Increase in anti-Christian violence is the real under-reported story

Wasn’t it Katie Couric who said that the most underreported story of last year was the rise in Islamophobia in America? I think many Christians would disagree with her.  But at least the president of France is speaking out firmly; not so our own president who himself claims to be a Christian.

“We cannot accept and thereby facilitate what looks more and more like a particularly wicked programme of cleansing in the Middle East, religious cleansing,” [Nicolas Sarkozy, president of France] said in an annual New Year’s address to religious leaders.

An attack on a Coptic church in the Egyptian city of Alexandria on January 1 killed 21 people.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for that attack, which came after threats published online against Egypt’s Copts from an Al-Qaeda-linked group in Iraq which had said it was behind a deadly assault on a church in Baghdad in October.

Forty-four worshippers and two priests died in the attack on a Syriac Catholic church in Baghdad in October, the worst of a series of attacks against Christians in Iraq.

Police in France and several other European countries have boosted security at Coptic churches which were due to celebrate Christmas on Friday, according to the eastern Orthodox church calendar.

Pope Benedict predicts a mass exodus of Christians from the Middle East and Africa due to the increase of violence and murder:

Benedict singled out the “reprehensible attack” on a Baghdad cathedral during Mass in October, killing two priests and more than 50 other worshippers, as well as attacks on private homes that “spread fear within the Christian community and (create) a desire on the part of many to emigrate in search of a better life.”

The Vatican voiced concerns that the steady flight of Christians from Iraq will effectively eliminate the ancient community there.

“At present, Christians are the religious group which suffers most from persecution on account of its faith,” the pontiff asserted, and cited Christian communities suffering from violence and intolerance particularly in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the Holy Land.

He blasted what he called “more sophisticated forms of hostility to religion, which, in Western countries, occasionally find expression in a denial of history and the rejection of religious symbols which reflect the identity and the culture of the majority of its citizens.”

 

The Passive Persecution of American Christians

According to R. Emmett Tyrell, Jr. at The American Spectator, the Andy Warhol Foundation is threatening to pull it’s funding from the Smithsonian. Their complaint is that the Smithsonian caved to Republicans and the Catholic League over “hosting a video showing ants crawling over the crucifix entitiled “Fire in My Belly.”

As Tyrell says, the double standard that the liberals operate on is fundamental to their mindset. It’s okay, justified and in fact, righteous to disturb the peace of those who disagree with them but when the public at large doesn’t want their ‘art’, it becomes an issue of social injustice, bigotry, civil rights violations and hate crime.

“If the ants were swarming all over the Koran it would clearly be a hate crime and out it would go without the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts having a leg to stand on.”

Not only would the Foundation not have a leg to stand on but they would be in the front lines demanding religious tolerance and decrying the bigotry of holding such an exhibit — but only for Muslims.

The Foundation’s argument is one of censorship. “For the Arts to flourish,” writes Joel Wachs, president of the Warhol foundation, “the arts must be free, and the decision to censor this important work is in stark opposition to our mission to defend freedom of expression wherever and whenever it is under attack.”

No one has censored this particular video or the entire exhibit for that matter. This video is available at another New York City museum for those who are so inclined to view and support it. No one is stifling the ‘art’ of anyone. Taxpayers just don’t want to pay for it. All art should be paid for by those interested in supporting it;  that’s where private foundations and patrons come in. Raise your own money for this “very important” exhibit.

Don’t be mistaken, this is not about freedom of expression or censorship. The liberals would love to paint that picture but it’s simply not true.  This is about religious persecution of those who are not Muslim or those whose religion is not fashionable to the artsy, elite left.  This particular assault on Christianity by the left is passive and insidious compared to the persecution they are suffering worldwide. Pope Benedict highlights this in his World Peace Day missive:

“Sadly, the year now ending has again been marked by persecution, discrimination, terrible acts of violence and religious intolerance,” Benedict lamented […]

Benedict singled out the “reprehensible attack” on a Baghdad cathedral during Mass in October, killing two priests and more than 50 other worshippers, as well as attacks on private homes that “spread fear within the Christian community and (create) a desire on the part of many to emigrate in search of a better life.”

