It has been one year since American troops withdrew from Afghanistan. Taliban soldiers marked the day with celebrations and declared a public holiday. Afghanistan has largely returned to life as a Muslim nation with women and girls banned from school and required to wear the burqa. With the assassination of Al-Qaeda’s leader in Kabul last month, it would seem that the country is an incubator for terrorism once again. But the nation is also subject to intra-Muslim violence. An explosion at a Sunni mosque in Kabul that claimed the lives of at least 21 people was carried out by a rival ISIS group. 

While disputes within Islam seem a world away from most of our readers’ lives, the recent violent attack on author Salman Rushdie at a public event in the USA is a reminder that devout Muslims are serious about protecting the honor of their religion. Any Christian who has dipped into the Qur’an even just a little will be struck by the open-ended nature of its commands. There is no limiting context— the instruction to kill and subjugate non-Muslims is incumbent on all Muslims for all time. So while Muslim spokesmen can condemn violence, it is hard to escape the fact that their book mandates it.

While we in the Western world have other false religions to counter, we remember the suffering churches and the saints who face physical danger every day at the hand of this man-made religion. Pray that Muslims will be freed from the lie of violent works-righteousness and hate.

In related news, the 9/11 memorial in New York City announced it is closing due to lack of patronage.