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In the 1990s, Americans—evangelicals included—were beguiled by grand utopian illusions. Basking in prosperity, we assumed our 401Ks would keep us fabulously wealthy. One scholar, Francis Fukuyama, famously wrote that we had arrived at The End of History; Western liberal democracy had won the great ideological struggle of the 20th century. Some interpreted this to mean that, with America the only remaining superpower, peace and prosperity were assured.

Those visions lie in the twisted wreckage of September 11.

The most accurate prophet of the '90s, it turns out, was Harvard's Samuel Huntington, who warned of a clash of civilizations in the 21st century, divided along historic religious boundaries—the Christian West, the Confucian East, and Islam's scattered nations.

The attacks proved Huntington right. Great clashes of worldview—that is, how people understand ultimate reality—continue to divide the world, and will do so until the true end of history when the Lord returns.

More than ever, Christians must be aware of new battle lines in the struggle of worldviews. The terrorist attacks delivered a body blow to postmodernism. Can anyone who saw the incineration of thousands of innocent Americans believe, as postmodernists teach, that there is no objective reality, no good or evil, or that all cultures are morally equivalent?

At the same time, the attacks sharpened the lines between extreme Islam and the Christian West, which were drawn in blood 13 centuries ago. Islam is not a monolith, and even now Muslims are struggling afresh to define it; but on key points it radically differs from Christianity.

Islam's worldview sees God as remote, utterly transcendent. Christians worship a God who became flesh and intimately knowable and personal through the Incarnation. Muslims believe that humans are born good but are corrupted by non-Islamic cultures. Christians believe we are fallen and thus in need of salvation.

This leads to profound differences. For Islamists, the best hope of salvation is to eliminate non-Muslim influences and to advance Islam (by force if necessary, for which there are heavenly rewards, as the terrorists believed). The Muslim faces an uncertain outcome on Judgment Day based on his works. Christians are confident of a full pardon because of Christ's work.

Because they do not believe in original sin, fundamentalist Muslim leaders are utopian; they seek the perfect society by strictly enforcing Islamic law. But this utopian worldview has already brought tyranny and disaster, just as communist utopianism led to the tragic deaths of tens of millions in the former Soviet Union.

While Islamists want to enforce a theocracy, most Christians live peacefully with competing value systems. Christians believe in winning people through love, not conquest. Although most Muslims are peace-loving, the Qur'an does speak of jihads.

Why is it important to understand these differences?

First, it is important in evangelizing Muslims, many of whom are disillusioned by the terrorist violence. Second, it is necessary to resist Muslims who are evangelizing Americans. Muslims, who consider the Trinity blasphemy against Allah, are handing out tracts on college campuses charging that Christians worship three gods. Christians must defend Trinitarian doctrine as well as expose the flaws in Islam's worldview.

It is important also for geopolitical reasons. Osama bin Laden is bent on overthrowing moderate Muslim governments and leading a holy war. Understanding this agenda and the Islamic injunctions that drive it informs our political judgments.

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January 7 2002, Vol. 46, No. 1