Words Aren’t Enough The West Must Confront Muslim Persecution of Christians
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/sep/30/editorial-words-arent-enough/
Muslim persecution of everyone who is not a Muslim that simmered for centuries in the Middle East now has come to a full boil in certain places. Religious thugs looking for justification for their evil cannot be allowed to hide within the pages of the Koran to excuse or justify murder. The West must realize that the outrage of decency won’t be appeased by soft words.
The Sept. 21 terrorist attack on the Westgate mall in Nairobi, Kenya, put brutality on open display. Scores of armed jihadists surprised shoppers in the upscale retail complex favored by Westerners, spraying gunfire and throwing grenades. Trapped families were questioned to determine whether they were Muslim; if not, they were tortured, and 72 of them were killed. Sixty are still missing.
The massacre was carried out by al-Shabab, a radical Muslim youth organization that swears allegiance to al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri. The group is rooted in Somalia, and where they can they impose Shariah law; women accused of adultery — accused, not convicted — are stoned to death. The hands of suspected thieves are hacked off.
The day after the Nairobi massacre, the Taliban attacked a 130-year-old Christian church in Peshawar, Pakistan. Two suicide bombers detonated bombs amid 400 congregants of All Saints Church as the Sunday service ended, killing 83 and wounding 150 others. It was the deadliest attack on Christians in the faith’s long history in Pakistan. “[Christians] are the enemies of Islam,” a Taliban spokesman told Reuters, “therefore, we target them. We will continue our attacks on non-Muslims on Pakistani land.”
The murder of churchgoers in their house of worship or innocent families on a shopping excursion has no valid theological defense — it is evil by any civilized standard. If the path of human progress has taught anyone any lesson, it is that a religious or secular code that advocates butchery is illegitimate and beneath the tolerance or respect of the civilized.
The State Department sent boilerplate condolences to the families of victims and wished the injured “a full and speedy recovery.” That was nice, but not good enough. “Mere words will not do,” says Robert George, chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. “The government of [Pakistani Prime Minister] Nawaz Sharif must take robust measures to end violence against Christians and other religious minorities and the cycle of impunity that plagues Pakistan. Arrests and prosecutions will send a powerful message that the government takes seriously its responsibility to protect citizens of all faiths.”
The United States should do more than distribute boilerplate, and pressure both the Pakistani and Kenyan governments to deal harshly with Muslims who violently persecute nonbelievers. The Obama administration tries to downplay the benighted religious motivation of savages, as if that will appease those who hate the ideals of free men. History is the unforgiving teacher that appeasement never works.
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