Moments of clarity are rare by nature and must be appreciated when they do occur. For example, when Richard Dawkins stated:
There are no Christians, as far as I know, blowing up buildings. I am not aware of any Christian suicide bombers. I am not aware of any major Christian denomination that believes the penalty for apostasy is death.
I have mixed feelings about the decline of Christianity, in so far as Christianity might be a bulwark against something worse.1
We got a glimpse of clarity from Michael Moore, with a little Bill Maher thrown in, as Moore wrote an article titled, “Michael Moore: In Defense of My Friend Bill Maher’s Statements on Islam in November 9, 2014 AD wherein Moore states:
Bill [Maher] asks, “If I draw a cartoon of Jesus in a dress, will Christian leaders issue a call to assassinate me?” I can’t speak to Bill’s drawing skills, but it’s safe to say that in the USA he can draw whatever he wants. In fact, other than those murdered abortion doctors, a hundred bombed or ransacked Planned Parenthood clinics and a few people like me, there are not many activists or artists who have to worry about Baptists blowing up their homes. Sinead O’Connor was not beheaded for beheading a photo of the Pope on NBC. Your middle name can be ‘Hussein’ and you can still win the state of Virginia if you’re running for President. Sure, I can make a daily list of all the horrible things so-called Christians still do in this country. Rarely, though, do their actions involve decapitation.
But if you’re a Dutch filmmaker who makes a movie about violence against women in some Islamic countries, or if you’re a Danish cartoonist who draws an image making fun of the Prophet — well, you are then either shot to death or you are now in hiding.
For examples, see You can’t draw Muhammad but can besmirch the Pope and anything in my Unbelievers Compliment Christianity section.
The article actually begins with this quotation from Moore, “When Christians do these things we speak up — loudly. So why not speak out when Muslims do it?”
Michael Moore notes that he “stood up for him [Maher] when ABC fired him and cancelled his show when he attempted to stop the hysteria and fear-mongering after 9-11 — resulting in the Bush White House publicly ordering him to watch what he says — or else.” But then again, since Maher makes a habit of likening public nursing of babies to public masturbation and laughs at children that are raped by their parents, there may be other reasons besides 9-11 related issues (see my Bill Maher section for the videos on the raped children show).
Now, lest you think that Moore has gone soft, or moved at least to the center, fear not as he refers to “the Uterun Police/Protectors of Child Rapists (also known as The Vatican)” an account on which he is correct and to the “crazy Christian Right.”
But then he gets into a topic about which we are told to have one of those great national conversations that never seems to happen. It never happens because we are not allowed to have it. Rather than great national conversations about Islam we are censored and told what to think by the Theologian-in-Chief (at the very least Barack Obama and George W. Bush before him).
Michael Moore notes:
…when Bill goes after Islam, or crazy people professing to be Muslim, we grow uncomfortable. Why is that? Because when he bravely ridicules and attacks Christian assassins of abortion doctors who cite the Bible as justification for their evil acts, we heartily applaud him. But when he mercilessly stomps on Islamic assassins who cite the Koran, we grow uneasy. Why the switch on our part?
Is it because Bill doesn’t just stop with the Islamic assassins — he thinks anyone who follows the Koran is a bit nuts? Or the Bible or the Talmud or the… you name it. He thinks it’s all coo coo for cocoa puffs.
Add to the list the promulgations of politicians (on either side of the perfect divide and conquer scheme) de jour, of course.
On the issue of supposed “Christians” who are assassins of abortion “doctors,” see: George Tiller, Abortionist Murders, and the Richard Dawkins Correlation.
Moore goes on to elucidate his ignorance and the generic nature of his claims:
I have, when I’m on Bill’s show, told him there are far more examples historically of the death and destruction that Christians have brought to the planet, from the Crusades to the Inquisition to the wiping out of Native Americans to the Holocaust. But he points out that, in truth, the Jesus followers seem to have taken a break lately in their genocidial lust — and that the debate should be about the present; i.e., which religion is now doing most of the terrorizing?
Though I would maintain that it is still the Judeo-Christian West whose armies and banks and institutions keep much of the third world under a heavy economic boot, resulting in a lot of hunger, suffering and death…
Do you see how, especially liberal leftist democrat (and Muslim and Atheist) defenders of Islam in general are sawing off the very branch upon which they sit? They claim that you can have a Muslim name, be born and raised to and by an Muslim family, worship the Muslim god, follow the Muslim scripture, pray Muslim prayers, hold to Muslim food laws—generally life by Muslim theology and yet, the moment you do something violent it is demanded that you are not a Muslim (and yet, if incarcerated, the US gov. will force US tax payers to provide you with a Qur’an, Halal meals, five prayer times per day facing Mecca, a prayer rug, etc. because, apparently, those are things that like, totally non-Muslims do).
