Mainline national media, both in Germany and in the U.S., have leaned - for as long as I can remember - toward the negative in reporting about classic Christianity (often under the codewords “evangelical” and “right wing”). A perceptive friend who is a keen analyst of cultural trends warned 15 years ago that two other labels of choice in the attack were going to be “fundamentalist” and “fascist”.

A recent article in Der Spiegel (28. April, 2008), a leading national news magazine, highlights the trend. This follows a particularly malicious media attack on Christival, a rally of young evangelical Christians. The point of the attack was against a seminar being offered for people with homoerotic feelings who wanted to change. The leader of the “Green” party in parliament, himself an active member of the gay movement, led the attack.

The Spiegel article cleverly weaves a report on evangelical outreach in Germany that ties young evangelical groups to conservative political circles in the USA. The young Berlin Projekt church, for instance, is linked to George Bush via the following chain of logic: The “Berlin Projekt” is friends with “Redeemer Presbyterian Church” in New York, which in turn belongs to the “Presbyterian Church in America”; the PCA is the denomination of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; therefore, the “Berlin Projekt” must be associated with George Bush’s political and military program.

If a student in one of my philosophy classes tried to argue a point with that kind of logic, I’d give him an instant “F” (German = “6”) on the spot! But that is, unfortunately, not untypical of the “evidence” that is used in these kind of attacks. (If your German is up to it, you can read the Spiegel article online.)

Is this all part of a conspiracy? It’s hard to tell; often the effect of a network of contacts is even stronger than a centrally planned action. But there is one power that penetrates the deepest secrets and brings light into darkness: prayer.