This brilliant article sums up not only the myopia of Bishop Robert Barron’s approach to the Islamic State (and to the global jihad in general), but the weakness and wrongheadedness of the entire contemporary Catholic Church when confronted with jihadist savagery. There is today a wholesale confusion of weakness and submission with compassion and mercy, such that many Church leaders, including but by no means limited to Bishop Barron, believe that Christian charity mandates acquiescence to evil and submission to it. They think it is a matter of “respect” for Muslims as human beings for Christians to bow to violent intimidation from Islamic jihadists, and to assent to restrictions on their behavior that are demanded by way of jihadi threats. Those who think, on the contrary, that it is more respectful and charitable to Muslims to refuse to enable and reward bullying and bloodlust have no place in today’s Catholic Church.
“The Incredible Shrinking Bishop Barron,” by Maureen Mullarkey, OnePeterFive, November 23, 2015 (thanks to Tom):
I have never been more than an occasional viewer of Fr. Robert Barron’s Word on Fire chats. His recent televised interview with EWTN’s Catherine Szeltner put paid to whatever interest I had.
Newly elevated to an auxiliary bishop in the sprawling L.A. diocese, now-Bp. Barron was in Baltimore for his initial appearance among the USCCB. Ms. Szeltner was on hand to ask how Catholics should respond to the slaughter in Paris. “How should they react?” she wondered, as if Catholics were dependent on guidance in their attitude toward carnage.
This was hardly a spontaneous interview. Chairs had been set. The bishop had not been caught on the run; he was not speaking off the cuff. On the contrary, it is standard practice to establish before air time which questions will be asked. Ms. Szaltner was wide-eyed with anticipation for an answer that had already been rehearsed. Here was the fledgling bishop’s moment to affirm public solidarity with the mantra of love heralding the Year of Mercy. Which—the Vatican just announced—extends to Muslims.
Barron began with a self-reverential response that carried a hint of conceit for having been placed among the great and the good. Our new bishop has ascended above even just anger. The massacre aroused no outrage, not even a wince of distaste. Rather, his first words were on fire with . . . nostalgia. He found the atrocity “especially poignant” because he had studied in Paris for three years. And because he remembered some of the locations involved, the attacks were “moving and poignant.”
Not obscene, not demonic, foul or repellant. Poignant. It is a word appropriate for the death of a kitten. Applied to the murder and maiming of innocents, it is worse than unfitting. It is shameful.
He glided on to a serene tutorial on mercy, on the obligation to “respond to violence with love,” and “to fight hatred with love.” He enjoined Catholics to mercy and “a non-violent stance.” Listening, I realized why I have never been able to cotton to Word on Fire: Barron is smarmy. His genial TV persona has none of the alert, intellectual muscularity of Fulton Sheen whose lead he presumes to follow. This time on camera, he confused Paris in 2015 with Selma, Alabama in 1965.
Sanctimonious appeal to non-violence is typical of middle-brow respect for the strategy of King—learned from Gandhi—minus any grasp of its genius. There is nothing commensurate between the cultural situation of the American civil rights movement and the events in Paris. To try to impose the conditions of that movement onto Islamic jihad is astonishing in its obtuseness. Mercy is vacated of all meaning when it is used as an excuse for blindness to history, or for inaction in the face of present realities.…
Genocide was never the end game of either the British or the segregationist forces in the United States. Genocide—mitigated only by conversion or the slavery of dhimmitude— is an objective of Islam. Barron misleads his audience with bankrupt, Vatican-stroking noises about nonviolence.
The limited applications of non-violence were obvious when, in 1938, Gandhi advised Europe’s Jews to practice nonviolent resistance against Nazi persecution. In some mystical way, this would supposedly result in Germany’s moral reformation. Nearly eighty years later, Bishop Barron offers the same futile rationale—in the name of Christ crucified—to Catholics.
Inversion of circumstances between Islam and the West is as bizarre as it is reckless. Non-violence is the resort of the weak against the strong. By inviting Catholics to adopt “a non-violent stance” against jihad, Barron insinuates assent to inferiority. It is a failure of will dressed in Christian idiom. Call it submission.
In practical terms, what does it mean to respond with love to genocidal intention? How is non-violence applicable to a contest of civilizations in which one side is committed to the annihilation of the other? Wherein lies the moral force of non-violence against a bloodlust cultivated for fourteen hundred years?Gandhi’s notorious advice to Jews was tantamount to telling them to march quietly to the ovens. Whether satyagraha serves freedom or a final solution depends on the variables of situation. Bishop Barron’s inability to discern critical distinctions makes his ministry dangerous.
He remains a cheery, good-natured promoter. Sadly, what he promotes is dhimmitude.

AnneCrockett says
2015 marks the year when the global Jewish population of finally returned to pre-Holocaust levels. It took 70 years to come back. If the world had responded to Hitler and Tojo with the non-violence counseled above, that year would have been not 2015 but never.
Azacque says
When you get to Hell, if you are allowed e-mail tell me about Israel you idiot.
Wellington says
Huh?
Joseph says
Wellington,
Exactly what I say. AnneCrockett is NOT against the Jews. What she is saying (correct me if I’m wrong) is that if the world stood by and did nothing there would have not been any Jews left in the world to repopulate.
For the record…I stand with the Jews. Long live Israel. May God’s hand protect her.
BTW If I don’t get a chance, may you and yours have a Happy Thanksgiving.
