Jihad vs. Imago Dei: The Need to Teach Natural Law and a Biblical Worldview
 
Jihad vs. Imago Dei: The Need to Teach Natural Law and a Biblical Worldview
Written By Kathy Athearn   |   10.25.23
Reading Time: 4 minutes

As Dean of the Regent University School of Government, Michele Bachmann emphasized on the October 19 episode of Family Research Council’s “Washington Watch” that in addition to teaching accurate history (including the Holocaust and September 11, 2001), American schools and parents must teach Judeo-Christian values summed up in the Ten Commandments.

Among these values is the concept of Imago Dei (the sanctity of human life for all human beings) and the freedoms of religion and speech which are guaranteed in the First Amendment of the Constitution.

Students absolutely must learn about these values and freedoms and appreciate and defend them in contrast with the radical Islamic jihadists’ beliefs of Hamas who view Jews as subhuman and want to eradicate them and others.

Unbelievably, the United States indirectly helps indoctrinate Palestinian children with antisemitic rhetoric by funding the United Nations Relief & Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). On the October 16 episode of “Washington Watch,” Founder and Director of Palestinian Media Watch, Itamar Marcus, spoke with Family Research Council President Tony Perkins about UNRWA and how it uses international aid to fund the indoctrination of children with anti-Semitic hatred and lies.

UNRWA was established in 1949 as a temporary solution to the Palestinian refugee crisis but has become a permanent entity. It has poisoned generations with anti-Israel and antisemitic indoctrination.

They receive about $1 billion per year, 58% of which is earmarked for education, including children’s television programs. These programs teach them to loathe Jews, question the existence of the Jewish state of Israel, justifies Jihad and terrorism, and promotes martyrdom.

The Trump administration eliminated taxpayer funding of UNWRA. However, the Biden administration restarted United States contributions last year and gave it additional dollars. Just this past June, an additional $153 million was given from the United States to UNRWA.

Marcus explained that Palestinian Authority children’s television programs teach them that Jews are “humanoids,” may be Satan disguised as humans, and descendant of apes and pigs.

“When they [Hamas] were running through the streets and murdering Israelis, a lot of the films showed them yelling the words ‘Allah Akbar.’ That means ‘Allah is the greatest.’ That is also screamed out from the mosques when they are having worship, ‘Allah Akbar.’ They felt that the murder of Jews was worship of Allah.”

Marcus went on to say,

“One of the worst things that’ve taught these kids is that they should go out and die for Allah [child martyrdom]. That if they go out and they get killed fighting for Islam and fighting against Jews and they’re killed, that’s the best thing that could happen to them. Instead of seeing death as something terrible, they’ve told the kids that death is actually something admirable.”

Perkins responded,

“That’s different than even from our Christian faith where Jesus said, ‘Greater love hath no man than to lie down his life for his friends.’ It’s not dying to take someone else’s life –it’s dying to save someone else. This is the reverse of that. They’re being taught to go and kill the people, and it’s glorified if they die in the process.”

Rabbi Yaakov Menken, Managing Director of the Coalition of Jewish Values, was interviewed by Perkins on the October 12 episode of “Washington Watch.” He, too, described the religious views of Hamas jihadists:

Perkins:

“These individuals [Hamas] and what they did. . .to babies, what they did to innocent women, what they did to old people –this is beyond anything that a human being could do. This is demonic and this is evil like we’ve never seen before. And any form or fashion to coddle that here in the United States by some group should be totally, totally denounced by everyone.”

Menken:

“I think that’s absolutely true. The Nazis tried to hide what they were doing. There definitely are certain elements here where Hamas –they believe this a religious ideology. Imagine that. That’s their religion: to believe that carving off a baby’s head is the right thing to do. It’s beyond anything imaginable. The Nazis regarded eliminating the Jews as something distasteful that they had to do. Hamas looks at it as something that they love to do. It’s explicitly genocidal at the outset.”

He went on to say,

“Consider that the entire Students for Justice in Palestine is now revealed as a barbaric, hateful, terrorist support organization in the United States. . .Your alma mater, dear viewer, dear listener, your alma mater may well have a chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine. Which means that your alumni dues. . .your donation is going to fund this anti-Semitic terror support until Students for Justice in Palestine which is on over 100 American campuses is completely pushed off. There is freedom of speech –there is not freedom of hate. It is now revealed the SJP is only about hate and barbarism and you must participate in pushing it out.”

Perkins:

“That absolutely must be countered with voices that speak truth and won’t be intimidated.”

*PragerU offers very interesting educational videos that help explain the history of Israel and the Jews’ relationship with the Palestinians.

You can find them at PragerU.com.


Kathy Athearn
Kathy Athearn is a correspondence writer at Family Research Council. She is passionate about applying a biblical worldview to the public sphere. She and her husband live in West Michigan with their three children....
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