Everybody get together

Tomorrow we're visiting the Canadian Embassy. Yes, that's right - 25 American students, 2 American staff members, an Egyptian staff member, and me. Hey, I'm just opening the doors of their world a little wider (as well as giving them the opportunity to hear the point of view of another Western country). I've never actually been to the embassy myself, I've just been emailing them, so I'm looking forward to it. However, I feel like I have to take some personal responsibility for this so if it's a fruitless meeting, it may be on my shoulders (whether that's a valid feeling or not I don't know). At the beginning of the semester one of the students asked me the question, "So... what does the government in Canada do exactly?" and I guess tomorrow the students will get a chance to figure out at least part of the answer.

I was reading something today by Colin Chapman (a well known British preacher and Middle East scholar) on Islamic terrorism and Christians' response and he quotes an article (written by an American) in the Wall Street Journal about Islamic radicalism (and its roots) that I found really thought-provoking. Here's some role-reversal for you:

"How do we [(North) Americans] appear to them [Muslims], and what would it be like were our places in the world reversed . . . Suppose there existed today a powerful, unified Arab-Muslim state that stretched from Algeria to Turkey and Arabia - as there was 400 years ago, the Ottoman Empire. Suppose this unified Arab-Muslim state had the biggest economy in the world, and the most effective military. Suppose by contrast this United States of ours had split into 12 or 15 countries with different regimes, some conservative and corrupt. Suppose that the great Arab-Muslim power had its aircraft carriers crusing off our shores, its aircraft flying over our lands, its satellites watching us every day. Suppose that its multinational corporations had reached into North America to extract oil, and paid the corrupt, conservative governments big royalties for that. Suppose that it dominates all international institutions like the Security Council and the IMF. Suppose that there was a special state set up in North America fifty years ago, of a different religion and language to ours, and the giant Arab-Muslim power always gave it support. Suppose the Colossus staet was bombarding us with cultural messages, about the status of women, about sexuality, that we found offensive. Suppose it was always urging us to change, to modernise, to go global, to follow its example. Hmm... in those conditions, would not many Americans steadily grow to loath that Colossus, wish it harm? And perhaps try to harm it? I think so' (15).

This justifies nothing but simply suggests that as Chapman points out, "a firm stand against terrorism needs to go hand in hand with serious reflection about the root cause of terrorism."