In 1964 Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater said, ". extremism
in the defense of liberty is no vice!" It sparked a national debate among
both academics and the common man on the street. History has been filled
with the horrifying records of the fruit of extremism. Could it be that
there is a righteous time for extremism? Didn't Solomon say there was a
time for everything?

Since 9/11 the world has had an epiphany regarding the fruit of extremism.
The cover of a recent issue of Time magazine featured an Afghanistan woman
who had had her nose and ears cut off because she had fled from her abusive
in-laws. The extremism of a faith that condones such an atrocity jars us to
introspection. What kind of religion could sanction such inhumanity? How
is it that women, the last and crowning act of creation, can be so
brutalized? Surely only the ignorant could say all religions are the same.
This is darkness compared to Jesus the Light of the World who tells us our
identifying mark is our love for each other.

In that same 1964 speech Goldwater also wisely said, "Those who seek
absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard as good, are
simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth.
And let me remind you, they are the very ones who always create the most
hellish tyrannies." This is especially true when used by those with
religious motivations.

I can think of one occasion when extremism is most desirable. In Psalm
119:11 we read, "Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin
against thee." To do no harm, to be no harm, to always act in love is our
goal.