[…]

“At present, Christians are the religious group which suffers most from persecution on account of its faith,” the pontiff asserted, and cited Christian communities suffering from violence and intolerance particularly in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the Holy Land.

“This situation is intolerable, since it represents an insult to God and to human dignity” as well as “a threat to security and peace,” Benedict wrote [. . .]

It’s time that Christians fought back. If that means fighting in court, then so be it. The First Amendment guarantees us that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” No one or entity, including the government or a private foundation, have the  right to stifle the free exercise of religious worship and religious assembly. But the left has hijacked the government and the courts and is passively (without violence) persecuting and stifling the practice of religion by Christians in America.

We see this passive religious persecution in America every day, from Chase Bank refusing to allow their banks to decorate for the holidays to schools that no longer allow Christmas trees.

If the left objects to paying, with tax dollars, for a Nativity scene on the courthouse lawn, then there is no problem with the religious objecting to pay for an exhibit of ‘art’ that depicts Christ or Christianity in an abusive, illegitimate and dishonest way.

As Governor Christie said (on another topic): the double standard ends now.  Christians have to stand up and object as loudly, and if necessary as obnoxiously as the left has.

Muslims in America – a double standard fueled by fear

What would be the response by the Hollywood snobs and the Muslim apologists in the country or even just average working Americans, if Pope Benedict called for the murder and beheading of people the Church felt are in opposition its theology?

Imagine the United States Council of Catholic Bishops issuing a its own form of “fatwa” against people who they thought were Muslim terrorists or Islamic heads of state like Iran’s Ahmadinejad. When was the last time the College of Cardinals called for the stoning of homosexuals?

How about the Catholic Church demanding that every classroom provide a holy water font at each doorway, like the foot baths that have been required at federally funded universities and now even, airports?  Institutions of higher learning from NYU to Indiana and financed by tax dollars, are now providing foot baths for Muslim students. The Kansas City airport (again, tax payer funded) has already installed these religious foot fonts in several airport restrooms.

from BareNakedIslam.com

This from Bare Naked Islam in 2009:

Minneapolis Community and Technical College has a policy that “strictly prohibits religious displays.” For example, this past Christmas season a memo from Dianna Cusick, director of legal affairs and President Phil Davis, warned against any public display of holiday cheer: “As we head into the holiday season, all public offices and areas should refrain from displays that may represent to our students, employees or the public that the college is promoting any particular religion.”

Nevertheless, the college is planning to use taxpayer funds to install facilities for Muslim ritual foot-washing. School officials are going on a junket to visit a community college in Illinois to view similar facilities there.

Davis justified the disparate treatment by pointing out the differences between Muslims and those of other faiths. “The foot-washing facilities are not about religion, they are about public safety,” Davis said. “Christians and Jews aren’t going to kill anyone over this issue. Muslims are different. We’ve already received threats saying the college will be bombed if we refuse to build this facility. So, as anyone can see, we’re not promoting the Muslim religion. We’re saving the lives of our students and faculty.”AZ CONSERVATIVE

Yes, he’s right. Christians and Jews don’t threaten destruction when WalMart tells its employees to only say “Happy Holidays” to customers. They aren’t threatening to bomb town hall when the Nativity scene or the Menorah is banned from its lawns. Imagine  the Rev. Billy Graham calling for the death of Larry David (a Jew, by the way) who peed on a picture of Jesus (ala fatwas of cartoonists who drew Muhammad) in one of his more controversial episodes of HBOs “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

Of course, the argument from the left is that these baths are available to anyone of any faith (or none) that want to use them. This is the ACLUs stance.

