Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Naïve fools!

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Photo of the Roman Catholic Bishop, Rt Rev Tom Burns, courtesy of THE TELEGRAPH
THE TELEGRAPH: The Roman Catholic bishop who oversees the armed forces has provoked fury by praising the Iranian leadership for its "forgiveness" and "act of mercy" in freeing the 15 British sailors and marines last week.

The Bishop of the Forces, the Rt Rev Tom Burns, said that the religious beliefs of the Iranians had played a large part in their decision to release the hostages after holding them for more than two weeks.

His words were echoed by a leading Anglican figure, the Right Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, who said Iran had acted within the "moral and spiritual tradition of their country" and contrasted this with Britain's "free-floating attitudes".

Bishop Burns, who ministers to the 40,000 Catholics and their families who are members of the armed forces, said the decision to release the captives had demonstrated "faith in a forgiving God".

But his comments were angrily denounced yesterday by politicians and soldiers as "naive" and "wishful thinking" for failing to recognise the illegality of Teheran's actions. Fury as bishops back Iran

Mark Alexander

5 comments:

Always On Watch said...

The clergy have no guts either? No moral imperative to condemn a terrorist state?

This has to be the corker of all time:

The Bishop of the Forces, the Rt Rev Tom Burns, said that the religious beliefs of the Iranians had played a large part in their decision to release the hostages after holding them for more than two weeks....[and] said the decision to release the captives had demonstrated "faith in a forgiving God".

Allah is forgiving? Has this Catholic dhimmi not read anything critical of Islam?

ARRRRGGGGHHHH! My blood pressure just took a sharp tick upward.

Mark said...

I'm sorry to have to say this, Always, but one can see the weakness in his face!

cybercrusader said...

With this kind of soft-headed thinking, it is no wonder that the Church is in deep trouble.

Mark said...

Thank you for this excellent and clearly stated background, Judah.

It is quite, quite sickening to listen to Church leaders going on about Allah and God being one. I believe, as you do, that they are not, or else, as you say, the Muslim understanding of God is warped. In fact, the latter is likely to be the case.

This claptrap about the three great Abrahamic faiths is nonsense. The Bible states very clearly that we should beware of false prophets that come after Jesus.

“Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” - (Matthew 7:15).

The word Allah is used by the Arab Christians, too; but their understanding of the term will be very much different from the Muslims' understanding.

But political correctness dictates that our leaders, be they Church leaders or political ones, should not speak the truth. The truth, these days, is trumped by 'the feel good factor'. The only one who had the courage and fortitude to challenge this was the Pope in the Regensburg address to which you have referred.

Both Christianity and Islam cannot be right. It stands to reason. Muslims, as you know, deny that Jesus was the 'Son of God', and they deny, too, that He was crucified, for which there is much historical evidence.

Mark said...

Hard to believe, isn't it?