Sam Bacile Fictional?

Last updated on: September 12, 2012 at 4:54 pm by Timothy Dalrymple

Sam Bacile Fictional? 2012-09-12T16:54:25-04:00 Timothy Dalrymple

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Shortly after I posted a piece that was critical of others who had lumped Terry Jones (and by extension, fairly or not, American evangelicals) into the fray over “The Innocence of Muslims” and the fury it awakened, a particularly astute reader (ahem, my brother) pointed to a new piece in The Atlantic suggesting that Sam Bacile may be a whiff of imagination, a “disinformation campaign” meant to conceal the true creators of the film and presumably protect them from any retribution.

Jeffrey Goldberg sought out Steve Klein, who has been cited in several sources as a consultant to the film, and Klein apparently described himself as a “militant Christian activist.” Klein opines that Bacile is probably a pseudonym, that he did not appear Israeli, and may not even be Jewish. Of the 15 people associated with the making of the film, Klein told Goldberg, “Nobody is anything but an active American citizen. They’re from Syria, Turkey, Pakistan, there are some that are from Egypt. Some are Copts but the vast majority are Evangelical.”

Wisely, Goldberg takes this with a grain of salt. Of course, this too could be a misinformation campaign, designed to shield Bacile and Israel from blowback. Who knows. Part of me wants to joke, “Only Christians make movies this bad,” but I’m not sure if joking is appropriate here.

Klein does say that Terry Jones had nothing to do with it. So that point stands, and the purpose of my earlier post was to ask why it was that everyone was rushing to swirl in the name of Terry Jones. I think I was right to question how the Copts were getting condemned here, since the stories from leading news organizations indicated that the movie was conceived and financed by a group of Jews in America. Even if it proves to be true that Copts were involved in making the film, that was not a justified conclusion on the basis of the information at the time.

But it sounds like the larger fact is that we really don’t know very much about the movie at all yet, and who stands behind it, and what their motives were. If it was created by a bunch of evangelicals who essentially blamed it all on a “Jewish” filmmaker and donors, then that would be despicable. If it was made with $5M, as alleged, it’s hard to see how that’s reflected in the production values. And if there was a rush to condemn any group, evangelicals or Jews, then that’s wrong.

It should go without saying, of course, that the responsibility for the murder of the American ambassador is with the people who committed the murder. “The Innocence of Muslims” was not, it seems to me, a wise use of freedom of speech, but of course that cannot justify murder at all, much less the wanton murder of people who had nothing to do with it in the first place.

Islam

Terry Jones

The Innocence of Muslims

Previous Post

September 12, 2012

Jeremy Lin: "I would scream like a little girl."

Next Post

September 13, 2012 Strange Things Afoot in Christian Media - Part 1

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abortion Abortion adoption Africa Aging AIDS America Worship American history Americolatry An Open Letter to a College Freshman animals Apologetics art Atheism Authors Barack Obama Bible Biblical Scholarship Billy Graham Blogging Bono Book Review Books That Change Lives Breakfast Links Bulletin Board Business Children Christian Approach to Politics Christian Media Christian Right Derangement Syndrome Christianity and Homosexuality Christians in Government Christmas Chuck Colson CLS v Martinez Comic Creation Creativity and the Arts Cross Examinations Cross Investigations Daily Fragment Daily Trinity Death debt Deep Thoughts on Fatherhood depression economy education Election 2012 entertainment Environment Epistemology Erik Campano Euthanasia Evangelicalism Evangelicals and Gays Everyday Transcendence evil evolution Facebook Jesus faith Faith and Politics Faith and Politics Faith and Politics Faith and Politics Faith and Politics Faith and Politics Faith and Politics faith and reason family Feminism foreign affairs Franklin Graham Future of Evangelicalism Galen D. gay marriage George W. Bush Guest Posts Guns Gymnastics Harold Camping Heaven Hell Holidays Hollywood Homosexuality iam2.org Illegal Immigration immigration Immigration Reform Injustice Inspiration Interviews Islam Jeremy Lin Jesus jesus christ John Mark Reynolds Johnnie Moore Judgment Day Just War Theory Killing Osama Link of the Day Lists of the Week Mark Goldblatt Marriage Military Missions Mitt Romney Modern Western Thought Monastic wisdom Mormonism Morning Hash Morning Report Motherhood Movies Obamacare Old Testament Orphan Care Palin Parenting Pastoral Resources Patheos Peace Between Religions PEPFAR Persecution Peter Wehner Peter Wehner Philosophy Political Quotes of the Day politics Politics and Economics Pornography Prejudice Prisoner Rape Question of the Week Race Radical Faith Rapture Ravi Zacharias Rick Santorum Russia Salvation Sarah Palin Scandals Science Science and Faith Separation of Church and State Series sex sex slavery social justice Social Justice Ministry Spiritual Disciplines sports Steven Tyler Suffering Suicide Sunday Funnies T. Dalrymple Tea Party Technology terrorism The Christian Media Files The Daily Trinity The Electorate The Ethics of Rhetoric The Future of Seminary Education The Middle East The Obama Presidency theological Theological Renewal Theology Uncategorized Understanding Evangelicalism Vocation war War and Peace With Distinction Word to the Wise Writers

Select a Month October 2015 June 2015 May 2015 March 2015 December 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz