06.27.08
Posted in Anti-Catholicism, Fellow Pilgrims, Islamic Terror at 11:15 am by Brian Schuettler
From Jordan J. Ballor:
Earlier this month “Red Letter Christian” Tony Campolo wrote a blog post for Jim Wallis’ God’s Politics blog that criticized the American government for not properly taking into account the effect its foreign policy has on fulfilling the Great Commission.
Here’s a bit concerning the Iraq war:
It doesn’t take much for Red Letter Christians to recognize that the hostilities between Muslims and Christians have increased greatly as of late because of certain geopolitical events—particularly as we consider what has been happening in the Holy Land and the consequences of a U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
Mark Tooley of IRD does a thorough job fisking all of the faulty assumptions and oversights in Campolo’s piece.
One of the things Campolo is right about is the victimization of Christians at the hands of militant Muslims in Iraq. He writes,
For the first time in a thousand years, churches in Baghdad are being burned down. The Coptic bishop of Iraq was kidnapped and later found dead. Christians, facing persecution, have fled Iraq by the tens of thousands, so that a Christian community that once numbered more than 1.3 million is now down to 600,000.
The problem is that Campolo is acting as if the proximate cause of Muslim violence against Iraqi Christians is anger at American occupation. As Tooley notes, in the Iraq conflict as in so many other genuine Muslim-Christian conflicts around the world, Campolo fails to see the belligerent militancy of Muslim extremism. Campolo, among others, “can never admit that radical Islam itself is innately violent and spiteful, and would remain so, even if the United States were to curl up and die a quiet death.”
A much more plausible explanation for the suffering of the Iraqi church is that the protections of minority groups, including Sunnis and Christians, that were in place under Saddam Hussein disappeared during and after the invasion, and have not yet been adequately reinstated. As Robin Harris writes, “With other (still smaller) religious minorities, such as Yazidis and Mandaeans, Iraq’s Christians are suffering sustained persecution. While constituting less than 4 percent of the population of Iraq, Christians constitute 40 percent of the refugees leaving the country. Most of these have found refuge in Syria and Jordan, where they are living in utterly degrading conditions.”
The plight of Iraqi Christians in post-invasion Iraq is an important reminder that all government actions, whether domestic or international, have unintended consequences. Again, Robin Harris:
Unfortunately, until now there has been a conspiracy of near-silence. Some in the U.S. administration have been unwilling to have public attention drawn to the problem, for fear it would undermine support for the surge strategy. Other countries — with the notable exception of Germany — do not wish to do so either, for fear that they will be expected to take in more refugees. (Britain has a particularly shameful record in this respect). Meanwhile, diplomatic circles have a politically correct repugnance against any initiative directed towards helping a particular religious group — especially, of course, a Christian one. At an international level, only the pope has called for urgent action to avert the tragedy.
The best thing the U.S. government can do for Christians in Iraq is not to beat a hasty retreat and withdraw, as so many “Red Letter Christians” desire, but rather to acknowledge the unintended consequences of its foreign policy, including the increased persecution of Iraqi Christians. This also means taking responsibility for those unintended consequences. As so many have observed regarding the invasion of Iraq, once you decide to invade a sovereign nation, you take on all kinds of responsibilities for what happens afterwards. This applies in no small measure to the suffering of minority groups, including especially the Christian church in Iraq.
http://blog.acton.org/authors/2-Jordan-J-Ballor
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05.13.08
Posted in Anti-Catholicism at 11:14 pm by Brian Schuettler
The Rev. John Hagee, whose anti-Catholic remarks created a stir when Senator John McCain received his endorsement for the Republican presidential nomination with fanfare, has issued a letter expressing regret for “any comments that Catholics have found hurtful.”
The letter was issued after weeks of conversations between Hagee and Roman Catholic Republicans about repairing the damage to McCain’s campaign and the alliance built over many years between conservative Catholics and evangelicals.
McCain said Tuesday that he had not been involved in brokering the apology letter from Hagee, a megachurch pastor in San Antonio who broadcasts to 200 countries, but that he found it “a laudable thing.”
At a news conference on Tuesday afternoon in North Bend, Washington State, outside Seattle, McCain praised Hagee’s letter. “The fact that he has made an apology I think is very helpful,” McCain said. “Whenever someone apologizes for something they did wrong, then I think that that’s a laudatory thing.”
Asked if he or his campaign were involved in the apology, McCain replied, “I certainly wasn’t.”
McCain’s pursuit of Hagee’s endorsement came under renewed scrutiny recently as the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, was embroiled in controversy over incendiary remarks by his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.
Critics have attacked McCain as failing to distance himself enough from Hagee. McCain said two weeks ago that he was “glad to have his endorsement,” but that he condemned remarks that were “anti-anything.”
