Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Prince Charles Speaks Out for Persecuted Christians
Credit where it’s due. Notorious goofball he may be, but Prince Charles hit the nail on the head this time.
At a Christmas reception for Middle East Christians at Clarence House yesterday, the prince made an impassioned statement on behalf of the persecuted in which he not only pleaded for the victims but named their persecutors:
“I have for some time now been deeply troubled by the growing difficulties faced by Christian communities in various parts of the Middle East,” he said.
“It seems to me that we cannot ignore the fact that Christians in the Middle East are increasingly being deliberately targeted by fundamentalist Islamist militants.”
In a reference to the Christmas story, he added: “Christianity was literally born in the Middle East and we must not forget our Middle Eastern brothers and sisters in Christ.
“Their church communities link us straight back to the early church as I was reminded by hearing Aramaic, our Lord’s own language spoken and sung just a few hours ago.
“Yet today the Middle East and North Africa has the lowest concentration of Christians in the world – just four per cent of the population and it is clear that the Christian population has dropped dramatically over the last century and is falling still further.
“This has an effect on all of us, although of course primarily on those Christians who can no longer continue to live in the Middle East.
“We all lose something immensely and irreplaceably precious when such a rich tradition dating back 2,000 years begins to disappear.”
Speaking personally, he added: “For 20 years I have tried to build bridges between Islam and Christianity and to dispel ignorance and misunderstanding.
“The point though surely is that we have now reached a crisis where the bridges are rapidly being deliberately destroyed by those with a vested interest in doing so.
“This is achieved through intimidation, false accusation and organised persecution including upon Christian communities in the Middle East at the present time.”
You can see him speak here:
Published in General
Maybe it’s more than just the stopped clock phenomenon.
Duh. I guess royalty is not supposed to ruffle feathers too much, but where is our chief representative on this subject:
“Following the recent barrage of church burnings, Father Rafic_Greiche, the chief spokesman for the Catholic_Church in Egypt, criticized President_Obama for not speaking out against the worst violence against Egyptian_Christians in nearly 700 years.
“President_Obama when he made a speech he just touched on the burning churches instead of telling the Muslim_Brotherhood that they are terrorists and they are making terror on Egypt,” Greiche said. “He did not speak loud for this and shame on him if he is a Christian that he does not speak out loud.”
“The spokesman of the White_House who…was asked ‘What is the red line for the Christians in Egypt?’ he mocked and said, ‘I didn’t bring my red pen,” he noted.
…
” Greiche told AsiaNews. “In his speech he didn’t even so much as mention all the churches and Christian buildings being burnt down by the Muslim_Brotherhood.”
“This must absolutely be made clear: the_Muslim_Brothers_are terrorists and are tied to groups belonging to al_Qaeda and to the_Salafites,” he said. “The history of the Muslim_Brotherhood, even since their foundation, has been a history of_85_years_of_bloodshed.”
So ‘good on you‘, Prince Charles.
Now that you got warmed up, maybe can you do something a little bit more courageous than reading a statement of affront – Call out the President of the US and Prime Minister of UK for their dereliction of duty against the blighters?…Can you do that, at least?
Dash it all, Charles, for once in your miserable life can you expend your royal capital on a cause you consider worth dying a little for. Do you as a Royal always have to stay above the fray? Does your religion not mean enough for you to make a stand, “make one last grand attitude” before you depart this vale of tears and meet your Maker. You have a weapon that can be used against the foe, Man, why won’t you use it, royal strictures be damned?
No, you can’t compromise your precious privileges and mix it up in the political realm, not even for a cause so just and noble, can you? Too much training against that sort of thing, eh what? A simple statement of objection will have to do.
Time for tea.
Manfred, the last Royal who did that was Diana, and look how she ended up.
Bravo, Charles! While the Pope remains silent, except for condemning the Judeo-Christian Western Tradition of individual freedom, Bonnie Prince Charlie has the guts to speak out. He will be mercilessly attacked. Well done.
I recall years ago that someone fired a pistol while he was giving a speech, and while everyone ducked, he stood tall and fearless. Spot on, Israel:
‘Bout time someone did this.
It’s a start.
Indeed.
That’s royal goofball, Judith. And don’t you forget it. :-)
Do you have a reference to the original article or full speech? Apparently the video only gives a portion, though it ends with an applause line. The quoted bits go beyond the video.
I dislike his reference to “Abrahamic faiths”, which is an Islamic flourish that has no place in Jewish or Christian teaching or tradition. Islam, for 1400 years, has sought validation in this fashion, and then to position itself as, out of the three, the valid reflection of Abraham’s religion (see the Abraham story in the Qur’an) while the others are imperfect. Or as the first chapter of the Qur’an (recited five times daily in every Muslim’s prayers) puts it,
My italicized insertions give the canonical understanding of the three categories in the prayer, as universally taught in both Shia and Sunni Islam.
Judith,
Well well, so Western Civilization isn’t quite dead yet. Of course, its pulse is very weak but I think it just wiggled its right big toe. There is hope.
Regards,
Jim
The difference being that a stopped clock is right twice a day. I don’t think Dopey Prince Charlie has been right twice in a decade.