What's In It For Us? By Paulie (Alex of Wandering Mind is a collaborating author)

Note: This is a humongous post. The authors of this piece don't mean to upset anyone. We have had an informal collaboration based upon a number of email conversations and comments on each other's blogs. We're just trying to figure stuff out. If we're factually wrong, don't flame us as bastards, okay? "Policy and Politeness" is our motto here at Paulie World.

Part I: God In Our World? Us In God's World? And Satan

I figure all of you Paulie & Alex-Haters are just fed about up to the gills by now, so I'm trying to sneak this post in while your bellies are full and your minds are lazy.

I have been pondering "Why Do the Terrorists Hate Us" since September 11. I've heard all the arguments, and none of them add up. The US being what we are doesn't foster terrorism: in fact, it instills a sense of hope in the millions and millions who are immigrants or who aspire to be immigrants. The Islamist terrorists are not the poor and downtrodden, per se. Their leaders are among the elites of their societies, and many are the scions of princes and potentates who swell the ranks of the jihadist movements. No, the terrorists are the products of a corrupt system, and the system is not the American one. The events in Russia, and the capture and intimidation of even the French, weigh decidedly against the position that America has caused terrorism.

But what, then, has inspired such evil in the hearts of these men and women? It is an important question whose answer we must understand in order to fight back effectively. Let's not forget for a moment that our opponents declared this war upon us a decade ago, and have been attacking us deliberately these many years.

The only answer that satisfies my intellect will surprise you: Evil Walking Among Us.

This essay is written from a position of faith, and concerns the corrupting presence of Satan in the World. My loyal readers know that since Sept 11, I've become a happy believer: God, Jesus, miracles, all of it. I'm a happy Catholic who feels the presence of Jesus in my life daily. So there you go: I'm an apologist for Catholicism, and I count among my intellectual sources CS Lewis, Thomas Merton, and the Declaration of Independence. The life of St. Francis of Assisi is my spiritual source. That's my bias, and it's important to get that out of the way up front.

There have almost always been anti-religious movements in the world, and I would like to discuss some of them, and relate them to our modern era. If one is a Christian, Jew, or Muslim, one must believe in Satan. It was Satan who tempted Jesus three times in the desert (Matthew 4, Mark 1, Luke 4). It is Satan who tempts us now.