THE FANTASY OF 'CHRISTIAN SUPREMACY'
The truth about the most beleaguered religion
on earth.
https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/271077/fantasy-christian-supremacy-jack-kerwick
August 20,
2018
The left is always, but particularly in the era of Donald Trump,
wailing over white Christian “supremacy.”
Jeremy Scahill, writing months before the election of 2016 in The
Intercept, is representative of this line of (un-)thinking.
Scahill focuses specifically on Mike Pence, who would become the Vice
President:
“Pence’s ascent to the second most powerful position in the U.S.
government is a tremendous coup for the radical religious right.
Pence—and his fellow Christian supremacist militants—would not have been able
to win the White House on their own.”
Scahill continues, referring to Pence as one of the “most prized
warriors” of “a cabal of vicious zealots” that has “long craved an extremist
Christian theocracy [.]”
This patent nonsense is as laughable as it is dishonest.
Leftists’ anti-Christian bigotry is worth raising here only because it gives
the rest of us a sense of the gulf separating their fantasy world from the real
one. More exactly, while leftists obsess over “Christian supremacy” in
America whenever a confessing Christian is elected to office, a Chick-Filet
opens in a new location, or a Christian baker refuses to bake a cake for a gay
wedding, they remain utterly silent as Christians throughout the Third World
suffer real oppression
at the hands of non-Christians.
Western leftists don’t know a damn thing about oppression,
religious or otherwise. Or, if they do, to judge from their sheer
silence, they don’t act like it.
Leftists lamenting “Christian supremacy” utter not a peep about
the endemic anti-Christian oppression around the
world. According to such Christian advocacy groups as Open Doors, an
organization expressly designed for the purpose of “serving persecuted Christians”
globally, over four out of five of the worst places for Christians (and other
religious minorities) are Islamic-dominated.
European and American leftists prefer not to attend to the case of
Indonesian citizen Abraham Ben Moses, formerly known by the Islamic name,
Saifuddin Ibrahim, given to him by his family when he was born. Moses,
53, converted to Christianity. Since then, he regularly (and quite
courageously) debates with Muslims.
But it is when Abraham was captured on video debating with his
Islamic taxi cab driver and asking him to affirm Christ that life took a wrong
turn for him. The video went viral. Muhammadiyah, Indonesia’s second
largest Islamic organization, filed a complaint and Abraham was arrested by the
authorities.
It should send shivers down the spines of both proponents and
opponents of so-called “hate crime” legislation in the West knowing that
Abraham was charged with “intentionally spread[ing] information intended to
incite hatred against an individual, group and society based upon
religion.”
He was ordered to pay a handsome fine, one far beyond his means to
pay. In lieu of this fine, Abraham was sentenced to one month in
prison—significantly shorter, thankfully, than the five year term sought by
prosecutors.
Still, Abraham is appealing it.
While he was imprisoned, his wife gave birth to their child.
The Intercept is sure that if a
Bible-believing Christian like Mike Pence becomes Vice President of the United
States, then this will transform the federal government into a “Christian
supremacist” theocracy. Meanwhile, the governments of other lands
actually are being turned into theocracies—but of the non-Christian,
indeed, the anti-Christian, sort.
Take, for example, the African country of Comoros, which recently declared itself, officially, an
Islamic nation. A constitutional clause establishing a separation of
religion and the state has just been removed and the power and term of Comoros’
president extended. The fear of Christians and other religious minorities
that they will be more under fire now than ever before is justified. Not
only does Comoros’ constitution now explicitly assert that “the state” of
Comoros “draws from this religion the principles and rules of Sunnite
observance.” According to Voice of the Martyrs (VOM):
“During his campaign, President Azali Assoumani [whose power has just been
further consolidated] promised that, if approved, his government would be
imposing tougher measures on any citizens who are not Sunni Muslim.”
Christians, composing but two percent of the nation’s population,
are sitting ducks for the 95 percent Sunni Muslim majority.
In Bangladesh, approximately 30 Muslim families whose
members had converted to Christianity were intimidated into recommitting to
Islam. VOM corresponded
with “Sujen,” a Muslim convert to Christianity who has been successful in
leading his fellow citizens from Islam to Christianity. Over a period of
time, Sujen managed to baptize nearly 100 families throughout four
villages.
Beginning last year, however, he encountered problems. A
wealthy Muslim hired a “thug” who was dispatched to bully the new converts into
abandoning their new faith and returning to the faith of their fathers.
