AsiaTimes commentator “Spengler” wrote what is below on the day of the election of Pope Benedict XVI - interestingly, it seems to have been written and gone to print just before the election was announced.
Three years on, approaching the 3d anniversary of the pontificate of B16, and the events of the past 36 months, this is proving fascinating to review.
Spengler is best described, I think, as an Evangelical who has had some prophetic visions. I have written about him before on his vision of China and the future of Christianity. He is a man (actually, is he a man?) of big thoughts. Thoughts I don’t always agree with, but thoughts I can never ignore.
Magdi Christian Allam stands in a long line of Christians whose witness to Christ was a matter of life and death. This testament was written by Dom Christian de Cherge, OCSO in Algiers, December 1, 1993 to be opened in the event of his death at the hands of Islamic extremists. The letter is a kind of apologia for the seven French Trappists of Tibhirine–Brothers Christian-Marie, Bruno, Célestin, Christophe, Luc, Michel, and Paul who chose to remain in Algeria despite increasing threats on their lives, the assassinations of several of their friends, and the urging of various government and Church authorities to abandon their home and their mission.
Taken hostage just before Palm Sunday, the seven, who have become known as the “martyrs of hope,” gave their final witness on May 24, 1996. The testament was read in public two days later on Pentecost Sunday, 1996.
“…I took the simplest and most explicit Christian name: “Cristiano.” Since yesterday evening therefore my name is Magdi Crisitano Allam.
“For me it is the most beautiful day of [my] life. To acquire the gift of the Christian faith during the commemoration of Christ’s resurrection by the hand of the Holy Father is, for a believer, an incomparable and inestimable privilege. At almost 56 […], it is a historical, exceptional and unforgettable event, which marks a radical and definitive turn with respect to the past. The miracle of Christ’s resurrection reverberated through my soul, liberating it from the darkness in which the preaching of hatred and intolerance in the face of the “different,” uncritically condemned as “enemy,” were privileged over love and respect of “neighbor,” who is always, an in every case, “person”; thus, as my mind was freed from the obscurantism of an ideology that legitimates lies and deception, violent death that leads to murder and suicide, the blind submission to tyranny, I was able to adhere to the authentic religion of truth, of life and of freedom…
I know what I am headed for but I face my destiny with my head held high, standing upright and with the interior solidity of one who has the certainty of his faith. And I will be more so after the courageous and historical gesture of the Pope, who, as soon has he knew of my desire, immediately agreed to personally impart the Christian sacraments of initiation to me. His Holiness has sent an explicit and revolutionary message to a Church that until now has been too prudent in the conversion of Muslims, abstaining from proselytizing in majority Muslim countries and keeping quiet about the reality of converts in Christian countries. Out of fear. The fear of not being able to protect converts in the face of their being condemned to death for apostasy and fear of reprisals against Christians living in Islamic countries. Well, today Benedict XVI, with his witness, tells us that we must overcome fear and not be afraid to affirm the truth of Jesus even with Muslims.
For my part, I say that it is time to put an end to the abuse and the violence of Muslims who do not respect the freedom of religious choice. In Italy there are thousands of converts to Islam who live their new faith in peace. But there are also thousands of Muslim converts to Christianity who are forced to hide their faith out of fear of being assassinated by Islamic extremists who lurk among us. By one of those “fortuitous events” that evoke the discreet hand of the Lord, the first article that I wrote for the Corriere on Sept. 3, 2003 was entitled “The new Catacombs of Islamic Converts.” It was an investigation of recent Muslim converts to Christianity in Italy who decry their profound spiritual and human solitude in the face of absconding state institutions that do not protect them and the silence of the Church itself. Well, I hope that the Pope’s historical gesture and my testimony will lead to the conviction that the moment has come to leave the darkness of the catacombs and to publicly declare their desire to be fully themselves.”
Some voices in Europe and other places are presently criticizing the pope for his high profile baptism of Magdi Allam at the Easter Vigil. They assert that the pope is somehow taunting Islam and unnecessarily putting Mr. Allam’s life in danger, and perhaps the pope’s as well. I cannot know the pope’s mind. But I would like to suggest why he might do something so dramatic and frankly foolish in the eyes of the world:
I think the pope is making all kinds of points.
He wants to uphold the example of this man who has stood up to Islam already for many years.
He also wants to make an issue of the Muslim practice of assassination of those who convert out of it. Imagine the shame heaped on Islam if Allam is killed.
He wants to show Muslims that reasonable and rational people, the very best of Islam are ashamed of what Islam has become.
He wants to make a point to sleepy Europeans that Christianity is a faith worth dying for.
He wants to give all the world an example of Christ-like willingness to die for the good, rather than to kill.
He wants the world to know that it is superior to suffer violence than to commit it.
He wants to show the world the moral and spiritual superiority of Christ and Christianity.
He wants to show the world that the willingness to innocently suffer violence for one’s faith is not reserved to the earliest ages, but is a very present reality.
He wants to highlight that Christians throughout the world willingly suffer violence for their faith every day.
