Good morning.
- A suggestion for learning Greek, especially if patristic writings are interesting to you from The Way of the Fathers.
- The church and wellness at by Jason Clark.
- Praise of the proof-text at the Participatory Bible Study Blog.
- This is making the rounds, a Seattle episcopal priest is also a Muslim at Dhimmi Watch.
- Sacramentum Vitae shares some Father’s Day warnings and a blessing. hyperkerissou shares some father’s day related material from St. John Chrysostom.
- The news and reality in Iraq, a major offensive just kicked off … can you detect it in the MSM press clippings? At the Belmont Club, read more.
- An Israeli blogger on the Hamas actions at One Hand Clapping.
- Lexington Green has a big roundup of, well, stuff that’s interesting at Chicago Boyz.
- Lutheran Carnival at Heart, Mind, Soul, and Strength.
- Musings on the myth of middle earth at The Lord of the Kingdom.
- Jihad Watch notes alarming statistics about mistaken notions that non-Christians have about Christians.
56% of atheists and agnostics think “radical Christianity” is just as threatening in America as “radical Islam”
I think that’s likely true. Radical Muslims might kill a few thousand Americans, but radical Christians actually have some power. For example, they got Bush elected. And Bush has already killed more Americans than bin Laden did.
The correct link for The Way of the Fathers is http://www.fathersofthechurch.com/2007/06/18/a-great-way-to-learn-greek/.
It looks like an exceptionally good resource.
Henry,
Thanks, I’ll correct that.
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JA,
Your comment is just a little problematic.
Your comment is just a little problematic.
I suspect, as you allude to in your recent series of posts, that we are approaching everything from different angles, so we might have trouble understanding each other.
1. I did not call Bush a radical Christian. I said radical Christians got him elected. I was referring to that segment of Christians who turned out in large numbers to vote against, e.g., gay rights and, while they were there, for Bush. Clearly “radical” is an ambiguous term — I don’t mean to compare the Christian Right to al-Qaida or Hamas. I assume they are well-meaning and overwhelmingly nonviolent (except w/r/t foreign policy, where they largely still support the war and are much more likely than any other demographic to support torture.) However, indirectly, they cause grave harm to our country and to the world.
2. There is no moral equivalence between bin Laden and Bush. I didn’t say there was. Bush was doing what he thought was right. It’s just that he was wrong, and too arrogant and cowardly to accept criticism early on. Good intentions aside, Bush has caused more harm to America.
3. Nobody’s complaining about midwest Lutherans.
4. I think that some of the policies you advocate are more of a threat to the US than radical Islam is, yes. Radical Islam is less of a threat to our country than car accidents… unless we continue to overreact and play into their hands every time they attack us.
JA,
Well, either radical Christianity is a small fringe group, in which case they can’t really affect any election or they are just mainstream Christians who just don’t vote the same way you do. In the one case, they’re not a threat because they’re not violent the same way as the suicidal Islamic extremists or in the other case they’re not a threat because they’re much like the Midwestern Lutheran’s parodied by IowaHawk.
While we may disagree about the wisdom of Iraq, you may be right about bin Laden vs Bush in the notion of harm to America. bin Laden awoke America to the rising threat of Islam. He probably did his cause great harm. Just as Hamas is doing to itself right now in Palestine.
In the one case, they’re not a threat because they’re not violent the same way as the suicidal Islamic extremists or in the other case they’re not a threat because they’re much like the Midwestern Lutheran’s parodied by IowaHawk.
I think you’ll agree that there’s a whole lot of room in between violent fringe groups and Midwestern Lutherans. The term “Christian Right” may not be as well-defined as we like, but you cannot argue it doesn’t exist. Midwestern Lutherans, as far as I know, are among the most moderate of the Christian groups, so it’s a bit disingenuous to equate them with all of Christianity. Bush didn’t do nearly as well in the midwest as he did in the south, for example.
A quick web-search finds this poll, for example, which shows that Lutherans went 50-46 to Bush in 2000 while Southern Baptists went 68-30.
bin Laden awoke America to the rising threat of Islam. He probably did his cause great harm. Just as Hamas is doing to itself right now in Palestine.
bin Laden couldn’t have asked for a better result than Bush’s war and loss of nearly the whole world’s support. Recruitment for terrorist groups has skyrocketed and there’s a whole generation of Muslim children who have seen their siblings and parents killed and maimed by the U.S. military.
Read his writings; this is pretty much exactly what he was hoping would happen. Bush is his useful fool.
JA,
bin Laden also called us paper tigers.
There’s also a whole generation of Muslim children seeing US soldiers putting their lives on the line protecting them from insurgents/extremists, who are mostly attacking other Muslims (a fact not lost on them, if on you).