Some of these lost their jobs, and others who owned small businesses witnessed
their clientele falling away.
Muslim-dominated Pakistan remains
an especially unsafe location for Christians. Witness the sad case of 18
year-old Pakistani-Christian, Vishal Masih. The latter lives in the Nabipur
village, which VOM informs us has become “the latest
site of religiously motivated violence” in the country. Just a couple of weeks
ago, Vishal defeated in an arm-wrestling contest one of his Islamic peers.
His opponent was not happy.
“How could a man of a dirty community defeat me?” the Muslim
shouted. A “Choora” (which means an “Untouchable”) prevailing over “a
Muslim is unbearable,” he continued.
While heading home after the match, Vishal was set upon by a dozen
Muslim men who beat him mercilessly. They also invaded his home and beat his
family members.
A short time later, another gang besieged Vishal and pummeled him as
if they planned on leaving him for dead. Instead,
though, they abducted him, locked him in a room, and beat him some more.
Vishal was hospitalized. His family wants to see justice done, but
“influential Muslims” are pressuring them to let the matter rest.
Vishal’s family members know all too well the fate that could very easily await
them in the event that they pursue a legal course of action.
When considered against the backdrop of the religious persecution
occurring regularly throughout the world, those writers at The
Intercept and their ideological fellow travelers throughout
the West appear all that much sillier and clueless.
Yet they also become that much more contemptible, for they’d
prefer to wield their considerable influence fighting imaginary ghosts rather
than real evil.
Photo: Adam Jones
THE KORAN
BIBLE OF THE MUSLIM TERRORIST:
Koran 2:191
"slay the unbelievers wherever you find them"
Koran 3:21 "Muslims must not take the infidels as friends"
Koran 5:33 "Maim and crucify the infidels if they criticize Islam"
Koran 8:12 "Terrorize and behead those who believe in scriptures other than the Koran"
Koran 8:60 " Muslims must muster all weapons to terrorize the infidels"
Koran 8:65 "The unbelievers are stupid, urge all Muslims to fight them"
Koran 9:5 "When the opportunity arises, kill the infidels wherever you find them"
Koran 9:123 "Make war on the infidels living in your neighborhood"
Koran 22:19 "Punish the unbelievers with garments of fire, hooked iron rods, boiling water, melt their skin and bellies"
Koran 47:4 "Do not hanker for peace with the infidels, behead them when you catch them".
Koran 3:21 "Muslims must not take the infidels as friends"
Koran 5:33 "Maim and crucify the infidels if they criticize Islam"
Koran 8:12 "Terrorize and behead those who believe in scriptures other than the Koran"
Koran 8:60 " Muslims must muster all weapons to terrorize the infidels"
Koran 8:65 "The unbelievers are stupid, urge all Muslims to fight them"
Koran 9:5 "When the opportunity arises, kill the infidels wherever you find them"
Koran 9:123 "Make war on the infidels living in your neighborhood"
Koran 22:19 "Punish the unbelievers with garments of fire, hooked iron rods, boiling water, melt their skin and bellies"
Koran 47:4 "Do not hanker for peace with the infidels, behead them when you catch them".
HASINA AND ERDOGAN: TWO ANTI-ISRAEL BIRDS OF A FEATHER
The ties of tyranny and hate that bind.
August 20, 2018
There are numerous uncanny parallels between Erdogan and Sheikh Hasina, two democratically elected dictators who are hostile towards the State of Israel.
According to Plato, “Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy.” Indeed, whether we are speaking about Adolph Hitler, Ayatollah Khomeini or Hamas in Gaza, each of these tyrannical regimes originally was democratically elected before unleashing their dictatorial horrors. As the days go by, this also appears to be the case with both Erdogan’s government in Turkey and Sheikh Hasina’s government in Bangladesh, who are both dictators that were democratically elected and have demonstrated hostility towards Israel as well as America.