He wants to bring about religious freedom, a true liberation of personal conscience in the lands of Islam.
He wants to give the Muslim world an example of Christian virtue that they will notice.
Should Mr. Allam or Benedict lose their lives, he would want to offer martyrs for the sake of the Muslim world.
Finally, Magdi Allam, now on the world stage, may be safer than if he had not been in the spotlight. Who knows?
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Italy’s most prominent Muslim commentator is converting to Catholicism by being baptized by the pope at an Easter vigil, the Vatican announced Saturday.
Magdi Allam is the deputy editor of the Corriere della Sera newspaper and writes often on Muslim and Arab affairs. Born in Egypt, he has described himself as a non-practicing Muslim. He has long spoken out against extremism and in favor of tolerance.
Pope Benedict XVI was baptizing seven adults during the service, which marks the period between Good Friday, which commemorates Jesus’ crucifixion, and Easter Sunday, which marks his resurrection.
The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said of Allam before the service that anyone who chooses to become a Catholic of his or her own free will has the right to receive the sacrament.
Lombardi said the pope administers the sacrament “without making any ‘difference of people,’ that is, considering all equally important before the love of God and welcoming all in the community of the Church.”
Benedict opened the lengthy nighttime service by blessing a white candle, which he then carried down the main aisle of the darkened St. Peter’s Basilica. Slowly, the pews began to light up as his flame was shared with candles carried by the faithful, until the whole basilica twinkled and the main lights came on. READ ALL
May God grant him many years in health and happiness.
UPDATE: baptized by pope says life in danger “He said he made his decision to convert after years of deep soul searching and asserted that the Catholic Church has been ‘too prudent about conversions of Muslims.’”
I have got to be honest, I don’t really believe this is that close to happening… Then again, a lot of things that have happened in the past decade I would not have believed had I not lived through.
Certainly this is something for which we should all pray.
La Stampa, the Italian daily, said that the talks would have been “unthinkable” until recently. The way was paved by King Abdullah’s talks with the Pope and by the recent setting up of a permanent Catholic-Muslim forum to repair relations between the two faiths after the Pope’s controversial remarks on Islam at the University of Regensburg in 2006.
A retired Kuwaiti superstar singer has recently left the Gulf emirate for Afghanistan to join ranks with al-Qaeda and Taliban forces in fighting foreign troops there, according to a press report published Saturday.Hussein al-Ahmad, who was until recently one of the Gulf’s most famous pop stars, decided to join “his Mujahideen brothers in Afghanistan to support Islam and fight alongside his fellow Muslims in al-Qaeda”, reported Kuwaiti daily Al-Rai Saturday.
Al-Ahmad has previously told Kuwait’s Al-Rai TV that the reason he decided to quit singing was “a dream” where he saw his “own journey from this world into the hereafter through death”.
“I’ve seen horrors and terrors I don’t think anybody else has. I thanked Allah for being alive when I woke up and I was grateful for the fact that He has given me a second chance,” the retired singer said.
“I then informed my family and friends that I would retire from the dark world of sin (singing). Since then, my job has been to warn against arts and their sinful atmosphere.”…
So they get Hussein al-Ahmad Before and after
And all we get is doo-wop 50s rocker Dion DiMucci?
Wait a minute, now that I think about that one, I think we did far better.
I met a gentlemen on Paltalk last night who said he was an Iraqi Christian who was now living in the US. He sent me a link to this video being hosted by the Religious Freedom Coalition (a group I know nothing about) that they say was produced by the Chaldean Church in Beirut, Lebanon. I told the gentleman I would watch it and then post a link to it here on Per Christum.
I often suffer from “compassion fatigue” due to the 24-hour news coverage and discussion in the blogosphere of all the violence and atrocities in our world. The senselessness and cruelty of events like the tragic kidnapping and death of Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho and persecution of our brothers and sisters have left me feeling sort of numb and distant. Watching the stories of the families in this video has helped break through some of that fog.
The man who gave me the link said he still has family in Iraq who are in harms way because they name the name of Christ. Please pray for them.
UPDATE: It seems that page has been taken down (a commenter said it was due to the number of hits the video was getting.) You can view it on YouTube as well. Below is part 1, go to the YouTube page for the rest.
The Islamic charter school in Minnesota that I wrote about in Human Events today is not the only one. Back in August Patrick Poole wrote about several such schools in Ohio. Where is all the concern for the Establishment Clause that we see regarding Christians and publicly-funded schools? Where is the consistency? Where is the ACLU?
From the pages of the ByzCath Forum, Father Serge Keleher, Ukrainian Greek Catholic Priest offers:
Why should Kosovo remain part of Serbia? Well, perhaps to demonstrate the much-proclaimed alleged policy of the self-styled World Leaders that territorial change cannot be accomplished by terrorism? To demonstrate that “ethnic cleansing” is unacceptable even when Mohammedans do it? Or perhaps to take historical realities into account?