Now, if violence disqualifies one from being a Muslim then any consistent thinker will have to conclude that the very same goes for Christians. Thus, when Moore claims that Christians have brought death and destruction to the planet he must either apply the very same standards to Islam or claim that Muslim terrorists are not Muslim and Christian terrorists are not Christians.
Moore supposed that is someone claims to be a Christian or was in any way a Christian then “Christianity” can be blamed for whatever they do.
The Crusades began as a reaction against Islamic terrorism and deteriorated from there (where it not for the initial crusades Moore and Maher would likely be on their knees facing Mecca five times per day), learn more about the Crusades here.
The Inquisition was a multifaceted historical event, as are all historical events by the way. For example, The Jewish Encyclopedia (1906 AD ed. Vol. XI, p. 485) notes, “It remains a fact that the Jews, either directly or through their correligionists in Africa, encouraged the Mohammedans to conquer Spain,” so, again, it began with Muslims, see here for more on the Inquisition. Now, when it is convenient for them Atheists, et al., claim that the US Founders were all deists, agnostics, skeptics, etc. up until we begin discussing slavery or, in this case, “wiping out of Native Americans,” when the Founders automatically become bible believing born again Christians.
Also, that the Holocaust was due to Christians is to give the Nazis the power to change theology, see here for more on this point.
Conversely, Atheists murdered more people in a mere few decades than all “religious wars” of the past supposed 10,000 year combined. The Encyclopedia of Wars (New York: Facts on File, 2005 AD) was compiled by nine history professors who specifically conducted research for the text for a decade in order to chronicle 1,763 wars. The survey of wars covers a time span from 8000 BC to 2003 AD. From over a claimed 10,000 years of war 123 wars, which is 6.98 percent, are considered to have been religious wars. Moreover, half of those involved Islam. Thus, as one of the world’s youngest world religions, Islam has managed to rack up half of all known religious wars.
Back to Michael Moore now as he notes that Bill Maher “points out that, in truth, the Jesus followers seem to have taken a break lately in their genocidial [sic.] lust” because Jesus said that we would know His followers by their fruit and thus, His true followers have no genocidal lust, “and that the debate should be about the present; i.e., which religion is now doing most of the terrorizing?”
Now, in keeping with Moore’s faulty correlation between someone being even vaguely characterizable as “Christian” and their actions, he “would maintain that it is still the Judeo-Christian West whose armies and banks and institutions keep much of the third world under a heavy economic boot, resulting in a lot of hunger, suffering and death.” The point is that the West may have been premised upon Judeo-Christian principles but where does one get Judeo-Christian “armies and banks” from Jesus, His apostles, His disciples, the Bible as a whole, etc.?
A line of demarcation must clearly be drawn between that which for example, Jesus did and taught and the Bible teaches as a whole on the one hand and that which people take upon themselves to do on the other. In other words, anyone can claim anything but the issue is are they viable justified in their claims or not?
Now, back to Moore since, as a documentarian provocateur extraordinaire himself, oddly notes that “I don’t even know if I want to see Jon Stewart’s new film about the Iranian who was unjustly imprisoned. WHY not? It’s a true story! It happened! But the liberal panic button says this film will be used in ways to pump up fear of Muslims.” So, ignore true stories about Muslim oppression and violence because it may pump up fear of Muslims. Fine with me if and only if we likewise stop referring to, for example, “Christians” who “murdered abortion doctors” and property damage Planned Parenthood clinics” as Christians since that may pump up fear of Christians.
Michael Moore relates one of Bill Maher’s guest was the “wonderful Palestinian writer Rula Jebreal…[he] asked her if he were a Muslim, living in certain Muslim countries, and he walked into the Men’s Club one day and announced he was now a Presbyterian, would that be ok? She paused, and then said ‘No.’”
The bottom line issue is not who claims to do what upon which basis but whether their claims are backed by facts. Muslim terrorists have Muhammad as an example of terrorism, The Qur’an commanding them over 100 times to commit violence and a capricious god who (maybe as they claim to be certain but cannot be) will only guarantee them salvation, 72 virgins, etc. if they die in (un)holy war—Jihad. These, and not Western perceptions, are Islam’s problem and has become all of our problem.