While Erdogan initially rose to power democratically, in recent times, there have been reports that he has managed to stay in power via suppressing the media, arresting critics and engaging in massive voter fraud. Turkish Jewish dissident Rafael Sadi proclaimed that Erdogan has ruthlessly repressed critics, jailing thousands of journalists. Indeed, in recent times, the jailing of an American pastor that caused intensive diplomatic problems for Turkey with the US and the crashing of the Turkish lira is merely the tip of the iceberg regarding Erdogan’s persecution of those opposed to his dictatorial rule. Other victims include Gulenists, secular Turkish military officers, Alevis, Kurds, etc. According to Sadi, aside from persecuting those opposed to him and being vocally opposed to the US administration, Erdogan has managed to stay in power by spreading hatred against Israel, even though Israel and Turkey have $6 billion worth of trade, Israel purchases Kurdish oil via Turkey and the Haifa port renovation is being done via a Turkish company: “Israel is the friendliest partner of Erdogan. With Israel hatred and hostility, he can get at least 50% of the votes.”
Erdogan has a long record of promoting hatred against Israel. Not too long ago, he proclaimed: “The spirit of Hitler is apparent in some Israeli officials.” Furthermore, when the United States recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city, Erdogan declared: “Those who think that they are the owners of Jerusalem today will not even be able to find a tree to hide behind tomorrow.” Erdogan was referencing a Hadith of the Prophet Muhammed: “The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.” In fact, in the 1980’s, Erdogan even wrote, directed and played the leading role in an anti-Semitic play called: “Freemasons, Communists, Jews.”
Statements like this have the effect of spreading anti-Semitism within Turkey. According to Turkish journalist Uzay Bulut, when Turkey entered into the Kurdish held city of Afrin in Syria, Turkish social media compared the Kurdish fighters there to “servants of Jews,” “bastards of Jews,” “underbred Armenians and Jews,” “Crypto-Jews, Armenians and Greeks,” and other derogatory anti-Semitic statements. According to Arutz Sheva, one even had the audacity to assert: “Allah willing, Hans, Georges, and Jewish and Armenian dogs will be cleansed from the area.” Furthermore, after Israel implemented new security measures following the murder of a Druze body guard, dozens of Turkish assailants attacked the Neve Shalom Synagogue in Turkey, throwing rocks at the synagogue, kicking its doors and threatening worshippers.
Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh has a similar background. Like Erdogan, she was also democratically elected initially but following the 2014 sham elections, she lost her democratic legitimacy. Ever since, she has managed to stay in power by repressing critics, persecuting minorities and of course, engaging in anti-Israel rhetoric. She has condemned Trump for moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem and accused Israel of engaging in massive human rights violations along the Gaza border. In addition, Bangladesh has no diplomatic relations with Israel and Sheikh Hasina is opposed to them happening until the Palestinians obtain independence.
However, Sheikh Hasina is known for persecuting the Hindu minority within her country, suffered a huge set-back in relations with the US after the car of a US envoy was attacked and students started to protest en masse against her government and yet, she still has very warm relations with Erdogan. Indeed, when Recep Tayyip Erdogan was reelected not too long ago after massive voter fraud, Sheikh Hasina gave 100 kilograms worth of mangos as a gift to the sultan-in-chief and she has coordinated some of her anti-Israel positions with Erdogan’s government.
How should people respond to these two democrats turned despots? The best way to respond is to go on the aggressive and to call both dictators out on the human rights abuses that they commit against their own people. After all, although two anti-Israel despotic birds of a feather stick together, the voices of the oppressed and the downtrodden continue to rise up together against the yoke of tyranny and they will gladly be the West’s allies.
Rachel Avraham is the President of the Dona Gracia Mendes Nasi Center for Human Rights in Middle East (under formation) and is a political analyst at the Safadi Center for International Diplomacy, Research and Public Relations. She is the author of “Women and Jihad: Debating Palestinian Female Suicide Bombings in the American, Israeli and Arab Media.”
The Martyrs of Otranto: Lessons from Christian Victims of Jihad
A little remembered event that occurred 538 years ago today – the ritual decapitation of 800 Christians who refused Islam – sheds much light on modern questions concerning the ongoing conflict between Islam and the West.
Context: Though primarily remembered for sacking Constantinople in 1453, because Ottoman sultan Mehmed II was only twenty-one years old then, he still had many good decades of jihading before him. He continued expanding into the Balkans, and, in his bid to feed his horses on the altar of Saint Peter's basilica – Muslim prophecies held that "we will conquer Constantinople before we conquer Rome" – he invaded Italy and captured Otranto in 1480. More than half of its twenty-two thousand inhabitants were massacred, five thousand led away in chains.
