Peter Kreeft on the simultaneous rise of homosexuality and Islam

Why the simultaneous rise of homosexuality and Islam? An interview with Peter Kreeft

In a recent interview, Boston College professor Peter Kreeft noted key similarities in the homosexual activist movement and radical Islam which have led to their ascendancy in recent times. 

Asked about the simultaneous rise of militant Islam and the homosexual activist movement despite their opposing ideologies, Kreeft replied: 

“They’re the only two movements in Western civilization that will fight and die for their beliefs. It is an amazing paradox that they’re opposites in almost every way, and yet they’re similar in that they will still fight. Christians are supposed to fight too, the notion of spiritual warfare, the true meaning of jihad – a war against sin rather than flesh and blood. This is central to Christianity and we’ve lost it, and therefore opposite forces are entering the vacuum.”

Kreeft explained that as the Christian faith has weakened in the West, it has caused a vacuum.

“Well, in Western civilization, at least, there is certainly a moral and religious decline…we’re losing the faith. Europe is already almost lost,” he said. “Nature abhors a vacuum, spiritually as well as physically. So when the Faith weakens, another faith enters, because no one can live without faith, and Islam is a very strong faith. It has its good points; it has its bad points. But when we withdraw from the battlefield, someone else enters. It’s as simple as that.”

Asked specifically about the reason for the rise of the homosexual activist movement, Dr. Kreeft replied:

Because we became sheep. We said, "Abuse us. We’re polite. We’ll smile at you. We are tolerant of everything." When people are that way, someone who has principles, bad or good, enters. We so worship equality that we are afraid to be different, to be distinctive, to have a distinctive message. And equality is a good defensive weapon, but it has no offense in it. We need equal rights to protect ourselves, but we need something much deeper than equality: We need distinctiveness, we need an identity. And if we abandon that, others will come in and take over.

Kreeft stressed, however, that in confronting homosexuality Christians are being loved, in the truest definition of the word.

“Love fights. Love cares. Love discriminates. And therefore there is in Scripture, very clearly, a thing called the ‘wrath of God’. God hates all enemies of love as the doctor hates cancer that’s killing his beloved patient. If you really love a human being you will hate all the dehumanizing forces that are harmful to that human being,” he said.“If on the other hand you don’t really love a human being but just tolerate a human being, then you will hate nothing. So, love and hate go together. Love of a human being, no matter who he is, and hate of a human being, no matter who he is, are exact opposites, they are black and white. But the love of all humans and hate of all sins – that goes together.”

How can Christianity experience a renewal in North America and Europe?  Kreeft answered in his characteristic rapid-fire style stating simply: “It must recapture its essence, its identity. It must return to Jesus.”

See the Peter Kreeft website.

Peter Kreeft, Ph.D., is a professor of philosophy at Boston College and at the King's College (Empire State Building), in New York City. He is a regular contributor to several Christian publications, is in wide demand as a speaker at conferences, and is the author of over 67 books including:
Handbook of Christian Apologetics 
Christianity for Modern Pagans
Fundamentals of the Faith