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| Child at ISIS showing of their video of the immolation of the Jordanian pilot |
At the Thursday, February 5, 2015 prayer breakfast, US
President Barack Hussein Obama said, "People committed terrible deeds in
the name of Christ."
I have taught the witch trials at the university level so
this is not news to me. I have published on Polish-Jewish relations so I'm very
familiar with antisemitism. Again, this is not news to me.
What Obama said is abominable. It isn't "bad
politics" or "misspeaking."
What Obama said is an unforgivable abomination.
Look, I have published, on, say, the Kielce pogrom, when
my own people, Polish Catholics, murdered Holocaust survivors by stoning them.
Gut wrenching stuff. My people. Poles. Catholics.
Here's the problem with what Obama said.
The Charlie Hebdo massacre and the technically expert
film depicting the immolation of Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kassasbeh are world
historical events. They require substantive response.
Please tell me where our world would be today if this is
the speech that went down in history:
"Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live
in infamy, the United States was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval
and air forces of the Empire of Japan. But let us never forget that we
committed a genocide against the Native Americans. In fact, let us spend the
day meditating on our flaws as a people."
FDR recognized Pearl Harbor for what it was and he said
what leaders say in moments of historical crisis.
Barack Hussein Obama took this moment in the post Charlie
Hebdo post torture video world to say that Americans suck and that Christians
torture people in the name of Christ.
This is so demented, so perverse, so vile it beggars
language.
Barack Hussein Obama is not ISIS's public relations firm.
Why is he acting like it?
ISIS is justifying what they did with verse 4:56 from the
Koran "Those who disbelieve in Our Messages, we shall make them enter
Fire. As often as their skins are burned, We shall change them for other skins,
that they may taste the chastisement. Surely Allah is ever Mighty, Wise."
ISIS can also justify what they did to Moas al-Kassasbeh
by citing Mohammed's torture of Kenana ibn al-Rabi, a Jewish man whom Mohammed
ordered tortured with fire.
When my own beloved people, Polish Catholics, stoned
Holocaust survivors in Kielce, they were *violating* Christ's teachings.
ISIS believes that they are following Mohammed's
teachings. David Wood has produced several videos laying this all out.
Not just Jesus never said that he had the right to drive
people into fire. Moses never said anything like that, either. There are hard
verses in the OT. They are in the minority and the verses about compassion are
in the majority, example Hosea 6:6, "It is mercy I desire, not
sacrifice." The rabbis, in composing the Talmud, counseled against capital
punishment and historically it has rarely been applied by Jews.
Hindu scriptures, the Vedas, delve into complex
philosophical questions. Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, are not telling people
to make war on all humanity till their view is dominant.
Hadith 4:196: Allah 's Apostle said, " I have been
ordered to fight with the people till they say, 'None has the right to be
worshipped but Allah,' and whoever says, 'None has the right to be worshipped
but Allah,' his life and property will be saved by me except for Islamic law,
and his accounts will be with Allah"
We are in peril. We need leadership. The cultural
relativism Barack Hussein Obama peddled at the prayer breakfast is not
leadership. That cultural relativism is actually a neuro toxin that is
paralyzing our culture.
God help America.
I can't argue against your fundamental point that ISIS requires a very different response from the Leader of the Free World than we've been hearing.
ReplyDeleteIn kindness to President Obama, though, I can come up with less nefarious motivations for his statements. He might actually be worried about a backlash against innocent Muslims. Don't ask me why, but it's not inconceivable. I myself find the argument over whether Islam inherently encourages violence in its adherents to be beside the point -- it's not as if we're about to try extirpating the religion like the British did Thugee, and it's not as if there aren't hundreds of millions of non-violent Muslims. I'm sure there's practical benefit to our security services in investigating the relationship, but I find the public debate useless.
As for the President, I'm reminded of the Jewish Sages' discussion of whether King Ahasuerus in the Book of Esther was evil or merely foolish. I'm inclined to give the President the benefit of the doubt and say he's foolish. Not much of a consolation, but better than being though evil.
Michael thank you for reading and commenting. I like your giving Obama the benefit of the doubt. I think that that is always a good thing to do.
ReplyDeleteI do not want a backlash against innocent Muslims. At the same time there is such a thing as priorities. What's being done to Christians and other non Muslims in the name of Islam is catastrophic. Much worse than whatever negativity Muslims in the US face.