The other side of the effort

The U.S. government has spent millions of dollars to pay for snappy, well-produced commercials and to dispatch goodwill envoys like Karen Hughes to far-flung parts of the globe.

All with the same messages: "Our government is not on a crusade against Islam."

"We do not want to convert your sons and daughters at the point of a sword."

"You are not our enemies."

These are important messages in light of all the radical misinformation being spread by certain Islamic clerics with their own bully pulpits.

America must show itself for the religiously tolerant, multiethnic country that it is. It's Public Relations 101 and the simplest way to take the wind out of the terrorists' sails.

If you opened the Southeast Missourian on Tuesday, you saw the other side of this effort. The Missouri Baptist Convention was holding its 172nd annual meeting in Cape Girardeau, and Islam was on the agenda.

David Clippard of Holt's Summit, Mo., the organization's executive director and treasurer, had this to say:

"The real threat we are facing today is that Islam has a strategic plan to conquer and occupy America," he said, according to the article.

"They are after our sons and daughters, our students," he added.

"... The Muslim faith is peaceful as long as it is in the minority," he stressed just in case there was any ambiguity lingering in his message.

Clippard's message, as I understand it from reading the story and speaking with the reporter who covered it, is that Islam is dead-set on converting the world to its beliefs and reinstating the caliphate. The best way to combat this is by further radicalizing our own sons and daughters and sending them into battle as soldiers for Christ.

In essence, Clippard disagrees with the teachings of radical Islam but admires its methods. It's enough to make your head spin.

In order to better understand this position, I went to the Show Me Center Tuesday evening hoping to talk to Clippard.

He was occupied until late into the evening, but I was told by a helpful assistant that I had free run of the place and could interview anyone I wanted about Clippard's comments.

As luck would have it, the first person I ran across had a unique perspective on the situation. Sandra Preston has been a member of the First Baptist Church in Newport, Ky., for 45 years.

Her perspective is instructive because her son, daughter-in-law and four grandchildren are preparing to travel overseas to a Muslim country as missionaries. They'll be living and working in a central Asian nation that she could not name because its government officially forbids missionary work.

She said they will work to make friendships with locals and then, if the situation is right, invite them to their home to share the gospel.

She does not see their work as a war for souls.

"I have to think if Jesus were here he'd say go and make friends, don't go and make war. And I believe there are plenty of Muslims and plenty of Christians who are willing to do that," she said. "I think friendship and evangelism work together," she said.

Asked about Clippard's comments she said, "I know there are hard-shell Muslims and there are hard-shell Baptists. It's just one of those things with religion. Some people just get too carried away," she said.

Whatever your opinion on missionary work, it's hard to take issue with those who approach it as friendship first, gospel second. Love first, conversion somewhere down the road. Lead by example, and let God do the rest.

How different from those who look at people of other faiths and see enemies to be conquered.

TJ Greaney is a staff reporter for the Southeast Missourian.