A first-class case of projection. From AP, with thanks to Nicolei:
Muslims worldwide fear Christians are waging a “war against Islam,” Malaysia’s leader said on Tuesday, blaming the campaign against terror for increased tensions between the religions.
In an emotional speech to the World Council of Churches, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the events that followed the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, including the U.S.-led invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, “have all taken religious undertones.”
“In the eyes of many Muslims, events in the last three years seem to lend credence to the view that the Christian West is, once again, at war with the Muslim world,” Abdullah told representatives from Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican churches.
It was the first time that a prime minister in this moderate, predominantly Muslim country — which chairs the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference — was addressing an exclusively Christian audience, Malaysian officials said.
Abdullah begged Christians and Muslims to “work together for the sake of peace and justice.”
“We cannot stand before a compassionate God while there is so much we have left undone because we are disunited,” he said, wiping away tears as his voice began to crack.
Gee, I’m getting a little choked up myself. But saying all this to the WCC is just preaching to the choir. Let him go to Jemaah Islamiyah or any other radical Muslim group and say it, and we may start to make some progress.