They also claim that foot baths are a health and safety measure: one student fell in a public bathroom while attempting to wash her feet in the sink, something ALL of us do at least 5 times a day.

The most telling question of the year: Pelosi on Jesus’ right to life (w/video)

And she ducked it.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a Catholic, publicly stated earlier this year that she had a duty to pursue policies “in keeping with the values” of Jesus Christ, the “Word made Flesh.” But at a press briefing last week, when reminded of this statement, Pelosi declined to say when Jesus got the right to life.

“Whenever it was,” said Pelosi, “we bow our heads when we talk about it in church, and that’s where I’d like to talk about that.”

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2010/08/03/pelosi-won%e2%80%99t-say-when-jesus-got-the-right-to-life/#ixzz0vfi1C1Vz

Video on the CNSNews page also which is worth a watch.

She had no problem discussing “The Word” being made flesh last spring, though. Up until the CNSNews reporter sticks it to here in a recent press conference.You might notice too that she never mentions the name of Jesus or invokes God in her little phoney monologue.

What fake reverence and total hypocrisy of this woman.  I cannot believe that her constituents don’t see these same character flaws that we see. But then, look at Rep. Stark and his history.

She is disgusting to watch.

(I love Father Jonathan and never miss him on Fox if I can help it.)

The last 2 minutes of this video, Laura Ingraham discusses Pelosi and her meeting with the Pope and her Catholicism:

This is a very interesting question that I think many Catholics don’t want to face. Did Jesus have a right to life at conception? If you believe that the Holy Spirit came upon Mary (what we Catholics call the Immaculate Conception) then you have to believe that all life begins at conception – not at some arbitrary date in the gestation of the not-yet-born.

Science is improving and making great strides every year. That arbitrary date of a “viable fetus” will change in the future. Babies will be viable earlier and earlier outside the uterus.

These are moral questions that have to be confronted by the individual and not by the government.

Larry David marks a new low

Larry David, who has a series on HBO – Curb Your Enthusiasm – has finally reached a new low. I used to enjoy his show. It was funny; his self deprecating humor and his lack of reverence for the politically correct was refreshing.

Late yesterday, I read a story on BigHollywood about his latest episode where he does his own version of “Piss Christ”. Today, it’s big news on the Fox website with an attached poll.

“Was Larry David always this crude? Would he think it’s comedic if someone urinated on a picture of his mother?” [Bill] Donohue [president of the Catholic League] said in a statement. “This might be fun to watch, but since HBO only likes to dump on Catholics (it was just a couple of weeks ago that Sarah Silverman insulted Catholics on ‘Real Time with Bill Maher’) and David is Jewish, we’ll never know.”

Donohue is right. HBO “entertainers” only do dump on Catholics, and by extension, Christians. As far as I’m concerned, any attack on a Catholic is an attack on all Christians. It would be no different if his “jokes” were aimed at Baptists or Methodists. A Christian is a Christian, no matter what church they belong to, just as there are numerous sects of Muslims.

And this is not the first episode that David has made parody of Catholics. A few years ago, one episode dealt with losing a blessed nail (reminiscent of the crucifixion of Christ) that belonged to his father-in-law.

Can you imagine the death threats against David and HBO execs if this had been “satire and parody” about Muhammad?

This illustrates better than anything the difference between Christians and Muslims. Christians are not issuing fatwas. They are not calling and threatening the lives of HBO executives and their families. They are not taking to the streets and burning effigies of Larry David. Unlike Islamists, Christians do not turn to violence in situations like this. No one will find Larry David dead on a street corner (as Theo Van Gogh was at the hand of an Islamofacist) because he offended their sacred beliefs and images of God.

When will Jews realize that Christians, and Catholics in particular, are the best friends they have? Was it the Pope who proclaimed that Israel must be erased from the face of the earth? Are there warheads in Vatican City aimed at Tel Aviv?

Most incredibly, Jews, Christians (and supposedly) Muslims all worship the same God.