Not making me feel any better about Iraq

Recently, I expressed my own personal worries about Iraq. The bottom line: I'm afraid that brother Bush's inadequately Biblical view of man has him overly optimistic. The idea that freedom and responsibility can thrive without a Biblical worldview... not likely.

And where did we go before Iraq? Who did we liberate? That would be Afghanistan, a genuine success story on many levels. The always-wrong Bush-hating mainstream media assured us that it could not be done, and we did it in fairly short order.

But what have we today? A man is on trial for his life. Why? What was his crime? Murder? No. What, then? Oh, it's an Islamic country. Was he -- gasp -- telling people the truth about Jesus, and themselves? Was he (cue dramatic music) proselytizing?

Nope. He's simply guilty of the "crime" of converting from Islam to Christ. Read Michelle about it.

So is that where Iraq is going? I said the only hope I saw was if genuine religious freedom allowed for the preaching of Christ. Is Afghanistan a model? If so, then I see no hope at all.

UPDATE: Two bending-over-backwards disclaimers. First, I do not know a great deal about Islam. Second, if the press reports on Islam as fairly, accurately, and impartially as it reports on Biblical Christianity, then those reports are never to be trusted.

Having said all that, how do you find a happy face for this?

"He is not crazy. He went in front of the media and confessed to being a Christian," said Hamidullah, chief cleric at Haji Yacob Mosque.

"The government is scared of the international community. But the people will kill him if he is freed."

"He is not mad. The government are playing games. The people will not be fooled," said Abdul Raoulf, cleric at Herati Mosque. "This is humiliating for Islam. ... Cut off his head."

I heard the one Muslim I know -- a genuinely nice and completely likable guy, for all I can tell -- complaining that the press distorts things. But you know, and I know, that if any Christian said anything like this, every other Christian with access to a microphone, telephone, or keyboard would be everywhere denouncing him as a dangerous nutcase, and disowning him from head to toe.