Analysis & Commentary
Ataturk, the Arab Spring and Europe’s Fall
If I asked you to name the important events of the early 20th century, you’d probably mention the start of World War I in 1914, the Russian Revolution in 1917, the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, the stock market crash in 1929, and Hitler becoming Chancellor of Germany in 1933.
Christian World News
FDD's Clifford May explains the Arabian Peninsula's threat to religious freedom.
Christians for Palestine
For most American Jews and Israelis, evangelical Christians are synonymous with zealous, biblically inspired support of the Jewish state—so zealous, in fact, that it makes some Jews uneasy.
Christians in Iran, Syria Face Rising Persecution
There has been a wave of violence targeting Iranian and Syrian Christians over the past month, say Christian news reports. In addition, Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, who has been on death row since 2010 for seeking to register his home-based church, refused to renounce his Christian beliefs in exchange for his release from prison.
Christmas is Not Negotiable
On the eve of this Christmas 2008, I shifted from my ongoing field of research and commentary in terrorism, international and ethnic conflict, and global strategies to address a subject dear to the heart of many among us, and dream-maker to most of us (e.g., the children): Christmas. I will reiterate this assertion: Christmas as a celebration is not negotiable.
Submit or Die
Many commentators have noted the apparent irony: The Pope suggests Islam encourages violence -- and Muslims riot in protest.
The 700 Club
FDD's Clifford May speaks on the growing Christian persecution in the Middle East following the Arab Spring.
The First Openly Muslim Priest
The day before the Episcopal Church's House of Bishops voted to confirm the church's first openly gay bishop in the late summer of 2003, conservative humor website ScrappleFace satirized the move with a piece entitled "Episcopal Church Appoints First Openly-Muslim Bishop." It was a fine example of reductio ad absurdum humor: If the Episcopal Church sacrificed a long-held moral doctrine, would it next have a bishop of another faith? The point worked as humor, but would not work as argument precisely because the possibility seemed absurd. Yet less than four years later, the Episcopal Church has been faced (albeit briefly) with its first openly Muslim priest.
What Saudis Preach
Nearly four years ago, Saudi dissident Ali al-Ahmed and author Stephen Schwartz conducted a study for the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. They examined textbooks and other publications distributed by the Saudi government and by Saudi-funded organizations. They found such messages as these:
What We Can Learn from a Medieval Dialogue
Amid all the metaphorical smoke arising from the, alas, very real flames of hatred that some Muslim fanatics have managed to kindle out of Pope Benedict XVI's lecture to academics at the University of Regensburg, one can easily miss the lessons that might be drawn from the medieval episode recounted by the pontiff immediately before the historical quotation which has proven so incendiary:
“Destroy All the Churches”
Imagine if Pat Robertson called for the demolition of all the mosques in America. It would be front-page news. It would be on every network and cable news program. There would be a demand for Christians to denounce him, and denounce him they would -- in the harshest terms.
