Can you even imagine The Atlantic writing about any aspect of Islamic piety in remotely militaristic terms? They’d sooner close their doors forever than publish something so “Islamophobic” about a religion whose holy texts actually teach and sanction violence against unbelievers. But this? No problem.
“The Atlantic Compares Catholic Rosary to Assault Weapon,” by Thomas D. Williams, Breitbart, August 15, 2022:
ROME — The Atlantic has likened the rosary to an AR-15 assault weapon in an incendiary attack Sunday on conservative Catholics.
“Just as the AR-15 rifle has become a sacred object for Christian nationalists in general, the rosary has acquired a militaristic meaning for radical-traditional (or ‘rad trad’) Catholics,” writes Toronto-based Daniel Panneton in an Atlantic article released the day before the Catholic feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (August 15).
Never mind that the highest-profile rosary-wielding U.S. Catholic is President Joe Biden, Panneton powers forward, alleging darkly that armed radical traditionalists “have taken up a spiritual notion that the rosary can be a weapon in the fight against evil and turned it into something dangerously literal.”
The writer cites progressive Church historian and commentator Massimo Faggioli in describing conservative Catholic bloggers as a “Catholic cyber-militia” that actively campaigns against LGBTQ acceptance in the Church and for whom “rosary-as-weapon memes represent a social-media diffusion of such messaging.”
Panneton goes on to assert that “the far right’s constellations of violent, racist, and homophobic online milieus are well documented for providing a pathway to radicalization and real-world terrorist attacks.”
“Militia culture, a fetishism of Western civilization, and masculinist anxieties have become mainstays of the far right in the U.S.—and rad-trad Catholics have now taken up residence in this company,” he declares.
One Catholic online store goes so far as to sell “replicas of the rosaries issued to American soldiers during the First World War as ‘combat rosaries,’” he warns, to which can be added a “concealed carry” permit a storage box “resembling an ammunition can.”
This dangerous alliance between prayer and warfare seems to have penetrated the highest levels of the Church and Panneton writes that in 2016, “the pontifical Swiss Guard accepted a donation of combat rosaries” and during a ceremony at the Vatican, their commander described the gift as “the most powerful weapon that exists on the market.”…
SKA says
These secular materialists deny the efficacy of prayer yet feel the need to write an entire article denouncing the Rosary?
bill says
The AT used to be a great magazine, but it seems to have gone downhill. How can it use a writer who writes such imbecilic nonsense@
CogitoErgoSum says
LGBTQ+etc are not banned from being in the Church. They can attend Mass any time they want. I wouldn’t recommend they receive the Eucharist until they had confessed their sins though. They can also carry a rosary if they want and can use it every day. The petition to Mary is for her to pray for us sinners – so that includes us all … but, yeah, they don’t believe in such a thing as sin, do they? Well, if they believe nothing is a sin and praying is useless then what is the problem if Catholics “waste” their time saying the rosary? A rosary is not a gun nor is it intended to be used as a murder weapon. Most are too flimsy even to be used to strangle a person – and that is hard to do when you are on your knees and the other person is standing over you and yelling at you. Christians are easy to target because they are safer to mock than Muslims are.
Wellington says
Demonstrating again that Leftism does terrible things to the mind just as Islam does. And like Islam it is profoundly dishonest and wrong—as here.
Pray Hard says
Just another Canuk crybaby.
Bud says
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6: 10-12
The Church on earth is called the Church Militant. Raymond Ibrahim’s newest book, “Defenders of the West, the Christian Heroes Who Stood Against Islam” highlights 8 heroic men who stood against the advances of Islamic Jihad over the centuries, including Vlad the Impaler (Dracula).
I proudly carry one of those “spiritual” weapons, a Rosary. If you read the story of the Battle of Lepanto, there are things that happened that could be considered ‘miraculous’ that contributed to the Holy League’s victory over the Ottoman Turks on October 7, 1571. Pope Pius V had called on all Catholics to pray the Rosary to help bring victory to the Christian armada.