Wellington says
You and yours, Joseph, have a Happy Thanksgiving too. This holiday was instituted by a man who cherished what America stood for. HIs name was Abraham Lincoln. No Muslim has any business cherishing Thanksgiving since their religion represents the antithesis of “this last best hope of earth.”
gravenimage says
What?
JawsV says
Eff off, Muslim. It’s YOU who is going to hell and joining your mass-murderer fake prophet. Enjoy!
jihad3tracker says
This is a perfect time to send Bishop Barron a handy-dandy list of verses in Chapter 9 of the Qur”an which mandate violence, subjugation, rejection of non-Muslims and hypocrites.
ALSO, FIND THE VIDEO JAMIE GLAZOV DID WITH DAVID WOOD, POSTED HERE ON JW SEVERAL DAYS AGO. Title begins with “Top Ten Reasons” Apology for not having the full title.
Send him a link to that, too. David generously supplies ADDITIONAL verses in other chapters to show how ISIS is core Islam in how it behaves.
Jay Boo says
“Combat evil with good”
This has truth
Yet, to deny the reality of Islam’s violence and reduce it to an abstraction is to ignore the victims of Islam. —- “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
With authority comes responsibility.
خَليفة says
Agree. We can defeat them militarily without doing all the atrocities they do to non Muslims.
Thomas says
Here is a link to Barron’s interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClEZTHIRf2c
Barron only mentions the Just War Theory and then goes on to discuss non-defensive ways of responding to these evil events.
Of the ones mentioned, prayer is the only one that makes sense to me.
Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY) says
Thank you, Thomas, for finding this video. You did a good deed. Without this video, the reader would be reading a commentary on something the reader could see with his own eyes.
This three-and-a-half-minute interview took place in a semi-noisy corridor, but featured three camera angles (interviewee’s face, interviewer’s face, side view of both from a moderate distance; were there three cameras?), and was interspersed video clips.
Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY) says
Corrections:
something the reader could *not* see with his own eyes
and was interspersed *with* video clips
John C. Barile says
Bishop Barron is a blind guide. There is an objective morality in response to objective facts and hard truths. It follows that we must confront militant, malignant evil with overwhelming armed force.
خَليفة says
Revalations 3:16 “So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.”
Paula Boddington says
This is insane. I can still recall, clear as day, the Scripture lesson when our marvelous teacher, a Miss Evening, explained to the class that ‘love your neighbour as yourself’ is actually AN INSTRUCTION TO LOVE YOURSELF – love yourself, and love your neighbour just as much. We were 11 years old, and we got it. What’s wrong with these guys?
Michael Taylor says
Gandhi was successful in using non-violent passive resistance against the British because they were fundamentally moral and decent people. Nazism and Islam are not fundamentally moral compared to Christian doctrines. Crying and talking about feelings is not a moral stand.
Christopher H says
Exactly! Any comparison is ridiculous. As is trusting the “refugees” answers to vetting questions. They have no moral compulsion to tell the truth, if it furthers their “cause”, do they? Therefore normal standards do Not apply to them. 8-(
Mo says
No, no, no! I’m not Catholic, but I have enjoyed Robert Barron’s videos on a number of subjects! I hope this is not true!
I am not seeing any video. I will wait until I can find it, to see for myself.
gerard says
gravenimage says
I’m afraid it is true, Mo. Here’s the video:
miriamrove says
OT @Robert Spencer:
Hi Robert! I know you are a Christian. But are you a Catholic? If so I would like to start a petition that you become the next pope! That seems to be the only solution. m
Charli Main says
I believe that Robert Spencer is a member of the extremely ancient Melkite Greek Catholic Church. Apologies to Robert if I´m wrong.
Islam_Macht_Frei says
Reminiscent of that “touching” scene a few days ago where the father tells his little boy – “They have AK-47s, but we have ….FLOWERS!!!!!!!”
So not even bringing a knife to a machine gun fight, but FLOWERS.
And the world fawned over that.
Pathetic…..
Mo says
@ lam_Macht_Frei
“Reminiscent of that “touching” scene a few days ago where the father tells his little boy – “They have AK-47s, but we have ….FLOWERS!!!!!!!”
So not even bringing a knife to a machine gun fight, but FLOWERS.
And the world fawned over that.
Pathetic…..”
Oh, brother! I’m glad I missed that. It would make me ill.
The whole world seems to have become a bunch of cowards!
gravenimage says
Here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEmjykHMh-k
This little child is–for now, at least–a lot sharper than his well-meaning but willfully naive father.
Mo says
@ gravenimage
“This little child is–for now, at least–a lot sharper than his well-meaning but willfully naive father.”
OH, GOOD GRIEF! That has got to be the most stupid thing I’ve ever seen! Even the child knew it was stupid, at first! “But flowers don’t do anything. They’re for…” and he couldn’t even think what they were for!
I really, really hope this was a bad translation. I cannot believe someone would actually say such nonsense to their child, and on camera for the world to see.
Mo says
Here it is:
https://youtu.be/ClEZTHIRf2c
He begins, unfortunately, by lumping all violence together – the cross and this jihad attack in Paris – as though it’s all morally the same. Then he says:
“That’s the Christian approach to violence – not to fight it so much on its own terms, though I think at times that’s the only thing we can do. Hence, our “just war” theory. But the basic approach, I think, is to approach violence with love. With nonviolence. With mercy. And thereby, don’t fight fire with fire, but fight fire with its opposite. Fight hatred with love. So that means prayer. That means a witness. That means a nonviolent stance, both in your personal life and publicly. Those are all ways that we respond.”
