Lessons from the life of Lara Logan

About five months ago, in what has been hailed as a victory over a cruel dictatorship by the Egyptian people, 100,000 people gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square to celebrate the ousting of Hosini Mubarak. But for Lara Logan, CBS correspondent on location to cover the Egyptian Revolution, this would be a night of terror.

By now, most of America knows that at some point while in that crowd, Lara became separated from her crew and was immediately engulfed by a swarm of some 200-300 men who sexually assaulted and beat her for 25 to 30 minutes or more. While a group of Egyptian women are being hailed for their part in the cessation of this attack, it is significant that in a crowd of that size such an attack could even take place.

I wonder, do we really understand what took place here?

While Lara has since come out publicly with details of the attack in an effort to bring attention to the dangers faced by female journalists, perhaps there is more to this than just women in the news.

Forgive me for stating the obvious, but weren’t her attackers likely Muslim men? I mean, this is Egypt we are talking about, a country that is estimated to be somewhere around 80 percent Muslim. And in this revolution, we well know that the Muslim brotherhood is the top player and that the Obama administration is engaging it “in limited contact.”

This September marks the 10th anniversary of the attacks on New York’s Twin Towers, the Pentagon and likely the White House — were it not for a cadre of patriots on that plane that never made it to its destination. These planes were all hijacked and then piloted by Muslims.

I can still remember the day when then President Bush proclaimed that these were fundamentalist Muslims and that most Muslims are very peaceful. And then it was decreed that the problems in the world were caused by religious fundamentalists, period. But to date, only Muslims are flying airplanes into buildings, while fundamentalist Christians get on airplanes to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to lost and dying people.

It doesn’t look to me that these Muslims are very peace-loving people at all.

And may I state the obvious? By all accounts that I have read, the cry went out among the crowd, “Jew, Jew!” If this were done in America, wouldn’t we be calling this a hate crime?

Ladies and gentlemen, it is no secret that most of the Muslim world hates the Jewish people. And it is no secret that the Obama administration is not much of a friend to Israel. But regardless of one’s political leanings, do they justify such actions? Should the United States have any dealings at all with such people?

Again, when was the last time a group of Christians did such a thing?

And lastly, may I state the obvious? These Muslim men brutally sexually assaulted a woman. It really doesn’t matter who she was. It doesn’t matter that she was a journalist or that she lived in America. What this demonstrates is an attitude that sanctions the degradation of women.

Think about it. While I was growing up I was taught to never hit a girl. I was taught that men were the defenders and protectors of the home. Back then our military fought only with men because women and children were the ones being protected.

And don’t we want women to be respected? Who then is speaking up?

The truth is that this doesn’t happen among Christians. This doesn’t happen in our churches. This doesn’t happen at our youth conventions or in our schools. And if it at all would happen, there would be great indignation from our pulpits against such behavior. Why? Because the Bible calls such behavior sin and wickedness.

But where are the Muslim clerics? Why haven’t they ferreted out the culprits and brought them to justice?

The truth is that if any Muslim woman were to walk into any Christian church today, she would be safe to do so. But how much longer will it be safe for American girls to walk around our own streets?

It seems that while we are experiencing a growing anti-Christian sentiment in our country, there seems to be great leniency and acceptance extended to the Muslim community, and that quite possibly is in exchange for their oil. But is oil worth the price? Are we quite sure we really want what they are sure to give?

Ron Hamman is pastor of Independent Baptist Church of Wasilla. Contact him at 357-4229 or ron.hamman@gci.net.

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