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Hatred Not Exclusive to Islam

Thought I'd pull this together.

With regard to our April/May/June 2002 issue, I do not see the need to engage on a full debate on the issue of Islam and terrorism—indeed, Fawaz Damra through his article on page 13 seems better equipped than I to do so—but I would like to raise a couple of questions in reaction to the review of God is One found on page 27, by placing the shoe on the other foot, so to speak:

Why don’t most books written about Christianity contain much, if anything, about notorious Christian terrorists such as the Ku Klux Klan or the various paramilitary groups, both Catholic and Protestant, in Northern Ireland? Is it because most of us can recognize such groups as non-representative aberrations of Christianity? Or maybe even because there would be a great hue and cry among Christians of all stripes against such "character assassination"?

Yet, if he were fair, the reviewer would entertain such questions as "What is it about the sayings of Jesus that inspires such sectarian hatred as found in the Irish Republican Army?" Or try this question: "What is it about the Christian political tradition that led dozens, if not hundreds, of state and federal officials, including governors and senators, not only in the American South, but also in the Midwest to embrace the Klan, thereby aiding and abetting it in the lynching of hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent civilians?"

I, of course, would have prima facie objections to such questions. As a Congregationalist, I do not, and cannot, identify groups such as the IRA or the Klan as Christian. Most of us can easily see through the Christian trappings appropriated by such groups and recognize their usage of the Cross, for example, as a perversion of the faith.

Now, what about Islam? In a faith that has some 1.2 billion adherents worldwide, Islam is bound to have some among their number that engage in un-Islamic, even anti-Islamic, acts, inspired more by hatred than by love, peace, and graciousness. Virtually all faiths are so afflicted—after all, it was a "believing" Jewish seminarian, inspired by a rabbi, who assassinated the Prime Minister of Israel not all that long ago.

Perhaps the reasons for the hatred—the opening word of the review’s title—lie more in the dark recesses of the human breast which all too often are fertile territory for the Satanic, than in the great monotheist traditions that call upon the God of Abraham.

Rev. Steven Blackburn, Ph.D.
Duncan Black Macdonald Center
for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations
Hartford, Connecticut

‘Deafening Silence’ from Islam

In reply to Steve’s comments:

Steven Blackburn and I, along with the Christian tradition generally, agree that hatred derives fundamentally from the "dark resources of the human breast." Hence the need for continual self-examination, confession, and repentance. Hatred, however, always has a target and shape, forms shaped by culture and society as well as individual experience. Religious traditions are all too often part of that hate-forming mix.

A religion’s founding events and metaphors play an especially important role. Christianity still stumbles in its relationship to Judaism, for instance, over New Testament accounts of Jesus’ trial and the subsequent conflicts with official Judaism. Only the horrific events of the Holocaust have caused us to face (grudgingly and incompletely) the role mainstream Christian preaching and teaching has played in anti-Semitism.

Many commentators have noted the "deafening silence" of mainstream Islamic organizations and governments in their response to September 11. Islam has its own soul-searching to do; that is the real answer. But at the same time it is important for the rest of us to understand the problem we face.

Rev. Dr. Arlin T. Larson, Gainesville, Georgia

Lessening Confusion

As I send in my check to support The Congregationalist, I want to especially thank you for all the interesting and informative articles, photos, and book reviews regarding Islam and the events surrounding September 11. They have been most helpful in spreading light on these confusing issues.

I’m looking forward to seeing you in Spokane.

Sue Broadwell, Orchard Lake, Michigan

Information on Islam

I have been compiling the various things you have published on Islam, etc., since Sept. 11, including the exchanges Steven Blackburn and I have had recently. This is really very interesting, pretty intelligent, and about as good as you see (if I don’t say so myself). I think you have done something very special with this topic for the people of the NACCC. And others—I am sending it off to friends too.

Rev. Dr. Arlin T. Larson, Gainesville, Georgia

Editor’s Note: Dr. Larson’s writings on Islam have contributed greatly to our effort to understand that religion.

Another Illuminator Heard From

You wrote: "The Saint John’s Bible is the first modern handwritten and illuminated Bible commissioned since the advent of the printing press 500 years ago." I completed the New Testament by hand, by myself, without using computers, five years before they started! The Ethiopians made illuminated Bibles to the 19th century. The Exeter Gospels date from the 1930’s. The art was never lost!

I started in 1987, answering a call from my childhood. The whole point of making a Bible by hand is to share the experiences of the ancient scribes as the scripture is revealed by writing each page in the order that it was written. To interact with the Holy Spirit, right there on the page, to trust in God that it will turn out right; that is the essence of why I write the scripture! Saint John’s misses that when they write the pages out of order.

The Bible I copied is my family Bible of 1805, used by my ancestors to establish Congregational churches all across America! I was baptized a Congregationalist! In 1997, I received a Bible from the Archbishop of Canterbury to correct my text. On March 26, 2002, I received a blessing from His Holiness John Paul II. He knows I am a Protestant and that the text is the 1611 Authorized Version. What I have done is such a fundamental act of Christian faith that it transcends the Protestant Reformation! It inspires people to Christ!

My New Testament is 677 pages long and includes more than 300 illuminations including cross pages, full-page intricate initials and each chapter has an illuminated initial. I started a new set of Gospels and I am using different styles of handwriting and design in the Old Testament.

For information and images, my website is: http://hometown.aol.com/biblescribe1/biblescribe1/ index.htm

James G. Pepper, Dallas, Texas

Time to Clean House?

The current sexual misconduct scandal in the Roman Catholic Church should be a warning to all the churches. All sexual misconduct in all religious associations needs to be given society’s and the churches’ full attention. When this conduct is criminal in nature, it needs to be addressed by the criminal justice system.

Churches provide, or contribute funds, for halfway houses and long-term care for society’s ex-offenders in the public system as part of their ongoing ministries to "sinners." Should the churches not minister to these "fallen of the church" as well? By churches I include Protestant churches as well.

Churches need to go a step further. The loosening of social mores from the fifties until now did not occur in society alone. Often it was accompanied, if not led, by avant-garde teachers of the churches themselves. This gave encouragement to morally weak persons to engage in activities they otherwise may not have, thinking that it was now more acceptable. But the same liberty they found also gave encouragement to their victims to come forward and expose these abuses. This is the upside of this current scandal.

Whatever their involvement in the undermining of the morals of church and society, the churches and seminaries must now see the signal from the Almighty God and Final Judge of all mankind that it is time to clean house and rid themselves of any teaching that advocates either immorality or amorality, not only among their teachers and ministers, but also among their congregants.

The "churches" need to return to the theology that Christ is the atoning Savior for the sins of mankind and that their mission is to bring His forgiveness to all those who will believe and repent, not only for "sinners" but of the "fallen."

Rev. John E. Bristol, Mt. Clemens, Michigan

Loss of P.O. Box 1620

In response to our former Associate Executive Secretary (and the Dean of CFTS during my seminary years) Dr. George Brown’s inquiry about the loss of P.O. Box 1620, alas, we tried. We pleaded. We offered to pay more money for Box #1620. The post office cordially but emphatically declined. "The days are gone when we give out box numbers for boxes that do not exist in the system," they said. As for Box 288, it has no significance at all. It was assigned to us. However, 1620 (1-800-262-1620) is still our telephone number, until ATT decides otherwise. There will, I’m sure, be changes in the future for which the finger will justifiably point to your leadership. This, however, is not one of them. As always, though, we thank you for the valuable history lessons you continue to teach us.

Rev. Dr. Thomas M. Richard, Executive Secretary, NACCC