The current state of world affairs is certainly frightening.

More and more, it seems as though there is a world war being waged, a war between civilizations, a war between modernity and medievalism.

I am not a scholar of Islam. In my attempt to learn more about the current state of the Muslim world, I just completed reading a book titled “The Trouble with Islam Today: A Muslim’s Call for Reform in Her Faith,” by Irshad Manji.

She wrote: “One more group is poised to demonstrate the possibilities of reforming Islam: Muslims in the West. We have the luxury of exercising civil liberties, especially free expression, to change tribal tendencies. Are we leveraging that freedom? Are enough non-Muslims challenging us to do so?”

As a non-Muslim, I would like to voice my concern about Islamic fundamentalism. I understand that this group of Muslims makes up only a small percentage of Muslims. However, their impact on Islam and on world affairs is enormous and must be challenged.

Irshad Manji concludes: “What I need to see is an appetite for reform – an appetite that propels us to act. Will we snap out of our rites and spark our imaginations in order to free Muslims worldwide from fear, hunger and illiteracy? Will we move past the superstition that we can’t question the Koran? If my analysis is wrong, can you explain why no other religion is producing as many terrorist travesties and human rights transgressions in the name of God? And can you explain this without pointing fingers at everyone but Muslims?”

Another secular outspoken Arab-American woman, Wafa Sultan, a psychologist, spoke out beautifully and courageously in an interview on Al-Jazeera TV. Looking critically at ourselves is so important in order to grow. That self-critical approach within Islam has been lacking and has led to a “clash between two eras … between freedom and oppression,” says Wafa Sultan.

The Middle East is again at a crossroads. As always, Israel and the Jewish people along with America and Europe are facing a critical challenge. What can we do to encourage the Muslim world to enter the 21st century, to be self-critical, to be tolerant of others, to accept equal rights, freedoms of speech and press, to give women equal status and to respect the non-Muslim world? What can we do to help eliminate dictatorships and oppression so that the people in the Arab and Muslim world will be provided with jobs, food and peace?

Thomas Friedman, author and New York Times columnist,wrote on (July 19: “On the peace front, let’s see, Israel gets out of Lebanon and Gaza, and what is the response of Hamas and Hezbollah? Build schools, roads and jobs in their recovered territories? Nope. Respect the border with Israel, but demand that Israel continue to withdraw from the West Bank? Nope. The response is to shell Israel from Gaza and abduct Israeli soldiers from Lebanon. Hamas and Nasrallah (Hezbollah’s leader), replaced the formula ‘land for peace’ with ‘land for war,’ said the former Mideast envoy Dennis Ross.”

The situation in Israel and Lebanon is a shame. Innocent lives are being lost on both sides. Missiles have been fired into northern Israel by Hezbollah since Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon six years ago. With the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah last month, Israel could no longer remain passive. Israel’s response has been clear: Return our captive soldiers and eliminate the Hezbollah terrorist militia by asserting the Lebanese army’s control over all of Lebanon including the south. Now, Israel cannot leave southern Lebanon until a multinational force along with the Lebanese army is able to provide safety and security for both Lebanon and Israel.

I have been to Israel many times. Haifa was always one of my favorite cities. Haifa is a beautiful port city on the Mediterranean and is home to a very large Arab-Israeli population which is nicely integrated into the largely Jewish-Israeli population. Also in Haifa is the main Bahai temple, located on a beautiful hillside with lovely gardens. While Jerusalem represents the religious center of Israel and of Judaism, Haifa represents a secular, integrated, Jewish and Arab, religiously diverse and tolerant city.

And Lebanon, always a progressive center for the Arab world, recently expelled Syria and had democratic elections. Lebanon is one of the few Arab countries with a substantial Christian population, about 40 percent, and therefore is a beacon for religious tolerance within the Arab world. Unfortunately, the Lebanese army did not reign-in the Hezbollah terrorist militia group as it was charged to do by the United Nations according to Resolution 1559.

Our Western civilization cannot be dictated to or undermined by a small but active group of Islamic fundamentalists. Islam should not allow itself to be disgraced or manipulated by these Islamic fundamentalist organizations. We are at a crossroads between the rule of democracy and tolerance versus the rule of dictatorship and oppression.

Rabbi Barry Krieger is the rabbinic facilitator for the Hillel organization at the University of Maine in Orono. E-mail bkrieger56@aol.com.