They seemed to go on to different things after that point. I couldn’t bear to watch anymore. (Especially that girl interviewing him. She looked like a teenager meeting her favorite TV star!)
Ugh, this was disappointing. Yes, Christianity does teach that we are not to respond to hatred with hatred. We are not to take personal revenge or the law into our own hands when wrongs or crimes are done to us. But that’s on the personal level. This is not the same thing as the issue of protecting citizens on the city or national level, or personal self defense, or things of that nature.
He seems to allow for the just war theory. But he doesn’t want to go into it. Instead, he makes it seem as though for jihad attacks, we’re just supposed sing songs or light candles.
Very disappointing.
abad says
For the record – if I was still a practicing Roman Catholic, I’d be saying “No Way!” to this bishop.
SpiritOf1683 says
Nothing will do more to convince the terrorists they are winning quite like this. They know the West is weak. If Russia and China didn’t exist or was Islamic, we’d be in 10 times as much trouble as what we currently are.
Infidels of the world unite says
I don’t know about Russia, but I know that on Chinese forums and other social sites, most people have come to realize that islam is evil, mohamud is a pedophile, a mass murderer and a fraud.
Bridget Ames says
Not the entire Church a lot of us have our eyes wide open.
Irene says
Exactly. Ordinary lay Catholics don’t typically share political views with their bishops, at least in the US.
Angemon says
This is madness. Ignorant, suicidal madness. Islam was tailor-made to combat this approach.
somehistory says
First of all, each one has to answer for him/her self. No one else can answer for any other person.
Second, Christians are to follow, not just the commandments of Christ, but His example.
When words were what was needed, Jesus spoke kindly, He spoke firmly.(Matthew 5-7 Sermon on The Mount)
He spoke to some in the only way they would understand…”Offspring of vipers…How are you to flee the Judgment..? (Matthew 23).” When facing Pilate, it was no longer time to speak as He had been doing.
When actions were needed, He used whips to drive the animals out of the Temple and He overturned the tables of the moneychangers. (John 2:15)
When the mob was after Him, and it was not His time, He fled the area and got away safely. (Luke 4:30 and John 10:39)
When it was His time, He had two of His apostles bring swords, but when He met the mob, He Himself went peacefully….because He knew it was His time to die. (Matthew 26; John 18)
Christians don’t have an obligation nor destiny, as Jesus Christ did, to die. He died so others don’t have to. The only obligation concerned with dying, is to die faithful.
So, each Christian must decide how best to follow the commandments and example of Christ Jesus in each daily situation one faces.
No one…called by high-sounding titles or not…has any right to tell another person how to behave when confronted by someone intent on killing them. Since each one must answer to God for the actions taken, that one has the right to decide what actions will be taken.
Jesus Christ commanded, “Do not give what is holy to dogs nor throw your pearls before swine…that they may not turn around and rip you open (Matthew 7:6).”
It was arrogant of gandhi to tell the Jews to go to the slaughter. It was not his right to give them instructions. It is not this guy’s right to tell Christians how they should behave in the face of being slaughtered so the beast from satan, islam, can advance in its attempt to wipe Christianity from the earth.
Joseph says
somehistory,
If I don’t get a chance; I would like to wish you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving.
somehistory says
Thank you, Joseph. And to you and your loved ones. And stay safe in these perilous times.
My family and I have much for which to be thankful. Today, and every day.
Cecilia Ellis says
Somehistory, I agree with you. I have always believed it to be a salient point that Jesus came to take away our sins, not our minds. Too bad Bishp Barron, in his warm, cozy, secure chancery has missed that point. His response defiles the blood of those brave Christians who have been savagely murdered. He is most unworthy of the title and leadership role as Bishop. In the armchair, he has faied the test that many have passed on the Libyan shore and in Middle Eastern sands. He has forgotten Micah 6:8: “What does the Lord ask of you, only this: that you act justly, love tenderly, and walk humbly with your God.”
It is no act of justice to cower in the face of evil or to fail to protect those specifically targeted for genocide. It is no act of love to empower evil. It is no act of humility to turn one’s face from the responsibility to stand for Truth.
somehistory says
Thank you, Cecilia.
The Bible says to “conquer evil with good’ not give into evil. Jesus said to be of good courage. Paul said “fight the fine fight,” and although a Christian is peaceable and seeks peace as Jesus said, we cannot allow others to speak for us and make those decisions on what we will do and how we will stand firm in faith.
Cecilia Ellis says
Somehistory, just read your reply. Thanks, and I hope you and your family had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Joseph says
@ Cecilia Ellis,
1st, Well said. To cower in the face of evil and fail at protecting those that can not protect themselves is a sin of omission. A sin quite frankly I would NOT want to answer to JESUS CHRIST for. Also by failure to act how many people will say the shahada instead of dying? By saying that simple prayer or oath you are condemning yourself to hell. Not a very pretty choice in my book.
2nd, I would like to wish you and your family a very happy and blessed Thanksgiving.
OT. I wonder if there are going to be any terror attacks on “black Friday”? This is a grand opportunity I am sure they (Islamists) don’t want to pass up.
Cecilia Ellis says
Joseph, I just read your post. Thank you so much. I know I’m a little late, but I hope you and your family had a blessed Thanksgiving. As for your question regarding potential attacks on Black Friday, I am inclined to believe that an attack may occur between now and Christmas, to include the Hanukkah period. Take care, be vigilant, and stay safe. May God bless you and yours.
gravenimage says
Good post, somehistory. Happy Thanksgiving to you and Joseph.
somehistory says
Thank you, Gi. And the same to you and your family.
