When the U.S. State Department assigned me to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in the summer of 1990, my mother asked, “Where’s that?” About a month later, Saddam Hussein and the Iraqis invaded Kuwait to begin the first Gulf War. After that, all America knew where Saudi Arabia was, though many Americans have since forgotten that first war. Most of us do remember the second Gulf conflict, the one we fought in Iraq after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. I watched that one from a second posting in Saudi Arabia.

Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya? Many Americans couldn’t find these countries on a map. Yet the unrest earlier this year across North Africa (where these countries are located) and the Middle East led to an immediate rise in the prices we pay at the pump for gas.

How many Americans are aware that India and other emerging economies have fared better than the United States in the current economic recession?

If Western Christians hope for continued influence, we must develop awareness of the rest of the world. The phrase ‘the West and the rest’ was a phrase used by Samuel P. Huntington, a Harvard University professor, in his book The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. Today “the rest” is emerging from the shadows to demand their place at the table. Too many of us are ignorant of this coming force. (Them and Us.)