From the issue dated September 28, 2001
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A Time for Self-ExaminationBy RICHARD MOUW
It's not enough to say, as the president said recently, that we were attacked because we're a beacon of freedom. There may be something to that, but we were also attacked because of deep resentments about what America is doing in the larger world by way of exporting cultural products that people find deeply offensive. That's the kind of thing that we're not hearing much dialogue about. I'm not saying the Jerry Falwell thing, that God is judging us. I think both Falwell and Pat Robertson -- and I am an evangelical Christian -- responded with the worst sort of evangelical tones, and that is a self-righteous "We've been telling you how bad you are and you haven't listened to us and now God has lifted the protective shield." I think that's wrong. But the core of what is important in that is that this is a very important time for self-examination. Every church service, every synagogue service, every mosque service calls people to look into their own hearts and lives. I hope people can listen to the religious call to self-examination. The rituals of religious communities that many people have turned to during this time have built into them the call to self-examination. "Examine your own hearts," the psalm says, "search me and know me and see if there be any wicked way in me." Those of us who are Christian evangelicals are always going to say that there's got to be spiritual renewal, something's got to happen inside. If you read Psalm 139, right toward the end, he says, "O Lord I hate your enemies with a perfect hatred. I'm on your side." And then he stops, and it's as if the mood changes. And he says, "Search me, and know my heart. Test me, and check out my thoughts. See if there be any wicked way in me." And what we're hearing a lot now is, "I hate your enemies with a perfect hatred." But we're not hearing a lot of "Search me and know my heart." Richard Mouw is president of Fuller Theological Seminary. http://chronicle.com Section: The Chronicle Review Page: B17
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Copyright © 2001 by The Chronicle of Higher Education
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Reflections on the Fractured Landscape |
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