Publisher pulps massive four volume print run because contents too politically incorrect
Academic publishers Wiley-Blackwell have reportedly pulped the print run of the first edition of the four volume Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization. Why? Because the Encyclopedia, which had already been launched, was too politically incorrect. According to George Thomas Kurian, the editor of the project, the recall and book burning followed complaints from some academics that the Encyclopedia is “too Christian.” “They also object to historical references to the persecution and massacres of Christians by Muslims, but at the same time want references favorable to Islam.” Other complaints centered on the traditional use of “AD” and “BC” instead of the politically correct dating citations of “CE” and “BCE” favored by Jewish and secular groups.
The censorship is of historical stature. As Kurian says, “This is probably the first instance of mass book-burning in the 21st century.” Wiley-Blackwell’s decision comes at a time when Christians facing an historic crossroads. Jewish, Muslim, multiculturalist and other groups, aiming to re-define Western history and its legacy, as well as hoping to alter the course of the West itself, have brought enormous pressure to bear on the faith and its adherents.According to Edward Feser, who worked on the project, Kurian is contemplating a class action lawsuit, and sent a memo to the four hundred people whose work may now be censored: “The memo also claims that the “words or passages [the critics want deleted” include “Antichrist,” “BC/AD (as chronological markers),” “Virgin Birth,” “Resurrection,” and “Evangelism.” To make the treatment ‘more balanced,’ the memo says, the critics “also want the insertion of material denigrating Christianity in some form or fashion.”
Feser continues:
“A representative of Wiley-Blackwell has sent an e-mail of his own to the encyclopedia’s contributors, insisting that Kurian’s charges are “completely without foundation.” The press’s actions, the representative claims, stem simply from a concern for “standards of appropriate scholarship.” This concern has led it to decide that the work’s articles require further review before publication. The publisher has not explained why its academic standards did not prevent it from granting final editorial approval and printing the encyclopedia. To paraphrase John Kerry, it would seem that Wiley-Blackwell was for publication before it was against it.”
The Encyclopedia pulping comes against a backdrop of hatred against all traditional forms of Western civilization. from marriage to http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=4851.
The Roman Catholic church is facing enormous opposition to its call to acknowledge the importance of the religion in the European Union, while the Pope’s decision to lift the “excommunication” of traditionalist Bishop Richard Williamson, who believes that the history of the Second World War should be open to debate, was met with a blizzard of hatred from Jewish groups, who have renewed calls for their right to not only decide Catholic internal policies and direction, but to define Catholic theology and even liturgy.
“Tolerance” has become a code word for INtolerance.