Muslim Martyrdom The Real Obstacle To Middle East Peace

   After reading “Army Chaplain Dale Goetz, RIP” by Mark Thompson for Time.com I think it’s finally starting to sink in. Peace is all but impossible for the Middle East.
   First of all my condolences for the family of Mr. Goetz, truly a great loss for them. But as sad as that tragedy is, it was the conversation Reverend Goetz had with a Muslim that made me sit up and take notice. The minister was trying to convert the follower of Islam to Christianity, and according to the story, he did not succeed. The man told the pastor that Muslims believe “there is no greater act of sincere faith or virtuous act than dying a martyr’s death for their religion.”
   I guess you could say: that was the piece of the puzzle that was missing for me, because if you couple that statement with the fact that many Muslims also believe that apostasy (leaving ones faith) is punishable by death, the idea that western nations could impose their values on an ideology and faith that’s been around almost since the time of Christ, just makes no sense whatsoever.   
   Now add these two doctrines of the Islamic religion to the war being fought in Afghanistan, and the potential for other wars to break out in that part of the world, and you can see it isn’t that much of a stretch to realize how apocalyptic my original statement is.
   I would truly love to believe otherwise, but unfortunately history will bear me out on this one. No matter how sad or backward we believe the Muslim Faith is in the Middle East, for them to change what they have believed for centuries, will not happen overnight and may never happen, and many are happy to die to prove it.