Posted by
C-Hayes on Monday, February 18, 2008 2:44:53 PM
Those of you who have read
America Alone may be outraged but will certainly not be shocked by the
following appeal to Catholic youth in the Netherlands:
"Dutch Catholics have re-branded the Lent fast as the 'Christian Ramadan' in an attempt to appeal to young people who are more likely to know about Islam than Christianity....
"Three decades ago the Catholic Church was as strict as many Muslims are about Ramadan with a total ban on meat and alcohol during the 40-day Lenten period between Ash Wednesday and Easter....
"(Catholic charity) Vastenaktie organisers hope that by linking the festival to Ramadan they can remind Christians who may be less observant than Muslims of the 'spirituality and sobriety' of Lent."
To some, this may not seem like a big deal. After all, what's wrong with trying to attract more youth to the faith by using comparisons they'll understand?
Well, the problem is that the comparison will likely have the opposite effect.
First of all, the article suggests that the Islam tenets of "spirituality and sobriety" will attract "less observant" youths to the Christian faith. Let's put it this way: if your goal is to galvanize young people to your religion by showing them the benefits of A DIFFERENT religion...then why wouldn't they be inclined just to choose that different religion in the first place? Especially if that religion as a whole is painted as "more observant," "spiritual" and "sober" but still contains all the positive characteristics of the other religion?
Are Christians and Catholics that lost in their own faith that they can't help but describe it through Islam?
"...To rename Lent after Muslim practice is not only to demonstrate abject cultural capitulation, but to sow confusion by suggesting that Christian fasting has to do with not eating or drinking from sunup to sundown, which has never been the practice among any Christian sect or group. If that is not the suggestion, since these Dutch Roman Catholics aren't fasting in any case, then their youth will be given the impression that the Muslims are the really observant ones, and the Christians are by comparison lax and indifferent -- an impression that is certain, particularly among youth, to lead to conversions to Islam."
The two religions could not be farther apart, yet Christians are now using Islam as a recruiting tool. How can this not backfire?