The New Year thoughts from the Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks.
Anti-Semitism is spreading around the world in a kind of tsunami effect.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4573052.stm

Posted by: Granny Weatherwax at January 1, 2006 11:53 AM

Today, as Catholics celebrate the feast of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, you may be interested in reading the account of the Battle of Lepanto, which occurred on October 17, 1571.

Link:

http://www.catholic.org/featured/sheen.php?ID=1311

Pope Pius V sent out an impromptu armada of Crusaders (after weeding out those interested only in plunder, or whose character was questionable), under the protection of the Most Holy Virgin, to attack the navy of the caliphate. Across Christendom, the rosary was recited to ask for Mary's aid and protection.

The jihadis were "inexplicably" crushed, despite outnumbered Christian forces. As Pope Pius V, far from the scene of the battle, saw a vision of victory, the victory was in fact unfolding, with very few losses on the Christian side. Many of the Christian slaves used as oarsmen by the jihadis were set free.

I believe that this miracle did occur, and that miracles are still in store. Once again, I give thanks for this man God has chosen for us as pope.

God bless and Happy New Year!

Posted by: phil413 at January 1, 2006 12:17 PM

All christians must work together, for converting muslims to christianism, the effort made by evangelism in South America must be sent to Middle East and Asia and convert muslims.
Several days ago I read an interesting interview to the unique orthodox priest in Indonesia, their efforts have got 2500 muslims converts to orthodoxy, it´s a drop in an ocean, but it´s good.
God bless our Pope Benedict XVI and give him many years.

Posted by: Franze at January 1, 2006 12:36 PM

Did Pope Benedict name these forces of terrorism, nihilism and fanatic fundamentalism? Or did he leave them politically correctly nameless?

Posted by: Dr. Pepper at January 1, 2006 1:21 PM

In our PC climate today, it would be utterly unthinkable for a Battle of Lepanto to happen in the same way -- except after Muslims had mass-murdered hundreds of thousands or even millions of Infidels first. If anyone tried a Battle of Lepanto today, the Pope would probably be among the voices denouncing it.

Posted by: Dr. Pepper at January 1, 2006 1:23 PM

Franze Says:"All Christians should work together..." . But Franze, the main obstacle to this great thought is the VATICAN. When all the other denominations of Christians joined together to form "The World Council of Churches", Catholics stood apart.They will rather embrace the Islamists with ease than associate themselves with other sects of christians,though the central faith nerve,running through all these sects is, professing Jesus as Lord and Saviour. If you go through the past faith of converts to Islam, you will find 90 percent from Catholic background.
Instead of kissing the koran,if we all join together in this holy task(Crudade),it is easy for us to save the world from destruction.

Posted by: rafia at January 1, 2006 1:25 PM

On April 27, 2003, John Paul II beatified a 17th-century Capuchin priest famed as a preacher of crusades against the Islamic armies of the Ottoman Turks.

Marco d’Aviano, known as a fiery orator, persuaded European Christian monarchs to lift [i.e., to repel] the Ottoman siege against Vienna in 1683. A biography records that during the fighting, d’Aviano brandished a crucifix at the Turks, shouting, “Behold the cross of the Lord: Flee, enemy bands!”

Well known in the 17th century as a preacher of penance and a miracle worker, d’Aviano is thus something of a patron saint for European Christians alarmed over Muslim immigration and fundamentalism in Islamic states.

Italian director Renzo Martinelli, who is making a film based on the life of Marco d’Aviano, asserted that “without him Italian women would today be wearing the burqa.”

John Paul, however, proposed d’Aviano not as a model of resistance to Islam, but as an apostle of Europe’s Christian identity. [Heaven forbid the Pope should propose him as a model of resistance to Islam!]

To date there has been little negative reaction in the Islamic world, said Fr. Justus Lacunza, a Missionary of Africa who heads the Pontifical Institute for Arab and Islamic Studies. He predicted that the beatification would not cause serious problems in the Muslim-Christian relationship. [There would have been, had the Pope had the chutzpah to propose d'Aviano as a model of resistance to Islam, DUH!]

