“enforce with equal vigor its earliernresolutions on the territorial integrity ofnLebanon, the division of Cypress [and]nIsrael’s withdrawal from the territoriesnit occupied in 1967.”nThe W.C.C. also took the opportunitynto throw as much cold water as itncould on plans to celebrate 1992 as thenquinquecentennial of Columbus’ discoverynof America: “We call upon theninternational religious community andngovernment to resist participating innactivities celebrating 1492 designednwithout input from indigenous peoplenand to join with indigenous people innthe celebrations and commemorationsnthey have planned.” Logically, thisnwould mean that Catholics could notncelebrate the spread of the Gospel tonthe New World, nor could Protestantsnremember with anything other thannembarrassment their efforts to establishna model Christian society in the wilderness.nThis same anti-Western bent isnfound in a recent issue of the HarvardnDivinity Bulletin, where Harvard professornDiana L. Eck writes, “At a timenwhen the U.S. was mesmerized by thenmomentum of war, it was clear that then. massive armed presence of the Westnwas deeply resented by peoplenthroughout the world with a history ofnWestern subjugation.” Elsewhere innthe same issue, Melanie A. May, anvisiting lecturer at Harvard, published anLenten sermon,-preached February 27nin the Divinity School Chapel, callingnthe war blasphemy and giving, amongnother things, this reason: “Because annAmerican Air Force colonel, just backnfrom one of the 3,000 bombing raidsnin 14 hours, can respond to a questionnabout what he would do next by saying,n’Well, first I promised to buy mynFor Immediate ServicenChroniclesnNEW SUBSCRIBERSnTOLL FREE NUMBERn1-800-435-0715n10/CHRONICLESncrew coffee . . . and then we’ll getnright back to work.’ Back to work. Backnto killing. … The truth of this war isnblasphemy because American citizensnare so far spared the feeling and thenflesh of fear—though not those ofnsorrow — that hold the Palestinian peoplenand Israeli citizens, along withnIraqis and Kuwaitis, hostage.”nIt seems the delegates to thenW.C.C. as well as Mmes. Eck andnMay would have preferred the assemblednallied forces to have refrainednfrom using their superiority in weaponry.nWould they have felt better if therenhad been massed columns of infantryncharging the entrenched Iraqis afternthe fashion of Napoleon? Or perhapsnmounted knights, as used by thenFrench at Crecy, or an infantry phalanx,nas used successfully by Alexandernthe Great in the same region? Andnwould the war have been more moral,nless blasphemous, if the United Statesnand its allies had suffered massive casualties?nThe anti-war position of the’nW.C.C. and Mmes. Eck and Maynwould make sense from a position ofnconsistent pacifism, but this isn’t thenbasis of their argument. Instead, theyntemper their reproaches for the U.S.nactions in the Gulf with calls for actionnelsewhere. One suspects that if thenUnited States were to overthrow thengovernment of South Africa by force,nthey would not call it “blasphemy.”nWhat is involved here, as the attacksnon quinquecentennial celebrations ofnColumbus’ voyages of discovery reveal,nis hostility to the West in general and tonChristendom in particular. It is truenthat the Spanish conquistadores dismantlednthe indigenous empires of thenAztecs and the Incas in Mexico andnSouth America, and that they were notngentle about it. This is not a matter ofngreat credit or pride to the ChristiannWest, but is it so unusual in the coursenof human history that it deserves specialnmention for particular execration?nIs it not also true that the MuslimnArabs destroyed the old Persian Empirenand the East Roman Empire andnmade repeated attempts to conquer thenEuropean mainland? No one says,n”Christians are justified in hating Muslimsnbecause of their conquest of Constantinoplenand of Spain, because ofntheir conquest of Hungary and theirnsiege of Vienna.” Perhaps the memorynof the Crusades explains much of thennnMuslim resentment of Christians andnthe West, but it can hardly be said tonjustify it.nIn another Andover Chapel sermonnprinted in the same issue, a staff assistantnat Harvard Divinity, Virginia M.nPierce, reproves the United States fornhaving prepared for the Persian GulfnWar for ten years and offers her interpretationnof Islam as a “religion ofnpeace.” Let’s be serious. Muslims havennever been persecuted as a matter ofnpolicy by Christians, and yet Islamicnregimes generally forbid evangelizationnand punish the conversion of Muslimsnto Christianity severely, frequently byndeath. No real or nominal Christian ornmember of any other non-Islamic religionnis punishable by law in any Christiannstate for becoming a Muslim.nMoreover, Islam did not- stretch itsnsway from the Pyrenees to the Pacificnby peaceful missionary work. On thenother hand, Christianity spreadnthroughout most of the ancient Romannworld in opposition to the power of thenstate, not by military conquest. ThenChristians of Egypt and North Africa,nof Gaul and Greece were won to theirnfaith when it was still proscribed andnpersecuted. The Muslims of Egyptnand Syria, North Africa and Asia Minornwere won to Islam after their statesnhad been conquered and when theyncould derive financial and other benefitsnfrom conversion.nApparently the only “holy war” thatnis recognizable in some ecclesiasticalnand academic circles is the war againstnChristianity and nations tinted withnthat faith. Christians even outbid onenanother to cast scorn on and to apologizenfor their own traditions and faith.nConservative Christians may disagreenwith this behavior, but with few exceptionsnthey too are cowed into tacitlynacquiescing, as in the allegation thatnthe Crusades were something of whichnChristians should be uniquelynashamed, whereas the jihad is onlynnatural and a thing of which Islam maynproperly be proud.nWhen we consider the way in whichnthe W.C.C. fawningly receives “guestsnof other faiths,” giving reverent attentionnto their supercilious criticisms ofnChristianity, one finds it hard to realizenthat the ecumenical movement had itsnorigin, early in the century, in thenChristian desire to become more effectivenin world evangelism. It is one thingn