Imagine the Quaker
an erstwhile mirror site for weblog on newquaker.com
archives | newquaker.comMonday, March 15, 2004
A persecution alert. The Agape Press reported on Friday warnings by government officials in the UK that money raised for disaster relief efforts in India may instead be going to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a radical Hindu group known for aggressive intolerance toward Christians. The RSS, a militant, extremist organization that is trying to create a Hindu theocracy in India, was linked to the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948. The group has been implicated in numerous incidents of "brutality, outright persecution, ridicule, humiliation" and other crimes toward Christians and the Christian Church in India. The point is that Christians who donate to organizations in India need to be well-informed about the destination of their humanitarian gifts.
posted by Merle Harton, Jr. 2:01 AM
Sunday, March 14, 2004
My friends at Antipas Ministries have published Brian Swanson's report on the protest at President Bush's fund-raiser in California's Santa Clara Convention Center on March 4th.
I see that we are still beating Bush up for keeping his white-knuckle grip on the so-called Religious Right and for his leadership in making evangelical Christians look sinister and superior, really unlike our Lord Jesus. I think Bush is more a product of mainline American Christianity than a creative force in the solidification of ideals that have hardened hearts in a confrontation with the world's underserved and underprivileged, the health of our natural resources, and the future of our children. But, hey, that's just me. Perhaps he has become the poster-child for all that is wrong with the American Church—protective, stingy, arrogant, and forgetful of Christ's desire for us as children of God. Perhaps he really believes that he is doing good. I don't know, but we will continue to face surprises—as Christians, as Americans—until our media outlets start reporting what really is happening on our streets and stop publishing what little they think we can handle. Swanson's report is pretty tame, among others that aren't, but it's still an eye-opening look at Christian dissent as the juggernaut of fraudulent hopes is once again pushed down Main Street.
posted by Merle Harton, Jr. 11:04 PM
© Merle Harton, Jr. All rights reserved. Biblical references are NIV® unless otherwise noted.
