Michael “Mikey” Weinstein’s research assistant, self-taught “historian” Chris Rodda, may have competition for her job from Catherine Wallace of Northwestern University in Illinois. Wallace, a “cultural historian and literary critic” is part of the Feinberg School of Medicine and recently described her belief that [emphasis added]

the Christian fundamentalist movement in the United States is more dangerous than Islamic terrorism.

Her logic is straight from the talking points of Mikey Weinstein, who thinks Christians and their ability to obtain “laser guided nuclear weapons” are the real threat to America. Similarly [emphasis added]: 

Wallace, a Christian herself, believes fundamentalist access to United States armaments is the number one threat to state security.

“If [anything Islamic] wanted to attack an American city, they had to hijack an airliner. If they want to blow up a concert, they need to put bombs on their own children and send young men in to kill themselves…that kind of radicalism [Christian fundamentalism] in control of nuclear codes was a much, much greater threat,” Wallace said.

She attributes the source of this “dangerous” Christianity to “fundamentalism” — which she defines as a literal reading of the Bible.

Wallace’s premise fails on several fronts, for much the same reason as Mikey Weinstein’s similar rants.

Like Weinstein, she makes the sensational claim it is dangerous for Christians to have access to “nuclear codes” — ignoring the fact Christian men and women have had access to nuclear weapons for decades, without so much as a single example of any military Christian using any military weapon against the government for “fundamentalist” reasons. Meanwhile, Islamic extremists — both inside the US military and outside of it — have repeatedly attacked the United States and caused death and destruction in the name of Islam. Despite this conflicting evidence, Wallace inexplicably believes Christians are more dangerous than Muslims.

Disturbingly, her “fundamentalist” framing — that is, anyone who believes the Bible to be true — is not unlike that of US Army Chaplain (Col) Barb Sherer. Chaplain Sherer, who is still an active chaplain and officer in the US Army, uses the same definition of “fundamentalist” and believes those ‘wrong kind’ of Christian beliefs are incompatible with military service.

While a detailed theological debate is best left for another day, it is also worth noting that it is theologically ignorant to claim the only difference between the “threat” of Christians and Muslims is their level of access to weapons. Islam is a religion of degree — one is rewarded in Islam for the amount and magnitude of accomplishment. That’s the motivation behind the violent martyrdom that has been the crux of terrorist attacks; it is the ultimate act guaranteeing eternal reward.

By contrast, Christianity is a religion of faith alone — an acknowledgement that nothing one does creates an eternal reward, but that Jesus Christ is the eternal reward. That’s the motivation behind the selfless sacrifice and servanthood stereotypical of the Christian faith.  There is simply no construct within Christianity for the violence attributed to Islam.

Finally, it is worth addressing Wallace’s caveat that she is “a Christian herself,” which apparently qualifies her to criticize Christians and disqualifies those who might take issue with her denigrating Christianity.  This is not unlike Mikey Weinstein’s defensive (and socially awkward) rebuttal that he can’t be anti-Christian because he has Christian friends and “96% of MRFF clients” are Christians.

Unlike Weinstein’s reliance on vague and unsupported claims, Wallace’s assertions are laid out — and her statements provide some clarity: It’s difficult to conceive that Catherine Wallace even is a Christian:

Wallace turned to her personal take on the Bible. “It’s the great anthology of Jewish storytelling. It’s brilliant, but these are very ancient stories.” She argues that by reading the Bible this way, Christianity can far better coexist with the worlds of science and politics. Equally important, the religion can lose its reputation of going against facts and progressive social trends.

A Christian knows that Jesus Christ is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” by virtue of the Bible. To assert that the Bible is a book of fairy tales and yet simultaneously claim to believe the Bible’s claims about Jesus Christ demonstrates either stupidity or insanity. One cannot be both a Christ-follower and a disbeliever in God’s very Word that is Christ.

And therein lies an insight into those “Christians” who support Mikey Weinstein, as well. While there are certainly Christians supporting the MRFF because they do not fully comprehend the extent of Weinstein’s bigotry, in large part many Christians who support Weinstein don’t believe the “fundamental” tenets of the Christian faith they supposedly claim.

Hypocritically, the MRFF-approved “Christians” are displaying the very bigotry Mikey Weinstein says he’s fighting: They’re attempting to get the US government to censor or ban any person whose faith doesn’t align with what they believe is the Right Kind of Christian^TM. For example, read “Pastor” Joan Slish’s declaration that wounded US Marine Lt Clebe McClary was not a “true Christian.”

Wallace, Chris Rodda, Mikey Weinstein, Slish and others that share their views would actively engage the machinery of the state to discriminate on the basis of religious beliefs with which they disagree, irrespective of the protections of the US Constitution. Their focus is so intense and their passion so strong that they claim these disfavored Christians are more dangerous than Muslim terrorists who have killed thousands of Americans and tens of thousands more around the world — actions not remotely replicated in any tenet of the Christian faith.

The extremism of Weinstein, Rodda, Wallace, and others requires that they paint those whose faith they dislike in the most dangerous light.  It is only then they can justify social and state action against those human rights that would otherwise be protected from government interference by the US Constitution.

If that strategy sounds familiar, it should. It’s the same tactic used by the Nazis to turn the German nation against Jews.  That should give you an idea of the character of the people attacking Christians and religious liberty in America today.

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