“As for the cowardly and the unbelieving, the depraved, the murderers, the immoral, those
practicing magical arts, and all idolaters and all liars—their lot is in the lake that burns with
fire and sulphur. This is the second death” (Revelation 21:8)
Recently a tsunami of wrath and condemnation against America roiled up throughout the Muslim world, stimulated by a false report in “Newsweek” magazine that interrogators in the Guantanamo prison in Cuba flushed down the toilet pages from the Koran. The supposed intention was to provoke the prisoners and stimulate them to confess whatever they might know about the terrorist operations. One wonders how a story fabricated and not swiftly retracted could stir up such a worldwide reaction when so many worse atrocities perpetrated against Christian sensitivities are treated lightly or not at all.
Recall the supposed artistic license of Andres Serrano dipping a crucifix of our Lord God and Savior into a vat of urine, the frenetic media protest when then-Mayor Rudolph Guliani sought to shut down the Brooklyn Museum for a display that portrayed the Mother of God and ever-Virgin Mary spattered with elephant dung, or Yoko Ono in what was an expression of creativity tearing the Bible apart page by page. Christians of various persuasions rose in indignation, while the media dismissed their protests with the bland general reference to the rights of free expression.
One cannot equate the theology of Islam with Christianity. Christians may not always practice forgiveness, mercy and tolerance, but we are ordered by our Lord to do so. Islam came on the scene of history brandishing a sword and never apologized for it nor placed it back in the sheath. Orthodox Christians especially in the Balkans have borne with the fierce intolerance of their Muslim-dominated countries for more than a dozen centuries, and it’s not over. The ongoing persecution of Serbian Orthodox in what had been their nation now continues, with the desecration and destruction of many churches in Kosovo especially, as the NATO forces ostensibly sent to the region to pacify the population stand by and do nothing while the Serbs are harassed by the Albanian Muslims. Not long ago the Patriarch of Constantinople had his residence bombed, while he pretends that all is in order, lest he provoke even greater attacks.
Of course it’s politically correct to emphasize the peaceful aspects of Islam, and to an extent that is accurate. Maybe most Muslims want to live in harmony with their neighbors; nevertheless, the bias of American media gives the lie to the truth they claim to search out and report. Part of the reason for their impartiality is that they honestly believe that they are fair-minded, treating the alien entity, the Islamic world, with a respect they withhold from what they consider to be a Christian-dominated America.
Another aspect of the lopsided approach to religion is that for the most part they assume not having a faith commitment is the same as being free to see life objectively. That’s not the case. It only disguises one’s prejudices under a blanket of supposed neutrality. As G.K. Chesterton put it: Those who believe in nothing will fall for anything. At a deeper philosophical level we ask Pilate’s question: “What is truth?” A fact or phenomenon can be tweaked, twisted or as politicians and journalists practice, “spun.” An event can be over-reported and hyped, noted in passing or simply ignored. A similar question: What is news? The media don’t really know; they chase one another around with tape recorders and cameras, all hoping to report “breaking news,” all of them more or less babbling the same stories on all channels. In the process they determine what’s “in” and what’s “out.” Presently political correctness insists that we must treat Islam, even the extremists, with deference at the expense of Christianity, assuming our Christian faith can bear it. After all, we do proclaim that there is virtue in innocent suffering. But we are not masochists. We also demand justice from the media, and we must insist on fair play.