live there.

Since Muslim terrorists crashed American planes into the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 -- killing some 1,000 innocent people -- Islamic terrorism has been occurring in several countries around the world.

Just why are Muslim terrorists committing these terrorist acts? Muslim extremists view Christianity as their enemy, and they will try to destroy it any way that they can. Threats and attacks against Christian nations that pass laws which Muslims consider unfavorable toward Islam have become common.

For example, Switzerland has been targeted by Muslim extremists for passing a law a little over a year ago that bans minarets from being built on mosques. Likewise, France is on the Muslim "hit list" for passing a law last year forbidding women from wearing the customary Muslim veil in public in that country.

Muslim extremists do not like America, because they believe America is biased against Palestinians and favors Israelis when the United States serves as mediator of Israeli-Palestinian disputes. The fact that Israel is America's closest ally in the Middle East also results in Islamic hatred of the United States.

Muslim extremists have also indicated that they will commit terrorist acts against nations that have sent troops to help Americans fight the war in Afghanistan -- a predominantly Muslim country.

Despite their multiple threats and terrorist attacks against Christian nations during the past decade, Islamic extremists have not had an impact in their primary goal to destroy Christianity.

Just as the communist effort to destroy Christianity ended in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union, so too will the Islamic fundamentalists' attempts to destroy Christianity fail, and hopefully come to an end in the near future.

Muslim extremists need to realize that their barbaric terrorist acts are not the least bit effective in destroying Christianity. Indeed, the sooner that they realize this fact and end their savage acts, the better for Islam, and the better for Christianity and the entire world.