They've martyred a nun
Michelle Malkin has a photograph of an elderly missionary nun, murdered in Somalia after an ROP cleric there said, "Whoever offends our Prophet Mohammed should be killed on the spot by the nearest Muslim."
At my parish today, there was lots of fear for Benedict's life. I spoke to a number of people about the matter, and to the very last man, they all expressed a belief that the time for pretending to believe that Islam is a religion of peace is over. This is, obviously, a highly select group of people, but it was surprising to see the frustration they have with Islam. They were talking about the church firebombings in Gaza and the West Bank. We talked about what the Copts suffer under Islam. I mentioned that Pope Shenouda had distanced himself from Pope Benedict's comments, but that we should realize that the Copts could be massacred by the Muslims at the drop of a hat. One older gentleman who has personal experience with Copts confirmed this, and said the situation for the Copts is horrible.
I dunno, something about the reaction to Benedict's speech seems to have pushed Christians -- Catholics and others -- I've been in touch with this weekend over the line. One young man this morning said to me, "The thing that makes me so angry is that the Muslims use liberal language to counter anyone who objects to what they do, or even questions it. And the liberals go along with it."
That's a profound point, actually, one explored by Bret Stephens in the Journal, who wonders why in the world liberals are afraid to stand up to radical Islam, which threatens them and their values most of all. Quoting Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the secular apostate from Islam and dissenter, Stephens says there are several things at work here: 1) an instinct for pacifism; 2) appeasement; 3) an "enemy of my enemy is my friend" feeling among some on the left, who identify with radical Islam's hatred of America; and 4) a deep conviction that to criticize Islam is racist.
To that I would add from my experience working in the media that there is a knee-jerk emotional need on the left to identify with the underdog -- or rather, the perceived underdog, because if liberals were true to their protect-the-underdog viewpoint, they'd be siding with Christians and others living and suffering intense persecution under Islam. But they don't, because -- and I think here is a prejudice that many on the left are loath to confront -- they have a sense that to criticize Islam is in some sense to give aid and comfort to the Christian right. The Islamists know this, and use it to their advantage. I've seen this myself. When the head of the Islamic Society of North America came to the Dallas Morning News to appeal to the editorial board, he deployed language masterfully, portraying a natural alliance between his organization and the media to stand up to the bigoted Religious Right, who only want to demonize Muslims, in his view. It was a brilliant strategy. And it works. The US media, I believe, as well as American liberalism on the whole, think Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell are a graver threat to humanity than Sheikh Yousef Qaradawi and his ilk, who bray about bigotry but who endorse suicide bombing and all manner of savagery.
So what's a dead nun to the American left? What's a firebombed church, or two, or ten? Nothing. It's only Christians, after all, who probably deserve what they get. This is why I'm completely convinced that if, God forbid, Pope Benedict should come to physical harm at the hands of Muslims, we'll see the left blame him for his own fate. This, despite the fact that there are no Muslim countries on earth that any Western liberal could stand to live in for a day, owing to the disrespect for human rights, especially women's rights.
If any good is to come out of this mess that began with Pope Benedict's speech, it will be that fewer and f ewer ordinary people will be gulled by political correctness, and will start to understand exactly what we're all up against. And when I say "we," I include in that number truly moderate Muslims, who are ashamed of the reaction of their co-religionists, and who realize that the cowardice of the West in confronting the militant intolerance and fanaticism running rampant through worldwide Islam at this moment is as much a threat to freethinking Muslims as it is to Christians, Jews, secularists and everybody else who refuses to submit.
In any case, Benedict's speech will go down as a defining moment in this conflict. A Catholic priest friend remarked to me this afternoon, "This is a real teaching moment -- if they don't blow us up first."
At my parish today, there was lots of fear for Benedict's life. I spoke to a number of people about the matter, and to the very last man, they all expressed a belief that the time for pretending to believe that Islam is a religion of peace is over. This is, obviously, a highly select group of people, but it was surprising to see the frustration they have with Islam. They were talking about the church firebombings in Gaza and the West Bank. We talked about what the Copts suffer under Islam. I mentioned that Pope Shenouda had distanced himself from Pope Benedict's comments, but that we should realize that the Copts could be massacred by the Muslims at the drop of a hat. One older gentleman who has personal experience with Copts confirmed this, and said the situation for the Copts is horrible.
I dunno, something about the reaction to Benedict's speech seems to have pushed Christians -- Catholics and others -- I've been in touch with this weekend over the line. One young man this morning said to me, "The thing that makes me so angry is that the Muslims use liberal language to counter anyone who objects to what they do, or even questions it. And the liberals go along with it."
That's a profound point, actually, one explored by Bret Stephens in the Journal, who wonders why in the world liberals are afraid to stand up to radical Islam, which threatens them and their values most of all. Quoting Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the secular apostate from Islam and dissenter, Stephens says there are several things at work here: 1) an instinct for pacifism; 2) appeasement; 3) an "enemy of my enemy is my friend" feeling among some on the left, who identify with radical Islam's hatred of America; and 4) a deep conviction that to criticize Islam is racist.
To that I would add from my experience working in the media that there is a knee-jerk emotional need on the left to identify with the underdog -- or rather, the perceived underdog, because if liberals were true to their protect-the-underdog viewpoint, they'd be siding with Christians and others living and suffering intense persecution under Islam. But they don't, because -- and I think here is a prejudice that many on the left are loath to confront -- they have a sense that to criticize Islam is in some sense to give aid and comfort to the Christian right. The Islamists know this, and use it to their advantage. I've seen this myself. When the head of the Islamic Society of North America came to the Dallas Morning News to appeal to the editorial board, he deployed language masterfully, portraying a natural alliance between his organization and the media to stand up to the bigoted Religious Right, who only want to demonize Muslims, in his view. It was a brilliant strategy. And it works. The US media, I believe, as well as American liberalism on the whole, think Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell are a graver threat to humanity than Sheikh Yousef Qaradawi and his ilk, who bray about bigotry but who endorse suicide bombing and all manner of savagery.
So what's a dead nun to the American left? What's a firebombed church, or two, or ten? Nothing. It's only Christians, after all, who probably deserve what they get. This is why I'm completely convinced that if, God forbid, Pope Benedict should come to physical harm at the hands of Muslims, we'll see the left blame him for his own fate. This, despite the fact that there are no Muslim countries on earth that any Western liberal could stand to live in for a day, owing to the disrespect for human rights, especially women's rights.
If any good is to come out of this mess that began with Pope Benedict's speech, it will be that fewer and f ewer ordinary people will be gulled by political correctness, and will start to understand exactly what we're all up against. And when I say "we," I include in that number truly moderate Muslims, who are ashamed of the reaction of their co-religionists, and who realize that the cowardice of the West in confronting the militant intolerance and fanaticism running rampant through worldwide Islam at this moment is as much a threat to freethinking Muslims as it is to Christians, Jews, secularists and everybody else who refuses to submit.
In any case, Benedict's speech will go down as a defining moment in this conflict. A Catholic priest friend remarked to me this afternoon, "This is a real teaching moment -- if they don't blow us up first."
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