Reply #23: The proof resides not in popular news magazines

[gratuitous]

I realize that for a lot of folks, if it doesn't show up in the pages of Time, it doesn't exist. However, a lot of Christians aren't wedded to the forms and customs of popular culture; we quietly go about our Creator's business, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, housing the homeless. It's the sort of effort and work that doesn't make for splashy photographs that cause the masses to gawp.

Why don't "peaceful Christians" have a voice? Perhaps you're not listening in the right places. The song of the wren is beautiful and elusive. Just because you can't hear it over the jackhammer in the heart of a city doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

And your characterization of the Time article seems to reflect a sloppiness of thinking. The article isn't about the "25 most influential Christians"; it's about the 25 most influential evangelicals, and though Time may be trying to blur the distinction, it's still there. Any list that includes James Dobson and Rick Santorum as evangelicals and leaves off Tony Campolo or Jim Wallis is clearly influenced by something other than a strict adherence to the truth. (By the way, if you're looking at the names Campolo and Wallis and wondering just who in the world they are, I would submit that as further evidence that you're trying to hear the song of the wren in the cacophony of the jackhammer.)

And if, as you assert, that the sole measure of the truth is whether or not someone made a list in Time magazine, then nothing I have to say will persuade you one way or the other. But I will still assert that a little context is called for before making rash statements about the bloodthirstiness of all Christians.