Futile Ecumenical Fasting

By Jan Markell

www.olivetreeviews.org

Muslim groups in the U.S. have joined with left-wing Protestants and Catholics in planning an “interfaith fast” on Columbus Day, October 8, 2007.  The fasters include officials from the Islamic Society of North America, the National Council of Churches, the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Catholic Maryknollers, Jim Wallis’ Sojourners, the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, and the Quaker Fellowship of Reconciliation.

The event is called “From Conquest to Community, From Violence to Reverence: An Interfaith Fast to End the War in Iraq.”  It will conveniently synchronize with Islam’s “Night of Power” during Ramadan.

The interfaith fasters are calling on “all armed forces and militias to ‘fast’ from killing at least a day, reminding them that Ramadan calls for a fast from violence as well.” 

Do these people really think that al-Qaida, Hamas, al-Aksa Martyrs Brigade, and Iraqi insurgents from many nations will join this endeavor? As religious Left commentator Mark Tooley says, “It’s nice that al-Qaida and other insurgents in Iraq are also invited to join the interfaith fast.  Maybe there will be a spontaneous Ramadan soccer game among all the contending parties in Iraq as during the famous Christmas truce between British and German troops in World War I.”

Calling upon a long religious tradition of abstaining from food for spiritual purposes, the organizers had the gall to cite the example of Ghandi, Jesus, and Cesar Chavez.  So the King of Kings and Lord of Lords has been reduced to the level of the social justice champion Chavez! Absent from the list is Muhammad who never learned how to lay down any sword as he was chopping off too many heads of people who wouldn’t convert to Islam.

The sad conclusion consistently paraded by the religious Left and similar organizations is this: The departure of American troops from Iraq will precipitate peace and tranquility there and everywhere.  While things are hardly going as planned in Iraq, such a naïve conclusion shows almost a detachment from reality.  They should call on Jesus’ Name. He alone can bring the tranquility to that nation and others in bloody turmoil.  But if the prayers are in the same breath as those to Ghandi and Chavez, I think the Lord will not be pleased or likely to respond.

The interfaith fasters have targeted Columbus Day 2007 for their time of protest. America’s discovery by the European adventurer marks the start of cultural genocide and Western imperialism in the minds of the Religious Left. For them, the Iraq War is just the latest sinister episode in four centuries of American aggression.

I’m all for fasting, but how about for America to repent or for a lost soul? The religious Left is not into such issues; rather, they are trying to change the world bit by bit through social projects that elevate Cesar Chavez, Ghandi, and a dozen others.  I suspect Jesus was an afterthought in their statement.

The Prince of Peace He is but the religious Left does not really get it.

NOTE: We are trying a new mass e-mail system in that our previous one has not worked properly for six weeks.  This one may take some time as well to get kinks out.

LIVE RADIO THIS WEEKEND (Sept. 29): Joel Rosenberg joins me on air.  We air live out of AM980 KKMS, Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN Saturday, 9 to 11 AM and Sunday, 12 to 2 PM. All programming is posted to our “radio archives” by late Monday. We air in several cities and also podcast. See the Web site for all information.

By Jan Markell Click here for bio and archived articles