The New York Times focuses on evangelical attempts to "woo" Muslims
In May 2002, Mother Jones ran a cover article titled, "False Prophets: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Aims to Eliminate Islam." The shocking revelation of the article was that evangelical missionaries, in a "stealth crusade," are serving in Muslim countries and sharing their faith. It reported that the mission was to "wipe out Islam."

In reaction, Books & Culture executive editor Michael G. Maudlin wrote, "The religious illiteracy demonstrated by Mother Jones should be embarrassing. What did they think missionaries do? … If this is our attempt to eliminate Islam, then we are guilty as charged. In the same vein, then, Pepsi is guilty of wanting to eliminate Coke drinkers."

Amazingly, a year later, many of the same charges have made the front page of today's New York Times. The headline reads: "Seeing Islam as 'evil' faith, evangelicals seek converts." The article, its captions, and its jump headlines refer to evangelical attempts to "lure" and "woo" Muslims.

Religion reporter Laurie Goodstein's piece begins at an Ohio training seminar on Muslim evangelism. The teacher discussed the need for a respectful, loving approach, Goodstein writes, but—shockingly—focused on Islamic teachings that show it to be fraudulent and violent. Goodstein argues that the unnamed instructor fails to give the full picture of Islam and intermingles "accepted facts with negative accounts of Islamic teaching, history, and tradition."

Goodstein uses this training session to demonstrate her thesis: "At the grass roots of evangelical Christianity, many are now absorbing the antipathy for Islam that emerged last year with the incendiary comments of ministers … Evangelicals have always ...