The New York Times, in and article describing the release of two Fox News journalists, notes that they were freed after declaring that they had converted to Islam, had taken Muslim names, and had read from the Koran (all at the point of a gun).

Now I could go in a lot of directions on this but I’ll stick with two:

First, these kidnappers are not stupid crazy people (a label the media often uses). They full well understand that Fox News represents rightwing Republican interests. They are also caught in the same trap many Americans are in, falsely equating Republicanism with true Christian conservatism. It is a presumption that many make and that holds fast in the ‘popular culture’ due to the actions of politically inspired ‘preachers’.

As such, the forced conversion of these two men represents, for the Muslim captors and the Muslim world, the ultimate in victories. What the Roman Empire was unable to do on a worldwide scale, a small group of Islamic terrorists accomplished in thirteen days —“ mocking the Christian faith and its adherent’s fidelity.

Second, it is our duty to forgive these men of their rapid ‘conversion’, and to pray for them and their families. The conversion was done at the end of a gun, and was not truly free. In addition, we do not know the depth of their faith or even if they follow Christ. If they do, the guilt of betrayal will be heavy. All in all we must avoid the heresy of Donatism*.

This ‘success’ makes what is old new again, and will give Muslim extremists/terrorists an additional tool by which they think they can mock Christ. Fortunately they are mistaken, the martyrs may be few in coming, but their blood will reap generations of faithful Christians.

Here’s an excerpt from the NY Times article: Fox News Journalists Free After Declaring Conversion:

JERUSALEM, Aug. 27 —” Two journalists kidnapped in Gaza were released unharmed on Sunday after being forced at gunpoint to say on a videotape that they had converted to Islam.

The two journalists for Fox News —” Steve Centanni, 60, an American correspondent, and Olaf Wiig, 36, a freelance cameraman from New Zealand —” were held for 13 days in an abandoned garage in the Gaza Strip as hostages of a previously unknown group calling itself the Holy Jihad Brigades.

—I’m really fine, healthy in good shape and so happy to be free,— Mr. Centanni told Fox News. He said the two had been forced at gunpoint to say that they were converting to Islam and had taken Muslim names. —I have the highest respect for Islam,— he said. —But it was something we felt we had to do because they had the guns, and we didn’t know what the hell was going on.—

Earlier on Sunday, their captors delivered a video showing the two men in Arab robes reading from the Koran to indicate their conversion.

*against which St. Augustine fought – his memorial is August 28th.

As you may know, German novelist and Nobel Prize winner Gunter Grass has come out of the closet —“ admitting to having served in the German Nazi Waffen SS during World War II.

Needless to say, many perspectives have been aired on what Mr. Grass’ admission means.

Mr. Grass has certainly been a loud voice calling for honesty and moral courage in post war German reconstruction. He has used his works and his awards as a bully pulpit to those ends. He most certainly has thrown rocks while living in an opaque house.

My observations are as follows:

First, I am glad he finally decided to be honest. Moments of honesty like this cause us all to reflect on our personal ethics, our personal hypocrisy. No matter how painful, a moral person will develop the courage to speak and make amends.

Second, honesty calls for forgiveness. Some have cited the fact that Mr. Grass has a new book coming out. They draw a line between that fact and Mr. Grass’ admission. Maybe it’s just publicity they say. There are plenty of things you can do to publicize a book, but admitting you were a Nazi, and a member of the SS to boot, is not among them. As the Waffen SS wiki states:

Regardless of the record of individual combat units within the Waffen-SS, the entire organisation was declared a criminal organization by the International Military Tribunal during the Nuremberg Trials…

I opt for a valid cleansing of the soul. Guilt does amazing things. It can lead to an amendment of life and reconciliation. It can also cause us to lash out forcefully against those that mirror our own misdeeds.

Third, there is only one moral authority, God. Our ability to exhibit the goodness of God is part of who we are. We are made in His image and likeness. Grass has done this through the art of words. His contribution is that his words had an affect on a people, his personal sins having little if anything to do with that effort, other than galvanizing his focus. Grass reflected the best of what we can be when we work in unison with God’s desire for us to do right in the midst of our sinfulness.

As Adam Hanft points out in his article: Gunter Grass and the Treacherous Limits of Moral Authority

Much of the commentary flood [on Grass’s admission], including these two pieces [in the New York Times], made reference to the exalted moral realm which had Grass occupied.

He was the voice of “moral authority” according to the International Herald Tribune; the “conscience of Germany” according to the Guardian (while the Wall Street Journal coolly qualified the title, calling him the “self-appointed conscience.” The Times of London wheeled out “moral arbiter” in their piece.

Therein lies the problem. I’m not convinced it’s healthy, in the long-term, for a society to pin the label of moral Zeus on anyone. Perhaps that galvanizing and oxygenating force is necessary in the short-term, when the culture has been through a wrenching trauma and an institutionalized order doesn’t exist yet. Post-war Germany was an example of this existential void, and so was post-apartheid South Africa. Grass and Mandela rose to those moments, but by doing so they were created an ethical aristocracy that was beyond criticism.

Truly healthy societies don’t draw their moral authority from a single individual, or even a few of them.

Following that statement Hanft goes off on a tangent, trying desperately to figure out where the moral authority that governs society comes from —“ and as with some intellectuals he pins it on the ‘magical’ inner working of that society.

Evolved societies and cultures are able to situate and draw their moral conclusions from within. At its best, America has had that internal locus of rightness, which is in many ways a direct descendant of our founding meritocracy. The promise of a jury of our peers would be meaningless without it. When America goes wrong it’s because our ethical GPS goes haywire.

Of course his qualifier —evolved societies— is completely subjective. I think Nazi Germany saw itself as an evolved society and as a superior culture. However, what it drew from within, with few exceptions, was death and destruction.

What Mr. Hanft fails to recognize is that there is an arbiter of morality that is clear and objective, with very well stated positions that reach beyond our present to our eventuality. That authority is God and His Church.

To my original question, did we hardly know Gunter Grass? I think we knew him well; after all he is human, weak, and sinful just like the rest of us. For Mr. Grass and the rest of us it is really simple: God has shown us the way, honesty is best, repentance and forgiveness are to be practiced by all.