08AR13-33

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Apologia Report 13:33

August 29, 2008

Subject: ISLAM: The unexpected influence of Sufism

In this issue:

NEWS MEDIA - shifting away from Western dominance and redistributing political power

SCIENTOLOGY - update on the worldwide attacks by "Anonymous"

SUFISM - its surprising influence upon "half of the Muslims in the world"

WARREN, RICK - conferring the mantle of Billy Graham, The Economist magazine's interesting elimination of contenders

WORD-FAITH MOVEMENT - Benny Hinn's fastest million dollars yet

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NEWS MEDIA

The Al Jazeera Effect: How the New Global Media Are Reshaping World Politics, by Philip Seib [1] -- "Mapping the first large-scale shift away from Western media dominance since the advent of television, Seib argues that framing conflict in the Middle East as a 'clash of civilizations' has outlived its polemical and practical uses. The book makes a convincing case that the rise of Al Jazeera - with its audience of 35 million - reflects how satellite television and the Internet create virtual communities that can significantly influence political policy. Seib cites the example of Hezbollah, a geopolitical group without easily definable territory, and suggests that Al Qaeda is similarly a virtual state existing through the combination of communication and political will. Information is no longer the province of a political elite, according to the author whose wide-ranging evidence includes a fascinating description of how news of the SARS outbreak in China first leaked via text message and in Internet chatrooms. ... Seib constructs an imaginative, thorough and balanced assessment of how news - ever more a dialogue and less an event - is redistributing political power." Publishers Weekly, Jul 21 '08, pp151-152.

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SCIENTOLOGY

"Scientology's Antagonists: An ex-Scientologist and an army of online pranksters attempt to bring down the controversial religion" by Lauren Smiley -- while this item is marred by coarse language, it nonetheless provides a significant update by reporting that "before January, no one dreamed that [ex-Scientologist Tommy Gorman] would be backed up by the most unlikely of allies: an army of Internet geeks pissed about a censored Tom Cruise video. The troops call themselves Anonymous, [Jeff] Quiros [president of the San Francisco Church of Scientology] calls them the 'electric Klan,' and they have stepped out of cyberspace in masks to bring down Scientology, too. With an estimated 10,000 members worldwide, the Anons form the largest movement to ever oppose Scientology since mobilizing on Web message boards earlier this year. Their numbers have galvanized ex-Scientologists formerly too scared to protest their former church and others, like Gorman, who had picketed but who could never find a critical mass of support. ...

"[T]he Anons' goal is to get Scientologists to question their own beliefs, or at least to research their church and learn about its grinding down of critics in the legal system or scandals such as Operation Snow White, in which church agents infiltrated and stole documents from U.S. government agencies that were investigating it. ...

"Gorman has had plenty of practice. Families have hired him to persuade a Scientologist loved one to leave the organization; he once hunkered down for a three-day intervention in an Ohio hotel. He'll debate for hours with doubting Scientologists who call him, some of whom he knew personally on the inside." SFWeekly (San Francisco Weekly), Aug 13 '08, <www.sfweekly.com/2008-08-13/news/scientology-s-antagonists/>

A companion piece, "Anonymous 101," also by Smiley, adds that the Anonymous group "has now widened its platform past the free-speech beef to decry the practices of a church it calls a cult: the 'disconnection' policy of cutting off contact with family members who've been deemed enemies of the church, its tax-exempt status as a religious organization while charging its members thousands of dollars for its courses and services, and its relentless persecution of critics. That's why its members say staying anonymous provides the perfect weapon for their mission: You can't retaliate against someone without an identity. You can't cut off the head of a group with no leaders." <www.sfweekly.com/2008-08-13/news/anonymous-101/>

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SUFISM

"Paying Attention to the 'Other Islam:' The moderate voices of the Sufi tradition" by Jay Tolson -- observes that "long-term success in fighting terrorism will depend far more on the result of Islam's own internal debate than on the outcomes of the fighting in either Iraq or Afghanistan. ...

"In his new book, The Other Islam: Sufism and Global Harmony [2], Stephen Schwartz, a journalist and executive director of the Center for Islamic Pluralism in Washington, D.C., argues that Sufism 'offers the clearest Muslim option for reconciliation between the Judeo-Christian and Islamic worlds, as well as fulfillment of the promise that Islam shall be a religion of peace.' ...

"Husain Haqqani, who is now Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, ... said that we were pretty legitimate in saying that half of the Muslims in the world either are Sufis or consider themselves to be pretty much under Sufi influence or in some ways follow Sufi precepts."

Schwartz explains that "Part of the argument of my book is that in both Saudi Arabia and Iran the Sufis can provide the basis for a transition away from the model of ideological Islamic governance toward a more normal type of society in which religion plays a large role, just as it does in Mexico or Poland, but a normal role." U.S. News & World Report, Aug 20 '08, <www.tinyurl.com/5m3295>

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WARREN, RICK

"The next Billy Graham" (no byline) -- asks: "who will replace Mr Graham as 'America's pastor'?" Of interest is the British perspective: "There are plenty of candidates for Mr Graham's unofficial job, such as Mr Graham's son, Franklin, who has inherited his father's striking looks as well as his organisational abilities, and mega-preachers such as T.D. Jakes and Joel Osteen. But all have drawbacks. The younger Mr Graham has described Islam as 'a very evil and wicked religion' and Messrs Jakes and Osteen are too attached, both personally and theologically, to the 'prosperity Gospel'. None of them has Mr Warren's combination of qualities.

"Mr Warren could hardly look less like Mr GrahamÑhe has a beard rather than a lantern jaw and sports open-necked shirts, mostly of the Hawaiian variety, rather than a suit and tie. But the two have a remarkable amount in common, from their Southern Baptist faith to their entrepreneurial skills.

"Both men have proved to be geniuses at adapting religion to their times. Mr Graham took the barbed-wire fundamentalism of his youth and reshaped it for the post-war era of two-car garages and upward mobility. Mr Warren took post-war evangelicalism and reshaped it, yet again, for the world of suburban anomie and the search for meaning." The Economist, Aug 16 '08, p35, <www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=11920933>

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WORD-FAITH MOVEMENT

"God bless your credit card" by Marthinus van Vuuren -- registers complaints about the July 19 Benny Hinn Miracle Crusade in Johannesburg, South Africa, where "one of Hinn's American guest speakers, Pastor Todd Koontz, spoke about financial burdens and said 500 audience members would receive 'an exceptional blessing'.

"'He said the service would yield millionaires and billionaires within 24 hours.

"'Everyone had to donate $1,000 because an exceptional blessing rested on $1,000.'

"Koontz apparently really had the congregation scrambling when he said, 'This blessing will be poured out for only two minutes.'

Pastor Tommie Ferreira of the AGS Church in Johannesburg, who is bothered by Hinn, said: "'People stormed to the front - poor people, rich people, people from all sections of our society.'

"Hinn's co-pastors apparently had credit-card machines ready with which they could take donations.

"'He (Koontz) said God would bless the people's credit cards and they would be able to rule over South Africa with their money. 'Eventually there were no fewer than 1,000 people who made such donations.'" News24 (Johannesburg), Jul 20 '08, <www.tinyurl.com/5obwjf>

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Sources, Monographs:

1 - The Al Jazeera Effect: How the New Global Media Are Reshaping World Politics, by Philip Seib (Potomac, September 2008, hardcover, 224 pages) <www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1597972002/apologiareport>

2 - The Other Islam: Sufism and Global Harmony, by Stephen Schwartz (Doubleday, September 2008, hardcover, 288 pages) <www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385518196/apologiareport>

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