In the United States and Europe, we
have seen the demonstrations and heard the distain over the tragic deaths of
Palestinians who have been used as human shields by Hamas. The United Nations has held inquiries and
focuses its anger on Israel for defending itself against this terrorist
organization that controls Gaza. But the
barbarous slaughter of thousands upon thousands of Christians in the Middle
East and central Africa is met with relative silence or indifference.
The Middle East and parts of central
Africa are losing entire Christian communities that have lived in peace for
centuries. The terrorist group Boko
Haram has kidnapped and killed hundreds of Christians this year — ravaging the
predominantly Christian town of Gwoza, in Borno State in northeastern Nigeria, a
few weeks ago. Half a million Christian
Arabs have been driven out of Syria during the three-plus years of civil war
there. Christians have been persecuted
and killed in countries from Lebanon to Sudan. Where is the reported outrage? Why is mass-media so silent about these atrocities?
Very few reporters have traveled to Iraq
to bear witness to the Nazi-like wave of terror that is rolling across that
country. Our Hollywood, music and
athletic celebrities have taken up numerous causes this summer … but not the brutality
against Christians in the Middle East and central Africa. Have we lost our ethical bearing? It appears that our moral compass is either malfunctioning
or has been misplaced.
Ronald Lauder, President of the
World Jewish Congress, wrote in the New
York Times:
“The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is not a loose
coalition of jihadist groups, but a real military force that has managed to
take over much of Iraq with a successful business model that rivals its
cold-blooded spearhead of death. It uses
money from banks and gold shops it has captured, along with control of oil
resources and old-fashioned extortion, to finance its killing machine, making
it perhaps the wealthiest Islamist terrorist group in the world. But where it truly excels is in its carnage,
rivaling the death orgies of the Middle Ages. It has ruthlessly targeted Shiites, Kurds and
Christians.”
A Chaldean-American businessman
named Mark Arabo told CNN, describing
a scene in a Mosul park: “They actually beheaded children and put their heads
on a stick … children are getting beheaded, mothers are getting raped and
killed, and fathers are being hung.”
The general indifference to ISIS,
with its mass executions of Christians and its deadly preoccupation with Israel
is diametrically opposed to civilized people.
Where do you stand on this growing threat of anti-Semitism and Christian
suffering?
The bond between Jews and Christians
is understandable. We share much more
than most religions: We read the same sacred text, and share a moral and ethical
core. Now, sadly, we share a kind of
suffering … while the world is indifferent to their suffering. (The Jewish people understand all too well
what can happen when the world is silent.)
Back in the 1700s, the statesman Edmund
Burke said: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men
to do nothing.”
Good people must join together and
stop this revolting wave of violence … this campaign of death.
Rev.
Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Chaplain
(Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel
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