The Religious Left Discovers Radical Islam

http://www.theird.org/Page.aspx?pid=1180

[The Institute on Religion & Democracy]21 Sep 2009--Amazingly, the recent Islamist atrocities in Pakistan have compelled some left-leaning church groups in the West to admit problems with radical Islam, a difficult admission for many. The current visit to the U.S. by a Pakistani Protestant bishop on behalf of besieged Pakistani Christians is helping to fuel the catharsis.

"Unfortunately, the (anti-Christian) mindset is not restricted to Pakistan but to the whole Arab-Muslim world," Bishop Alexander John Malik told the National Council of Churches (NCC) during a recent visit with them in New York. "It's the same from the Sudan to Somalia, from Iraq to Indonesia. This is the mindset of Muslims who consider their religion to be of the utmost importance." Malik represents the united Church of Pakistan, which is a merger of Anglicans, Methodists, Presbyterians and Lutherans.

Naturally, liberal Protestant groups in the U.S. are accustomed to thinking of Christians as victimizers, not as victims. The typical response of Western church groups towards Islam is to apologize for the Crusades of 1,000 years ago. So having to consider that Christians and other religious minorities in Islamic governed lands must routinely endure discrimination, threats, legal restrictions on worship, arrest, and death is eye-opening. The August attacks on two Christian villages in Pakistan by Islamist mobs motivated by an alleged “desecration” of a Koran resulted in dozens of homes, shops and churches burned, and 7 Christians, including 2 children, killed.

U.S. NCC chief Michael Kinnamon, hosting bishop Malik, insisted that NCC member denominations are “acutely aware of the pressure Christian minorities are under around the world and we stand in solidarity with all our sisters and brothers,” according to an NCC news release. Many members of NCC churches might be surprised to learn of Islamist violence against Christians, since the NCC and most of its member communions have hardly ever discussed it before. But it’s a constructive start.