At the same time, Lacunza [said that] one can ask whether beatifying him now is an unnecessary mode of “adding fuel to the fire.” [Yes, we can never be too careful about Muslim sensitivity...]

Politicians associated with anti-immigration stances [i.e., "far right" politicians in Europe] were quick to laud d’Aviano’s beatification.

“This will make Christianity wake up, posing de facto the basis for a second crusade, this one in defense against an Islamic assault, after the first that defeated communism,” said Italian parliamentarian Edouard Ballaman. He led a delegation from the far-right Italian political party, Northern League, known for its opposition to immigration, to the beatification ceremony.

Church leaders, however, attempted to head off an anti-Islamic interpretation.

D’Aviano “should not be instrumentalized for today’s political purposes,” said Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna, Austria.

[Cardinal] Schönborn ... also said the Capuchin was no bloodthirsty crusader. When the imperial armies defeated the Ottomans at Belgrade in 1688, for example, d’Aviano interceded to save the lives of the surrendering Muslim troops.

John Paul II made a point of outreach to Muslims. The former Pope met with Muslims more than 60 times, and he was the first Pope in history to enter a mosque. The Pope visited the Grand Mosque of Omayyaid in Damascus, Syria, on May 6, 2001.

Aside from his military and spiritual legacy, tradition holds that d’Aviano left one other trace in history. When the Viennese decided to use milk to lighten the thick coffee left behind by the Ottoman invaders, they named the resulting drink for d’Aviano’s religious order: cappuccino.

[Europeans are still trying to use milk (of human kindness) to lighten the strong violent poisonous black coffee of Islam...]

http://ncronline.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2003b/051603/051603h.php

Posted by: Dr. Pepper at January 1, 2006 1:45 PM

phil413;

Victor Davis Hanson, in his book "Carnage and Culture, Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Power", ISBN 0-385-72038-6, uses the Battle of Lepanto as one of 9 examples to support his arguments. I haven't gotten that far yet, still at Gaugamela, so I pass the title on without too much comment, other than to say that I enjoy VDH's writing very much. I actually only bought this book because it deals with a battle, Salamis, that predates his new book "A War Like No Other", ISBN 1-4000-6095-8, and I thought it might help setting up the latter.

Far be it for me to argue whether or not Lepanto was a miracle or not, but "God helps them that help themselves" comes to mind.

Posted by: t-ham at January 1, 2006 1:52 PM

If you go through the past faith of converts to Islam, you will find 90 percent from Catholic background.

rafia, can you support this with statistics or any other info that people can look up? As a Catholic, I'm very interested. If you're right (and I wouldn't be surprised if you were), I believe it just illustrates the Catholic Church's abyssmal ability to teach the Gospel in a manner that people can understand and accept without relying on the state.

Dr. Pepper, as far as JPII is concerned, the late Pope was as much of a Neville Chamberlain with regard to Islam as he was a Winston Churchill with regard to Communism. He was deathly afraid of another "clash of civilizations" resembling WWII that he did all in his power to ally the Vatican with Islam. That's why he opposed the first Gulf War to liberate Kuwait and why he supported the NATO attacks against a Serbian regime that engaged in anti-Muslim genocide.

Posted by: Joseph D'Hippolito at January 1, 2006 2:39 PM

"Far be it for me to argue whether or not Lepanto was a miracle or not, but "God helps them that help themselves" comes to mind."

Lepanto was no miracle. The Holy League had 12 ships (heavy galleons) that - on their own - were responsible for the vast majority of Ottoman ships sunk. The Turks were defeated by superior western technology, and Lepanto was the first sign of the Ottoman Empire lagging behind Europe.

I could mention other stories that definitely sound miraculous, like the one that happened sometime during the XVI century in the Indian ocean, when six Portuguese sailors in a small boat suddenly met a Turkish fleet of four galleys (each galley had more than 100 slaves and 150 Ottoman soldiers). Instead of surrendering, the six sailors boarded the admiral's galley, killed every single one of the Turkish soldiers and freed the slaves. The other three galleys fled the scene.

