YOU CAN'T LIKE AMERICA AND LOATHE CHRISTIANITY:

Schröder targets role of religion in America (Judy Dempsey, October 22, 2006, International Herald Tribune)

Schröder said he was "anything but anti-American, even though he openly challenged U.S. policy in Iraq. In the Der Spiegel interview, he described how he had tears in his eyes as he watched the events of Sept. 11, 2001, on television. "It was important to me that Germany fulfill its requirements as an ally," he said.

But when it came to the planning for the Iraq war, Schröder, referring to Bush, told Der Spiegel that "if a person adopts a policy based on what he gleans from his prayers, in other words, a personal talk with God, it can lead to difficulties in democracy."

Schröder went on to criticize the growing role of religion in U.S. politics.

"We rightly criticize that in most Islamic states, the role of religion for society and the character of the role of law are not clearly separated," he said. "But we fail to recognize that in the U.S.A., the Christian fundamentalists and their interpretation of the Bible have similar tendencies."

It's helkpful that he ties together secular European Islamophobia and Christophobia, but he leaves out the anti-Semitism.

Posted by Orrin Judd at October 24, 2006 10:43 PM