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After having argued in my Tuesday post that not all Episcopalians are theological innovators, imagine my anxiety while perusing read this article on the telegraph.co.uk website. “Church leaders offer communion wafer in the post” reads the headline. Communion wafers, eh? Must be a liturgical denomination — or a remarkably tacky secular entrepreneur. Hope it’s not the Anglicans or some sister freelancers across the pond!
Why right now? Why are these isolated extremists pulling their triggers? What are the factors that are pushing the “kill” button at this moment in time?
As the mainstream media devote significant coverage to the shooting of a guard at the Holocaust Memorial Museum by an 88-year-old white supremacist, we’re seeing attempts to define his motivation and categorize his thinking. He is a white supremacist mostly known for his hatred toward Jews and blacks. He is in the sector of white supremacists who are anti-Christian. He’s a “birther” — one of those people who believe that President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. But he’s also a “truther” — one of those people who believe that former President George W. Bush planned the September 11 terrorist attacks. He was imprisoned for trying to kidnap board members of the Federal Reserve. There are many other interesting tidbits — he had allegedly targeted the conservative Weekly Standard offices, is a socialist, a eugenicist, etc.
I keep wondering why people who seem so interested in killing Jews also deny that they were killed in the Holocaust. The latest example is this 88-year-old white supremacist who killed a security guard at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. The Associated Press‘ Brett Zongker and Calvin Woodward had a thorough story with information about the crime:
Yesterday an elderly white supremacist shot and killed a private security guard at the Holocaust Museum in Washington. The horrible act comes on the heels of the murder of an American soldier at a military recruiting center, which itself came on the heels of the murder of late-term abortion doctor George Tiller.
As any reporter knows, it’s hard to write a story about the beliefs of an individual, let alone the motives of a killer, if you are not able to talk to the person.
This week’s edition of Time features a 2,400-word essay by Robert Wright, and it’s one of the most amusing exercises in eisegesis I’ve read in a very long time. The cover of Time promotes the essay, an excerpt from Wright’s new book The Evolution of God, as cracking a code embedded in the Scriptures of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The article’s subtitle suggests that, if the monotheistic Scriptures are read correctly (i.e., with Wright’s code in mind), this may even create the possibility of reconciliation and religious harmony.
Robin Abcarian has a story in the Los Angeles Times explaining that late-term abortion doctor George Tiller’s clinic will be closing following his murder at his church. Here’s the subhed:
Here is another one of those strange little — repeat “little” — church-state stories that a few readers continue to ask about, via personal emails.
