Rome burns, put down your fiddle | Sam Hall
We have an innate tendency towards creation. We are God’s chosen species, made in his image, and therefore at some level also have the capability to create. Not merely for function- to keep us sheltered from the elements, well-fed and watered- but to go beyond, to create a civilisation. Faith provides us with some particularly notable examples. The construction of the modern-day St. Peter’s Basilica for example, involved shifting one million cubic metres of earth to create a Church more than 200 metres in length and 100 metres in height.
This tendency for beauty and creation is all too often overridden by a desire to destroy. It is only norms and institutions that mask and redirect these latter tendencies towards more practical and socially acceptable means- boxing, war, and the like. Strip away these norms, and we quickly find that supplanting God with the total authority of the state means wanton destruction, misery, and suffering, until the despot is toppled. To be civilised therefore, is to create far in excess than to destroy. To push beyond mere existence and towards thriving. As conservatives, we must recognise that it is far easier to destroy than it is to create. Marrying the best of the past with the best of the present to create the best future is our dogma; to caution against our own innate tendencies towards destruction. It is in this context that attention must be drawn to an increasingly problematic phenomenon- that of the numerous destructions of Churches and acts of anti-Christian terrorism, mentioned in the case of France in an article published by us yesterday.
As I write, the flames that threatened to envelop Nantes Cathedral have only just been quashed. This is the latest in a series of attacks across France that included smashing a statue of the Mother of God at Saint-Nicolas church in Houilles, smearing human excrement on the cross at Notre-Dame des Enfants in Nimes as well as scattered consecrated hosts with rubbish left outside the building. Looking back further, we can all remember the devastating fire of Notre Dame de Paris and the site of its historic spire tumbling into the inferno below. Might this too have been a purposeful attack on Christian life?
The Paris Prosecutors Office were very quick to rule out a criminal investigation on the basis that is was an accident. Some have even called this ‘Europe’s 9/11’ to give it a sense that in some people’s opinion, the mainstream media isn’t telling the whole story- for political purposes. It is easy to see where this perception comes from. Surely an investigation into the cause of the fire would take some time? Or else, what was it that was so patently obvious that led prosecutors to quickly determine that it was an accident? Unfortunately, with an event like this, if national leadership isn’t totally transparent, other people will fill the void with their own ideas. Especially for a building of such national significance as Notre Dame de Paris.
This was by no means the only attack in that area. In 2016 a car bomb outside the cathedral could have created 60 casualties in a nearby bar had the 7 gas cylinders exploded as intended. One of the women arrested was ‘Sarah H’, 23, who had been engaged to two French extremists- Larossi Abballa, who murdered a police commander and his police officer partner in June at their home outside Paris in the presence of their three-year-old son, filming the aftermath on Facebook Live before dying in a police raid- and Adel Kermiche, who slit the throat of an elderly French priest during morning mass in Normandy in July.
Nor are the attacks limited geographically. In a threatening gesture more befitting of an Islamic terror propaganda video, a statue of Christ was beheaded in Miami and a statue of the Mother of God daubed with red paint in Colorado Springs. Not even Protestant denominations are safe. Last year two East London churches were the victims of arson attacks. In addition, symbols often associated with the occult and devil-worship were left for all to see. Furthermore British Muslim convert Michelle Ramsden (also known as Safiyya Amira Shaikh) was caught after making contact with an undercover police officer for bomb making services. She had been staking out potential targets including St. Paul’s Cathedral.
Why are we not talking about this more? We have raised a generation of children to hate their own heritage and culture, of which Christianity is a defining part- kids break up for the Easter holiday, and participate in nativity plays each December- even if the religious basis has become diluted. One must only look at the backlash surrounding then Tory leader David Cameron’s comments that Britain is a Christian country- not from either the Muslim Council of Britain or the Hindu Council UK I might add- to get a sense that Christianity is fast becoming at best an easy scapegoat and at worst something considered too lowly and unworthy of significant attention when it comes to faith-based violence.
Christianity is not seen as exciting or interesting- not woke. It is the establishment faith. Islam on the other hand, still has that new and exotic attraction for the Left, who’s main political strategy is persuading large blocks of minorities to vote for them (see Joe Biden’s cringeworthy attempt to pander to the black vote). This is despite the fact that the first mosque in the UK opened in 1889. Let’s not stop political correctness from finding the true causes of anti-Christian terror attacks or even saying what they are. Christians have been persecuted and humiliated across the world since the time Jesus Christ first walked the earth. It is nothing new. Unfortunately, that lack of novelty and exoticness is exactly what is feeding this lack of general awareness whilst stifling criticisms of some of the more extreme factions of Islam. It is time to call anti-Christian terror attacks what they are.
–
If you liked this article and want to help our organisation expand, please consider donating. Every little helps.
