The worst form of terrorism facing us
for his life in Egypt for converting to the faith. Members of the Muslim Brotherhood aim to wipe out the ancient Coptic Church altogether. There have been established Christian churches in the Middle East since the time of St Paul. Now these are breaking up as never before in 2,000 years as tens of thousands of Christians try to leave to escape persecution.
In the face of endemic violence from the radical Islamists, the archbishops and bishops responded by setting up that everlasting talking shop “to promote Christian-Muslim dialogue” and they issue vacuous communiqués from time to time. The uselessness of this project arises from the fact that it is only “liberal” Christians engaging in polite chit-chat with “moderate” Muslims. All ignored by the militants, naturally. I have some experience here. I was once asked to help the Muslim, Professor Akbar Ahmed, who told me: “I have more trouble with my own extremists in Bradford than with any number of Christians.”
Ah but surely all the atrocities are taking place in far off countries of which we know little? Not at all. Let’s come a bit nearer home. In England a Muslim girl who converted to Christianity from Islam has been removed from the home of her carer after she chose to be baptised. She was placed in a foster home because her father beat her and threatened to send her to Pakistan for a forced marriage. Her carer, who has fostered more than 80 children, did nothing to encourage her to convert.
In Sheffield, a primary school head teacher, described by her colleagues and pupils’ parents as “marvellous,” was forced to resign after being accused of racism by parents of Muslim students. The accusation came after she proposed that the school stop holding separate assemblies for Muslim children and replace them with assemblies that would include all pupils.
Also in England, three Coptic Christian children have been placed by social services with a Muslim foster family after their parents divorced. They were originally placed in the custody of the city mosque. The authority has refused to return the children to the custody of the Coptic Church.
In the face of all these terrible persecutions, it is easy to be seduced by the arguments of those who tell us there is a clash of civilisations between the Christian West and Islam. But most practising Muslims desire only to say their prayers and go to the mosque and to have good relations with their neighbours of whatever faith or none.
The truth is more sinister. We are dominated by a secular elite that hates Islam every bit as much as it hates Christianity. This elite of atheists and metro-political despisers is also a cowardly elite and dare not attack Islam for fear of getting its corporate throat slit. But it finds it useful to invoke “Islamophobia” and an allegedly outraged Muslim sensitivity in order to persecute the Christian faith.
This secular elite targets Christianity because it sees Christianity as the embodiment of those historic and traditional values which, until the contemporary reversal, made this country a place worth living in.
Islamic terrorism bad. Secular terrorism worse.
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