Thursday, March 28, AD 2024 4:01pm

Jihad, U. S. Branch

Christopher Johnson, a non-Catholic who has taken up the cudgels so frequently for the Church that I have named him Defender of the Faith, suggests that if you are not nervous about Jihad, you probably should be:

You might want to look into the idea:

Columbus [Indiana] Police said they’ve never had anything like it – three churches vandalized in the same night.

Someone spray painted them on the outside. It’s the words used, though, that have some people asking if this was more than a prank.

“It was just one word. It said ‘Infidels!’” Father Doug Marcotte said of what was spray painted on Saint Bartholomew’s Catholic Church in Columbus overnight Saturday.

Parishioners saw that, along with the word “Qur’an 3:151″ on their way into mass Sunday morning.

“It’s certainly not a warm and fuzzy verse. It talks about the infidels, their refuge being the fire,” explained Father Marcotte.

Specifically, that passage of the Qur’an reads: “We will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve for what they have associated with Allah of which He had not sent down [any] authority. And their refuge will be the Fire, and wretched is the residence of the wrongdoers.”

Saint Bartholomew’s wasn’t the only Columbus church vandalized.

“It’s really bizarre and the fact that they hit two other Christian Churches. It’s not like we’re all in a line. So why did they pick the three of us?” asked Father Marcotte.

Outside East Columbus Christian Church and Lakeview Church of Christ, members there found the same kind of graffiti Sunday morning.

Go here to read the comments.  Just punks?  Unlikely, since punks tend not to be literate enough to cite the Koran or any other text.  The Islamic Society of Columbus has condemned the vandalism:

The Islamic Society of Columbus is deeply concerned about and saddened by the events of vandalism that occurred this weekend. Our community condemns such actions and believes that Columbus is not a place for such a behavior. We send our deep regret and offer a strong support to our fellow community members of East Columbus Christian Church, St. Bartholomew Catholic Church and Lakeview Church of Christ. We hope that the authority will apprehend the perpetrator(s) soon.

Thanks to a feckless immigration policy, Islam has established such a presence on our shores that even an out of the way place like Columbus, Indiana, population 40,000, forty miles south of Indianapolis, has an Islamic Society.  Jihad is a movement spreading throughout the Islamic world.  The idea that American muslims will be immune to this movement is not supported by the facts, no matter how many protestations of regret, perhaps heartfelt, from Muslim authorities are given after the fact.  Bad ideas have consequences just as good ideas do, and the confidence that the US melting pot can assimilate all groups from around the globe, no matter the beliefs they bring with them, is turning out to be a  very bad idea.

 

 

0 0 votes
Article Rating
48 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
chris c.
chris c.
Tuesday, September 2, AD 2014 6:49am

Good to see the response of the Islamic Society of Columbus. It wouldn’t shock me at all to learn that the perpetrators were not Muslim, but simply agitators looking to stir up controversy and trouble. And with no more care, than a delinquent pulling a fire alarm.

Philip
Philip
Tuesday, September 2, AD 2014 8:01am

– Or maybe it was a unruly group of cloistered nuns out of their cells for a bit of mischief.

Wake up and smell the Koran.

Please thank your President for the warm welcome of this ideology into a once God fearing Nation. Remember…”we are not a Christian Nation.”

Stephen E Dalton
Stephen E Dalton
Tuesday, September 2, AD 2014 9:30am

I’m in Peoria, Il., and there’s a mosque only 3.5 miles from where I live. I didn’t even know it was there until an old friend of my family told me about it. Heck, they even had the street it’s on renamed Salaam Dr.! I wonder how soon will I see Quran verses sprayed on the walls of local churches?

WaywardSailor
WaywardSailor
Tuesday, September 2, AD 2014 10:58am

“Our community condemns such actions and believes that Columbus is not a place for such a behavior.” Does that imply there is a place for such behavior? Mosul? Damascus? London? New York? St. Lawrence of Brindisi, pray for us.