Tropicyachty says
What a dumb ass priest! He can bow to the animals! I will defend my country and family from the bastards! Screw Muslims and all their beliefs…………
Tom says
For me, set in the time of Roman tyranny (not by chance I bet), the New Testament is a call for resistance to tyrants. Not just Jesus, but tens of thousands were crucified by Romans in the middle east. To paraphrase previous comments, Christianity is not a suicide pact.
I am again calling for this Pope to work with the Orthodox Patriarchs and Governments of the Christian West and Russia to declare a crusade to establish a Christian state from the northern borders of Israel to the south east border of Turkey – “Antioch”. I’m sick of being on the defensive and I’m sick of whimpering apologists and cowards like this bishop.
gravenimage says
Robert Barron found the attacks on Paris “moving and poignant”? This is *horrifying*.
How grotesquely inappropriate *is this*? For instance, a morally healthy person may feel that way about works of art about atrocities–may feel that, say, Schindler’s List is “moving and poignant”, but not that the Holocaust itself is. One should be morally outraged by the Jihad attacks on Paris, just as one should about the Holocaust.
This reminds me of the appalling “artist” Damien Hirst, who considered the attacks of 9/11 to be a visual work of art.
More:
This time on camera, he confused Paris in 2015 with Selma, Alabama in 1965.
………………………….
Ludicrous. The non-violence of Gandhi and Dr. King appealed to a decent and basically moral mainstream who, one could argue, were not living up to their ideals. In both cases these appeals were overall successful.
To whom would we be appealing with non-violence in the face of Jihad terror? Certainly not to mainstream Muslims, who at best don’t care if their more devout coreligionists are murdering us, and more commonly actually support it.
Or is this–more likely–just aimed at other liberal Westerners? In that case Robert Barron can show how “civilized” he is to other potential victims of Jihad. How can this possibly accomplish anything, except for stroking the egos of clueless people?
More:
The limited applications of non-violence were obvious when, in 1938, Gandhi advised Europe’s Jews to practice nonviolent resistance against Nazi persecution. In some mystical way, this would supposedly result in Germany’s moral reformation. Nearly eighty years later, Bishop Barron offers the same futile rationale—in the name of Christ crucified—to Catholics.
………………………….
I’ve heard this insanity before–this shows that Gandhi did not understand his own movement, as he was comparing the civilized British to the genocidal Nazis.
And the foolish Robert Barron is no wiser…
And here’s more stupidity from “The Word on Fire”:
“Is Religion Responsible for the World’s Violence”:
http://www.wordonfire.org/resources/blog/is-religion-responsible-for-the-worlds-violence/4703/
The piece is mostly apologia for Muslims. Bizarrely, the author does briefly broach the idea that different beliefs may make for different outcomes–but then backs away from the idea before he need draw any conclusions.
Mo says
@ gravenimage
“Robert Barron found the attacks on Paris “moving and poignant”? This is *horrifying*.”
I think what he meant was that hearing about this taking place in Paris brought back poignant memories of his time there. I don’t think he meant the attacks themselves. Though that’s how it came out!
Champ ✞ says
The Bible teaches …
“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.” — Romans 12:9
The tenets of islam are wholly evil, so Robert Barron is indeed wrongheaded in his approach to islam & company.
gravenimage says
So true, Champ. One should *not* love evil, nor bow to it. Any Christian–or anyone–who believes this is “hatred” is a fool.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.
Champ ✿ says
Graven wrote:
Any Christian–or anyone–who believes this is “hatred” is a fool.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Indeed, Graven.
Many people–including Christians–have the grossly *mistaken* idea that God, and Christians, do not, and should not, hate ANYTHING, or anyone. This is completely false …
Lets look at what the Bible teaches, courtesy “Got Question”:
Question: “Does God hate? If God is love, how can He hate?”
Answer: It seems a contradiction that a God who is love can also hate. We are created with the capacity to both love and hate; it is part of our being created in the image of God. The fact that we are all tainted with sin does not negate the fact that the ability to love and hate is part of the image of God that was created within us all. Therefore, if it is no contradiction for a human being to be able to love and hate, then much more so would it not be a contradiction for God to be able to love and hate.
When the Bible does speak of God hating, the object of God’s hatred is usually sin and wickedness. Among the things God hates are idolatry (Deuteronomy 12:31; 16:22) and those who do evil (Psalm 5:4-6; 11:5). Proverbs 6:16-19 outlines seven things the Lord hates: pride, lying, murder, evil plots, those who love evil, false witness, and troublemakers. Notice that this passage does not include just things that God hates; it includes people as well.
The question that begs to be answered at this point is why does God hate these things? God hates them because they are contrary to His nature—God’s nature being holy, pure and righteous. In fact, David writes, “For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you” (Psalm 5:4 emphasis added). God is holy and hates sin. If He did not hate sin, He would not be holy. God is love, but He is also wrath, justice, and vengeance. But His wrath is a holy wrath and His justice and vengeance are holy as well. God’s love is holy. Therefore, He cannot “love everyone all the time no matter what they do,” as some like to claim. Nothing could be further from the truth. God loves righteousness and holiness and hates sin and evil. If He did not, He would not be God.
