Some people’s balloon never lands, and Catherine M. Wallace is one of them.
“If [anything Islamic] wanted to attack an American city, they had to hijack an airliner. If they want to blow up a concert, they need to put bombs on their own children and send young men in to kill themselves…that kind of radicalism [Christian fundamentalism] in control of nuclear codes was a much, much greater threat.”
Wallace apparently believes that George W. Bush, because he called the war on terror a “Crusade” once, doubtless without being aware of the historical implications of the term, and a few times spoke about it in terms of a divine calling, was equivalent to a worldwide army of Islamic jihadists who justify their actions and make recruits among peaceful Muslims by pointing to Islamic texts and teachings. This is as absurd as it is myopic. There have been nearly 30,000 jihad attacks worldwide since 9/11, all committed in the name of Islam and in accord with its teachings. Until we see people blowing themselves and others up while screaming “Jesus is Lord,” there is no actual equivalence to that on the Christian side.
“At Co-op, Scholar Says Christian Fundamentalism More Dangerous than Islamic Terrorism,” by Max Fennell-Chametzky, Chicago Maroon (Maroon indeed), October 20, 2016:
On Oct. 18 Author Catherine M. Wallace discusses her series ”Confronting Fundamentalism”, in which she argues that Christianity has been hijacked by fundamentalists and presents an alternative.
A leading humanist scholar stressed symbolic Bible reading and warned of the radical right at a talk on Tuesday at the Seminary Co-Op.
For Catherine M. Wallace, faculty member at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine and author of the recently concluded book series Christian Humanism and the Moral Imagination, the Christian fundamentalist movement in the United States is more dangerous than Islamic terrorism. Wallace, a Christian herself, believes fundamentalist access to United States armaments is the number one threat to state security.
“If [anything Islamic] wanted to attack an American city, they had to hijack an airliner. If they want to blow up a concert, they need to put bombs on their own children and send young men in to kill themselves…that kind of radicalism [Christian fundamentalism] in control of nuclear codes was a much, much greater threat,” Wallace said….