THE SILENCE OF CHRISTIANS
By Alan Caruba
May 25, 2002
NewsWithViews.com
What I saw, what the world saw, was the desecration of Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity by murdering Palestinian terrorists. What I did not hear, nor have yet heard, is a single word of condemnation from a single world leader of Christendom.
Where is the outrage of the Roman and Eastern Catholic Churches? Why has no prominent member of the Protestant clergy condemned what happened? Have Christianity's leaders become so fearful of what Muslims may say or do that they cower in the face of this travesty? The church stands intact today thanks only to Jewish restraint and sensitivity to its sanctity for Christians worldwide.
At the request of its priests, when the Israeli army entered the church they found a large cache of weapons. They found some forty booby traps, twenty-five of which were swiftly disarmed while others were left in place to be disarmed later to avoid damaging the church. Reportedly, priceless relics had been stolen. They found a place stinking of human offal and urine. The Palestinians had defiled that holy place.
None of the thirteen set free had paused a moment in their Islamic holy war. Among them was Ibrahim Abayet, head of the Bethlehem al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a leader of Hamas terrorism. Another, Jihad Jarah, was responsible for five terrorist attacks in Jerusalem. They and others were flown to Cypress as a spokesman for the European Union declared them free men, not fugitives from justice. Has the whole of Christianity become so supine that it holds its tongue as others among these thugs who held the church hostage are greeted as heroes by celebrating crowds in Gaza?
Perhaps we should delete "Onward Christian Soldiers" from the songbook? Surely, we have just witnessed the "tolerance" Christians can expect if the global Islamic Jihad succeeds.
© Alan Caruba - All Rights Reserved
Alan Caruba is the author of "A Pocket Guide to Militant Islam", availablefrom www.anxietycenter.com, the Internet site of The National Anxiety Center.