Now if I don't tell you anything else, one would think that I was either lying, or that some miracle had happened. The truth is that:
a) the Iberian Peninsula bred the best European swordfighters of the XVI century
b) a galley is a ship with a small width, which means that the Turks never had the chance to outflank the sailors and make use of their superior numbers

In Lepanto the same thing happened. Those twelve galleons, each of them having a tremendous firepower, were the Christian "miracle".

God helps those who help themselves.

Posted by: cruzado at January 1, 2006 2:56 PM

cruzado,

I am trying to locate a reference which I lost long ago. Have you ever heard of the so-called "Pepper Wars" (no, nothing to do with me), that were battles between Portuguese/Spanish on the one side, and Muslims on the other, largely in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean areas, in the 16th century I think? They were concerning the great Spice Trade (hence the name "Pepper Wars").

One naval battle involved the great Portuguese navigator Alfonso de Albuquerque.

If you have any links about this, I'd appreciate it.

Posted by: Dr. Pepper at January 1, 2006 3:19 PM

Here's a prophecy from Bishop Fulton J. Sheen from 1950:

"Today (1950), the hatred of the Moslem countries against the West is becoming hatred against Christianity itself. Although the statesmen have not yet taken it into account, there is still grave danger that the temporal power of Islam may return and, with it, the menace that it may shake off a West which has ceased to be Christian, and affirm itself as a great anti-Christian world Power."

Today, 56 years on, does anyone doubt he was right?

Posted by: Spirit Of 1683 at January 1, 2006 3:50 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonso_de_Albuquerque

Posted by: PRCS at January 1, 2006 4:06 PM

Before we get too excited about the Pope's victory against the Turks in 1571, let us pause to remember the horrific event that he inspired which took place a year later, on 24th August 1572.

Namely the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, when thousands of Protestants in Paris, and other French towns, were mercilessly butchered just because of their faith. When the news reached Rome, Pope Gregory XIII rejoiced, went with his Cardinals and gave thanks to God in St. Mark's Church, and struck a commemorative medal to celebrate the event.

Zuniga, the Spanish Ambassador to France, reported to the King in Madrid: "While I write, they are casting the Protestants out naked and dragging them through the streets, pillaging their houses and sparing not a babe. Blessed be God, who has converted the Princes of France to His purpose. May He inspire their hearts to go on as they have begun".

England was a beneficiary of the periodic French repression of Protestants in the sixteenth, seventeenth and eightenth centuries, as hundreds of thousand of hard-working, God-fearing Huguenots sought shelter here, the kind of immigrants that really *did* enrich England, unlike many of today's, some of whom think it is right to bomb dozens of innocent people to bits

Posted by: Schlick at January 1, 2006 4:30 PM

Trivia: The Pontificate of Benedict XV began prior to World War I.

That is really something to think about......

Posted by: DrWolffenstein at January 1, 2006 4:55 PM

Dr. Pepper, if I may offer, try the "Spice wars". They occurred off and on from roughly 1200-1700 A.D. and were a causitive factor in Europe's trying to find alternate routes to the East.
Also try these links:
http://www.sabrizain.demon.co.uk/malaya/johor2.htm
http://www.fsmitha.com/h3/h17port.html
Hope this helps.

Posted by: Bohemond_1069 at January 1, 2006 5:14 PM

And here's another prophecy from the 1930s:

"Will not perhaps the temporal power of Islam return and with it the menace of an armed Mohammedan world, which will shake off the domination of Europeans -- still nominally Christian -- and reappear as the prime enemy of our civilization? The future always comes as a surprise, but political wisdom consists in attempting at least some partial judgment of what that surprise may be. And for my part I cannot but believe that a main unexpected thing of the future is the return of Islam." - Hilaire Belloc, The Great Heresies 1938.

Posted by: Spirit Of 1683 at January 1, 2006 5:16 PM

Thanks PRCS and Bohemond.

Posted by: Dr. Pepper at January 1, 2006 5:49 PM

Dr. Pepper: "If anyone tried a Battle of Lepanto today, the Pope would probably be among the voices denouncing it."

