Editorial: The Challenges of Islam and Radical Christianity

January 5, 2003

Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/columnists/jane_eisner/4874415.htm

On January 5, 2003 The Philadelphia Inquirer printed an editorial by Jane Eisner that stated, "the U.S. State Department has posted a series called 'Muslim Life in America,' but it is clearly for foreign consumption. The upbeat collection of stories and photographs on the department's official Web site deftly mixes profiles with patriotic propaganda, designed to illustrate the complex but comfortable life that adherents of Islam enjoy in America today... The 'live and let live' credo of American religious life will find itself increasingly challenged not only by a potent Islam but also by a growing, radical Christianity that bears little resemblance to the liberal, secularized version practiced here... The religious challenges of the 21st century will likely be far more complicated than today's verbal jousting over clerical-abuse scandals and the separation between church and state. One can only hope that our foreign policy reflects something more sophisticated than the heartwarming photographs on the State Department Web site."