The Syrian project, as described by Hassan Turkmani, goes even further. It is not a question of simply tolerating that others, who believe in the same God, choose to celebrate Him in a different way. It’s about praying with them. So, every day, the head of John the Baptist was venerated in the Umayyad mosque by Jews, Christians and Muslims. It is the only mosque where Muslims have prayed together with a Pope - John Paul II - around their common relics. ... In most Muslim cultures, the mosques are reserved for the faithful of this religion. This was never the case in Syria, where the centers of the cults of all religions are open to all.(1)Christianity is not monolithic, any more than Islam or Buddhism can be considered such; deep, long-running divisions exist within the religion as the Lutheran-Catholic schism amply indicates. Yet in an era when American Christians loudly denounce religious persecutions of all kinds, an era when even poorly-informed American Christians are at least dimly aware that Christian minorities in many countries have been a primary target of crimes against humanity, I'd expect that American Christians would express horror at their government's actions in Syria. Instead, I've heard the chirping of crickets from the U.S. government about the plight of Syria's Christians.
Yet just last night, a famous, nationally syndicated American radio talk-show host, Mark Levin, read passages from Guy Taylor's July 7 report for the Washington Times, Nigerian Christians plead for U.S. help in face of religiously driven violence and upbraided his audience for turning a blind eye to the plight of Christians in Nigeria and other countries.
I heard no word from Mr Levin about the plight of Syria's Christians despite the fact that the United States has had a direct hand in the genocidal war against Syrian Christians whereas the U.S. has had no part in atrocities against Nigeria's Christians.
Taylor's report quoted statements made last year by U.S. President Donald Trump:
“We have had very serious problems with Christians who are being murdered in Nigeria. ... We are going to be working on that problem very, very hard because we cannot allow that to happen.”The U.S. has been working hard with little to show for it:
The U.S. has backed Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon in carrying out airstrikes and ground offensives to take back villages and towns held by the extremists, but the results are debatable.Debatable is right. Yet the country where U.S. military actions would have had a large impact in stopping atrocities against Christians, and would still have a large impact, is Syria. Just one reason for this is the fact that Syria, going far back in its history even before it became a nation, is genuinely secular with a national government that unequivocally supports secularism.
Nigeria, on the other hand, whatever lip service its government might give to secularism, is a country starkly divided between the Christian and Islamic religions. Finding solutions to strife in such cases is very difficult. Whereas Syrians don't need such solutions.
What Syrians need most is for foreign governments to stop making war on them -- the Turks, the Saudis, the Emiratis, the Qataris, the British, the French, and the Americans still aided and abetted by Germans -- and in recent years, the Israelis.
But out of this collection of scoundrels, it is Americans who are the most hypocritical whether or not they are Christian. Americans have come up with two-faced excuses to rationalize the fact that they'd prefer an Islamist regime in Syria to a multi-confessional society overseen by a government that defends secularism.
As for the defense of Syria's Christians among America's Christians, here I am reminded of the Spartan mother's answer when her son complained that his sword was too short: "Try taking a step forward."
1) From Syrian society and secularism; May 14, 2019, Voltaire Network
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2 comments:
This is too much.
Look up IDC / In Defense of Christians, and The Knights of Columbus role against ISIS.
ISIS was declared genocidal due to their actions - with the KoC doing the research legwork that provided the justification for ISIS being declared genocidal by State.
With the Legalism handled the war was then pursued with vigor and to victory.
That’s our part.
We now come to Syria’s and Assad’s part.
In terms of D’aesh and other Sunni insurgents as well as contributing to a generation of war in the middle east Syria is a victim of it’s own partial creation. Remember Iraq? WE DO.
Syria was the major ratline, supply line into Anbar province. Syria was also a safe haven. D’eash was midwifed by Assad.
So yes he does protect his Christians but Syria is merely the sequel to Iraq.
The Syrians are not innocent.
Just caught in their own web
When did the Knights of Columbus learn that Islamic State was largely supporting itself through oil transferred from Raqqa to Turkey? I think they would have learned quite early given the timeframe of their interactions with Christian leaders in Syria.
But the Knights wouldn't have dared tell the American Congress that Islamic State's massive oil business was operating with the full knowledge of the government of the United States and its Nato allies.
Instead of telling the truth that could have saved the lives of many Syrian Christians, the Knights and other American Christian organizations raised money for Syrian Christian victims of Islamic State.
One could argue that it wasn't the job of the Knights to take on the Western military establishment. By that reasoning, however, one could argue that the Vatican, as a de facto Western government, had a duty to speak out about Islamic State's oil business and that it sustained the group's genocidal actions. Yet Francis did no such thing, at least not in public.
As to the rest of your statements, I'll address them all with one reply: My view is that when the British government's lips are moving they're lying.
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