Presbyterians 'regret" publishing anti-American book
Posted November 19, 2006
The board overseeing the Presbyterian Church USA's publishing house has expressed "regret" for printing a book packed with Sep. 11 conspiracy theories and anti-American rhetoric.
In a statement obtained by AP, the board states that the book "is not up to...editorial standards and not representative of the publishing program."
Christian Faith and the Truth Behind 9/11, by David Ray Griffin is "based on questionable research" and a "spurious" conspiracy, the board said. The book will remain on sale, officials said.
I'll try to see if I can get a copy of the statement of regret to see if the board apologized for Griffin's comparison of the U.S.A. to Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union.
According to Griffin "demonic power is now firmly lodged in the United States, especially in its government, its corporate heads, the 'defense' industries, its plutocratic class more generally, and its ideologues."
Griffin suggests the U.S. is an "evil empire" bent on world domination -- more evil than either Stalin's Russia or Hitler's Germany. (page 175)
Griffin concedes that Stalin murdered 50 million and that Hitler caused 60 million to perish. And he says the Nazi regime was "demonic."
"But if we apply the same criteria to the American empire, how can we withhold the judgment that it, too, is an evil, even demonic empire?" Griffin writes. "America has overthrown the governments in more countries than Germany and the Soviet Union combined. The United States, especially now that is is under the sway of neocon thinking, seems 'ideologically driven to rule the world.'"
Griffin suggests Hitler and Stalin are minor-league tyrants compared to democratically elected American presidents in recent decades. "...Whereas Soviet and Nazi leaders were each responsible for over 50 million deaths, American leaders, besides being responsible for millions of deaths through their interventions in Central America, Indonesia, Vietnam, Iraq and elsewhere, are by virtue of their leadership of the global economy, ultimately responsible for some 180 million deaths from poverty-related causes each decade."
According to Griffin "demonic power is now firmly lodged in the United States, especially in its government, its corporate heads, the 'defense' industries, its plutocratic class more generally, and its ideologues."
Channeling the ghost of Ayatollah Khomeini, Griffin drags out the old Great Satan mantra. "...We must conclude that the United States is today the chief embodiment of demonic power." The U.S., Griffin states, has "a demonic value system" and is "the primary threat to divine purposes on our planet..."
Archived Comments
What baloney. They knew exactly what was in it all along, and they're still willing to make money off it even as they denounce it. Maybe they should just re-title the book, "If I Did It."
I wonder what America would be called if they didn't intervene in these countries.
The book equated the United States to Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union? But wait, isn't that precisely what Senator Dick Durban did on the floor of the United States Senate?
So the entire editorial board, not just an individual editor, of the official publishing house for the Presbyterian Church now "expresses regret" that it ever published this work? As if this were just a hasty error that somehow slipped through the machinery of the house's review process? Take my word for it, an editorial board of a publishing house of this type doesn't move fast on any decision. Whatever excuses they give, this couldn't have been an error of haste. I'd really like to hear from this board about what kind of review processes it uses for submissions, and how this book made it through all of them successfully.