Priest murder was about Cartoons

When this story about the murder of Father Santoro broke, I received an email from a taunter who wrote that the priest was “probably shot by some kid he raped…”

Because a handful of bad soldiers means all of our military people are bullies, right? And a handful of bad priests condemns all of them.

The scandals of some unfaithful priests will, undoubtedly - and possibly for our own good - follow Catholics around like a bad shadow, but I was struck by that note. A priest is shot in Turkey, and the immediate equation, for some, is the squalid one, whereas common sense might wonder if the priest was killed due to the Islamic unrest “caused” by the publication of cartoon-depicitions of Muhammed, 5 months ago.

Michelle Malkin has the story - seems that yes, Fr. Santoro was killed with the cartoons as the excuse. She has links to the story, Vatican reaction and more, including this recollection of Fr. Santoro by one who knew him. Check it out. I expect Jim at TKS, who lives in Turkey, will have more.

Michelle is like a one-stop news and information center!

And I have decided to link all of the “Cartoon” stories under the category “Touch of Evil.” Normally, I wouldn’t…but so much of this rage seems to be contrived, yet deadly, and the whole chaotic episode seems so organized (hey, getcher Danish flags here, all these signs are in the same handwriting…let’s put out a few more fake cartoons …) that I believe “evil” may not be too strong a word. This madness cannot end well, and can only feed the baser instincts of others. Writes Charles Moore:

Right now, at the fashionable White Cube Gallery in Hoxton, you can see the latest work of Gilbert and George, mainly devoted, it is reported, to attacks on the Catholic Church. The show is called Sonofagod Pictures and it features the head of Christ on the Cross replaced with that of a primitive deity. One picture includes the slogan “God loves F***ing”.

Like most Christians, I find this offensive, but I think I must live with the offence in the interests of freedom. If I find, however, that people who threaten violence do have the power to suppress what they dislike, why should I bother to defend freedom any more? Why shouldn’t I ring up the Hon Jay Jopling, the proprietor, and tell him that I shall burn down the White Cube Gallery unless he tears Gilbert and George off the walls? I won’t, I promise, but how much longer before some Christians do? The Islamist example shows that it works.

Not every Muslim should be painted with the brush of “extremism,” any more than every soldier should be tainted by Abu Ghraib, or every priest by the terrible behavior of some. But these folks who are organizing this, and fomenting this madness…I think they may fit the category. They are trying to set the world ablaze.

UPDATE: Winds of Change questions the timing and suggests things are not as “spontaneous” as they appear in this situation. I concur. Pajamas Media has an ongoing round-up that you will be happy to find. Sigmund spells out how absurd much of this is.

Also, if your kid is going to school in California, be ready for this.

CaNN :: We started it. pinged back with CaNN :: We started it.

by TheAnchoress @ 1:39 pm. Filed under Catholicism, Touch of evil

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3 Responses to “Priest murder was about Cartoons”

CaNN :: We started it. Says:
February 7th, 2006 at 7:03 pm
[...] - RECENTLY MARTYRED priest Fr. Santora– Asia News has many articles on the Italian priest killed in Turkey on Sunday. Youth arrested for priest’s killing. Allah is Great: Priest Dead. Priest murder was about Cartoons … (Various) [...]
MarianneP Says:
February 7th, 2006 at 7:31 pm
about the fake cartoons, see
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8959820. a contest in imitating the squealing of pigs. It would be funny if it were not for the ugly circonstances.
There will be a manifestation in Paris on Thursday with europeans, christians, etc. and for Father Santoro.
PeggyR Says:
February 8th, 2006 at 12:43 pm
Re: the textbook

The thing that just absolutely blows my mind is the power of the human mind when it comes to denial. In the case of muslims that denial seems to have long ago reached the point of a complete disconnect with all reality. How does someone believe that someone was gentle, non-violent and peaceloving and all about peace when that person initiated hostilities throughout his career, fought in battles, ordered executions, stood aside while hundreds of men were beheaded and the wives and children taken as slaves and ordered the conquest of the whole world?

The denial seems to be completely impervious to any recounting of the facts. Just yesterday, I had posted a comment that listed the terrible behaviors of mohammed at one web site, and the very next post was from a muslim insisting that mohammed was perfect in every way that could be desired. Then she recommended some hagiography written by a muslim as the thing to read for the truth about him.

I am mystified at this kind of thing when it comes to muslims but how do I even describe what I feel when I see non-muslims just accepting their word for things without even checking the facts.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it to my dying breath. A statesmen can be a good peace-loving man if he takes his country to war or defends his people. But the founder of a religion can, should and must be held to a higher standard since that figure becomes the ideal for his followers. Violence can never be part of any ideal of human behavior or else there is just no way out for us. There is no higher standard for us than what we can easily manage.

Pray for the denial to end and for people to see the truth ie the beautiful talk and fancy dress of islam as opposed to its actual history and practice, the reality of islam. I seems to me that mohammed and his religion are the ultimate triumph of appearance over substance and the elites of the West, perhaps just as disconnected from all reality, do nothing but enable the denial.

I would pull my kids out of any school that taught such tripe. I hope and pray that the parents of California can effectively protest the use of this book.