HAMBURG, Germany (ABP) — Baptists leaders in Europe condemned a German television program for comparing Southern Baptist missionaries in Iraq to Islamic terrorists.
The TV news magazine “Panorama” featured the subject in its June 24 broadcast. In it, the missionaries were described as “America's holy warriors.” In support of that characterization, the program quoted missionaries as saying they would die for their beliefs.
Leaders of the German Baptist Union and the European Baptist Federation condemned the portrayal, saying it was “one sided” and showed Baptists in a “bad light.”
Volker Steinhoff, a “Panorama” journalist, rebuffed the attacks, saying, “There could be no doubt that [the missionaries'] activities caused much alarm and even hatred in Iraq,” according to Assist News Service.
Karl Walter, former general secretary of the German Baptist Union, also pointed out a factual error in the program. The report said President George W. Bush is a member of the Southern Baptist Convention, when he is actually a member of the United Methodist Church.
Steinhoff denied any error.
A spokesman for the SBC's International Mission Board declined to comment on the program.
-30-