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Evil in the name of

3 comments on Evil in the name of

Evil in the name of God
: I got a letter today from the National Council of Churches calling on me to call on the the government to exercise restraint regarding Iraq. Now I have no problem with that in and of itself. During the Vietnam war, I thought churches should have been stronger voices for peace; if a church does not speak for peace, who will?

But I do have a problem with churches not condemning terrorism committed in the name of Islam — evil committed in the name of God. If churches do not condemn evil, who will?

I fear this is just the tip of an Islamically Correct movement we see growing before our eyes: It’s not nice to be mean to Muslims, even though it has been Muslims declaring war on the world. It’s not nice to expect Muslims to condemn terrorism done in their name — and to be suspicious of them if they do not.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I expect religious and political Islamic leaders to condemn terrorism and to do everything possible to stop it. If they do not, they are as bad as the terrorists.

But now this letter from the National Council of Churches (of Christ in the USA — the full title) inspires me to call on every religious organization to aggressively condemn terrorism — especially terrorism in the name of religion. I cannot find such a statement on the National Council site. I find them scolding Jerry Falwell for being mean to Muslims. I find them complaining about security’s threat to civil rights. I find them defending and trying to free Muslims held after 9.11.

I do not find them calling on their fellow people of God to stop the Islamic World War, to stop terrorism, to end this evil.

I’m not saying that churches favor terrorism, of course. I’m not saying that Muslims favor terrorism. I am saying that I expect more of them; I expect them to fight terrorism with their best weapon: God.

If churches do not condemn evil, who will?

3 responses to “Evil in the name of”

  1. Robert Holmgren Avatar
    Robert Holmgren

    Well I guess you could be upset by the National Council of Churches–if you were deluded into thinking that they somehow avoided a political agenda. But, seriously, they’ve done a terrible job of hiding their politics. This is a true reflection of their calling which, as far as I can tell, they get from the New York Times editorial pages instead of prayerful thought. These are the leaders of declining religious organizations that have lost their calling and struggle for relevance.

  2. Lynn Avatar
    Lynn

    I hope you wrote a letter back to the National Council of Churches telling them exactly the same thing you have posted here.

  3. Mike Finley Avatar
    Mike Finley

    I didn’t see the mailing. I agree with you that churches should be, as a default matter, pro-peace and reconciliation. And it may be that the National Councilof Churches is predictably knee-jerk on Iraq. I think that is true.
    After that, however, you lose me. In what way does “restraint with Iraq” (if that was their phrase) equate to support of terrorism? I can see how it might even constitute toleration of evil, since Saddam Hussein is unarguably evil.
    But opposing war against Iraq is not an obvious “we support terror” ploy.
    I do agree with you that we seem not to have dealt at all with the power of the world’s established, moderate religious groups to sort through this world war in the making and advise us on what God would like to see happen.
    Be nice to see them assert some real leadership for peace.