It is true that Serbia was responsible for the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which was the spark that set off the terrible First World War and led to the horrors of the twentieth century. But there is plenty of blame to go around both for the outcome of WWI and for what followed.
It is also true that the relatively recent bombings of Serbia were by any definition a war crime. I remember when we were being assured that the “smart bombs” had absolute pin-point accuracy, which they proceded to demonstrate by bombing the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, of all things.
Does anyone seriously believe that the “independence” of Kosovo is going to have long-term peaceful results? Hitler famously asked “who remembers the Armenians?”. To this one might add “who realizes that the almost exclusively Mohammedan population of present-day Turkey is the direct result of ethno-religious cleansing? Has everyone forgotten Smyrna?”.
A strongly worded opinion to be sure! It is also one worth considering.
Lord Carey a former Archbishop of Canterbury has simultaneously castigated ABC Rowan Williams for his suggestion that Sharia Law have a place in Britain and stated that this row should not lead to his resignation.
While the first point is obviously needed, the second in my estimation is either useless chivalry or another case of Anglican ineptitude regarding the preservation of its own existence.
RW’s statements about Sharia Law in Britain were unwise on a variety of levels, the least of which is legal:
1. It is bad law. The meaning of law is that it binds citizens universally. His proposal introduces as the very least a kind of tiered system of citizenship.
2. The tendency of Muslims to refuse assimilation and their growing numbers constitute a grave threat to European civilization which is shrinking and losing confidence in itself while enduring the animus of world wide Islam. Submission to Islamicists will only weaken a future for Christianity in Britain and set a bad precedent in the EU leading to further acquiescence.
3. Islamicists do not recognize a distinction between “good” Sharia Law and “bad” Sharia Law. Give them some Sharia Law and they will demand more and more.
4. As head of the established Church, RW’s duty is to work tirelessly for the gospel, for the evangelization of all peoples in his realm, including and perhaps especially Muslims. The job demands a lion, not an erudite hand wringer.
5. These statements demonstrate that his analysis of Britain is more sociological than theological. This is perhaps the most grievous aspect of the current problem. RW is abdicating his role as national theologian/pastor in favor of being some kind of national social theorist.
6. RW has shown his hand already in telling ways by holding secretive liturgies with liberal gays and feminists while publicly playing the objective arbiter. Even prior to this Sharia row, he has shown himself unfit to represent historic Christianity. His preferential option for the heterodox has demonstrated that he, if not all Anglicanism, is no longer “catholic” in its theological/moral reasoning. Nor is it Protestant, but secular.
7. As a national figure for the English people RW has abandoned Englishness as a definitive quality of the nation. Were I English, I would consider this treasonous.
I realize that this is a harsh assessment of RW’s tenure and that not all will agree. For a model of strong leadership with a plan, we need only look at HH Benedict XVI.
Some have compared RW’s row with Benedict’s row after Regensberg. Not so fast. First, Benedict raised ire for a quote of someone else with whom he did not agree and RW has gotten in trouble for what he himself actually has said. Second, Benedict did not and never will sell out Catholicism which it is his charge to champion while RW has repeatedly undercut the very institution he was appointed to lead.
In my opinion RW needs to step down and find a nice academic corner where he can spin theoretical yarns among Oxford emeriti who will nod at his wit and not take him too seriously.
I should add that I have a real esteem for classical Anglicanism and owe a personal debt of gratitude to Truro Parish, Fairfax, Va. which at a critical time in my personal history was extraordinarily formative for me. I believe that Anglicanism could have been a very important ally for the Catholic Church in addressing our present cultural moral collapse, except for the bad leadership which has allowed Anglicanism to be part of the problem rather than the solution. I feel terribly for those classical Christians caught in Anglicanism, of which my father is one. For those who have attatched themselves to the “rock” of Canterbury especially in CANA, AMiA, etc., it must be terribly deflating to find there only quicksand. I pray they find the rock they seek. God Bless them.
(To be sung to the tune of “Maria” from West Side Story. With thanks to Raymond Arroyo of EWTN and apologies to Leonard Bernstein …)
Sharia!
Sharia, the Archbishop is all for Sharia!
His really awkward shame will never be the same to me.
Sharia! Don’t publically kiss your girl Maria!
Ask Dhimmi who’ve found how awful a sound it can be!
Sharia, please watch out what music your playing.
If it comes, be quiet when you are a Catholic praying!
Sharia, He’s actually open to Sharia!
Oh +Cantuar… Given that all variations of “Muhammed” combined have become the most popular name for boys in the UK, leave this lobbying to home-grown sharia enthusiasts.
In God’s Name was created by Jules and Gedeon Naudet. It will air on CBS on Sunday December 23, 2007 (9:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT). The show will cover 12 of the world’s influential spiritual leaders thoughts and beliefs.
“Unless there’s thunder people don’t make the sign of the cross,” Alexy II Patriarch of Moscow and all of Russia.
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Islam, News | Tagged: Benedict XVI, Catholic, General, Eurabia, Islam, Muslims, Pope, Spengler | 
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