Christian clerics keep Doing the Ecumenical Rag…

… even as Muslims keep oppressing Christians.

Vincent Chiarello writes:

The invitation to Muslims to bring about a religious reconciliation extended by the Rev. Callisto Caldelari, pastor of the Sacre Coeur of Bellinzona church in Switzerland, may not have been a wise one, especially in that it may have sent the wrong signal during this time in which Christians celebrate the birth of Christ. Perhaps that exhilarating sense of ecumenism was lost in translation, because the Padre’s good wishes are not being reciprocated in Shiite strongholds in Iraq.

The Catholic Archbishop of Kirkuk (Iraq), Louis Sako, had declared that in major population areas of that predominantly Shiite country, a program of “ethnic and religious cleansing” is now in effect in Mosul and other cities and towns, and Christians are fleeing “en masse.”

In Mosul, there have been attacks against the Chaldean Church of St. George, and the Syriac Church of St. Thomas, including the throwing of hand grenades, which resulted in the death of an eight day old child. In Basra, fear is so great that not only were Christmas celebrations canceled in order to avoid Shiite retaliation, but delegations have been sent to mosques to “show their support” for the Shiite holy day of Ashura. A climate of total intimidation of Iraqi Christians exists, yet there has been only slight, but no continuous, coverage by the Western media of these events.

There are several factors working simultaneously here, but the Western media’s almost obsessive reluctance to chronicle Moslem violence against Christians, whether in the Middle East or in Africa, is just one part of that story. Further, international organizations are unwilling and/or unable to offer help to these people, many of whom have fled into neighboring Kurdistan to avoid the bloodshed, making a mockery of the UN’s mission to exist in the first place. Finally, it is clearly evident that too many Western Christians, including high ranking members of the clergy, are still convinced, perhaps impelled by a guilty conscience, that the ecumenism that they so forcefully preach will bring about the desired effect in changing the political and religious dynamic of Islam. They have embarked on a fool’s mission, something that, if successful, will only hasten the end of Christianity as we know it.

The Swiss people’s decision to ban the further building of minarets was reached after what their citizens wisely viewed as the pending disaster that awaited their nation, as it currently does to much of Western Europe. That Christian clerics of all denominations have taken steps to undermine that decision reveals a serious lack of their able to confront reality, and why, to many, Europe is eagerly wishing for its own destruction.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at January 10, 2010 05:48 PM | Send