What a difference a day make... Londoners reveling July 6th on their selection to host the 2012 Olympic games awake to the tragedy of terrorist attacks today.
In the wake of the horror that is terrorism the Pope has this to say in a message sent to the arch bishop of westminister:The pontiff describe the [London] attacks as "inhuman and
anti-Christian," in a telegram to the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal
Cormac Murphy O'Connor.
Okay, inhuman I'll buy. But "anti-Christian?" Please.
Right now, we're not even certain who coordinated these blasts. Of course, it looks like al-Queda or some similar group.
But how helpful is it, if this proves to be the case, to frame this as "anti-Christian?" Do we really want to fan a religious butchery crusade in the most stunned and painful hours after this attack? I can think of a dozen other ways to view this: anti-Western culture, anti-democracy, anti-imperialism, anti-capitalist, anti-invasion (feel free to add to the list).
It's bad enough to have the Catholic pontiff declaring this an anti-Christian event. God help us all if our evangelical wingnuts ( here in the US) get hold of this meme and froth up an anti-Muslim frenzy. (And yeah, don't tell me. I know. Of course, they will.)
I was just hoping that world leaders, including the pope, could express sorrow in terms of humanity in general for just one day. This really may not be, after all, about individual leaders' personal bugaboos.
This really irks me. Why on earth did he feel compelled to issue a statement such as this? Did he really think this would help calm or comfort a grieving world right now, by framing it immediately as a Muslim versus Christian event?