So if God hates sin and loves holiness, how does He love us? Simple. He loves us because we have the righteousness of Christ who became sin for us on the cross (2 Corinthians 5:21). He poured out His wrath and vengeance against sin on His Son, so that He could pour out His mercy and love on us. But without that sacrifice credited to us, His wrath and hatred remain on us because He hates our sin. The Bible never says He “hates the sin, but loves the sinner.” In fact, He is “angry with the wicked every day” (Psalm 7:11). Is there a sense in which God loves everyone? Yes. Does that love preclude God from also hating sin, wickedness, and evil? No.
Here:
http://www.gotquestions.org/does-God-hate.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thank you, Graven! …and Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours, as well 🙂
Joseph says
Champ,
Now that I found you I would like to wish you and your family a very very happy and blessed Thanksgiving.
Don’t have any snow? You can always make a sand angel.
Champ ✿ says
Thank you, Joseph …and I would like to wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving, as well!
Yeah who needs snow when you can make an angel in the sand …
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/1c/29/04/1c2904f0c3f13c56cf12d222b21a2a52.jpg
Great idea! 🙂
Joseph says
Thanks Champ, the sand angle made me 🙂
Walter Sieruk says
What kind of “Christian ” man is that Bishop ? What foolishness .What folly Maybe he should take a look into the godly prophets of the Old Testament. As for example the prophet of God Elijah. That godly and great prophet had never acted in submission to the pagan priests of Baal. Furthermore, in the Book INSIDE ISLAM by Reza F. Safa It informs the reader on page s 22,23. that “In pre-Islamic times both Allah-worship and Baal-worship involved the worship of the sun, the moon, and the stars which defines them as astral religions. The crescent moon, which was the symbol of moon worship is also the symbol pf Islam.” That alone should tell a person something about Islam. By the way such astral cults are condemned in the Bible, Second Kings 23;5. That Bishop in this above article would be an awful example of someone who might be a good and godly and brave man.. In strong contrast Elijah is a great example of someone who was good godly and brave man.
Jim Barber says
Compassion and mercy DON’T WORK WITH SERIAL KILLERS!
mortimer says
Bishop Robert Barron apparently has not read the source texts of all Islam: Koran, Sira and hadiths. Without them he is a unprepared to speak about Islam as I am unprepared to run a marathon or climb Everest!
Those texts I mentioned are the basics…then come the canonical commentaries, the manuals of Sharia law and modern ‘revisionist’ analysis of the historicity and reliability of the source texts.
All that reading should take four or five years full-time. I am betting Bishop Robert Barron hasn’t read a single one of them! And yet he presents himself as an AUTHORITY.
He should consult Roman Catholic scholars who HAVE read those texts and get their opinions.
Joseph says
Mortimer…..In case I don’t get another chance I’d like to wish you and your family a very happy Thanksgiving.
“And yet he presents himself as an AUTHORITY.”
Yes he is an authority…an authority on how to achieve a painful, slow and humiliating death. He is also an authority on the subject of getting people into hell for you and I both know that many people will say the shahada instead of death, rape or torture.
mortimer says
Dhimmitude by the Church hasn’t worked well yet.
mortimer says
Robert Spencer is right: “Mercy … is used as an excuse for blindness to history, or for inaction in the face of present realities.
The 1400 brutality of Muslims is not even on this dumb bishop’s radar!
He is an example of the presumptuous emptiness that results from our poor education standards.
Radegunda says
He seems to care more about his own feeling of righteousness than about what’s happening to other people around him.
gravenimage says
Spot on.
AnneCrockett says
Well said!
Dave J says
Religious leaders, politicians and the media have confused Islamic aggressiveness with the Civil Rights movement, so they are trying to be progressive and avant-garde by accepting and endorsing this frightening ideology. But there is no comparison to be made – Blacks were asserting their rights as fellow citizens but Muslims are asserting their right to destroy us.
Would they also coddle the Nazis? Some did, it didn’t work and thank God many more had the grit and intelligence to recognize that threat and mobilize to defeat it, tho it was a close call.
gerard says
I just watched the “interview”. It wasn’t an interview at all. None of his views were challenged. It was just Barron telling us not to resist ISIS. Let the beheading, raping, burning and the rest continue. He will only change his mind when he is affected personally like when there is no breakfast on his table because muslims have blown up all the supply trucks or when a close family member has been beheaded and he is sent a video. Then we will hear about the just war theory…
David A says
Ghandi severely chastied his nation for not reacting with violence to Islamic terror, stating clearly he preferred violence to cowardice. He also stated that non-violence against the Nazis would not work, but removal of the desire to kill was still possible.
I would need to see the authors link to accept his assertion. If true he later changed.
celticwarriorcanada says
I hear ya gerard ! Unfortunately this Romanist sounds just like many Pietistic Evangelicals and Charismatic Christians sound these days ! These words of Robert Spencer, ” THERE IS TODAY A WHOLESALE CONFUSION OF WEAKNESS AND SUBMISSION WITH COMPASSION AND MERCY ; ” should be flashed from the EMPIRE STATE and the STATUE OF LIBERTY with BIG BRIGHT NEON LIGHTS , And Especially from the CN Tower in Toronto , the EIFFEL TOWER IN PARIS AND ALL OVER THE U.K. AND EUROPE !!
Kepha says
Well, speaking as a Pietist (though not a Charismatic) Evangelical, I can’t say I’m impressed with the Romanist bishop. And I agree that weakness and compassion are not synonyms.
