Saturday, August 20, 2005
I kid you not. Writing in The Christian Century ("one of the largest of independent religious journals of opinion" with a circulation of about 30,000), former editor James M. Wall tells us:
Is that how you would describe them? "Nongovernmental groups"? Wall goes on to lament (quoting no less a moral authority than Juan Cole) that only a few news outlets reported this news. If it was because they took the sympathies of terrorist groups less than seriously that can only be to their rare credit. That Wall cannot even refer to them for what they are -- terrorist groups -- is a mark against his.
According to CAMERA, The Christian Century, and James Wall in particular, have a long history of anti-Israel bias and obsession. The Christian Century's focus is on service to the "mainline" Protestant denominations -- a laundry list of groups passing anti-Israel resolutions of late -- and, according to the CAMERA report, had a hand in the formation of the far-Left leaning National Council of Churches and World Council of Churches.
Wall's opinion piece gives us a rare and direct glimpse inside the mind-set of these groups and denominations, and begins to give us a clue toward what's making them tick. It is a farrago of wrong-headedness on a foundation of discredited authority. The piece is deserving of a right fisking -- ironic, since one of Wall's "authorities" in the piece is none other than The Independent's Robert Fisk himself -- apparently a favorite of Wall's.
Says Wall: "...The narrative also insists on a connection between Islam and terrorism, even though suicide bombing is anathema to Islam..."
That certainly is a relief. Now if someone would only explain that to Hamas and Hezbollah.
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I wouldn't call these guys Christians. They're more like Marxists in Christian clothing. Before you know it, they'll have adopted Islam, because it gives them another perch from which to criticize the West.
The fact that this crowd of scribblers is calling this the Christian Century is a joke. This is anything but the Christian Century. Faith (and church attendance) is in decline throughout the West. There have been Christian Centuries in the past - from the time of the adoption of Christianity by the Roman empire to the rise of Islam in the 7th century and from the defeat of Islam in the 15th century to the end of the 19th century. The 20th century has been about fratricide within Christendom and the collapse of faith. And the 21st century hasn't exactly started out with a bang, faith-wise.