I was going to post on something else today but that can wait.
Yesterday our brothers and sisters in the Coptic Church in Egypt were battered by yet another bomb attack, two in fact, in Tanta and in Alexandria. NZ Herald report here (with video).
Militant, violent, vicious forces working in the name of Islam - though thankfully not supported by the majority of Muslims - are intent on killing Christians.
These are dark days but not unknown days for Christians.
Damian Thompson sees the attack as part of a campaign to wipe Christians from the face of the earth.
I wonder if Sonny Bill Williams will visibly protest this murderous violence by his co-religionists when he next plays rugby?
UPDATE: Statement from Archbishop Mouneer Abbas.
Also worth reading is this from Mark Steyn.
"I wonder if Sonny Bill Williams will visibly protest this murderous violence by his co-religionists when he next plays rugby?"
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the Archbishop of Canterbury will visibly protest the murderous violence against the Yemenis, Libyans, Syrians, South Sudanese, Malians, Somalians etc
Hi Andrei
ReplyDeleteI think we will both be wondering for a long time ...
It's all too late Peter - there is a carrier group steaming towards North Korea, everyone thinks that's the target but its not, it's Vladivostok
ReplyDeleteThe war has been planned for years, its probably coming this Easter
God help us all!
"though thankfully not supported by the majority of Muslims"
ReplyDeleteYou know this how exactly?
Brendon it is not about Muslims - there are about a billion of them on this earth and the vast majority of them are people just like you and me who just want to go about their daily lives in peace unmolested.
ReplyDeleteWhen you demonize people who are different from yourself you give malignant people license to do terrible things to them - perhaps in your name
Andrei
ReplyDeleteMuslims don't need me to 'demonise' them, they are doing a fine job on their own. Apparently it's not safe to wear a cross on a Sydney train these days without risking assault from local Muslims.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/rendezview/we-rush-to-condemn-islamophobia-what-about-antichristian-attacks/news-story/2bb6f9a158146e963355a6da3adbe70a
I know both Peter and yourself have a soft spot for Muslims and for different reasons. I have employed Muslims and helped to resettle Muslim refugee families here in Christchurch, but I'm not blind to the chilling effect Islam has on all western societies.
Neither am I blind to the acts of jihad perpetrated against innocent civilians. Neither am I blind to the hatred against Jews and Christians that is the daily fare at many mosques around Britain and Europe, probably Australia and NZ too if the truth was known.
It seems that the Westminster jihadist was associated with the Luton Mosque - an organisation that has received state funding for anti-radicalisation programs.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/khalid-masood-served-as-link-man-for-radical-mosque-westminster-parliament-terror-attack-xkxvn8plh
Muslims know who the jihadists are in their midst, they know who their supporters and funders are, and because the jihad continues, we know that 'moderate' Muslims are doing little to nothing to speak out or act against them. The entire Islamic narrative mitigates against moderation and integration with the infidel. The lives of 'moderates' are put at risk should they speak out against the jihadists.
There are a good many politicians and well meaning apologists for Islam in the West just like yourself, and what difference has it made? Are things better or worse than they were a decade ago? What will 'more of the same' bring in another decades time?
All that will happen is the Coptic experience will become localised, it will become Anglican. Unless we stop this foolish flirtation with Islamic immigration, that is our future. Already Jewish schools in Australia, Melbourne and Sydney have armed guards. It's not the neo-nazi's they are defending against.
Interesting, in the light of Brendan's comment, above. I am reading through Lent the latest biography of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, whose Gospel ministry to the dying was unconditional - towards Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Untouchables - or of no Faith at all! She bathed and fed them, accompanying them through the valley of the shadow of death - without trying to elicit any faith response - yet being able to say that Christ's unconditional love would take them into Paradise. It does remind me of Father Faber's iconic hymn (EH 461)"There's a wideness in God's mercy. like the wideness of the Sea".
ReplyDeleteIf only Christians could be like their Jesus!" - Mahatma Ghandi
Hi Ron
ReplyDeleteJesus said: “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”
I understand from this text that it is not the Good Shepherd’s intention that we rush to offer ourselves as the main course to our canidae friends; to those whose first instinct is to do us harm.
We are to be wise, yes, innocent, yes, compassionate yes, but foolish no.
Another outstanding exhibition of violence against true religion - where Mercy is absent from religious understanding. As you say, Peter, not all Muslims are Fundamentalists, believing they are working for God by executing and even celebrating violence - as they believe, in the Name of their God.Very different from Jesus' exhortation to non-violence in the Gospel
ReplyDelete