Archive Entry #67: March 1, 1989

Though each was selected for its position eight months ago, it was not an easy decision to keep in this archive the column about the controversial Dilbert comic strips or today’s column about the infamous contract out on the life of author Salman Rushdie. But given the times we live in and the controversies surrounding the interplay of faith and culture, both in Christianity and Islam, as well as the specific horrors of the recent assassinations of the staff of a French satire magazine by people claiming the name of Islam, perhaps the timing could not be better.

There’s a debate in the political media these days about the name(s) we should attach to terrorism carried out in the name of religion. What matters far more than what we call it is how we understand and respond to it. Here’s my effort from 26 years ago to respond to it.

COMING NEXT: From September 1993, a column whose focus on forgiveness is well suited for the spiritual self-examination to which these weeks leading up to the Jesus’ encounter with the cross call us. Find it HERE.