As for Gandhi, while I cheer his positive view of Jesus Christ, I’m of the mind that his success spoke better of the British than it did of him,. You can use non-violence against people with a Christian conscience; not against those who, like 20th century totalitarians, do their damnedest (and I don’t use that word lightly) to sear their consciences, or those for whom any ill done to a Harbi is justifiable.
Even so, if the West is to stand, it badly needs spiritual renewal–and I mean the Holy Spirit of God who testifies to Christ, not a vague New Ageism. Perhaps the silver lining in this current cloud of furor islamicus is that the West may be challenged to rethink its smug, ill-considered occupation of the Seat of the Scronful and the Way of the Sinful.
Jim Peters says
The spirit that the west needs is the spirit of resistance. We need to stand up to this menace and destroy it. Mysticism didn’t work in the Boxer Rebellion and it won’t work now. I notice how much more nasty the Jihadis get in their online activities because they think they are immune with their shields of political correctness. When they suffer no consequences for their actions, they are emboldened.
The bishop is a fool, maybe he thinks that his point of view will protect him. It won’t. He needs need to research the Koran. A simple google search can do the trick. Find out what “peace’ means in ” the religion of peace”.
KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM says
Idiot. The west needs warriors to rid the planet of manifest evil. Islam is the personification of evil and pussies like you with your cultural equivalence toxicity need to take a long walk off a short pier (do yourself a favour; isis throws pussies off tall buildings).
Leave the serious work to real men – warriors. You remind me of the military scammers and foreign service wimps that marry a bint in the port of last call because no decent woman at home would marry a pussy.
Bronson says
He won’t change his mind
He will confirm it.
By announcing that he has reverted to Islam even if it on the basis of “if you can’t beta ’em join ’em” but more likely as a fully subscribed paid up member.
Lia Wissing says
I wonder if God recognises His church? (And I do not only mean the RCC, but the universal church.)
Antonio Gutierrez says
Says the Lord:
“”He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.””
Luke 22:36
Matt says
Can you provide a link to the actual article or at least the transcript? I’d like to hear the whole thing for a proper context.
jmb says
Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClEZTHIRf2c&ebc
“Bishop Robert Barron on how Catholics should respond to the Paris attack” is the title.
jjbm says
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClEZTHIRf2c&ebc
Peggy says
Sane Catholics must be so ashamed now.
Unless this rubble can be removed the only way to bring respect to the Catholic church is for good people of the church to breaK away. No good letting the good go down with the bad.
Kathy Brown, Esq. says
No Peggy. We faithful [right-wing Latin Mass] Catholics have a saying. ‘When there is a storm at sea and the captain is drunk in the wheelhouse, do you jump overboard?’.
This drivel is not being spouted all over the Catholic Church. In our traditional Churches, our holy priests preach Christ’s actual message, and we are taught that ‘allah’ is Satan and all who worship him are acolytes of Satan.
We are likewise taught the truth, that against these monsters we are to wage righteous war. And the men (not the women-no women should ever be in combat) who defend us are called to a high vocation indeed, that of heroic warriors.
Many of our Christian/Jewish churches have their Judases today Peggy.
Peggy says
I wasn’t trying to be disrespectful to Catholics. I know that there are many Catholics who don’t agree with the Pope or bishops like this lunatic but they are the ones representing the church and they are the ones who are making the church look silly.
Also they are dangerous to Catholics because they have no intention of sending the message from the top to be careful and not get sucked in.
So how is anything the church you attend making a difference to the reputation of the religion? If you can’t remove the rot they you have to remove yourself from the rot. That doesn’t mean jumping into the sea. It means jumping from a sinking ship into another ship you have charge of and let the sinking one go down with the fools in it.
David S. says
WRONG! What an ignorant thing to say (or propose)!
Peggy says
So what is your solution? How do you fix problems caused by the highest office?
SAKOVKT says
Joan of Arc witnessed her faith before a Catholic Bishop, too.
I think things are turning out about the same.
Wellington says
I fear that the (by far) largest Christian religious denomination on earth, the Roman Catholic Church, is slowly but inexorably losing its collective mind, rather as the Democratic Party of the United States has.
This does not bode well for mankind, for freedom, for truth. Pope Benedict XVI is more and more looking like the last gasp of truth, a magnificent anachronism, being resident among the higher authorities within the Church.
I hope I’m wrong. I fear, though, that I’m right. Look no further than the present Pope for confirmation of my fear here, never mind a pawn like Bishop Barron.
I’m glad I’m not a Catholic, though I was raised one (I remain not just ignorant about the “true church” but invincibly ignorant though this doesn’t mean I can’t see its worth for standing for proper and absolute values). Were I still a Catholic it would break my heart to see what has happened to the Catholic Church. I might add that this rot in Roman Catholicism began with Pope John XXIII. He opened the door to modernism, a door which should never have been opened. The results of his foolish decisions are bearing their “fruits” in “full glory” only now. Tragic.
Jim Peters says
I was born and raised a Catholic. Imbued with the catechism and the mysticism of its teachings. When I was as young as 5-10 years old, I felt that something was wrong with the church, but was too young to put my finger on it. Common sense was kicking in. The homosexuality, pedophilia and hidden and hushed-up rampant sexuality was always going on, and going on within the Vatican historically. The scandals that have surfaced have shown us all that the tenets of the church are fallacies and hypocrisies. Furthermore, it is unhealthy to live a life of “celibacy”. This foolishness was only instituted to deceive the parishioners into thinking the priests were more noble and were superior creatures, stronger in controlling their earthly urges and therefore more able to be the mediators between parishoners and God. How better to control members of the church than to have the institution of confession, where the priest can blackmail anyone with their inside information.
