Christmas- a season for moral cowardice?

In his Christmas message, Archbishop Vincent Nichols sees fit to criticize Israel for constructing a security barrier in the West Bank to protect Jews against terrorist attacks. No mind that dozens of Egyptian Coptic Christians are still warm in their graves after being killed by Islamists. That warrants no mention. No matter that dozens of Nigerian Christians have been killed by Islamists on the very Christmas Day when the good Archbishop’s speech was being delivered – while they were peacefully celebrating their Holy Day in their Churches. That is of no consequence to the Archbishop.

No, that does not warrant any mention. The criticism of a civilized democracy like Israel for trying to protect its own citizens from precisely that sort of Islamic terror carries no dangers for the Archbishop and his flocks. And he knows that this type of moral cowardice is a no-lose stance. One would have thought that the ethnic cleansing by the Palestinian National Authority of Christians from the once majority Christian town of Bethlehem – the focus of today’s ceremonies and whose population constituted 60% in 1990 to less than 15% today! – would have given pause for thought, especially when compared with the exponential growth of the Christian population within Israel.

No, for the good Archbishop the only game in town is criticism of Israel, the one state in the region where Christians do have full protection and equality.

But he is mistaken if he feels that this approach will curry favour with the Islamists, and will help to remove Christians in the Arab lands from danger, especially after the Arab Spring returns even more Islamists to power. No, Archbishop. You are considered a Dhimmi, an inferior person in Islam, and they expect this sort of subservience from you, as they expect you in trembling to distance yourself from anyone they consider willing to stand up to them.

In his Christmas message, the Pope too made no mention of the murder of Christians around the Islamic world, only “even-handedly” praying for a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks – as if that would do anything to alleviate the situation of Christians across the Arab world.

Until the Roman Catholic Church realises that the only steadfast ally they have in the region is the Jewish state, I fear that Christians will continue to be murdered in their hundreds around the Middle East, while the the Church leaders glibly condemn Israel.