A reader of my previous blog, “Fear, Inc.,” asked a very reasonable question. He or she had wondered how accurate my placing Robert Spencer among the “purveyors of hate and misinformation” actually was. I like this. I know everyone on the PCI team wants open and transparent communication. Indeed, let’s urge one another to speak the truth and to speak it in love, as Paul challenged the Ephesian church.

The flames of suspicion, hate and fear swept over our country in the 1940s and 1950s, fanned by the zealous anti-Communist Senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy. The current campaign in the United States to vilify Muslims is certainly reminiscent of the McCarthyism of the 1950s. Sure, its roots precede the attacks of 9/11, but we can see that it clearly exploded after that date.

In today’s world, media has an unprecedented power to either unite us or divide us on a global scale. Television, news, movies, internet, photographs. These things have the power to make the world smaller and bring us together with people and cultures we may never otherwise encounter. But these same things also have incredible power to cause misunderstanding, stereotypes, hatred, and fear.

I was at a Muslim-Christian Dialogue at Eastern Mennonite University when the announcement was made: Egypt has toppled President Hosni Mubarak. What can we learn? 

I am fascinated by the phenomenon of religion, how it developed over the millennia in various parts of the world; and how followers of the two largest religions – Islam and Christianity – can dig into the treasures of their traditions and invest those resources to build a more peaceful and righteous world.

Liberty University recently demoted Ergun Caner from his role as Dean of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. “Factual statements that are self-contradictory” regarding his past (especially his purported involvement as a terrorist) were the reasons given for the demotion of this famous Muslim convert to Christ