Posted on 02/21/2006 8:44:10 PM PST by Mr. Silverback
Note: This commentary was delivered by Prison Fellowship President Mark Earley.
The nation of Israel has an expression I love: “Never again.” No one has to explain what they’re referring to—it’s the Holocaust.
It’s a great vow. The problem is the world still tends to look the other way, even when entire races of people are being systematically exterminated. To our everlasting shame, when genocide occurred in Rwanda in 1994, the UN sat on its hands, as did the United States.
But at this very moment, genocide is taking place again—this time, in Darfur in western Sudan. Again, the world has been slow to react to the massacre of Muslims in that country. But thanks be to God, the world is finally being awakened, albeit slowly. Eight months ago, President Bush ordered the administration to declare Darfur a genocide.
This should have triggered all kinds of responses from the UN and other nations, but sadly, it did not. So last week when Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the UN, visited President Bush in the Oval Office, Bush pressured him directly and personally. Then the president announced last Friday in a speech in Florida that he was asking NATO to provide troops on an immediate basis while the UN is organizing a peacekeeping military force. As Bush said in his statement, “There has to be a consequence for people abusing their fellow citizens.”
Well, three cheers for the president. We also owe a great debt to Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kans.), who has been pleading with American political officials to act on Darfur. We’re indebted as well to a reporter for the New York Times, Nicholas Kristof, who has visited Darfur five times and has written eloquently about his experiences there.
These and others have told us of conditions almost too appalling to imagine: the government of Sudan deliberately murdering its own people. Kristof described a “land [that] stinks of fear and death,” where “you just pass burned village after burned village after burned village”; a land where children die of starvation and women are constantly being gang-raped—if they haven’t already been wiped out by militia attacks.
If you are horrified by what is happening in Sudan—and you must be—I urge you to write or call your senators, or congressman, or the White House today. If you call us here at BreakPoint (1-877-322-5527), we’ll be glad to give you addresses and phone numbers.
Americans have repeatedly spent our treasure and shed our blood to protect individual lives and human dignity from being trampled upon. A biblical worldview demands that we do no less. As God is the Author of creation and each individual life, we believe that people have inherent dignity and worth, no matter what their standing in life or their religion.
It’s hard not to see a great irony here: All of this is going on at the very time that Muslims across the world are busy vilifying Western culture. All across the Middle East and in Europe, Muslim mobs are rioting. But that doesn’t change the fact that, according to our worldview, we have a duty to help those of all faiths and cultures, even those who may be rioting against us. The world can plainly see the differences in the worldviews of Christianity and Islam. The biblical worldview is the only one that truly respects human dignity, and that’s why we are the ones who must work to make “Never again” a reality.
Take Action:
Call your two senators and your representative—(202) 224-3121; www.senate.gov; www.house.gov—and urge them to take action to end the genocide in Darfur. The White House switchboard is (202) 456-1111; or e-mail president@whitehouse.gov.
If anyone wants on or off my Chuck Colson/BreakPoint Ping List, please notify me here or by freepmail.
BreakPoint/Chuck Colson Ping!
If anyone wants on or off my Chuck Colson/BreakPoint Ping List, please notify me here or by freepmail.
Muslims? Gosh, who else lives in the Sudan? Christians, whom the Sudanese Islamic terrorists in charge have massacred, raped, and pillaged for decades. No wonder that President Field Marshal Umar Hassan Ahmad al-BASHIR ranks high among the world's worst dictators.
Then the rest of the cultist can fight it out for the virgins afterwards the last man standing can be given a shovel and told to clean up the mess.
Let them finish each other off, it not only saves us time..but resources and most importantly the lives of our young men.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.