The clerics write: "As Muslims, we say to
Christians that we are not against them and that Islam is not against them --
so long as they do not wage war against Muslims on account of their
religion, oppress them and drive them out of their homes." Where in the
world are Christians waging war against Muslims on account of their
religion, or driving them out of their homes and oppressing them? Clearly
Americans have fought against some Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq --
but we have just as clearly fought alongside other Muslims. Nor do we
fight Muslims "on account of their religion." This is al Qaeda talk. Their
propaganda videos preach a perverted version of reality in which Islam
is under siege around the world.
By contrast, Christians living in Muslim
societies have in fact suffered on account of their faith. In just the past
couple of years Rami Ayyad, owner of a Christian bookstore in the Gaza
Strip, was abducted, tortured and killed by Islamists. Two Palestinian
Christian women were shot to death by the semi-official al Aqsa Martyrs
Brigade for failing to wear the Islamic headscarf.
In Bethlehem, Jesus' birthplace, Christians feel
under siege from the increasingly Islamist Palestinian majority. Samir
Qumsieh, owner of a Christian TV station, told the Jerusalem Post of
beatings, theft and intimidation. "When I see what's happening to
Christians here, I worry a lot for our future," he said. "They are targeting
Christians, because we are seen as weak."
Christian churches have been firebombed in
Pakistan. In Afghanistan, a Muslim who converted to Christianity was
sentenced to death. In Egypt, the Copts face continuing persecution. And of
course, in Sudan, a Muslim government has carried out a campaign of
ethnic cleansing against the Christian minority.
What do we make of Bosnia then? Good question.
The nominally Christian Serbs did carry out an ethnic cleansing atrocity
on the Bosnian Muslims. And guess who stepped in to stop it? A
consortium of Western democracies. Where was the corresponding Muslim alliance
to save the Christians of Sudan?
If the Muslim clerics are sincere in wishing for
peace and understanding, they should issue a document that denounces
Islamists; that rejects their violent interpretation of jihad; that
affirms the human dignity of non-Muslims; and that condemns Osama bin
Laden, Aymin al-Zawahiri and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by name. That would be
historic. This letter is worse than a bromide, it's a dodge.