In his book “Jerusalem Countdown,” Hagee accused the Vatican of collaborating with Hitler in the Holocaust. In addition, some critics have interpreted Hagee’s references to “the great whore” prophesied in the Book of Revelation as a slur on the Roman Catholic Church. Hagee now says that was never his intention.
Hagee has focused on raising money and building support for Israel among evangelical Protestants, and his letter places his regrets in that context.
“In my zeal to oppose anti-Semitism and bigotry in all its ugly forms,” he wrote, “I have often emphasized the darkest chapters in the history of Catholic and Protestant relations with the Jews.
“In the process, I may have contributed to the mistaken impression that the anti-Jewish violence of the Crusades and the Inquisition defines the Catholic Church. It does not.”
Hagee’s letter, dated May 12, was addressed to William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Civil and Religious Rights, who drew attention to Hagee’s remarks after he endorsed McCain in February.
Donohue said of Hagee’s letter: “Well, miracles do happen. If I wasn’t a believer before, I sure am now.
“Republican activists have been working with him over the last several weeks, giving him books and articles and getting him up to speed and away from the black legends about the Catholic Church. I have to assume he’s acting sincerely, and now understands” that he has been recycling conspiracy theories.
Hagee and his wife held a meeting on Friday to mend fences with about 12 Catholic political conservatives over lunch at a restaurant in Washington, said several attendees.
Deal Hudson, a member of Catholics for McCain and the director of the Web site InsideCatholic.com, said he had helped broker the meeting.
Hudson said that at the lunch Hagee explained that in his eschatology of the end times the Catholic Church could not possibly be the “whore” mentioned in Revelation and that he had been misunderstood. Hudson said the lunch ended on a positive note.
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05.08.08
Posted in Anti-Catholicism, Hate Speech Against Christians at 10:26 am by Brian Schuettler
ARLINGTON, VA, May 7, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - On Thursday, May 1, 2008, a peaceful Cemetery of the Innocents display at the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point (UWSP) was vandalized by a Student Senator, Roderick King.
After having their display vandalized on the night of April 30th, several members from the UWSP pro-life group, Pointers for Life, were repairing the display around 11am on the morning of May 1st when a group of angry students, lead by UWSP Student Senator Roderick King, began to walk though the rows, taking crosses from the ground and throwing them.
King began to voice his complaints and said that Pointers for Life had “no right” to display the crosses, and that it was “his duty as a paying student” to take them down.
When the campus Protective Services officer arrived, most of the students stopped vandalizing the display; however, Senator King did not stop. He claimed, “The freedom of speech does not cover these signs and symbols!” Only after the Protective Services officer threatened to make him pay for damages did Senator King stop.
Bob Tomlinson, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, apologized to Pointers for Life for the disrespect and vandalism by the students. Student Senators Katie Kloth and Erica Wardle came to the display and clearly defined the university’s policies, asserting that Pointers for Life had correctly reserved the space and were allowed to host the display.
That night, Pointers for Life submitted a complaint to the Student Government Association (SGA) and asked for Senator King to resign or be disciplined appropriately under the student government Constitution. However, the student government has yet to force Senator King to resign.
Jackie Kryzkowski, the Pointers for Life President, said, “Student Senators should be helping to defend our freedom of speech, not trying to take it away because of personal beliefs. If students had a problem with the display, they could exercise their freedom of speech maturely by protesting it peacefully, not by defacing our display.”
Ryan Wrasse, another member of the group pointed out: “As we filed our official complaint with the UWSP Student Government Association, we also issued a strong ultimatum: The SGA could either vote to retain Senator King and condone this type of behavior, or remove him from Senate and send a clear message to UWSP students and faculty that this type of behavior will not be tolerated.”
Kristan Hawkins, Executive Director of Students for Life of America, remarked: “This event shows that our country is not immune to the situation going on in Canada right now, where campus pro-life groups are being singled out and excluded from the guaranteed freedom of speech and expression on college campuses. This is not the first time that a student group has had this same type of peaceful display vandalized or has faced discrimination on a college campus. SFLA is here to make sure all college pro-lifers are guaranteed their rights to demonstrate on behalf of those who have no voice.”
Students for Life suggests that citizens take action on the matter and call the University of Wisconsin -Stevens Point Chancellor of Student Affairs, Linda Bunnell, at 715-346-2123 or email her at lbunnell@uwst.edu “to let her know you want the school to remove Roderick King from the Student Senate for vandalizing a legal, peaceful display.”
WATCH: See the video of the vandalism here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5NeLyMZUYM
Life Site News >>>>> http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08050711.html
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