Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > German priest immolates self in protest at unwillingness of church to confront Islamist threat -Culture war looms
German priest immolates self in protest at unwillingness of church to confront Islamist threat -Culture war looms
November 8, 2006
Culture War Looms Supreme In Election Outcome November 8, 2006 -San Francisco, CA -PipeLineNews.org - Just a few days ago, on November 1, Roland Weisselberg a 73 year old retired German priest burned himself to death, dousing himself with gasoline and then striking a match.
Weisselberg committed the gruesome suicide as a protest against Germany's increasing submission to the demands of Europe's radical Islamists and the Church's unwillingness to confront the Muslim cultural jihad.
The elder priest's death took place in the historically significant Augustinian monastery in Erfurt Germany where Martin Luther was educated and later ordained and so it seems fitting that Weisselberg's dramatic statement made at the locus of the Reformation should also function as a point of departure in understanding the forces behind yesterday's electoral results.
Taken as a whole yesterday's election was the result of forces which have been shaping Western thought beginning with the post modernist movement and which now seems to have congealed into the unholy trinity of multiculturalism, diversity and moral equivalency.
The confusion resulting from this dance with nihilism has severed ties to tradition and therefore Weisselberg's gesture though fanatical seems almost a reasonable, if not metaphorically rich, response.
The fact is that because of the failure of a substantial number of citizens to understand the dimensions of the clash of civilizations they are taking actions that are making all of us unwilling signatories to a suicide pact.
As we noted in our piece Thoughts On the Fifth Anniversary Of 9/11:
"…in a war of cultures, belief can not be overcome with simple unbelief - that fanaticism can't be defeated by simply believing in nothing."The prospect of living in a society lacking the tools to defend itself and the moral clarity and will to act is daunting
The foregoing presumes that yesterday's contest was primarily a referendum on the war in Iraq, a fact that seems to have gained additional substance via Mr. Bush's hasty banishment of Defense Secretary Rumsfeld - one of the chief Iraq war strategists - early this afternoon.
The social dysfunctionality against which the election took place is certainly not to excuse Mr. Bush's culpability in the matter, his just stated intent to work with the new Dem majorities on such issues as amnesty disguised as immigration reform along with his nomination of Iraq Study Group member and former spook chief Robert Gates is distressing because it demonstrates once again the President's lack of understanding of the interrelatedness of the issues which together form the threat to America as a society.
Six years into his presidency one can hardly blame Mr. Bush for trying to avoid two the final years of his last term being spent defending against constant investigations and possible impeachment inquiries by trying to buy off his tormenters, but his rapid, unilateral and near total cave not even 24 hrs after Tuesday's debacle is not nearly as painful to watch as is contemplating the ramifications of such a surrender.
So what causes an individual such as Fr. Weisselberg to have the capacity to fully understand the threat that radical Islam presents while others have no clue whatsoever?
Perhaps the idea of worldliness comes into play here.
A friend of mine related a conversation that they had with a rabbi, who blamed the "Southpark Generation" mindset as the causative factor in University of Pennsylvania Amy Gutmann's tolerance of faux suicide bombers [and skits depicting various acts of terrorism] at her Halloween party.
Whether Southpark-think is a symptom or the cause of such is of less concern than is the realization that there is an almost irresistible lure in our culture to being compromised by it, sucked into a world of shallowness and materialism with no room for spirituality,
In that sort of environment there is so little space left for introspection that individuals risk becoming tone deaf to threats more serious than those which might only part them from their accumulated baubles.
Such seems to be the case in Florida where just a few days ago the retiring Governor, acting through his spokesman blasted a Hernando County commissioner's wife who stated that Islam is a "hateful, frightening religion."
Hogue's remarks were in protest of the county's assistance to a local mosque which was celebrating the end of Ramadan.
Alia Faraj, Bush's communications director stated that, "Florida is built on its diverse background, different cultures and religions - it's what makes Florida so strong," she said. "The Arab-Americans living in our state are just as patriotic as the rest of us," adding "There is no room for bigotry and hatred in the state of Florida. The governor is extremely disappointed in their inappropriate comments."
Of the alleged bigotry of Hogue's characterization of Islam, we night turn to Robert Spencer who observes:
"Muhammad told his followers to offer "polytheists" conversion, subjugation as dhimmis, or war, and Qur'an 9:29 makes it clear that that offer is to be extended to Jews and Christians. Cherry-picking violent texts? Alas, no: the imperative that the Islamic umma must wage war against non-Muslims until they either convert or submit is taught by all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence, and reinforced by the near-unanimous example of Islamic history."In the same vein the Reverend O'Neil Dozier has run afoul of Jeb's ire for his aggressive opposition to plans made by the Islamic Center of South Florida to build a huge mosque in Northwest Pompano Beach, citing terror concerns.
One might hope that Jeb Bush would be at least as supportive of the First Amendment as he apparently is of the damaging philosophy of multi-culti diversity but alas that seems not to be the case. Bush might also be mindful of the fact that the majority of the 9/11 highjackers - whom one shouldn't have to point out at this late date were all Muslims - either came from or passed through South Florida, so concerns by citizens regarding possible terrorist sympathies among Muslims is by no means unreasonable.
That many in the GOP have adopted this same affectation does not bode well for it as a majority party, as we are now so rudely being reminded.
With fewer and fewer left who are willing to even argue - let alone die for - the proposition that Western values and the Judeo-Christian ethic are superior methods for organizing and ordering societies, we can expect the numbers of citizens who have no capacity to weigh the issues which will be impacting them to increase.
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