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In an interview with The New York Times after the meeting, Calver was apparently more direct in referring to Graham. The evangelist's statement that Islam is a wicked and evil religion, Calver said, ""is used to indict all Americans and used to indict all Christians. It obviously puts lives and livelihoods of people overseas at risk."

"Since we are in a global community, no doubt about it, we must temper our speech and we must communicate primarily through actions," NAE President Ted Haggard said. "There has to be a way to do good works without raising alarms."

Franklin Graham, who was invited to the meeting but couldn't attend because he's helping at his father's San Diego meetings, hasn't responded to the reports. Neither has Pat Robertson. But Jerry Falwell told reporters he was upset that he hadn't even been invited. That's too bad. As someone who is contrite about many of his anti-Muslim statements, his perspective might have been helpful.

"Almost suddenly, the world has become very tiny, and every comment from any portion of the planet that is important will be heard in every other part of the planet the same day," he told The Washington Post. "So, yes, we do need to be more careful, and I hope we have all learned from what we say and do."

In an interview with The New York Times, he explained what he learned: "In this media-sensitive world, we must be cautious that we walk a tightrope that does not allow offending others while at the same time never compromising what we believe. At the same time we cannot expect hundreds of thousands of evangelical church leaders to go silent when somebody asks what they think about any religion, just because those religions might kill their missionaries."

The NAE, Falwell said, was "trying to do something noble" in calling the evangelical leaders together on the subject, and he promised to participate in future discussions.

Meanwhile, at least one reporter engaged in some name-calling and ill-advised comments of his own: according to The Washington Post's Alan Cooperman, the NAE and IRD are "fundamentalist Christian groups." For both groups, them's fighting words.

1. Evangelical book causes outrage among Muslims in Israel | A book with the title "Who is the Greatest?" has caused the Islamic movement in Israel to publish large ads in the main Arab Israeli newspapers accusing Emmaus Bible school in Nazareth of being a part of a larger Zionist-American plot to combat Muslims all around the globe in inspiration of the American victory in Iraq (Come and See, Tel Aviv, Israel)
   
   
2. John MacArthur book on terrorism banned in Pakistan | Terrorism, Jihad and the Bible "has the potential to deliberately and maliciously outrage the feelings of different classes of citizens in Pakistan," the government of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province said in a statement (Associated Press)

1. Churches asked to respect ban on noisemaking | Accra's religious battle over drums comes around again (Accra Mail, Ghana)
   
   
2. Earlier: Christians and Animists Face Off Over Loud Worship in Ghana (Weblog, May 10, 2001)
   
   
3. Even Earlier: Toppling Tradition? | Christian teachings conflict with tribal customs, national laws (Christianity Today, Sept. 6, 1999)
   
   
4. Palestinian priest named Vatican consultant for Christian-Jewish dialogue | Elias Michael Chacour is a three-time nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize (Jerusalem Post)

1. Religious-charities bill stumbles in House | A top Republican signaled today that the House was effectively abandoning President Bush's drive to expand religious organizations' ability to receive federal money for social services (The New York Times)
   
   

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May (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47