So many of our great military leaders and soldiers, in our country, and in the Christian West over the centuries and up to the present have been people of faith. Our military is presently having difficulty meeting recruiting quotas and it has been suggested that it is because the U.S. military has become so ‘woke’, which also translates into anti-Christian.
Thank God that Americans of faith, true patriots who may be Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus and other patriots of possibly no belief or faith tradition, yet who believe in our Constitutional Republic, which is based on Judeo-Christian values, still vastly outnumber the woke, progressive, communist left that is working/fighting so hard to destroy this great country. May God continue to guide us, protect us, and help us to restore “American Exceptionalism”, which has benefited not only the USA but has been a boon to the entire world.
mortimer says
Every soldier was asked to pray the rosary before King Jan Sobieski of Poland attacked the Sultan’s forces encamped at the gates of Vienna. The Sultan and his troops became so spooked by the Poles that they fled without their tents or much of their gear.
After victory was achieved, Sobieski informed the Pope that “we came, we saw, God conquered”, thus turning Julius Caesar’s proud boast to the Roman Senate into a humble acknowledgement of God’s saving Grace. In acknowledgement of the intercession of the Blessed Mother in the Christian victory, Pope Innocent XI designated September 12th as the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary.
Westman says
How much education is necessary to become this stupid? The rosary is a weapon?
Those guys the Atlantic writers hate so much are mostly born-again Christians who have no rosary. The RINOs are more likely to have a rosary.
Did you know MUSLIMS HAVE PRAYER BEADS?
“Prayer beads are used in many religions and cultures around the world, either to help with prayer and meditation or to simply keep the fingers occupied during times of stress. Islamic prayer beads are called subha, from a word which means to glorify God (Allah).”
Here, buy some for The Atlantic decorations: https://ottobeads.com/islamic-prayer-beads/
“At the time of the Prophet Muhammad, Muslims did not use prayer beads as a tool during personal prayer but may have used date pits or small pebbles. Reports indicate that Caliph Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) used a subha similar to modern ones. The widespread manufacture and use of subha began about 600 years ago.”
And they are thought by some to have magical powers too!
“Prayer beads are a common gift item, especially for those returning from Hajj (pilgrimage). Some Muslims may hang prayer beads in the home or near young babies, in the mistaken belief that the beads will protect from harm. Blue beads which contain an “evil eye” symbol are used in similar superstitious ways that have no basis in Islam.” Like jihad ?
I wonder how many unbelievers were strangled by Islamic prayer beads?
mortimer says
You have challenged them to pray the rosary and find out if it really is a weapon. Obviously, many Roman Catholics believe this form of prayer has helped to win victories in a just war.
Rarely says
Thanks for the head’s up. I’ll be watching out for Catholics wielding rosaries. Wasn’t this the basis of an old Monty Python skit? If not, it should have been.
gravenimage says
🙂
gravenimage says
The Atlantic likens Rosary to assault weapon while continuing to ignore and deny jihad violence
………………………………..
What *absolute crap*. The rosary is not violent, nor have I every heard of anyone preaching the rosary and violence.
And note their linking this with “a fetishism of Western civilization”–now freedom and democracy and Western Civ is bad, as well. Just appalling.
mortimer says
FROM AN AD ON https://romancatholicgear.com/products/the-combat-rosary%E2%84%A2
This authentic Combat Rosary ™ based on the 1916 WWI US Government military issued pull chain ‘service’ rosary, was originally designed by Fr. Richard Heilman. The design uses the most powerful of sacramentals by adding the Miraculous Medal, St Benedict Medal, and Pardon Crucifix, which makes it a powerful spiritual weapon against evil forces attempting to separate us from the love of God and His will for our lives. Today, these Combat Rosaries are once again making their way into the hands of our service men and woman through the charity of Combat Rosaries for Heroes.
“The Combat Rosary. The most powerful weapon that exists in the market …” – Col. Christoph Graf of the Pontifical Swiss Guard.
