I took the photo at right while attending the United Nations Interfaith Meeting in the Economic and Social Council chambers during the World Summit of 2005. Representatives from nations around the world met to discuss ways to bring religious unity to the world. INTERFAITHISM, as it is called, is the ecumenical movement to homogenize all the world's religions into a mutual respect society.

Discussions I heard that day focused primarily on ways to bring representatives of opposing religions together for government-sponsored efforts to diffuse opposing viewpoints, hostile rhetoric and conflicting beliefs. Examples were given of meeting held in such places as the Philippines and Indonesia where religious strife had already been brought to the table for intensive efforts for ecumenism to resolve disputes.

There is much to be said about the scads of organizations that are presently working to render all the world's religions compatible with each other. Dream on. At the heart of the issue is religious fundamentalism - the belief that many religions hold that theirs is the only true religion.

It is my view that these efforts are a wild-eyed pipe dream. Fundamentalism is going to be with us until the end of time. I, for one, am a fundamentalist Christian, and there isn't a government agency on earth that is ever going to change that - and I am certainly not alone. I'll die a fundamentalist, if it ever has to come to that. And hundreds of millions of other people feel the same as I do about their religion - whatever it may be.

The Global State of Religion

Only an ostrich would fail to see that the world is increasingly at war over religion. Many people feel that we are in a final clash of civilizations: especially when it comes to the showdown between radical Islam and “Christendom” of the West.

“Kill the Infidels”

In the Middle Ages, Roman Catholic Crusaders were the first to articulate the need to "kill the infidels," refering to Muslims. Now, the tides have turned. Hundreds of millions of Islamic fundamentalists declare Jihad (holy war) on the "infidels" of the West.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad parrots the religious edicts of his Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that Israel must be “wiped off the map.” It was the previous Ayatollah who famously called the United States“the Great Satan." Ahmadinejad believes he is the forerunner of Shia Islam's Twelfth Mahdi (or Iman) who is imminently expected to appear on the world scene. He furthermore believes in the Shia doctrine that the Twelfth Mahdi will appear only when the world appears to be spinning out of control due to a global warfare in which Muslims will be engaged. Ahmadinejad therefore believes that it is his sacred duty to perpetrate a global holy jihad against the "Great Satan" - America, the "little Satan" - Israel, and overthrow all infidels everywhere and forcefully convert the entire world to his brand of Islam. That is why he is hell-bent on having vast nuclear arms capabilities - a dream that is probably already fulfilled.

Annan: United Nations is the world’s only hope

In his final address to the UN General Assembly before his term expired, Secretary General Kofi Annan blamed the world’s biggest dangers on religion. His remarks pointed to “insensitivity” toward other people’s beliefs, and criticized those who are eager to foment a global religious war. He said no other conflict reaches so far from the battlefields of the Middle East. His conclusion was that a truly United Nations is the only answer to the problems of this divided world.

Solana warns of growing gaps

Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, spoke at Bill Clinton’s 2006 New York “Clinton Initiative.” He said that the gap between the Muslim world and the West has increased significantly. “The divide that persists in the world is more profound than we think, and we better be aware of that. It’s not getting smaller, but growing.” He also warned that Muslims should not be provoked, even for the sake of free speech and open thought. He urged governments to take action to prevent further division and establish ties between civilizations.
 
Nevertheless, Catholicism and Judaism "dig in"

In the wake of radical Islam's aggressions, Pope Benedict XVI has now reaffirmed the historical Catholic doctrine that eternal salvation can only be had through proper communion administered by a priest in the Roman Catholic church.

Calls for Christianity to be silenced as Islam rages

While Islam rages, hostility toward Christians is becoming epidemic. In late 2006, a week-long series on National Public Radio appealed for tolerance of Muslims. Unbelievably, at the same time, the ACLU (American Communist League Union) is fighting to keep Bibles away from elementary school students in Missouri. A U.S. Navy chaplain faced a court-martial for praying “in Jesus’ name.” NBC edited references to God and the Bible from the VeggieTales children’s program. In New Zealand, efforts are underway to remove references to Jesus from all government ceremonies.
 
Antichrist Rising

Despite all these incredible developments, enormous numbers of people still think that the solution is to press on toward "Interfaithism,” another word for Ecumenism, or mutual acceptance of all religions.

Those who refuse to cooperate with "interfaithism," in the end, will have to be destroyed. As Mikhail Gorbachev has said, “to extirpate [remove or totally destroy] all religious exclusivism.”

That means that the future of global religion will be to silence everyone who thinks they have the only way to God. In the same way that Canada has criminalized anti-homosexual speech, many of the core beliefs of Judeo-Christianity may soon become illegal at an international level, punishable by fines and imprisonment, prosecutable through the International Criminal Court.

As I see it, Interfaithism will ultimately become as dangerous as radical Islam, except that interfaithism will extirpate fundamentalists of every kind - Christian, Muslim, or whatever else. While radical Islam now declares war on all the infidels who do not believe as they do, Interfaithism will eventually do the very same, except that it will have the force of world government behind it.

Can it, or will it ever happen this way? The momentum is definitely there, but the prophecies of the Bible clearly foresee a pre-emptive attack when Jesus Christ returns to earth to take His rightful dominion. All His opponents will be done away with at Armageddon, and He, as God, will set all the world in order.

If anybody anywhere has the right to extirpate his opponents, Jesus does. He created all this in the first place. It belongs to Him. He can and should do as He pleases to bring it all to order.

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Ken Raggio

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