Posted on 09/02/2010 7:13:36 AM PDT by marshmallow
... instead of using them as a crude instrument to bludgeon the truth about the essential differences between them and modern-day radical Islamic terrorism.
From Dennis Prager's most recent column, "The New Moral Equivalence":
Little has changed regarding the Left’s inability to identify and confront evil. Its moral equation of good guys and bad guys was made evident again in recent weeks by hosts on three major liberal networks: ABC, National Public Radio (NPR), and the Public Broadcasting System (PBS).
First, on May 25, PBS host Tavis Smiley interviewed Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the ex-Muslim Somali writer and activist for human, especially women’s, rights in Islamic countries. After mentioning American Muslim terrorists Major Nidal Hasan (who murdered 13 fellow soldiers and injured 30 others at Fort Hood) and Faisal Shahzad (who attempted to murder hundreds in Times Square), this dialogue ensued:
Ali: “Somehow, the idea got into their [Hasan’s and Shahzad’s] minds that to kill other people is a great thing to do and that they would be rewarded in the hereafter.”
Smiley: “But Christians do that every single day in this country.”
Ali: “Do they blow people up?”
Smiley: “Yes. Oh, Christians, every day, people walk into post offices, they walk into schools, that’s what Columbine is — I could do this all day long. There are so many more examples of Christians — and I happen to be a Christian.
“There are so many more examples, Ayaan, of Christians who do that than you could ever give me examples of Muslims who have done that inside this country, where you live and work.”
Then, on August 22, Michel Martin, host of NPR’s Tell Me More, in discussing whether the Islamic Center and mosque planned for near Ground Zero should be moved, said this on CNN’s Reliable Sources with Howard Kurtz: “Should anybody move a Catholic church? Did anybody move a Christian church after Timothy McVeigh, who adhered to a cultic white supremacist cultic version of Christianity, bombed [the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City]?”
And third, on August 26, ABC 20/20 anchor Chris Cuomo tweeted this to his nearly 1 million followers: “To all my christian brothers and sisters, especially catholics – before u condemn muslims for violence, remember the crusades . . . . study them.”
Yes, again, do study them, so you can learn how the mean and nasty Crusaders, completely unprovoked and against everything good and right, swept across the Middle East and destro—uh, wait, that's Cuomo's line. A great place to start for a fine (and free!) overview of the topic is Jimmy Akin's essay, "The Crusades 101", which opens with this:
Understanding the Crusades requires an appreciation of the events that led to them. Since the legalization of Christianity in the early 300s, European Christians had been conducting pilgrimages to Palestine in order to visit the holy sites associated with the life of our Lord. These pilgrimages were major exercises of piety, for in that age travel to the Holy Land was difficult, time-consuming, expensive, and dangerous. Some pilgrimages took years to complete.
Christians also went to Syria, Palestine, and Egypt in order to live ascetic lives. This was the age in which Christian monasticism blossomed, and numerous Christians were anxious to go to the Holy Land and Egypt in order to lead lives consecrated to God by asceticism. They also undertook the hardships of the journey. For both pilgrims and ascetics there was one factor ameliorating the journey: the path to Palestine went through Christian lands.
In A.D. 612, the Arabian Muhammad, son of Abdallah, reported receiving a prophetic call from God through the angel Gabriel. At first, he made few converts. However, after being driven from his native Mecca in 622, he found refuge in the city of Medina, where his followers increased. Mounting a military campaign, Muhammad conquered several pagan, Jewish, and Christian tribes and was able to seize control of his native Mecca, as well as all of Arabia. He died in 632.
Following his death, Muhammad's successors--the caliphs--continued an aggressive campaign of expansion. In less than a century they had seized control--among other lands--of Syria, Palestine, and North Africa. Though today we are used to thinking of these lands as Muslim, at the time they were Christian. It has been said that the expanding Muslim empire consumed half of Christian civilization. Even Europe itself was threatened. Muslims seized control of southern Spain, invaded France, and were threatening to invade Rome itself when their advance was defeated by Charles Martel at the battle of Poitiers in 732.
It had been a hard century.
Continue reading, "The Crusades 101".
Forget logic and reason. These people hate Christians and Jews and love the crazies who hate them.
Good article. The Crusades were indeed a defensive struggle which ended long ago. The Mohammadans have been waging war against the world for 15 centuries. They laid seige to Vienna just a few decades before George Washington was born. Our first war was against the barbary pirates who were seizing our ships and pushing our sailors into slavery. Islam has always been an aggressive foe — they have a long and bloody history.
Tavis Smiley should be drug tested.
Good link! I’m saving that one.
for the same reason you have people who automatically greet invaders with signs “welcome new overlords :-)”
The response to these people is “In the New Testament, point to where Jesus demands that his followers kill those who reject His teachings”. There are lots of “kill the unbelievers” passages in the Quran and Hadith (sayings of Mohammad).
Has Tavis Smiley ever had a job that wasn’t a direct result of AffirmativeAction?
“Little has changed regarding the Left’s inability to identify and confront evil.”
‘cause they are spawn of the Devil!
These people are confused, but profit by it and, therefore, have no great incentive to think clearly. Follow the money (an axiom used by the FBI). People who spout this type of rhetoric, like Smiley, like Rauf, have to because they want to advance in liberal media or advance in upper class liberal society. You don't advance your standing by showing that you don't have the requisite elitist background, mannerisms and points of view. Obama is the classic example of how far you can get cultivating your connections with the socialist elite. It is a hard circle to break into. In the same way there are probably many a high school teacher that wants to advance in their union, move up the pay grade, become more "active" with the agenda. Basic human nature is at play and it is a rare man that will assess his choices strictly on principle and not on money or power.
What the left doesn’t know never stops them from opining and acting. See OBAMA-PELOSI-REID. They just know they can do and say what they want. Its not like anyone in the media is going to question them or embarass them. Shoosh, a party of children - nacisstic, petulant, and stupid. I guess things would have been better had Christian countries not defended themselves or attempted to reclaim former Christian countries from the grip of the psychotic jihadis. Crazy mo did nothing but turn the clock back about a 1,000 years on civilization in the Mid East and North Africa. The ancient world was dominated by psychotic killing and rape. Penetration was the name of the game and it didn’t matter who or what you were penetrating as long as you were doing the penetration. If you ever wanted to know what life was like before Christ, just look at arab lands today. From a libtard point of view a world dominated by penetration and dominance is something I think they secretly yearn for.
“Did anyone move a Christian Church after Timothy MacVeigh?..etc etc”
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Uh, No sir!.
BUT
No one wanted to build a church or a chapel on or near the Murrah site and name it “Waco Memorial Chapel” or “MacVeigh Family & Rec Center”.
Tavis Smiley or Michel Martin?
Read later
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