The U.S. Air Force recently released new data indicating that Pagans (sometimes called Wiccans) have nearly 1,000 registered members, more than Muslims or Jews. Of course they should have their own chaplain in the military since there are Pagan adherents serving their country. Pagans are as entitled to having their religious needs met as are Southern Baptists. Religious freedom is religious freedom is religious freedom. That cannot be said too frequently today.

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Latin was a terrific choice for spreading the Christian faith to the Roman world when Latin was the lingua franca of the “known world.” That was about 2000 years ago. To revive the Latin Mass now is to give the Catholic faith over to the dead hand of traditionalism. This effort is simply another nail in the coffin of Vatican II and the heroic efforts of that Council to bring the Catholic faith into modernity. It is a giant step backward.

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The timing of the re-introduction of the Latin Mass at this time is very instructive, especially in regard to the U.S. Catholic Church. At a time when the Catholic Church in the U.S. needs to be working on becoming more open and more accountable to its laity to prevent more child sexual abuse, the re-introduction of the Latin Mass signals that the Catholic Church as a whole is moving in a reactionary direction, becoming more closed rather than more open.

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In the last several years I have been working in both Muslim-Christian and now Muslim-Christian-Jewish dialogue on issues of war and peace. From this work I have learned that Jihad, both historically and for most Muslims today, does not mean "Holy War". Jihad literally means “struggle” or “struggle in the way of God.” It is sometimes called the 6th pillar of Islam and equates to the responsibility of believers to struggle to improve themselves and/or society.

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