They'll really want to rein him in now. Gulf News, a newspaper in the United Arab Emirates, isn't exactly a paragon of unbiased journalism, but if even half of the comments it quotes Hana as saying are true it's amazing:
As you know, political parties in Palestine agree to the continuation of the intifada, which includes different approaches of struggle. Some freedom fighters adopt martyrdom or suicide bombing, while others opt for other measures. But all these struggles serve the continued intifada for freedom. Therefore, we support all these causes. … It is the Israeli Zionist regime that is committing genocide in Palestine by killing innocent women and children. Palestinian people have the right to defend themselves from the Israeli barbarism and atrocities. … We are part of the intifada, so you don't expect us to keep distance and watch. We are in the struggle, whether it's martyrdom or any other means, we are part of it.
Expect not a few calls for the Greek Orthodox Church to distance itself from this call for more suicide bombers. In a New York Times column today, Nicholas D. Kristof (who recently called evangelicals "the new internationalists") remarked that "nobody so distorts, denigrates and defames Islam as radical Muslims themselves." Indeed, when clerics like Hana use their religious platform to support suicide bombers, the same may be said for Christians.
Contrast, then, Hana's remarks with those of Fahed Abu-Akel, the new head of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). One of the Palestinian American's first acts as moderator was to condemn suicide bombings.
"After all the work we did to stand up to the liberal mudslinging during Ashcroft's confirmation fight, this is what we get?" said Robert Knight of Concerned Women for America's Culture and Family Institute. "I have to ask: Why is Mr. Ashcroft, a committed Christian, using his official capacity to celebrate sin?"
Similarly, says CWA president Sandy Rios, "If the Bush administration cannot uphold the most basic of family values and virtues, it risks losing pivotal support from those who have been most loyal in the past."
Salvation Army still under attack | Portland, Maine, forced the Salvation Army to drop its Meals on Wheels contract with the city rather than accept the municipal requirement that it provide health insurance benefits for the partners of gay and lesbian employees (Al Knight, The Denver Post)
Is Europe a Christian continent? | Question becomes important as churches lobby for a mention of the continent's Christian heritage in a key document on the future of the European Union (Associated Press)
Earlier: Grace period is denied in Commandments case | A federal judge yesterday told a Mansfield judge to take down the Ten Commandments from his courtroom by 9 a.m. Monday or face penalties (The Plain Dealer, Cleveland)
Faith-based bill may be windfall for universities | Version of legislation the Senate Finance Committee approved earlier this week would provide a $2.9 billion tax break to people who make donations from Individual Retirement Accounts to nonprofit institutions—a benefit potentially so large, college officials say they have been seeking it for more than five years (The Boston Globe)
The new civil rights struggle | Inner-city ministries have a religious discrimination case against the federal government (John J. Diiulio Jr, The Wall Street Journal)
Life ethics:
'Stem cell' studies may end embryo research | Cells from adult bone marrow could provide an alternative to embryo cells to make brain, heart, muscle or any other type of cell for new treatments, according to a study published yesterday (The Daily Telegraph, London)
Abortion protester surprised to get ACLU backing in suit | Though often opposing prolife activists, civil liberties group says Cuyahoga Falls police stepped over the line when they confiscated Operation Rescue's placard (The Plain Dealer, Cleveland)
Sex education:
Study revives sex ed debate | A new study published by the British Medical Journal finds that sex ed classes, even those that teach abstinence, are having almost no impact. (Fox News)
The Lambeth challenge | The Archbishop of Wales is an eloquent spokesman for all those Christians who inwardly revolt against the materialism and cynicism of our age. (Editorial, The Daily Telegraph, London)
Evangelicals warn that Williams in Canterbury would split the Church | "Rowan Williams would not have the confidence of the vast majority of Anglicans in the world," say prominent conservatives. "His appointment would lead to a major split in the Anglican Communion." (The Times, London)
Interfaith relations:
Bush disagrees with pastor's remarks | "Islam is a religion of peace, that's what the president believes," says Air Fleischer (Associated Press)
Also: See the full text of Fleischer's exchange with the reporter here.
Testing Christian patience | Christians and Jews, standing together? (David Klinghoffer, National Review Online)
Religion news in brief | Episcopalians, American Baptists respond to Jerry Vines's comments, Yale names new dean of divinity school, and other stories (Associated Press)
Jerry Falwell:
City part of Falwell suit again | Lawsuit is the second filed by Falwell since November and seeks to free Thomas Road Baptist Church from state land limitations and court oversight of land transactions (The News & Advance, Lynchburg, Va.)
Falwell building Christian community | Vision for his 4,300 acres includes golf courses, recreation centers and apartments, where members of his flock can live from "birth to antiquity." (Associated Press)
Missions and ministry:
Africans now missionaries to U.S. | A Nigeria-based Pentecostal church is spreading its evangelistic form of Christianity to America (Chicago Tribune)
A brush with God | Carwash cleanses souls, too (The Miami Herald)
Hold the fire and brimstone | Mention of hell from pulpits is at an all-time low. The downplaying of damnation shows the influence of secularism on Christian theology. (Los Angeles Times)
Conflict over church weddings for divorcees | Evangelicals, who are growing in influence in the Church, fear that if the ban is lifted the sacrament of marriage will be taken for granted, the marriage vows devalued and the principle that "marriage is for life" ignored. (The Times, London)
Church of England deal on mobile masts | The Church of England is today heading for a massive row after clearing the way for phone masts to be installed in the spires and towers of thousands of churches. (London Evening Standard)
Job isn't over yet for bishops | They must now attend to the difficult task of tying down the many loose ends in their new reform policy (Associated Press)
Suit's sordid saga of gay Rev. & go-go teen | Among other allegations, the suit says the Rev. John Thompson looted $14,000 from a candy drive - and bragged he was untouchable because "he could bring down half the [Brooklyn] diocese with what he knew" about other gay priests. (New York Post)
Also: Rev. backs principal in lawsuit | A Queens parochial school principal who angered Catholic Church leaders by accusing a priest of looting school coffers to pay for a gay lover has won the backing of a prominent local Catholic educator (New York Daily News)
The faith of our fathers is sometimes a tight fit | Forlorn teenagers seek desperately to claim their parents' faith for themselves, yet they somehow fall short of the mark, time and time again. (Randall Balmer, The Dallas Morning News)
With corporate consolidation in worship music, more entities are invested in the songs sung on Sunday mornings. How will their financial incentives shape the church?
The Spirit is at work, but so are the mechanisms around high-production sets.
With corporate consolidation in worship music, more entities are invested in the songs sung on Sunday mornings. How will their financial incentives shape the church?español
A surprising psalm changed my view on God’s presence during seasons of trial.
