Overreactions

Fareed Zakaria has accused US of “over-reacting” after Sept. 11. There were people killed, maimed, hurt and others were never found.

Meanwhile, the expression “Allahu Akbar” has been engraved in the medieval cathedral of Lyon, without anybody being hurt and without anybody claiming that it is an insult to Catholicism (it is, of course, but no one is going to kill the guy or some Muslims on this ground. I would ask for the expression to be removed… with costs being paid by the idiots who accepted such writing in a Cathedral). But if some journalists draw some cartoons about Mohammed or make a show including Islam’s prophet, there are people killed, maimed, hurt, etc. and it’s said they are demanding “respect for their religion” and that they “like very much Mohammad and doesn’t want him to be insulted“. Or, at least, they threaten the authors with killings, maimings, etc… to get what they want.

But US are the ones who “over-reacted”.

Right….

Gaza: Christians issue a call for protection amid burned Bibles and violence

Father Manuel Musallem, head of Gaza’s Latin church, told the AP that Muslims have ransacked, burned and looted a school and convent that are part of the Gaza Strip’s small Romany Catholic community. He told the AP that crosses were broken, damage was done to a statue of Jesus (*), and at the Rosary Sister School and nearby convent, prayer books were burned.

Gunmen used the roof of the school during the fighting, and the convent was “desecrated,” Mussalem told the AP.

“Nothing happens by mistake these days,” he said. 

Father Musalam additionally told The Jerusalem Post that the Muslim gunmen used rocket-propeled grenades (RPGs) to blow through the doors of the church and school, before burning Bibles and destroying every cross they could get their hands on.

Well, I haven’t seen anyone condemning this actual violence like everyone -it seems- (including the Catholic Church, more here) has condemned the announcement of the “Day of Koran burning” (or whatever), have you? From my point of view, the “Day of the Koran burning” is nothing more than a way for Rev. Jones to have some publicity,. The Koran has passages which are most regrettable but burning the book is not going to make them dissappear. If he wants to be effective in these grounds, he should study it and denounce those regrettable parts.

But that doesn’t make the double-standards of most journalists and most politicians vanish. On the contrary, they appear much more real. It looks like a book (whatever its contents) is more important than a human being. And that someone threatening to burn a book is much more dangerous that someone who is actually using violent methods (with rocket-propeled grenades included) and burning other -religious-books.

(*) Note their deep respect for other people’s faith but specially for Jesus, who Muslims say, is also a prophet of Islam. What would happen if in Europe some guys would enter a mosque and burn some Korans?

Somalia: Convert killed, four children kidnapped

They will (of course) be forced to convert to Islam… and to be trained as soldiers:

Fataho was a long-time Christian deeply involved in the activities of the small, secret Christian community, sources said. Area Christians said they suspected someone had informed the insurgents of Fataho’s faith.

The assailants abducted his wife and children, later releasing her on the condition that she surrender the little ones to be trained as soldiers, sources said.

“We know they have taken the children to brain-wash them, to change their way of life from Christian to Muslim and to teach them the Quran,” said one source. “Al Shabaab was aware that her husband was a Christian, but they were not sure of her faith.”

Yeah, I’m hearing the international outcry after the deep coverage made by CNN, BBC and Al-Jazeera.

Oh, wait… there is none….

More information on child soldiers in Somalia here (PDF).