Infidel says
Well, Steve Jobs left us one helluva widow in Lauren Powell-Jobs, who has nothing better to do w/ his fortune than bankroll leftist causes and publications like The Atlantic. What a terrible waste of that genius’ estate
Devasur says
LOL, the same tactics used against Hindus are now employed against Christians in the west. Do Christians in India know this? they are busy helping leftists.
mortimer says
To Devasur: You have things backwards, my friend. The Koran mentions Jews and Christians as the enemies that must be destroyed. Hindus are never mentioned in the Koran per se.
When Muslims had practiced their torments on Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians they crossed the Indus River and murdered 80 million Hindus in the biggest genocide in history.
Hank says
“When Muslims had practiced their torments on Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians they crossed the Indus River… ”
It’s a paradox that even the Persians (Zorosastrians) were conquered and mind-blended by their ancient Arab foe through Islam.
Devasur says
You got it backward it is the polytheists who should be wiped out totally according to Islam, unlike Christians or Jews who have the option to be dhimmis. Whereas polytheists have no such options.
That’s why initially Hindus were massacred by Muslim rulers finally they gave up due to the fierce resistance of Hindus and they were the majority. So without any other options, they had to give the dhimmi status to polytheists which is unIslamic.
mortimer says
Robert Spencer writes: “Can you even imagine The Atlantic writing about any aspect of Islamic piety in remotely militaristic terms?”
Actually, The Atlantic published a very factual article about ISIS by Graeme Wood.
In 2015, Graeme Wood wrote brilliantly in The Atlantic:
“The Islamic State is no mere collection of psychopaths. It is a religious group with carefully considered beliefs, among them that it is a key agent of the coming apocalypse … Nearly all the Islamic State’s decisions adhere to what it calls, on its billboards, license plates, and coins, “the Prophetic methodology … The reality is that the Islamic State is Islamic. Very Islamic.”
The article by Wood is worth re-reading: http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2015/02/what-isis-really-wants/384980/
Namer says
Islam and Atheists approve of Daniel Panneton’s article in the Atlantic
wpm says
While gays are throw from rooftops in Islamic countries ,burned alive ,have walls toppled over them ,beaten to death by mobs in public places ,hung from construction canes, you have the Atlantic worry about Catholic Rosary Beads in western countries? Does the Atlantic staffers believes Catholics are like witches that their prays for forgiveness, and peace will makes gay people burst into flames are atheist on the staff there that stupid ?Do groups of Catholics having attended a pray service doing the Rosaries in church go on rampages looking for gays to beat up?
Anonymous says
The Globalists destroy Christianity because within Christianity people are so precious they are considered the “sons of God”, they can be touched by the Holly Spirit, they are so precious they can experience the Grace of God.
The Globalists want a population of “nothings owning nothing” they can control, extorq, exploit and enslave for materialistic raw opportunism. A population they can indoctrinate negatively (not towards divine light and respect of life) inciting violence, sexual abuse submissiveness to abuse through purpossefully keeping them in ignorance.
Mauve says
Christianity says it is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Globalists hide the way.
They are extremely manipulative detrimentaly to the people.
They lie to the truth of life with their plans to play God in spite of the logic of nature.
They destroy life through transhumanism abuse, abortion obsession, medical abuse, false ecology, forcefully mixing Islamic populations with Christian populations, when the Islamics are absolutely indoctrinated to destroy all non-Muslims.
OLD GUY says
The DEVIL made him do it.
GreekEmpress says
I guess it’s official: I am now a right wing extremist.
Next up: “Onward Christian Soldiers” will now be designated as a seditious call to insurrection.
GreekEmpress says
Another fascist on the loose:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjr9eyDpsz5AhX2LkQIHYfdA9wQFnoECAYQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.iwf.org%2F2016%2F04%2F07%2Fhysterical-indiana-university-students-mistake-a-dominican-friar-for-a-ku-klux-klansman%2F&usg=AOvVaw0tAOh7I3JUDwSUBYsx3jxi