Saturday, August 19, 2006

This is not my demoninationdenomination

Oh those wacky Presbyterians, it's not enough to trash the Trinity, now they have decided to publish a tin-foil hat, conspiracy book about 9/11:

A book suggesting the September 11 attacks were engineered by the U.S. government is raising hackles among the faithful because its publisher is an agency of the Presbyterian Church (USA), the largest of several Presbyterian denominations.
"Christian Faith and the Truth Behind 9/11: A Call to Reflection and Action" is already in its second printing after having sold 5,000 copies in its first month. It accuses the Bush administration -- in power only eight months at the time of the 2001 terrorist attacks -- of plotting September 11 to justify war with Afghanistan and Iraq, and to expand an "American empire."
[...]
"PPC provides a variety of viewpoints in the books we publish. A few of them from time to time are controversial. This particular book is the work of an independent author and in no way represents the views of the denomination or PPC itself."
[...]
Yesterday the book, listed under PPC's Westminster John Knox imprint, was ranked No. 779 on Amazon.com. Sales spiked higher Aug. 9, when the author appeared on MSNBC with interviewer Tucker Carlson. What sets Mr. Griffin and his book apart from other September 11 conspiracy theorists is his thesis that the church must "get involved in this issue."
"God is truth, and churches concerned with God should be concerned with truth," he said yesterday in a telephone interview. "If we decide 9/11 was an inside job as a pretext to enlarge the American empire, Christians above all should be opposed to empire and therefore be particularly concerned to expose the truth about 9/11."
He questions whether hijackers were even on the doomed planes and speculates that hidden explosives, not jetliners, brought down the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York.
"Throughout the 1990s, the neocons had laid out the programs needed for a Pax Americana," he said. "It would appear," he added, they orchestrated the attacks as "9/11 enabled the neocon program to become official policy."
Oh, poor John Knox, it is truly sad that his name is associated with this piece of dreck! And poor Hugh Hewitt, this is his demonination denomination:
As one who has been ordained as an Elder in the PCUSA, I am again obliged to apologize for having failed during my time on a Session to work to reform the denominational "leadership."
[...]
Subsidizing this foolishness is irresponsible. And the presbyteries across the country owe a sharp and public rebuke to this slander which extends far beyond the president and his Cabinet.
I agree with Hugh that his denomination should repent for publishing slander against the Bush administration. It's not only crazy, it's a sin.

Update: OK, you know the drill, I can't spell, blah, blah, blah