Response to Mr. Shoebat

Submitted by jhubers (United States), Dec 2, 2009 at 23:39

I'm not quite sure what this "bet" is about. I wonder, in fact, about a number of your pronouncements which have less to do with serious discussion of issues than mounting personal vendettas against those who have challenged your credentials. I do, in fact, read Arabic. Not as well as I would like to be able to, but well enough to have passed my doctoral examination in that language. I also lived for over a decade in at least three Middle Eastern countries in the area of Christian-Muslim relations. But that is beside the point, as I believe you are well aware.

What I hear in your response is an attempt to divert attention away from any serious attempts to examine your story (which a Palestinian Christian friend of mine who grew up in Bethlehem and knows your family is doing at present). Thus your comment about my ignorance of Arabic (which you knew nothing about) and suggestion that I am somehow supportive of Islamic extremists or even violence as a means to achieve anything. The commonly used term for such tactics is "smoke screen" used in most cases by those who have something to hide.

Why do I care about this at all? Mainly because the faith your claim to represent - Christianity - is precious to me. Whenever I meet someone who makes use of fabrication and hateful half truths about neighbors we are asked to love which is what you do for a living; especially when that person wears a public face, I cannot remain silent. There is nothing more hurtful to Christianity and what it is really about than this.

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