Syria’s crackdown hits ally Hezbollah’s image

–St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Just so you know this wasn’s some headline writer’s misunderstanding of the article, here’s the first paragraph:

As Syria’s crackdown on protesters gets bloodier, it is having repercussions for one of Damascus’ most crucial allies, eroding the reputation of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Perhaps someone in Geneva reads this blog, or more likely, reads CAMERA, or maybe just woke up and turned on the news. In any case, the World Council of Churches has finally noticed that things are not going well in Syria, and urges everyone to just calm down:

On behalf of the World Council of Churches, I express my deep concern in this time of conflict for the people of Syria from every background and belief. I appeal to all parties in the Syrian Arab Republic to renounce violence at once, and to re-dedicate themselves and their country to the pursuit of dialogue, healing and peace.

All parties? Last time I checked, this was pretty much a one-way slaughter. But false even-handedness is the WCC way.

In the wake of so many deaths, it is particularly urgent that the army and government security agencies cease the indiscriminate use of force, ensuring the citizens’ rights to free assembly and expression, pursuit of political progress and basic human dignity. All governments have an obligation to protect the lives and dignity of their citizens, and to protect their human rights and fundamental freedoms.

From the government and on all sides there has been a stated desire for national reform. Now is the time to end the violence and enter a process of dialogue leading to democratic change.

Naivete in dealing with dictators is another part of the WCC way. Bashar Assad has no “desire for national reform.” He’s looking for a way to save his neck and his power. In the process, he’s used a handful of words that tickle the ears of the WCC leadership. You’ve got to wonder what it is about the ecumenist bureaucracy that renders some people so incapable of perceiving reality beneath the surface that they find so pleasing.

At the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation, convened by the World Council of Churches in May 2011, in Kingston, Jamaica, more than 1,000 participants included these words in their message to the world:

“With partners of other faiths, we have recognized that peace is a core value in all religions, and the promise of peace extends to all people regardless of their traditions and commitments.”

It is in that spirit that we call upon all who have been caught in the tragic cycle of confrontation within Syria: Stop the violence and killing. Seek a just peace for all.

There is no “cycle of confrontation” in Syria (in Geneva, they must do microsurgery to implant these cliches in your brain when you go to work there–I can’t think of any other reason to use such a mindless expression to describe the situation in Syria). There is a dictatorial government, there are people protesting in the streets demanding change, and there is that same government using guns and goons to try to destroy those protesting and squelch any inclination to further dissent on the part of the oppressed population.

Well, at least they did call on the army and state security agencies to stop killing people in the streets. I’m sure Assad will get on that right away.

All right, I have to admit it: I snickered when I saw this. On the blog of the mainline church-supported U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation (USCEIO), I came across this article:

Victory: LGBTQ Student conference withdraws conference from Israel!

As Palestinian queers, our struggle is not only against social injustice and our rights as a queer minority in Palestinian society, but rather, our main struggle is one against Israel’s colonization, occupation and apartheid; a system that has oppressed us for the past 63 years. Violations of human rights and international law, suppression of basic rights and civil liberty, and discrimination are deeply rooted in Israel’s policies toward Palestinians, straight and gay alike.

…and no one will get hurt by your ignorance. I kind of wish someone had said that to a reporter for the Toronto Star before he unleashed it on the world in a story on Catholic schools in Canada. Evidently there are some parents who, for various reasons, are thinking of taking their children out of said schools. Among them are parents of the Coptic (Egyptian) Orthodox faith. The reporter, Murray Whyte, wanted to make the point that there aren’t that many differences between Catholics and Orthodox, and let loose this howler:

Though most in the Coptic Orthodox community send their children to Catholic school, they are not Catholic themselves. The differences are slight — they use the same liturgies, though Orthodox Christians differ from Roman Catholics in their belief that the Pope is a human being, not a divine figure — which has meant Coptic Orthodox children most often are sent to Catholic school. [Emphasis added.]

I sometimes think it would be better if newspapers simply acted as if religion of any kind didn’t exist. Better to be ignored than misrepresented in ways that anyone who has access to a public library could fact check.

(Via Five Feet of Fury.)

The decline of Europe into a parody of civilization continues apace. The European Court of Human Rights has now declared that citizens of the European Union have a right to put up a satellite dish. According to the UK’s Daily Mail:

It is regarded as a luxury that allows people to watch top sport and blockbuster movies from the comfort of their armchairs.

But owning a satellite dish is actually a human right, according to unelected European judges.

In an extraordinary ruling, lawmakers in Strasbourg have warned that banning dishes on listed buildings, social housing and even private homes could breach the right to freedom of expression by preventing people from practice religion.

“They have experienced the same kind of thing as congregations in Fort Worth and San Joaquin,” she noted, referring to attempts by former leaders in those places to take ownership of diocesan property and leave loyal Episcopalians without a spiritual home. “The church is more than a building, and has become stronger and more creative in exile.”

–Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefforts-Schori, comparing the experiences of Anglicans in Zimbabwe dealing with state persecution under the heel of one of the world’s most repressive regimes and Episcopal denominational loyalists who have lost property in the former ECUSA dioceses of Fort Worth and San Joaquin; this may be the single stupidest thing I’ve ever heard come out of the mouth of a mainline denominational official, and that say something

(Via MCJ.)

Sometimes its not what a person or organization says but what it doesn’t say that speaks volumes about its priorities and ideology. Dexter Van Zile of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) points out that the World Council of Churches, normally so vocal about violence in the Middle East (especially when it can point fingers at Israel) has been completely silent about the slaughter of thousands of people in Syria. He writes:

The World Council of Churches, an umbrella organization that seeks to unite Christianity and offer prophetic words of peace and justice on behalf of almost 350 denominations worldwide, has said almost nothing about the brutal crackdown by the Assad regime in Syria.

A visit to the organization’s front page on August 3, 2011 and a review of the organization’s news archive indicates that the violence in Syria has not made it onto the organization’s radar. The organization has simply been a bystander to this violence.

The only place one can see any reference to the brutal crackdown is on the WCC’s “twitter” feed where it has offered a couple of “tweets” about the violence which has cost 2,000 people their lives. The tweets do not condemn the Assad regime for the violence, but merely offer prayers for peace. This is odd given that the WCC has routinely condemned Israel for its efforts to defend itself against Palestinian rockets. A search for the word “Gaza” on the WCC’s website reveals the extent to which it has focused its condemnations on Israel. In fact, the WCC’s Palestine Israel Ecumenical Forum (PIEF) has a website devoted to highlighting the suffering of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

The Assad regime is murdering its own citizens on a regular basis and the WCC has said virtually nothing.

It’s not as if the WCC has been silent about world events over the past few months.

Since the violence began in Syria, the WCC has, among other things, issued a call for NATO withdraw nuclear weapons from Europe, drawn attention to the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, issued a statement about the fighting in Libya, lamented violence inSudan, called for an end to the food blockade of North Korea and lamented the attack in Norway.

It has only been silent about events in Syria.

It’s not as if the WCC is completely unfamiliar with what’s going on in Syria or the workings of the Assad regime – about which it has said nice things in the past.

It makes one wonder whether Assad has dirt on WCC officers or employees. Actually, according to Van Zile, it’s because of the status of Christians in Syria:

The WCC’s failure to condemn the Assad regime is related to one crucial fact: WCC member churches located in Syria rely on the Assad regime to keep them safe from Muslim extremists in that country.

This reality is one of the keys to understand the WCC’s notoriously lopsided witness about the Middle East. While the organization routinely condemns Israel (and the United States) for their actions, the WCC is reluctant to condemn authoritarian regimes in the Middle East for their misdeeds for fear of putting Christians in danger.

Given what’s at stake – the safety of Christians in the Middle East – it is uncharitable to condemn the WCC too harshly for making this calculation, but the next time the WCC assails Israel for its policies, it seems right to ask why the organization has been so vocal and focused in its condemnations of Israel and so obsequious in its dealings with the Assad regime. If this were the Gaza Strip, the PIEF would have another link to put on its page.

This is certainly true, though it doesn’t answer the question of why the WCC has been so reluctant to criticize loathsome regimes where the protection of Christians is not a consideration. For instance, North Korea (where there are probably fewer than 20,000 Christians, virtually all of whom are deep underground) and Saudi Arabia (where there are none except guest workers, who have no religious freedoms anyway), two of the most oppressive countries on the planet, rarely if ever feel the sting of WCC criticism. Israel, on the other hand, is subject to more scrutiny for its treatment of the Palestinians than pretty much all other nations put together.

I agree that protecting Christians is part of the WCC’s agenda. But that doesn’t by itself explain the overwhelming obsession of the WCC with the Jewish state as opposed to any other human rights violator.

Oh, wait. Did I say Jewish state? Could that have something to do with it?

Could be. But that’s a side issue for the moment. The real issue is, when is the WCC going to speak up for the rights of the Syrian people, and especially for the right to not be shot down in the streets by a tyrannical regime? Christians, after all, are among those being killed.

Today, we ‘offer our bodies as a living sacrifice’ to say to congress ‘Raise revenue, protect the vulnerable and those living in poverty.

–Former National Council of Churches president Michael Livingston on the occasion of his and other religious leaders photo-op arrest at the U.S. Capitol while protesting the debt deal last week; martyrdom is so much more pleasant when you can be home in time for dinner (I wonder if they gave any thought to this guy while Livingston babbled on about offering his body as a “living sacrifice”)

Northeast braces for temps near boiling point

–Associated Press, July 22, 2011 (and you thought it was hot where you are!)

(Via Michelle Malkin.)

Via NewsBusters comes this cartoon from the Arizona Daily Star. It’s from David Fitzsimmons:

This was Fitzsimmons right after the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords:

Pot meets kettle, just by looking in the mirror!