The Catholic church has no more of a connection to God than the Muslims do to Allah. Maybe they are going through a guilt trip and need flagellation for their sins. This “rolling over” to Islam is sick. It is an illness of political correctness.
Now we hear there is a Gay lobby in the Vatican, pushing an agenda. No surprise there. We must not take advice from the church
Peggy says
My fear is that the Catholic church will destroy itself by submitting to this Cancer. Because the greates number of Christians belong to this church we must all do something to stop the rot from the top spoin the rest. This is why I keep saying that unless the rot can be removed the church must split and maybe the sane part can go on and continue the fight.
Just like bad government can muzzle the population and enslave it so can the bad church government. Future generations of Catholics will be brought up in this atmosphere and eventually the church will crumble.
If you have to amputate a limb to save the body then you do just that.
Diane Harvey says
This new bishop will get along just fine with Bishop McManus who learned long ago how to behave as a dhimmi. The imbibing McManus probably teaches a workshop on how to behave in the face of Muslims at this USCB conferences.
Personally I find the Monty Python version on how bishops should act better.
Hoss says
Fr Robert Baron is confused. I watched his videos on Catholicism and was very disturbed by his soft approach to hell. He left the impression that no one may be in hell. Well its not too surprising to see him take the position he does towards Muslims and jihad. Somehow by bowing to Muslims and jihad you are a better Christian. And lets say for argument sake, as an individual, if you choose martyrdom more power to you. But I have no right to assist Muslims in creating a state of suicide for my whole society at large. Does this modern type of thinking mean that the Crusades were wrong? That Ferdinand and Isabel and Charles Martel pushed the Muslims out of Europe that they were wrong? So someone explain to me again why we fought the NAZIs in World War II and not just let them take over the world? If you can stop evil and don’t, aren’t you participating in it?
guide inside says
10 years ago I was saying–Welcome to W.W III. Now its–Welcome to martial law.
Napoleon Bonaparte says
Nunsploitation – Exploitation Religieuese
‘Les peuples passent, les trônes s’écroulent, l’église demeure.’ de Napoleon Bonaparte
Kathy Brown, Esq. says
Oui mon ami Napoleon. C’est vrai.
C’est incroyable, n’est-ce pas? Comme vous voyez ici, il’y a beaucoup des persons que ne comprendent pas ce que vous avez ecrit ici!
Que le Bon Dieu vous benisse mon cher ami…
Jeff says
He’s a brain-dead cultural Marxist. Social justice warrior by any other name.
wjsonl says
The Catholic bishop needs to read the bible: Ecclesiastes 3:8: There is a time for war. And that time is now.
MR.RANDY DOUGLAS MILLER says
OLD JEZEBEL(REVELATION 2:18-29) IS AT IT AGAIN!
Ivan Erickson says
I am ashamed that a Bishop of the Catholic Church is set on kowtowing to the Islam sect, rather than to educate them to the fact that our poor lost beloved brothers & sisters do not accept Jesus Christ as the Son of God; or that Allah & God are not the same entities. For any of you who wish to read my essay on The Six irrefutable reasons on why Allah & God are not the same entity, please email me at
icerickson@yahoo.com
The people of the Islamic sect need our prayers and the Word of God… not our slavery to the same god that has ensnared the..
May God bless you all.
ICE
, please email me at: icerickson@yahoo.com
R.C. says
You can’t honestly expect anything good from the Roman Catholic Church–they are in no way Biblically Christian.
Smart Guy says
The Bishop’s position represents treason against America. America is founded on the last words
of the French National anthem. “To Liberty or death”
The Catholic church has ruled in the past with the same bullying and violence as does Islam.
On Saint Bartholomew’s day in Paris all Protestants were massacred. The king of France in about
1683 “Revoked the Edict of Nantes” this led to all Protestant churches to be burnt to the ground and
all property of Protestants to be seized. Religious freedom did not return to France until the French
Revolution. Not only is he a traitor to America but he is also a traitor to the God who wrote,
“I am the God who brought you out of the house of slaves. You must have no other god’s against my
face.”
RC says
You got it–The Church of Rome–is Godless and wicked!
RC says
Another fine example of the wicked, Godless, Roman Catholic church. The church of Rome–has been pushing economic and Cultural Marxism for many decades, and globally.
BC says
I have never had much respect for priests, and the higher they are in the church the less I have.
People have misunderstood what Jesus is supposed to have said. or what we are lead to believe he said
He was talking about somebody ‘offending’ . Not physically attacking oneself.
He does not explain what after turning the other cheek one is supposed to do next. Hand over your money perhaps?
Louise from Canada says
Oh shit, and I used to like him. Come Holy Spirit and guide me again and again and again.
Martin Infidel says
… You have to stand for something or you WILL fall for anything…. but then this is the exact position that christians find themselves in… they have already fallen for something !
Victor says
Liberalism virus hit Vatican, too. But the Church is not Vatican, but us Roman Catholics. And we are not going to submit.
Eric says
With all due respect Mr. Spencer, the article you linked to was based on incorrect assumptions on the part of the author. The interview was not rehearsed. If you actually WATCH the interview you will find that he doesn’t really say anything outrageous at all. He certainly doesn’t believe in submitting to ISIS, but what he does believe is tha Christians shouldn’t meet ISIS on their own terrorist terms, committing the same acts as they do. And he does mention just war as an option.
