{"id":578,"date":"2007-09-08T00:11:53","date_gmt":"2007-09-08T00:11:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jwalking\/2007\/09\/christian-attack-dogs.html"},"modified":"2007-09-08T00:11:53","modified_gmt":"2007-09-08T00:11:53","slug":"christian-attack-dogs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jwalking\/2007\/09\/christian-attack-dogs.html","title":{"rendered":"Christian “attack dogs”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Author and former Time journalist David Aikman writes in Christianity Today<\/a> about the increasingly “attack dog” mentality of some Christians:<\/p>\n

What disturbs me… is the extent to which some Christians have turned themselves into the self-appointed attack dogs of Christendom. They seem determined to savage not only opponents of Christianity, but also fellow believers of whose doctrinal positions they disapprove.
\nA troll through the Internet reveals websites so drenched in sarcasm and animosity that an agnostic, or a follower of another faith tradition interested in what it means to become a Christian, might be permanently disillusioned.
\nNone of the major figures of American Protestantism in the past quarter-century have been spared from attack, from Billy Graham to Rick Warren, from Tim LaHaye to Robert Schuller. The attacks, moreover, are not reasoned or modestly couched criticism, but blasts of ire determined to discredit beyond redemption the targets of the criticism.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Where, he asks, is the gentleness, modesty, kindness, and love that is to define Christian living? Great question. Great essay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Author and former Time journalist David Aikman writes in Christianity Today about the increasingly “attack dog” mentality of some Christians: What disturbs me… is the extent to which some Christians have turned themselves into the self-appointed attack dogs of Christendom. 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