Every now and then, as I sit down to write my ‘weekly’ articles for The Catholic Letter, I find myself tempted to write something negative. I generally fight such inclinations, and try to focus on something positive…even when it deals with suffering and death. This time, however, I’ll let loose.

Call it anger, call it disappointment, call it the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Heaven knows how alone I feel on this point. But I grow tired of the misguided attempts by Catholics to gain ‘understanding’ of other religions. It’s not that I’m against tolerance. I’m not even against unity. But I sometimes find myself reading a Catholic publication under the impression that it was written by Jews or Muslims.

I believe it was G.K. Chesterton who once said, “A Christian is expected to defend every creed but his own.” Apparently, the idiotic cuddling of another religion (when the favor is never returned) is nothing new. But in time, one would think that people might discover the futility of it (if not the harm it does).

Just after 9/11, The Catholic Telegraph (a local paper here in Cincinnati) was filled with the praise and explanation of Islam. A few months later, this same publication complained about taking Christ out of Christmas. Their latest atrocity (the one that prompted this tantrum) was spelling Christ with a ‘K’ (as in Khrist) in an article praising Kwanza (Christmas’ latest replacement).

I’d like to know why the world should embrace Christ when Christians can’t even do it. And I’d like to know how Catholics can learn what to embrace when we spend so much time praising heresy and heathenism.