It has been three weeks since Islamic terrorists killed 17 people and wounded 22 in a Paris newsroom and grocery store. That same week, a ten-year-old girl directed by the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram detonated a bomb in a crowded market in Nigeria, killing 20 people. These are the latest in a string of such incidents dating back at least to September 11, 2001.

These attacks are unconscionable and ungodly. Nothing in the Bible or the Qur’an justifies such carnage. The perpetrators may think they act on God’s behalf as they shout “God is great!” while murdering God’s people, but if there is a hell, they will be its first inductees.

I have read dozens of opinion pieces about these atrocities but haven’t seen anyone explain the terrorists’ mindset. I shall try to do that, but this is not to defend the terrorists---to understand is not to approve; to explain is not to condone.

Only one thing could motivate such appalling crimes: fear. The terrorists are afraid. But of what?

They are afraid of us.

To understand the terrorists’ fear, imagine that you are living in Europe 500 years ago. Everyone you know is a Catholic Christian. Pope and monarch work hand in hand to maintain what all see as a Christian social order. No one seems to question it.

Unbeknownst to you, however, this orderly, predictable world is about to come crashing down. America was discovered 23 years ago, in 1492, but the import of this discovery is yet to be grasped. Martin Luther is two years away from nailing his 95 theses to the Wittenberg Castle church door. The newly invented printing press is churning out books and people are learning to read. Questions previously unasked will soon be asked; previously unthinkable thoughts will be thought. Half of Western Europe will abandon the Catholic Church.

And that’s just the beginning. Then will come the scientific revolution---Copernicus, Isaac Newton, and Francis Bacon; the intellectual revolution---René Descartes, Immanuel Kant, and Voltaire; the political revolution---John Locke, Thomas Jefferson, and Robespierre.

And even that is just the beginning. Darwin, Marx, Freud, and Einstein are still to come. Nothing---politics, religion, morality, education, commerce, science---nothing will ever be the same.

Except in the Muslim world. The West’s upheaval bypassed Islam. Not until Napoleon conquered Egypt in 1798 did Western ways first impinge on Muslim societies. Then followed a stream of Westerners conquering and manipulating Middle Eastern governments and economies for their own ends. The discovery of oil in the region only intensified the Western intrusion.

America in particular is feared. Our individualistic understanding of freedom is foreign to Islam (and to traditional Judaism and Christianity, but that’s another story). We invade Islamic nations and seek to impose our economic and political systems on them. Then our ubiquitous media promote values Muslims see as degenerate and ungodly.

To many Muslims, this seems like a demonic threat to decency, order, and truth (much as the Roman Catholic Church must have felt about Luther).

Most of these Muslims do not murder journalists, blow up markets, or hijack airliners (just as most conservative Christians don’t murder abortion providers). But it doesn’t take many deranged zealots who think they’re God’s agents to wreak a lot of carnage.

Let me repeat that I condemn terrorism. Terrorists are evil. But I understand their fear of what they see as an onslaught of malignant, alien forces.

So what should we do to protect ourselves?

We must not sacrifice our freedoms. Although freedom can be confusing and some people will do things I find distasteful, freedom encourages creativity and people should be free to offend me. I believe that only a free society can prosper in the long run.

But I also suggest that we inject a touch of humility and respect into our dealings with other nations. Maybe our elevation of individual freedom over order and decency is mistaken. We don’t know everything and we are not entitled to tell other peoples, cultures, and religions what to do. Perhaps we could learn a few things from them. That would be a refreshing change, and it might save a few lives.

Richard H. Schmidt is a retired Episcopal priest, editor and author who lives in Fairhope. He can be reached at courier@gulfcoastnewspapers.com.