By Julia Duin - The Washington Times
Christian worldview - an interview with Ravi Zacharias

Indian-born Ravi Zacharias, who grew up steeped in Hinduism, is one of the first Christian apologists to come out of the Third World. Headquartered in Atlanta, his expertise on comparative religions has earned him audiences from Capitol Hill to Harvard. The following are excerpts from an interview by Julia Duin with Mr. Zacharias, who was in town recently for a lecture at the C.S. Lewis Institute.

Q: How do you present the uniqueness of Christianity?
A: I am totally convinced the Christian faith is the most coherent worldview around. Everyone: pantheist, atheist, skeptic, polytheist has to answer these questions: Where did I come from? What is life's meaning? How do I define right from wrong and what happens to me when I die? Those are the fulcrum points of our existence. I deal with cultural issues whether they be in the Middle East, Far East, the Orient or the West. You broach questions in the context of their culture and then present Christian answers.

Q: Why do you call "Jesus Among Other Gods" your most significant book?
A: There was no life so impeccably lived as His. There are those who've claimed prophetic status who have led pretty heavily duplicitous lives. But in Christ, you never see that. You never find Him in any compromising situation that shows itself where He was driven by the sensuality of the moment. After 2000 years, no name has been scrutinized more, none abused or challenged more in the public media.
I find a lot of Western journalists intellectually cowardly here. They would never do with Mohammed what they do with Jesus. They don't have the courage to do that. If the major magazines — Time, Newsweek or U.S. News and World Report — did with Mohammed on one of their major festivals what they do to Jesus on Christmas or Easter, they probably wouldn't be in existence any more.

Q: Why are people so fascinated with Eastern religions?
A: Because they give you the privilege of morality without having God. Even aspects of the entire New Age movement are a moralizing philosophy without the positing of a central deity. Buddhism also gives you that. Bahaism gives you a pluralistic view, and a lot of aspects of Hinduism give you a moral framework with no accountability other than the karmic system. There's no linear movement or point of accountability toward God.
I was in a hearing with [former presidential speechwriter] Peggy Noonan years ago and she asked this question: Do terrorists fear anything? I said, 'I suspect they would fear a morally strong America.' They would know that a morally strong America would not be dislodged. You can always appeal to a point of vulnerability which would break a people up. [Terrorists] don't fear so much the weaponry as the moral courage, and I think a morally strong America would be intimidating to them.

For more of this interview, click here.