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.
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: The Christian Century calls Hamas and Hezbollah 'Nongovernmental Groups'.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.solomonia.com/cgi-bin/mt4/mt-renamedtb.cgi/4619
1 Comment
Leave a comment to: The Christian Century calls Hamas and Hezbollah 'Nongovernmental Groups'
Comment Info and Policy:
1) You must have Javascript enabled in your browser in order to comment (blame the spammers). If you don't know what that is, you're probably fine.
2) HTML is on, so basic html should work. Raw links will be made auto-clickable, too, so even if you don't know html you can just paste in the link and it should work fine. Keep the "http://" in it.
3) Comments are generally unmoderated, which means I don't necessarily agree with the tone and tenor of everything posted. In fact, sometimes people post things they don't really mean just to make other people look bad. The internet is an anonymous place for the most part. That said...
4) I welcome you to post here. I'd love to have your input, agree, disagree or just offer a different data point, really. If I didn't want any participation, I'd turn off comments. Be aware, however, that this blog and the comments section exist for my entertainment. Therefore, I reserve ALL RIGHTS here, including the right to remove any or all comments on nothing more than a whim. Please don't even bother complaining. I'm the one providing the space and the free news and thought buffet. I don't owe anyone anything.
Anyone who posts here will be treated as my guest. That means I'm happy to be polite as a default, but if anyone is rude to the host they'll be unceremoniously shown the door.
It may pay to recall a famous line from the Tom Selleck magnum opus, Mr. Baseball: "Jack-san, you want Yoji's advice about the babes, you come to Yoji with respect."
5) Enjoy your stay!
, p.39
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.