To demonstrate his magnanimity, Mehmed offered freedom and security to 800 chained Christian captives. All they had to do was embrace Islam. Instead, they unanimously chose to act on the words of one of their numbers: "My brothers, we have fought to save our city; now it is time to battle for our souls!"
Outraged that his invitation was spurned, on August 14, on a hilltop (subsequently named "Martyr's Hill"), Mehmed ordered the ritual decapitation of these 800 unfortunates. Their archbishop was slowly sawed in half to jeers and triumphant cries of "Allah akbar!" (The skulls and bones of some of these defiant Christians were preserved and can still be seen in the Cathedral of Otranto.)
Now consider what this event says about current realities.
First, whenever Islamic individuals or organizations engage in violence against non-Muslims – and cite Islam as the reason for their behavior – we are instantly told the exact opposite: that they are mere criminals and psychopaths, that their actions have "nothing to do with the reality of Islam," to quote John McCain.
Yet it was not just run-of-the-mill "Muslims" who committed atrocities atop Martyr's Hill, but the official leader of Sunni Islam – the sultan himself, who always had a pack of Muslim ulema – clerics, scholars, and muftis – to guide and confirm his decisions vis-à-vis infidels (including massacring those who reject Islam).
Nor was Otranto an aberration. As documented in my new book, Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West, Islam's official leaders and spokesmen – from sultans and caliphs to ulema and sheikhs – have always spoken and acted just like the Islamic State (or rather vice versa).
Also interesting to reflect on is how even then, over half a millennium ago, Western nations preferred to engage in denial and wishful thinking over coming to grips with reality or aiding their beleaguered coreligionists. Soon after the Otranto massacre, Pope Sixtus IV chided an indifferent West accordingly:
Let them not think that they are protected against invasion, those who are at a distance from the theatre of war! They, too, will bow the neck beneath the yoke, and be mowed down by the sword, unless they come forward to meet the invader. The Turks have sworn the extinction of Christianity. A truce to sophistries! It is the moment not to talk, but to act and fight!
Such laments were not uncommon; nearly a century later, in 1565, as a massive Islamic armament was sailing over to besiege the tiny island of Malta, Pope Pius IV complained that the king of Spain "has withdrawn into the woods and France, England and Scotland [are] ruled by women and boys."
Finally, and not unlike today, whereas the mass of Western people were ignorant of Islam's doings, a minority were always keenly aware, including from a historical perspective. Consider Sebastian Brant (b. 1457)'s "Ship of Fools," a satirical poem on the gradual nature of Islam's advances against a "sleeping" Christendom:
Our faith was strong in the Orient
It ruled in all of Asia in Moorish lands and Africa
But now [and since the seventh century] for us these lands are gone...
We perish sleeping one and all
The wolf has come into the stall
And steals the Holy Church's sheep
The while the shepherd lies asleep
Four sisters of our Church you find
They're of the patriarchic kind
Constantinople, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Antioch
But they've been forfeited and sacked
And soon the head [Rome] will be attacked.
It ruled in all of Asia in Moorish lands and Africa
But now [and since the seventh century] for us these lands are gone...
We perish sleeping one and all
The wolf has come into the stall
And steals the Holy Church's sheep
The while the shepherd lies asleep
Four sisters of our Church you find
They're of the patriarchic kind
Constantinople, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Antioch
But they've been forfeited and sacked
And soon the head [Rome] will be attacked.
As the poem's continuity suggests, learned Europeans saw the Ottoman scourge as the latest in a continuum of Islamic terror, for whereas the Arabs were "the first troops of locusts" that appeared "about the year 630," to quote a contemporary English clergyman, "the Turks, a brood of vipers, [are] worse than their parent ... the Saracens, their mother."
The same observations of continuity can be made about the Islamic State and every other jihadi organization.
Editor's note: A portion of this article is excerpted from the author's new book, Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West. All quotes are sourced there.
IN A NEW NOVEL, A COMIC ARTIST DARES TO 'BLASPHEME' MUHAMMAD
An interview with writer and comics creator Mike Baron.
August 9, 2018
Recently I read a page-turner of a new novel with the eye-catching title Sons of Bitches, which centers on a young Jewish artist who releases a comic book boldly depicting the Islamic prophet Muhammad. This naturally makes her a target for outraged Muslim fundamentalists, and their death threats force her to hire former biker hoodlum-turned-private investigator Josh Pratt. Justice, revenge, and mayhem ensue.
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