Tuesday, May 27, 2003

The Weak in (National) Review - The stuffy William F. Buckley Jr. goes on record defending the call of Christian evangelicals to "meet the problem [of Muslim militancy] head on." Buckley defends his position by writing:

[T]he Christian face of the ongoing struggle simply has to show itself, and its strengths are great. The doctrine of human love and responsibility for others should not be thought of as intrinsically offensive to a Muslim, and sincerity in preaching the doctrines of Christ has naturally to follow from advocacy of the lessons of the New Testament.
Fine and good. But Buckley misses the point that the purpose of evangelical Christian missionary activity is not just to advocate the "doctrine of human love and responsibility for others" but to demonize other faiths and to demand conversion, or else face the eternal fires of hell. Buckley is either a fool or simply naive to think evangelical Christianity separates the two; and it is the latter mission that is "intrinsically offensive" to a Muslim. Quite frankly, I find this essentially intolerant evangelical mission as neither an example of the "doctrine of human love" nor a behavior that embraces a "responsibility for others."

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