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KARL KEATING'S E-LETTER
TOPICS:
CATHOLIC PRIEST VS. ANTI-CATHOLIC MINISTER
BILL BUCKLEY ON THE CONVERSION OF IRAQ
Dear Friend of Catholic Answers:
In last week's issue I apparently mistyped the web address for the
Celebrate the Faith Conference, where I will be speaking October
24-26. The proper address, which is case-sensitive, is:
http://www.oursorrowfulmothersministry.org/Events.html
Note the capital E.
MY JURY IS STILL OUT ON THIS ONE
If you have read my most recent book, "Controversies," you know that I
like apologetical exchanges of letters. Most of the selections in
"Controversies" are from book-length conversations between such men as
Arnold Lunn and J.E.M. Joad or Ronald Knox and
the-at-that-point-not-yet-Catholic Lunn.
Most of these sorts of books, between a Catholic apologist and his
non-Catholic challenger, were written in the 1930s, a full lifetime
ago. Then such books seemed to go out of style.
For some years I have thought about working up such an exchange with
an Evangelical or Fundamentalist writer but have not been able to
think of the right person. I can think of several men who likely would
be willing to engage in an exchange of letters, but eagerness to take
on a Catholic is not enough.
I would not want to enter into a long-term proposition with anyone
whose writings tend to collapse into screeds or who is so tightly
focused on one or two pet issues that any book must end up a bore.
So, for the time being, this idea is on hold--at least for me. But I
see that a book of letters between a Catholic and a Protestant has
come out, from a Protestant publisher, Harvest House, which happens to
be Dave Hunt's publisher.
Hunt is decidedly and unfairly anti-Catholic and is not above offering
for public consumption allegations that he must know are false. He did
this so regularly in years past that I gave up debating or arguing
with him.
The last time we engaged in public, in 1994, he said such nonsense
about the Church that I had trouble even listing for the audience the
charges that were blatantly wrong. I did not have enough time to
refute each of his gross errors. It was a frustrating experience.
So far as I know, in the intervening years Hunt has not become a
greater friend of truth. Naturally enough, his oral misrepresentations
about the Catholic Church are recapitulated in his books, including
those published by Harvest House. This has made me wonder about
anything coming from that publisher, so it is with a suspicious eye
that I look at a title that came out this year, "Letters Between a
Catholic and an Evangelical."
The Evangelical is James G. McCarthy, a former Catholic and a
confirmed anti-Catholic, though one not remotely as off the wall as
Hunt. Some years ago McCarthy produced a widely-seen video called
"Catholicism: Crisis of Faith." The video was slickly done but made a
hash of Catholic history and beliefs.
The other contributor is John Waiss, a Catholic priest affiliated with
Opus Dei. He serves as a college chaplain. I am not otherwise familiar
with him. He and McCarthy met in 1990, when a college student, to whom
McCarthy had given a portion of a book manuscript, turned to Waiss for
advice.
Given my unease with Harvest House, I wonder whether it would publish
a book in which the Catholic writer faired well compared to the
Evangelical writer. (I can't imagine it publishing a book in which the
Catholic clearly won.) I have not had a chance to read much of the
McCarthy-Waiss exchange, so I can't say who won or whether the result
was a tie, but I can say that the book does not match, in intellectual
rigor or literary quality, the books I excerpted in "Controversies."
I am familiar with some of McCarthy's earlier writing and know that he
is not in the same league as Joad or J.B.S. Huxley or G.G. Coulton,
scholars who wrote with considerable erudition and verve. They were
high-level opponents of the Church. McCarthy is not, though he is much
above Dave Hunt's level.
And what of Fr. Waiss as a defender of the faith? I can't say, not
knowing any other writings of his and not having read much of this
book. I hope he is a match for McCarthy.
Since I have read so little of "Letters Between a Catholic and an
Evangelical," this is not a book review. It is more of an
acknowledgement of the book's existence, coupled with an admission
that I hope some day to find the appropriate partner for a comparable
work.
If you happen to have read the McCarthy-Waiss book, I would welcome
your opinion of it.
BILL BUCKLEY PROMOTES PROTESTANTISM, SORT OF
William F. Buckley, Jr., is a conservative and a Catholic, but he is
not in all respects an orthodox Catholic. I learned this several
decades ago. I would not base my faith on his say-so, but he is far
more trustworthy in religious matters than are most columnists who
claim to be Catholic.
In a column published a few months ago, Buckley noted that "the modern
temper shrinks from anything confrontational." (True, as I remarked in
"Controversies.") Buckley was praising efforts by Protestant
missionaries to evangelize Iraqi Muslims. Such efforts are not well
received by American liberals, whether religious or secular.
Despite what our governmental officials have said, the terrorism
problem really does stem from generic Islam and not from some aberrant
variation of Islam. As Buckley said, the Koran is full of admonitions
to "slay the infidels." There is no comparable command in the New
Testament--quite the contrary, of course.
The Protestant missionaries are trying to do two things: They are
trying to convert Muslims to Protestantism, naturally enough, and they
also are trying to show Muslims the deficiencies of their religion
and, in consequence, the deficiencies of the culture derived from it.
My guess is that the missionaries will have more success with the
latter strategy than with the former, since it is easier for a Muslim
to become disaffected with Islam than to convert to Christianity. (In
many Muslim countries becoming a Christian brings upon one a death
sentence.)
In the absence of many Catholic missionaries doing likewise, I say
more power to the Protestant missionaries. Although I'd prefer to see
Iraqi Muslims convert to Catholicism, I'd settle for their conversion
to Protestantism. It would be a step up. Absent even that, I'd be
happy to see them estranged from Islam, sitting out religious
squabbles, so to speak.
On this matter I think Buckley and the missionaries he praises have
the right instincts. I just wish more Catholics shared them.
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