Christian Terrorism? Moral Equivalence? Get A Grip (King Shamus)

I want to look at something the preeminent jerkweed of our time, Mike Bloomberg, belched out the other day in reference to the Ground Zero Mosque:

"Every time they pass the basket in your church and you throw a buck in, [do you want someone to] run over and say, 'OK, now where do you come from, who are your parents, where'd you get this money?' . . . A handful of people ought to be ashamed of themselves."  

Not only is this a classless little smear on the part of Nurse Bloomie, it's got a whiff of our old friend, Moral Equivalence.  Because nothing gives a liberal a rock hard boner more than negatively comparing Christianity to Islam.

But hey, why not indulge Mayor Mike's magnificent retardation for a moment?

What would it take to make Christianity the moral equivalent to Islam?

There would have to be groups of Christians that call for violent acts in the name of Jesus.  It could not just be the rare lone gunman-type with a Bible stuffed into his drawers and a raging desire to kill people for Christ wilding out.  You'd need to have densely populated structures incorporated for the purpose of fomenting Jesus-inspired terror.  These organizations would be populated by leaders that call for Christians to use terror to spread Christianity.  The power of Christ would compel the members of these religious groups to do violence to other humans.

Ideally, the Christian terrorists in our scenario should be internationalist in scope.  These Super Splodey Jesus Freaks should have sleeper cells and quasi-independent franchises in places like Jakarta, Mumbai, Fallujah, Jerusalem, Aden, London, Paris, Philadelphia and Toronto.  All of them should be vocal about the supremacy of the Christian faith and how Jesus commands them to acts of violence.  Along with the multinational flavor of these groups, there should be members of Christian governments that covertly sponsor our hypothetical Christian terrorists.

There would also have to be a long history of Christian terrorism in the 20th and 21st centuries.  We're talking about elements of the Kooky Christian Thrill Kill Cult carrying out acts of terror over the course of many decades.   As before, these atrocities should be happening all over the world.

Finally, there would have to poll after poll showing rank and file Christian opinion was ambiguous-if not supportive-over the use of terrorism to spread the word of Christ.  Leaders of the Genocidal Jesus Peeps should be supported by disturbing pluralities of Christians. 

Do any of these hypotheticals exist in the real world?  Not even close.  Not even within a light-year.  But still the lefty thumbsuckers just have to make their moral equivalence arguments/slime jobs.

The truth of the matter is that our Muslim friends have a serious existential problem.  Their religion has been infected by vicious life-hating cancers.  The faith desperately needs to kill these tumors before it's too late.  Christians, Jews, Hindus and Buddhists cannot do this for them.  We can support reformers and decry the back-asswards types within Islam, but in the end it's up to them to figure out how to exist peacefully within a multi-religious world.

There are Muslims of good faith who want to see real positive change.

In fact here's one now, talking about the Ground Zero Mosque: 

“This is not a humble Islamic statement. A mosque such as this is actually a political structure that casts a shadow over a cemetery, over hallowed ground. 9/11 was the beginning of a kinetic war, it is not an opportunity for cultural exchange. It was the beginning of a conflict with those who want to destroy our way of life,” Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, president and founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, told The Daily Caller.

  “I am in no way looking to infringe on First Amendment issues. I approach this as a Muslim that is dedicated to reform,” he said.

Jasser sees the danger inherent in the Ground Zero Mosque.  He also realizes the need for a peace-loving tolerant renaissance within Islam.  Because he's accepted some hard truths about his faith, he doesn't engage in bullshit moral equivalence.  

We have more than enough head-in-the-sand unrealists like Mike Bloomberg.

The Muslim religion...and the rest of us...desperately need more clear-eyed people like Zuhdi Jasser.

Comments

[baldilocks]

Great post, Shamus!

I'm sure some have already pointed out that Christians have a history of persecution and forcible conversions. But after more and more Christians began to actually read the Bible--following the publication of the Gutenberg Bible--forcible Christian "conversions" gradually became very rare. The reverse is true for Islam.

That, in the past century, some very few still commit violence *in the name* of Christ are the exceptions that prove the rule.

[Sissy Willis]

Common sense is so rare that your wonderful post has given me an unaccustomed sense of uplift in this ongoing war of words.

[Sissy Willis]

I just realized Shamus wrote this. A voice of reason in the wilderness.

[baldilocks]

BTW, this post is getting some love on my Facebook page. :)

[Shiek Yerbouti]

"There would have to be groups of Christians that call for violent acts in the name of Jesus."

Just what do you call the Inquisition, The Salem Witch Hunts, The colonization of the Western Hemisphere, the rape and enslavement of the African continent?

Wasn't all that in the name of Jesus and spreading Christianity?

Try to say it wasn't.

I dare you.

[Mike Giles]

On the subject of forcible Christian conversions; when did these first occur? IIRC, Charlemange forcibly converted the Saxons. Are there earlier examples? I ask because, these occurred after Christianity's contact with Islam. It probably absorbed the idea, along with the idea of "Holy" Wars from the Moslems.

[1389]

The Ground Zero Mosque or ANY mosque has the potential, and in fact the likelihood, of becoming a focus of jihadism and a source of subversive propaganda (taqiyya). That is simply because jihadism (and no, I do not mean "internal struggle") and taqiyya are central and indispensible tenets of Islam.

If the 9-11 mosque in the US were to be built, it too would become a pilgrimage and recruitment center for jihadis. This is a matter, not only of respect for the dead, but also of national security.

While the tranzi-progressive/pro-jihadi NYC bureaucrats, politicians, and media pundits are doing everything they can to smooth the way for this mosque (and being very self-righteous about their reasons for this), they are creating every possible obstacle to the rebuilding of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, which was destroyed in the 9-11 attack when the South Tower fell on it.

Please see: http://tinyurl.com/25nbb8a

The parish still has an active congregation but no building; they have been meeting to worship in Brooklyn. Now, many of us Orthodox Christians, working pretty much independently by word of mouth among friends and parishoners, have finally succeeded in getting some news media attention to this matter.

I'd like to ask all Americans supporting St. Nicholas Church to call, write, or better yet, GO AND VISIT the offices of their US Representative and US Senators. You will probably just get to talk to a staffer, but the staffer will pass this information along. It makes a BIG difference if you take the trouble to write a personal letter or show up in person.

Everyone, please, pass the information along to everybody else you know who might be interested. Put it on Facebook, repost it on your own blog, email it to your friends and relatives, whatever else you can think of.

Let's keep this issue before the public eye!

Thanks!

[baldilocks]

Do try to read the comments before commenting. You might learn something--something like this: that the subject of persecution of others by Christians has already been addressed.

[Jewel]

You wish to know where there is a magical place where Christians are plotting to do violence in the name of Jesus...it's rampant....on the sets of Law & Order. Where New York City is a steamy hotbed of White supremecist, male, violent, fundamentalist Christian, Big Pharmaceutical company CEO rape gangs of innocent brown people. Just ask the experts at Hudson University.

[baldilocks]

I sense sarcasm. :)

[Jeff]

I don't care if Christians are currently doing bad things in the name of Jesus ... (they aren't anyway) ...
We are not talking about Christians we are talking about Muslims and Islam ...
It seems like Muslim "outreach" means, you let us do whatever we want and we won't accuse you of bigotry ... oh, and if you draw a picture of M we'll riot and threaten to kill you ...
I'm sorry but when the founder of your "religion" was a bloodthirsty warlord with a taste for pre-teen girls that makes it hard for me to swallow the whole Religion of Peace label ...

[baldilocks]

BTW, Shiek, in case you want to read and hear more about the rape and enslavement of the African continent, here's your chance.