Friday, December 22, 2006

Perhaps Christians Should Declare a Fatwa

Its the season of Joy and celebration for all Christians. We celebrate the Birth of Our Savior Jesus Christ on Christmas as has been the Custom and religious obligation of all Christians for Centuries.
But Newsweek Magazine Decided to throw a little controversy into this Christmas season.
In their December 18th issue they feature an article written by Lisa Miller that has the Painting by Francesco Mancino of "The Holy Family" on its' cover. From this beautiful picture one might think this is an article highlighting the reverence that 80% of the United States nearly 300 million people have for the Birth of Jesus. Wrong! The article is about a "A Nice Jewish Boy". The article refers to the First Century Jewish Family Values That Shaped Christianity. The reference to time ignores the well established reference points of BC (before Christ) and AD (Year Of Our Lord), using instead the designation of all agnostics CE (Common ERA). The article is filled with quotes from well known feminist and promoter of "The Gnostic Gospels", Elaine Pagel.
The ultimate blasphemous statement is Ms. Millers description of how The Virgin Mary let Joseph Know she was "with Child". "She then tells Joseph she is pregnant and he is not the father".....Never referring to The Christ Child as a Devine incarnation of the Son Of God. She refers to "the figure they believe to be the Son of God."
If Christians were like Muslims a Fatwa would have been issued by one of the Church leaders by sundown the 19th of December. As you may or may not recall we had a Fatwa issued for Salman Rushdie for writing "The Satanic Verses" and in 2002 Mohsen Mojtahed Shabestares issued a death Fatwa for Jerry Falwell for calling Mohammad a terrorist.
In the 1600s this woman would have been burned at the stake for her blasphemy. Fortunately we no longer burn such people, but we can boycott the magazine she writes for, and I for one will never pick up another copy of Newsweek.
If such an article were written about Jewish or Muslim dogma there would be an outcry of antisemitism or Muslim Hatred, but these days it seems like some have declared open season on Christianity. It is past time we Christians take a stand and use our purchasing power to boycott any organization that is anti -christian, including candidates for election and those holding office.

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