Of course not. But apparently Brad Hughes over at American Thinker believes that they are. He writes of a "worldview war":
I'm curious as to how he came to this conclusion; let's read his article, shall we?
"with secular humanism and Islam as co-belligerents on one side and Judeo-Christian America on the other."
He opens up with a Bible passage as his first piece of evidence (Ephesians 6:12 - New International Version no less! Doesn't he know that anything other than King James is blasphemy?), setting the stage for what can only be a well-researched exposition.
Next we have a dictionary definition of the term "worldview", presumably to establish its meaning for the purpose of the discussion:
A worldview is a comprehensive framework of ideas and beliefs from which an individual interprets his surroundings and circumstances. It is this view of reality that consequently directs the decisions and actions of the individual, and also of nations. According to Dr. David Noebel, worldview expert, worldviews are composed of ten different disciplines: theology, politics, economics, philosophy, biology, history, ethics, law, sociology, and psychology.
Thanks, Dr. David Noebel. I'm excited to see Brad dissect the worldviews of militant Islam and secular humanism side-by-side according to your ten point definition, with quotes from the Quran and the latest Humanist Manifesto to back up his assertions.
The Islamic and humanist worldviews compared side-by-side
Oh, wait. He doesn't. We're already moving on to his next point:
There are primarily six worldviews contending for the 6.9 billion people on Earth, with Islam, secular humanism, and Christianity chief among them.
Wow, that's fascinating! And by listing Christianity last, are you implying that it's the underdog struggling for survival against the big two? According to all of the data I've seen (this Wikipedia page compiles several surveys), Christianity is the clear frontrunner, with Islam 600 million people behind at position two. It looks like Buddhism and Hinduism are next in terms of number of adherents, though a few of the charts plot "nonreligious" in third place instead (roughly half of which are atheist/agnostic). Do we have data on how many of the "nonreligious" subscribe to the philosophy of secular humanism?
The "nonreligious" category: how many are humanists?
Of course there's no data. (We'll just have to assume that all atheists, agnostics, and other nonreligious people are humanists for the sake of argument.) He just goes on to talk about the common influences of bin Laden and Khomeini before making more assertions about humanists:
Secular humanism increasingly supports the Islamists' position in the battle against the Judeo-Christian worldview. Secular humanists currently dominate the government, education, the media, and the legal institutions in the United States.
Secular humanism may be the fastest-growing worldview in America. It has also been declared a religion by the U.S. Supreme Court; the American Humanist Association has been given an IRS religious tax exemption.
Wow, we're in control of America? And here I thought that those institutions were largely run by moderate Christians who had learned to function in an inclusive secular society. When do we get to start putting the Happy Human logo up in courthouses? How about having the next President sworn in by a humanist celebrant? I can understand if you're upset that our national motto is "In God We Trust" instead of something more explicitly Christian, or that the entertainment industry doesn't inject a Jesus reference into every movie, pop album, and TV show.
(I'm disappointed so far, Brad. You keep raising issues and then not exploring them. I had my hopes up, and they're starting to falter.)
Islam and Humanism: working together toward common objectives
Brad goes on to list the ways in which the goals of Muslim extremists and secular humanists are compatible. For example, both want a One World Government; Islam seeks global umma, and apparently all humanists are big-government socialists. Also, Muslims want separation of church and state so that we can all live under sharia law, the most secular system of government known to humanity.
And then there's this:
The best argument in the whole piece
And then there's this:
The history of Islamists joining efforts with humanists is longstanding. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem allied with Hitler's Germany to annihilate the Jews.
Ah yes. Heil Hitler, whose brutal empire was the very model of humanism. North Korea too, as Brad mentions later in the article when giving stats on persecution of Christians.
The rest of the article is about global Jihad and how Arab immigrants destroyed Detroit, concluding with a rallying cry for good Christians and Jews to stand up against these "evil combatants". I personally think he should have saved the Hitler line for last; people don't take you seriously if you fulfill Godwin's Law too early on.
Was this worth my time? Probably not, but I sure had fun.