I mostly agree with this statement, however, I believe that in certain situations the Pope may take a more aggressive stance and support military intervention to attain the common good for humankind, especially if there is a genocide or serious injustice that is being commmitted that can only be rid by force.

The Pope always makes it a priority to promote peace on earth through non-violence. This is the way of Jesus Christ and it is well worth pursuing. But in some cases, evil and violence can only be rid by using force. An individual has every right to defend himself with force when his own life is being threatened.

Pacifism as an everday practice can only go so far. It is rather pollyanish to believe that non-violence is the solution to every conflict in the world ( By the way this is NOT what the Catholic Church teaches).

Try practicing group non-violence to an advancing army of Muslim invaders. What you will find is a lot of dead infidels, burned churches/synagogues, and an advancing Islamic culture. Open up a non-Muslim history book and read all about it.

The Catholic Church does have a theological doctrine for war that justifies war in some cases. It is called the Just War Theory. St Thomas Aquainas was a prominent church theologian in the Middle Ages who helped develop this philosophical principle about war. By the way, the Just War Theory is still applied today. Read about it in this link:
http://www.iep.utm.edu/j/justwar.htm

Posted by: Johnathan at January 2, 2006 12:45 AM

Here are some other links about the Just War Theory:
http://ethics.acusd.edu/applied/military/justwar.html
http://www.monksofadoration.org/justwar.html

Posted by: Johnathan at January 2, 2006 1:11 AM

cruzado,

Exactly. Western forces, since hoplite shock warfare, have regularly destroyed Eastern opponents, often while ridiculously outnumbered.

Why? The reasons are many. Free Greeks fighting for their homes and families against the right-less military servants of the Persian Xerxes is just one example of one aspect.

Western war is, once started, generally aimed at destruction of the opponent, not a coersive act or tactical dance of advantage.

VDH says it much better than I, read the book I mentioned above.

Posted by: t-ham at January 2, 2006 8:29 AM

"I am trying to locate a reference which I lost long ago. Have you ever heard of the so-called "Pepper Wars" (no, nothing to do with me), that were battles between Portuguese/Spanish on the one side, and Muslims on the other, largely in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean areas, in the 16th century I think? They were concerning the great Spice Trade (hence the name "Pepper Wars")."

I am afraid I have never heard of that name ("Pepper Wars"), but I have obviously heard and read about Dom Afonso de Albuquerque. He was no navigator, though, he was the viceroy of the Portuguese-Indian Empire (which he in fact largely created, following the footsteps of his predecessor viceroy Dom Francisco de Almeida).

The great naval campaigns of the Portuguese were started almost immediately by Vasco da Gama, and supported under Albuquerque. Albuquerque's plan was to take possession of a series of fortresses in key positions (like Ormuz for the Persian Gulf, Mallaca for the China Sea, Mombassa for the East African Coast, and Adem - which was never conquered by the Portuguese - for the Red Sea) using Goa as a base. The only place where this strategy failed was in Adem, and the Ottomans - with Venetian help - were able to send several fleets against the Portuguese, most of them to be utterly defeated by the superior Portuguese artillery which was during the XVI century, the most modern in the whole world. Some of those massive bronze and iron cannons can today be seen in the Military Museum in Lisbon.

Wikipedia has the best information (in English) about Albuquerque.

The Portuguese History is filled with tales of enormous heroism, but at an intolerable cost. It would suffice to say that 90% of the Portuguese that departed from Lisbon harbour in their quest for fortune in India never returned home (many of them drowned). That cost was portraid in the excellent História Tragico-Maritima, translated to in English under the name "Manisfest Perdition".

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0816638500/qid=1136210892/sr=8-3/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i3_xgl14/002-5530313-2161654?n=507846&s=books&v=glance

It is no wonder that the poet Fernando Pessoa wrote that the seas were salted with Portuguese tears.

Posted by: cruzado at January 2, 2006 9:11 AM

The name of the book is "Manifest Perdition". My English is better than my typing, sorry.

Posted by: cruzado at January 2, 2006 9:14 AM

"Western war is, once started, generally aimed at destruction of the opponent, not a coersive act or tactical dance of advantage."

