Michael Youssef - The Hidden Enemy

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The Hidden Enemy: Aggressive Secularism, Radical Islam, and the Fight for Our Future

Copyright 2018 by Michael Youssef

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Youssef, Michael, author.

Title: The hidden enemy : aggressive secularism, radical Islam, and the fight for our future / Michael Youssef.

Description: Carol Stream, Illinois : Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2018. | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017049076| ISBN 9781496431455 (hc) | ISBN 9781496431462 (sc)

Subjects: LCSH: ChristianityUnited States. | Christianity and other religionsIslam. | IslamRelationsChristianity. | Secularism.

Classification: LCC BR526 .Y69 2018 | DDC 211/.6dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017049076

Build: 2021-04-21 15:10:30 EPUB 3.0

In memory of Marvin and Nadene Steinert of Bakersfield, California, with thanksgiving for our great friendship and partnership in ministry, which began in 1977.

THERES NO OTHER WAY TO PUT IT, REALLY. The moral fabric of America has been fraying for a long timesince the sixties at least. But can anyone doubt that this process has accelerated recently, that it is no longer fraying but actually tearing apart? Can we doubt that the bitter seeds that have been sown over the decades are finally coming to their ugly fruition?

Even the most fundamental things that once held us together as a culture and as a nationfree speech, for exampleare struggling for life. College campuses, which were the bastion of inquiry and important centers of civil debate, have become hotbeds of fascist intolerance, so much so that speakers are being thrown off campuses simply for holding views that student mobs consider unacceptable. The Internet has become a particularly depressing maelstrom of nastiness, where actual conversation seems absolutely impossible. And of course and alas, our streets have become filled with violence. We might even bitterly conclude that the only free speech we are willing to recognize at this point is vandalism.

But lets not go that far quite yet. This book and its author give me hope. My friend Michael Youssef has been a champion of the American political experiment for a long time, so now more than ever, it is important that we heed his voice on this subject. He and I are both passionate about the foundational documents and the founding fathers, and we share a desire to make others passionate about them too.

In this, his latest book, Dr. Youssef doesnt offer a simplistic explanation of whats happening in our day. He was born in Egypt and well knows what it is like to live under a regime that doesnt value liberty or free speech. As you will come to understand, Dr. Youssef sees two enemies of America that are wittingly and unwittingly tearing apart our republic. Namely, he identifies a new type of aggressive secularism that is opening the door for radical Islam. Both are hidden in plain sight, and both are intent on destroying American freedoms.

If youre asking yourself, as I did, what aggressive secularism and radical Islam have in common, then you need to read The Hidden Enemy. Its eye-opening and its vital. If we all understand what they have in common, as Dr. Youssef explains in this book, we can together begin being a part of the solution. I hope youll join me.

Eric Metaxas

October 2017

New York City

OUR CIVILIZATION is under assault from withoutand from within.

We face an external threat from radical, political Islam. The enemy without wants to sweep away Western civilization and impose a global caliphate.

We face an internal threat from a coalition of secular humanists, atheists, and leftists. The enemy within wants to erase the Judeo-Christian values our Western culture was founded on, replacing them with false dogmas of secularism, sexual liberation, hedonism, and moral relativism.

The enemy without and the enemy within have almost nothing in common. Radical, political Islam seeks to impose a theocracy that, according to strict Islamic law, calls for the oppression of women and the execution of homosexuals. The secular left is fanatical about church-state separation, feminism, and gay and transgender rights.

The enemy without and the enemy within could not be more opposed to each other. Youd think theyd constantly be at each others throats. Yet the secular left defends and supports Islamism, and the two groups join forces to attack our Christian faith, Judeo-Christian values, Western culture, and the nation of Israel.

Often, the alliance between these groups goes largely unnoticed. Not long ago, however, representatives from the two groups publicly marched in solidarity. Like many leftist protest events, the Womens March on January 21, 2017, demanded reproductive rights (unrestricted abortions), LGBTQ rights, and wide-open bordersthe usual progressive agenda. The march featured the standard collection of leftist sponsors: Planned Parenthood, the AFLCIO, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, MoveOn.org, and more.

Oddly, however, the march organizers chose as co-chair an Islamist, Linda Sarsour, whom the New York Times dubbed the Brooklyn homegirl in a hijab in a flattering 2015 profile. Sarsour neglects to mention that Sharia is incompatible with democracy, human rights, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, equality for women, LGBTQ rights, and other causes liberals claim to support.

The progressive lefts fawning adoration of Ms. Sarsour is a vivid demonstration of the strange alliance between these two ideologically opposed groups. But this is far from an isolated phenomenon, as youll see in these pages. The secular left and fanatical Islam have made a devils bargain. Their mutual goal: the overthrow of Western culture and Judeo-Christian values.

How do we confront these enemiesthe enemy within and the enemy without? Should we form a political action committee; hire a lobbying firm in Washington, DC; hold a protest march and flex our political muscle? Should we try to beat the Islamists and the secular left at their own game?