U.S.: Stop Helping Those Who Persecute Christians!

Here's an excerpt from Katherine Jean Lopez's interview with Raymond Ibrahim in  National Review. Check out his website--Mr. Ibrahim documents the persecution of Christinas throughout the Mideast.

KJL: Are Syrian Christians better off if the U.S. does not strike against Assad?

IBRAHIM: Absolutely. That is not because Assad is a great guy, but because the alternatives — the same alternatives we saw in Libya and Egypt, that is, the Islamists and jihadis — are hostile to “infidel” Christians, a fact with ample doctrinal, historical, and current-affair proof.

KJL: Why is the debate over “Allahu Akbar” this week worth having?

IBRAHIM: Allahu Akbar is Islam’s most original and distinct war cry, it is always shouted out when Islam scores a victory, most often, a military victory, such as, in this case, shooting missiles at a church. It literally means “my god [Allah] is greater” than your god (hence why shouted in the context of military victory). And hence why it is disgraceful for John McCain to compare it to Christians saying “thank God.” He elevates the war cry of Islam to the level of the evcharistia – the Greek word for “thanksgiving” — and thus implicitly equate the Holy Eucharist with 1,400 years of jihad against Christianity.

KJL: There’s an understandable concern that focusing on such things will feed hatred toward one religion in particular. How do you approach such things in fairness?

IBRAHIM: My only concern is to be fair and speak truth – no more and no less, and regardless of the consequences.

KJL: Is it silly to pray for peace under such circumstances?

IBRAHIM:: Prayer is never silly. But accompanying it with action is obviously better. Let us not forget that when Jesus was slapped by a guard, he did not meekly submit, but questioned him for it, and when St. Paul was persecuted, he did not meekly go along, but invoked his Roman citizenship. The idea that Christians must always “turn the other cheek” — which increasingly is being exploited to make Christians passive — is much more complicated than normally thought, and does not mean Christians should be doormats.

KJL: How can the U.S. help? Specifically the Christians and minorities under fire?

IBRAHIM: It is sad to say, but the days when Mideast Christians called for U.S. help are gone. Today, all that Copts, Christian Syrians, and others want from the U.S. is for it to not get involved — since apparently every time it does get involved it’s to help those who persecute Christians, Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and now al-Qaeda in Syria. Watching Mideast media, it’s clear that millions of Egyptians and Syrians — both Christians and moderate Muslims and others — want nothing more from the U.S. than for it to stop supporting terrorists, under the guise of “freedom” and “democracy.”