Brian Miles says
You’re putting words in his mouth, Eric. In commenting on the Paris attacks he Bp. Barron says the following: “That’s the Christian response to violence, not to fight it so much on it’s own terms, though I think at times that’s the only thing we can do, hence, our Just War theory; but the basic approach I think is to respond to violence with love, with non-violence, with mercy, and thereby don’t fight fire with fire, but fight fire with its opposite, fight hatred with love. Um, so that means prayer, that means a witness, that means the non-violent stance, both in your personal life and publically.”
He is not, as you claim, counseling Christians to refrain simply from committing ISIS-like atrocities; instead, he makes a case against responding to such atrocities with ANY form of violence. Sure he plays lip service to Just War theory — it might be applicable someday somewhere — but in the face of genocidal demoniacs bent on mass and indiscriminate slaughter, he nevertheless exhorts Christians, both privately and publically, to take a non-violent stance.
Sorry, whether prepped for the interview or not, the practical effect of his counsel is, at best, precisely dhimmitude. At worst, telling people in their private lives to respond to genocidal demoniacs with non-violence is, quite frankly, to lead sheep to the slaughter.
Bill Russsell says
It is an indictment of the cultural mediocrity of the Church in the United States that someone of Barron’s modest intelligence should be considered a leading intellectual. The episcopate has not bee ngood for him: it has made him a politically correct politician.
Margaret Sanchez says
According to the R. Catholic Church suicide is a most grievous sin–Bishop Barron’s suicidal philosophy belies Church doctrine and ignores the need for “Christian soldiers” to defend the faith & fight evil. The man has made wonderful video presentations but he seems to be becoming delusional.
doomsdae says
I used to have great respect for father Barron now of course, Bishop. The more I listened to him, the more he seems to me, to be out of touch with reality and I have come to the conclusion that he’s a product of post Vatican II. He’s another one living in the land of Utopia in his head. Its no wonder that Francis made him Bishop!
Michael Shatto says
Roman Catholic bishop Robert Barron advocates strategy of submission to the Islamic State
Translation: Bishop Bob completely and totally misread “Thou Shalt Not Kill.”
Jeff Brodhead says
There is reason in Jesus telling His disciples to “sell your coat and buy a sword.”
Jesus DID NOT SAY ‘I’m outta here, so go submit yourselves to Caesar and tell him you were a follower of the Son of God, but are NOW one hundred percent a follower of Caesar, ready to do only Caesar’s will.’
Kim Smith says
Does anyone reading this, remember going to a carnival years ago and watching the old fashion “cup and ball” shell game. A carney puts a ball under a cup and asks you to watch the cup (with the ball under it) For 20 seconds he swishes the cups around the table and then asks the audience where the ball is? The audience is never correct because slight of hand, the carney had the ball in his hand the entire time, and puts it under a different cup from the one the audience picked. It was all a con game, well that is exactly what the Catholic submission to islam is. The UN, obama, and western leaders have all, for some unknown reason, decided to be traitors to the citizens they have sworn to protect. They have all agreed to the muslim invasion and occupation of western nations. The Pope is also in agreement to this and he has ordered all od the church representatives to also agree to this. Hence this Bishop’s remarks. For some idiotic reason, wealth, blackmail, or ideology, all of the people mentioned have turned into traitors. In the early 90’s, the UN decided that in order to attain world peace, an end to starvation, and an end to western capitalism, that we all needed one government, one race of people, and one religion. They also believe they are creating Utopia. Prince Charles is actually on record agreeing to this, he has spoken of it many times over the past two decades. It has taken a lot of planning but the results are paying off. First we were introduced to words like multicultural, and diverse, which none of us had a problem with. Then we were introduced to a rise in interracial relationships, which again most of us had no problem with. But in 2008, French President Sarkozy gave a speech stating that interbreeding, (hi words) was on the decline. He went on to say that if the western citizens did not begin to increase the number of inter racial couples, with the select purpose of interbreeding, then we would all be forced to interbreed. None of us were paying attention, none of us even understood this was happening. Over the past 7 years, everything in western culture has given rise to this faux crisis. Russia’s president Putin just testified that his pilots are reporting that there is no signs that ISIS has been bombed at all in the past year by US and allied planes but there is plenty of signs that the villages, farms, and energy plants have been bombed. THIS IS WHAT CAUSED THE MIGRATION OUT OF SYRIA. We are too believe that the men who are invading Europe, Canada, and the US are refugees, where are the elderly? While there are some women and children, over 80% of the people are young men. So the men of Syria are leaving their women, children, and parents to travel thousands of miles from home. They are leaving them in war zones. We are supposed to not notice that everyone is wearing new clothes, and they all have active cell phones. Who is paying the bills?
We are being sold a lie. This is meant to shame us into allowing our country to be ceded to our enemy. Our colleges are now full of students who do not support the Bill of Rights, and who are traumatized by speech and need safe zones from photos of the Confederate flag. Our kids have been turned into small children who confuse debate with hurtful words. Discussing world issues, having an opinion, speaking the truth, does not make anyone a racist.
We are in trouble as a culture. never in history have people been moved around the world as is happening now. The purpose is clear, to destroy all individual culture. Arab, Asian, African, etc. We are all to become one. That , in itself is wrong. Every nation on Earth has a proud history but all students are being taught that history is shameful. Differences of opinion is wrong, and individual choice is the work of racism. We should all be very worried and fight this because the people doing this have all become very powerful, and people with this much power never just reach equilibrium. They always want more.