Jim Wallis’ Blog, God’s Politics, is a must read in understanding why so many young people, some from the United States, are drawn to the ‘dangerous theology” in describing the war with ISIS. This article points to all the miss information being fed to us by Bill O’Reilly and Fox News slamming Obama (no surprise) in defining this conflict with ISSIS as a “Holy War”.
Bill O’Reilly, Fox News’ top-rated political pundit and talk show host has devoted a great deal of attention to ISIS atrocities and what he believes the Western response should be. Unfortunately, while O’Reilly rightly condemns ISIS as evil, he frames the conflict as a “holy war” that ISIS is waging against the West, Christians, and anyone else who does not share ISIS’ extreme views. O’Reilly defined his “talking points” as “Judeo/Christian philosophy versus the Jihad.” According to O’Reilly, “this is now a so-called holy war between radical jihadists and everybody else including peaceful Muslims … The holy war is here. And unfortunately it seems the President of United States will be the last one to acknowledge it.” While it’s a common Fox practice to turn everything into a partisan issue against President Obama, O’Reilly is also spreading a very dangerous theology.
I found Wallis’ five points helpful especially when it comes to our call to take responsibility in helping young people understand why it’s so dangerous for young people who are getting swallowed up with the “cult like” propaganda being fed them.
This is the link to the Wallis Blog:
http://sojo.net/blogs/2015/02/26/5-things-know-about-isis-and-theology-evil