Calling them out...

Let me get this straight. I’m a simple man, and dumber than a sack of hair. Coloring between the lines is a challenge.

Pope Benedict, in an intellectual address, quoted a Byzantine emperor who said that spreading religion by means of murder and public violence is a wrong thing to do. The original quote addressed Islam, as it was applied 800 years ago. The Pope’s quote implied that nothing much has changed, and there is still a huge religious cult that seeks to expound their religious philosophy through violence and murder.

What was the response of “the religion of peace”? Why, it appears to be violence and murder. Demands are being made for The Pope’s execution. A nun who devoted her life to helping destitute people has been murdered. Christian churches have been burned. The proof, as the saying goes, is in the pudding.

My pal Hawkeye has compiled a very concise list of things that Muslims might consider apologizing for. [Please check the link to “View From Above” at right.] I am turning blue holding my breath and waiting for a single Muslim cleric to suggest that moderation might be the better part of valor.

Long ago, my grandpa gave me an invaluable piece of advice: never apologize. My sense of right and wrong has occasionally conflicted me with that, and I’ve admitted wrongdoing and hurtfulness. On the whole, however, refusing to apologize is a sound course. You can’t unring the bell of whatever words you spoke, and the odds are you were instinctively right when you initially spoke them. Saying you’re sorry for something you meant when you uttered it is a sign of weakness; it’s blood in the water for the sharks.

I don’t see where Pope Benedict has anything to apologize for. On the contrary, he has called the Islamofascists out, like a gunfighter on the street. “Here’s how I see it; how do you respond?” The response is irrefutable proof that Islam is an intolerant religion of violence and hatred. I flinch at making such a generalized condemnatory statement, but the lack of Islamic leaders’ condemnation of violence can only lead me to one conclusion. If there are no Muslims I can trust, then we all become hateful enemies whose mutual distrust is based on stereotypes, not individuals. Stereotyping enemies is the quickest way to accept the killing that follows: “Injuns”, “Jappers”, “gooks”, “sand niggers”.

I am not the best of Christians, but I am told that at least one of my beliefs is right-on in-line with the teachings of Jesus: Killing is a last resort, and the ultimate goal of a warrior is to lay down his sword and shield. It has never in my life occurred to me that I should threaten someone with death if they do not accept my flavor of Christianity. I do not proselytize in the streets. If anyone has genuine questions about salvation, God’s love, and the strictures of the Baptist church, I’ll engage in dialogue. My witness for Christ is best suited to jailhouse dialogue, and I practice a ministry in such environs. “Listen up, you SOB…Jesus got something to tell you!”

(I am quite effective at this.)

Christians gave up “the hard sell” a long time ago. The Inquisition and The Crusades are things of history. Martin Luther pounded upon that door many years ago, and Christian faith went helter-skelter ever since.

Being a simple, stupid sort of guy, I have a fundamental belief in God. I have had inexplicable phenomena enacted in my life, and for lack of a better explanation, I will call them acts of God. I am still alive, which may be the greatest testimony to God’s mercy and ultimate, inscrutable purpose. I’m told that faith is a belief in something I can’t explain. Okay, I’ll make that leap. Rewind to those inscrutable events; some of what I lived through is jaw-dropping stuff, and the fact I’m still here tells me that God ain’t through with me yet.

So, I practice my faith and offer my prayers of daily gratitude to the God I recognize. I may be misguided, I may be infidel. There are Christians who claim the high ground, and tell me I’m going to Hell if I don’t think their way. There are people who worship other gods who insist theirs is the only way.

I am on record as saying I don’t much care about other people when it comes to their personal lives. I don’t care who you kiss, as long as it’s a consenting adult. Anything short of murder and cannibalism, I have a blink and an “okay”.

I think you’ve guessed I’m not an acolyte of The Pope. My faith lies elsewhere; God knows what’s in my heart. I have to admire Benny; he is calling Islam out for a walk-down gunfight. Put up or shut up; Christianity long ago abandoned the “hard-sell” of the Crusades. We preach love, and get repaid with bullets in the back.

There is another passage in The Gospels; I seem to recall some advice about “sell your cloak and buy a sword.”

Push hard enough, Islam.