Posted on 10/05/2006 7:16:19 AM PDT by Banat
Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, outspoken and influential televangelists in the US, are joining forces with Serbia's Christian Orthodox church to campaign against independence for the mainly Muslim province of Kosovo, according to the spiritual leader of the Serb minority there.
Bishop Artemije, the most senior Orthodox cleric in Kosovo, said the two Christian broadcasters had promised to alert their followers and exert their influence.
"They point out that they have friends at the highest level of government and will urge them to help us so that Kosovo remains in the borders of Serbia," he said.
Diplomats in Washington say that whipping up Christian fervour in the US reflects the increasingly vitriolic and intolerant debate within Kosovo that occasionally spills over into violence.
Efforts on both sides are intensifying as the ethnic Albanian majority - overwhelmingly secular but with a majority tracing Muslim roots - lobbies hard for full independence.
Martti Ahtisaari, the United Nations mediator, is due to present his recommendations on final status by the end of the year. Kosovo has been a ward of the international community since 1999, when Nato bombed Serbia and occupied the province to stop further ethnic cleansing of the ethnic Albanians.
In an interview with the FT during his third visit to the US this year, Bishop Artemije set out the argument shaping the Serb case - that independence would provide a base for an "extremist Islamic jihad" and endanger the Balkans, Europe and the US.
Followers of the puritanical Wahhabi strain of Sunni Islam and al-Qaeda jihadists would be drawn there, he said. Already the province, under UN rule, was the "black hole" of Europe, run by criminal gangs trading in people, guns and drugs, while murderers and desecrators of churches and cemeteries were trying to "eradicate" the Christian community.
"It is unbelievable to see the US on one side declaring war on terror around the world and on the other side tolerating it in Kosovo," he said.
Mr Falwell, a Baptist minister and Moral Majority founder, and Mr Robertson, the Christian broadcaster, have courted controversy in portraying what they see as the threat to the western world emanating from the nature of Islam.
In 2002 Mr Falwell provoked outrage among Muslims by calling the prophet Mohammed a "terrorist". His comments led to deaths among rioters in the Indian city of Mumbai and he later apologised.
Mr Robertson is on record as saying that Islam "is anything but peaceful", subjecting unbelievers to forced conversion or death. "It's just that simple," he said. Neither responded to FT queries about their reported offers of help to the Serbs.
While earlier this year it was commonly believed that the US backed full independence for Kosovo, analysts and diplomats believe there has been a recent shift towards a form of "conditional" independence that falls short of full sovereignty.
Asked if he felt he was making progress in his lobbying, Bishop Artemije answered: "We are still sowing the seeds and we have to wait for the final gathering of the crop." He also said that since July he had felt "a different breeze" crossing the Atlantic. "All of this shows we are following the right path," he said, urging the international community to let negotiations continue beyond this year. He endorsed Belgrade's call for substantial autonomy for Kosovo.
Bishop Artemije cited an aide to Dick Cheney, the US vice-president, as saying he believed Kosovo would get "some form of independence".
Diplomats said Boris Tadic, Serbian president, made a strong impression last month on Mr Cheney and Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state.
He projected Serbia as an ally in the "war on terror" while warning that independence for Kosovo could hand power at the next elections - probably in December - to the anti-western Radicals and Socialists.
Serbia has a growing military relationship with the US and is to send a small contingent of medics to Afghanistan and possibly personnel to Lebanon. Analysts say these are remarkable developments for an army still going through reforms since the atrocities committed against ethnic Albanian Muslims in the late 1990s.
Independent academic experts on Kosovo are highly sceptical of the notion that a new state would provide Islamist extremists with a foothold on the edge of Europe.
But they do recognise the danger of Kosovo becoming a weak state reliant on international aid and prone to exploitation by criminal gangs involved in drugs and human trafficking.
Anna Di Lellio, former adviser to Agim Ceku, the Kosovo Albanian prime minister, warned that a partially independent Kosovo could come to resemble the West Bank - with all the attendant political violence.
Stretched in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US is eager to draw down its 1,700 troops and police stationed inKosovo.
The real-life evangelists and so-called televangelists are throwing open the swinging door and telling the bad guys in the bar, "Come on outside, boy, we need to have a little discussion!!"
I doubt it, and as much as you disagree with them (on some issues), Isnt' it better that Jerry Falwell and Robertson are on YOUR side than say: Radical Feminists, Communists, and Sodomites, radical islamics that really ARE bent on the destruction of America; get with the program, and don't "tear down our own"!..
Was about to post this myself and saw that you had already done it!
When God calls His flock together to save His own, they forget their differences -- or they should forget their differences!
Stop politicking and preach the Gospel!
Yeah. The Harvard Kenedy School "human rightsers" (who are mainly unqualified journalists), Haverford's Michael Sells, Esposito of Georgetown and his academic proteges, and the rest of the "sell your grandmother to islam" crowd!!!!
It is very good that at least some American evangelical Christian leaders are joining with Orthodox Christians in the Christ-loving effort to save Kosovo and save our civilization. That's more than I can say for the islamist-appeasing mis-leaders of the "mainline" churches, such as the Episcopal and the ELCA Lutheran. However, conservative evangelical catholic Lutherans tend to be pro-Serbian. More of them should speak out more forcefully as well.
BUMP
If these two start chirping, I wonder if the commentators on the Fox News channel will start covering this issue.
I doubt it, with Wesley Clark as one of their "consultants"! (Fox lost me with that move.)
Same here. Of course they will all have to read up on it....including Rush and especially O'Really....the real blowhard who still believes Milosevic was nothing but a genocidal maniac. I love Michael Savage for his understanding of the conflict....one of the few!
This from Pat Robertson's CBN web site:
"...Serbia (Christian) invaded Kosovo (Muslim) and this gave Christianity a very bad name to the people of Kosovo. In Pristina (the capital) there still stands a huge empty shell of a church that was built not as a place of worship but as an antagonistic and mocking tactic by the Serbians, its huge golden cross intended to provoke rather than remind of Christ's sacrifice. A local pastor shocked me when he said that he would love to see it pulled down! He then explained that it would be better to destroy the church than try and use it because in the minds of many Kosovans it would always remain an insult and a reminder of the suffering they endured. I could see his point. The Serbians used Christianity as a weapon against the Kosovans.
Another pastor told me that the Serb soldiers used to carve the cross into the chests of their victims! In the hands of the invading forces Christianity earned itself an extremely bad image in Kosovo, and the number of local Christians is low. But there is a sense of openness amongst the people; they are extremely appreciative of the United States for their assistance during the war. I was amazed to see a huge billboard bearing the image of Bill Clinton and the words 'Thank You.' One of the main streets in Pristina has been renamed "Bill Clinton Avenue" and the American flag is flown next to the Albanian flag on just about every street corner.
This is in a Muslim country! At a time when we hear of other Muslim countries spreading a message of hate for America, it demonstrates that Kosovans are able to go against the flow and be open to outside influence and different ways of thinking. This was even more apparent when I visited RTK1, the national television channel and offered them a selection of programs. CBN has three series of shows available in Albanian ..."
These American Protestants are more interested in gaining converts in Kosovo than preserving any Serbian heritage there. If this is what they believe, expect nothing from these people.
The news bit seemed very weird. That's the only reason why I posted it. Anyway, the pastor (?!) lied to him.
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