I know you guys don't really need me to find Instapundit, but I found one comment by Glenn really interesting. After quoting
an article discussing how Christian missionaries have been successful at converting Muslims in Indonesia,
Glenn says of Christianity's appeal: "Plus there's the lack of exhortations to suicide bombing, which many probably see as a plus. Those 'more moderate' leaders might want to work with that."
The moderate Muslims of Indonesia are helping their government oppose the Islamofascists, but in return, they want the government to stop missionaries from converting Muslims. I know that Christians and Muslims take a different view on these matters, and the fact that I'm an
American Christian probably colors my view even further, but I believe that all views should be able to compete in the marketplace of ideas, even religious beliefs. Of course, I can say this with confidence since Christianity has a history of growing best where it must compete with other faiths and worldviews. But I would no more want to forcefully prevent a Christian from converting to Islam than to stop a Muslim from converting to Christianity. Whenever I hear of Christians converting to Islam, my first thought is to wonder whether they were coerced, as happens in many parts of the world. My second thought is that they probably were not that committed to Christianity in the first place. Many, many Christians are what we call culturally Christian--raised that way, calling themselves that, but not really committed. Not all, but I would guess most, Christians who convert to other religions were cultural Christians. They had no real relationship to Christ (what being a Christian is all about) to begin with. While I don't want to see them moving even further away, I believe that moving from effective materialism with a coating of nominal Christianity to a worldview that takes spiritual matters seriously is actually a step closer for many of them, and there is hope that they will come full circle and find the Christianity they missed growing up. For my part, I will do my best to convince them, but I'll do that by argument and persuasion, not by protecting them from hearing alternative worldviews.
I imagine that the mirror image to this is happening in Indonesia: cultural Muslims finding in Christianity a vibrant spiritual life they had missed before. If these moderate Muslim leaders are at all confident of their religion, they should expect that they can hold onto believers, and win back those they have lost, by persuasion in the open marketplace of religious beliefs.
