http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=8article=4586
Founding Father Elias Boudinot on Islam
| by | Dave Miller, Ph.D. |
American
views of Islam going back to the origins of America have been generally
consistent. With a Christian worldview intact at the beginning,
Americans have naturally recognized Islam’s inherent hostility toward
Christianity and its fundamental threat to the American way of life. For
example, Elias Boudinot was a premiere Founding Father with a long and
distinguished career. He served as a member of the Continental Congress,
where he served as its president (1782-1783); he signed the Treaty of
Peace with Great Britain; he was a member of the U.S. House where he
helped frame the Bill of Rights; he served as the Director of Mint under
presidents Washington and Adams; etc. In his masterful refutation of
Thomas Paine’s Age of Reason, Boudinot labeled Muhammad an “impostor,” and insightfully observed thatMahomet aimed to establish his pretensions to divine authority, by the power of the sword and the terrors of his government; while he carefully avoided any attempts at miracles in the presence of his followers, and all pretences to foretell things to come. His acknowledging the divine mission of Moses and Christ confirms their authority as far as his influence will go while their doctrines entirely destroy all his pretensions to the like authority…. And now, where is the comparison between the supposed prophet of Mecca, and the Son of God; or with what propriety ought they to be named together?...The difference between these characters is so great, that the facts need not be further applied (1801, pp. 36-39, emp. added).This premiere Founder merely expressed the sentiments of the bulk of the Founders as well as the rank and file of American citizens. The political correctness that now characterizes western civilization has desensitized citizens and left the country vulnerable to the sinister infiltration of an ideology that is antithetical to the principles of the American Republic.