A Cold War for the 21st century

Meeting the challenge of Islam and terrorism will be a twilight struggle on the order of the battle in the 20th century to contain and ultimately defeat communism. Winning this new war starts with an understanding of the enemy and his worldview—and a commitment to defend ours. This WORLD special report examines the Islamic heart and mind, and our role in the war whose first shots were fired on Sept. 11, 2001 | Marvin Olasky

Fifty years ago Whittaker Chambers, a Marxist-turned-Christian, wrote in his book Witness that the next several decades would decide "whether all mankind is to become Communist, whether the whole world is to become free, or whether, in the struggle, civilization as we know it is to be completely destroyed or completely changed. It is our fate to live upon that turning point in history."

Chambers was pessimistic-he thought in leaving Communism he was leaving the winning side-because he saw a power among his former comrades. "Their power, whose nature baffles the rest of the world, because in a large measure the rest of the world has lost that power, is the power to hold convictions and to act on them," Chambers wrote. "Communists are that part of mankind which has recovered the power to live or die-to bear witness-for its faith."