That is true. This was particularly obvious in the kind of warfare the Spaniards under Cortés practiced, compared to the completely useless "Garland Wars" military ideology of the Aztecs.

Things have changed since the Vietnam War (namely thanks to the press), but I was pleasantly surprised to notice that when that airborne division was moved to New Orleans to "clear the streets", for "some" reason the media was taken from the scene.

As hard as this may be, there are times when the media and her freedom of speech - when used irresponsibly - can make things harder for the government. This was particularly true during the riots in France, when the rioters were portraid as victims. Of course, that same freedom of speech is ultimately one of the last keepers of democracy, one we should never abandon no matter what.

Posted by: cruzado at January 2, 2006 9:25 AM

Mr Rafia, I am very bothered for your commentaries, Luther preferred the turks than catholics, and catholics are dying in Vienna for defending Europe from muslims.
You say, that many catholics left catholicism and goes to islam, well, at first, many leaves islam later and goes to agnoticism, and of course, it wouldn´t be the unique situation, in US, the 90% of blacks are protestant and many left protestantism and goes to islam in 60s, a million of black people.
If you say France, well in France, the catholicism is very weak, but the main reason are the wonderful "laicism" and well, now they are going to pay mosques but not churches.
Respect what you say, about the Vatican and the WCC, well, Christ said: " You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my CHURCH" not my 36,000 churches, in Matthew 16:18.
And said too, that the divorce isn´t good, and tell, what protestant is against divorce.
And said something about the eucharisty, it´s the real blood and body, and not a symbol.
Many protestants remembered me like this scripture passage: they say, My Lord, open us, and Christ said, The Lord didn´t know them.
Because not for saying many times Christ you are more christian, but if you make like Christ says.

Posted by: Franze at January 2, 2006 5:37 PM

The Pope should be appealing to all Christians and JEWS, and calling a terrorist an Islamofascist. Still, the best thing the Catholics have done lately is NOT allying itself with the WCC! Last I looked into the World Council of Churches" they were locked into a anti-Semitic mind set that the Palestinians are innocent, persecuted people, and did no wrong, and if only the Israeli's would leave the Territories all would be well. Gee, so why do you suppose the Pals are now busy shooting rockets into Israeli communities surrounding Gaza from Gaza? Oh right, it's really Jerusalem they must have all to themselves, never mind that it was first sacred to Jews and Christians.

No matter how much these factional Islamics kill each other off in their constant power struggle they always seem to have enough time to try to kill Israeli's. The World Council of Churches should be ashamed of it's liberal, head in the sand approach to policy. While it is really great to try to do as Jesus said, there are realities to be faced and Islam, fundamental or not, is what is to be faced. I'd like to see Christian religious leaders, besides Evangelicals, get out there are start saying what we all know is the evil that must be controlled, contained and banished. Good God, Europe is just about lost and they still sit on their butts unprotesting.

The Lord helps them who help themselves and I am not ready for Armageddon thank you. I think we have a long way to go yet.

Posted by: CLL1709 at January 2, 2006 10:59 PM

I just wanted to put in a few words here about the criticism of the vaticans supposedly "neville chamberlain"-esque stance towards islam.

It is true that the vatican, and our late pope JP II in particular, took a very "friendly" stance towards islam. I would like however to point out that it is a stance of necessity (as perceived by the vatican at least), in order to protect the few christians still living in islamic states.

Secondly, the church (ie catholic), as all other christian creeds, does believe in promoting peace. But, as someone pointed out earlier, unlike lutherans etc, the catholic church does indeed hold a "just war" doctrine.

One should also note that there has been many truly anti-islamic articles in jesuit publications, and cautious statements made by various cardinals and bishops on the topic of islam.

Finally, I'd like to add that Benedict met with Oriana Fallaci herself on his vacation home for a private audience. something worth noting..

The church will for now remain appeasing for sure, but in time, when need arises, I myself hold no doubts as to where the church will stand, and its outspokenness about it.

Posted by: EuroDhimmi at January 3, 2006 6:49 AM