Mary De Voe
Tuesday, September 2, AD 2014 11:19am

“Specifically, that passage of the Qur’an reads: “We will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve for what they have associated with Allah of which He had not sent down [any] authority. And their refuge will be the Fire, and wretched is the residence of the wrongdoers.” “Qur’an 3:151″
.
Allah will not be pleased to be used by those inflicting their own will as the will of Allah. The passage applies directly and correctly to those individuals who use Allah as an excuse to do what they will outside the law. How do these people know what is in the heart and mind of any other person? Calling another person “infidel” means that one knows what is in the heart and mind of that person. This is only possible for God.

Micha Elyi
Micha Elyi
Tuesday, September 2, AD 2014 4:11pm

If your members of Catholic Daughters and Knights of Columbus aren’t packing heat in the parish’s parking lot during masses and have a phone to call 911 ready-to-hand…

Micha Elyi
Micha Elyi
Tuesday, September 2, AD 2014 4:12pm

I’ll be impressed when The Islamic Society of Columbus, Indiana pays to clean away the vandalism. Until then, meh.

chris c.
chris c.
Tuesday, September 2, AD 2014 4:38pm

Everyone is so amazed that I express skepticism that Muslims were behind this. Don et. al. did you read the article linked to in the column and in particular the words of Fr. Marcotte? Remember him? The one whose parish was defaced? He wasn’t quite as sure as all of you, or evidently “Defender of the Faith” Johnson. From Fr. Marcotte: “…is this someone that’s trying to incite people against Muslims? I mean I DON’T KNOW.” (emphasis mine). No he doesn’t. And until an arrest is made neither do you. Until then I’ll suspend my outrage. Like Fr. Marcotte.

c matt
c matt
Tuesday, September 2, AD 2014 5:24pm

It is certainly possible that this was a “false flag” sort of thing to raise resentment (not that much help is needed with co-religionists like ISIS around). But a reflexive “no true Muslim could this” approach isn’t all that plausible either.

chris c.
chris c.
Tuesday, September 2, AD 2014 6:26pm

I do agree with c matt that a reflexive “no true Muslim could do this” approach isn’t called for, but the whole point is that the police are investigating and the parish priest is withholding judgment. Would it kill us to do likewise until an arrest is made? And Don is certainly right about the plight of Christians in Muslim nations, but I want to be careful not to fit an incident in a mid-size Indiana city having what is likely a small Islamic population, into that horrific broader narrative without more facts. I have learned over the years not to react viscerally just because a story or column in the media suggests that I should. There will be a time and manner to deal with the perpetrators if and when they are caught. In the meantime justice demands that we not rush to judgment. I think our Faith demands no less of us.

Anzlyne
Anzlyne
Tuesday, September 2, AD 2014 9:05pm

Outside agitators like who? Reminds me of that term “plausible deniability”.. a kind of semantic and false game sometimes played.
Yes the evidence is so far just circumstantial. Some are hesitant to call a spade a spade even when their common sense tells them the truth.
That lofty position of non -judgment is not always good! Realize that even if and when arrests are made and people are officially accused, it will still be technically possible to be in willful denial about blaming jihadist muslims.

chris c.
chris c.
Tuesday, September 2, AD 2014 9:48pm

Who could our hypothetical agitator be? Got me. Do an internet search of “graffiti hoaxes” and see what you come up with. Maybe it’ll be one of them. Or better yet don’t bother. Wait until the crime is solved and then we won’t have to guess. Nor will we have to be in denial, willful or otherwise, about the identity of the perpetrator and what their likely motivation was.

Myshkin
Myshkin
Tuesday, September 2, AD 2014 10:42pm

I share your concern w/our inane immigration policy; however, the presence of a Muslim center is not so much an indictment of our suicidal immigration policy as it is an indictment of our prison policy. Consider that a large number of Muslims in this country are a product of prison conversions, and in fact these new members are often blessed w/the zeal of the new convert, so i i’m laying odds, that’s who i’m laying odds on.

Elaine Krewer
Admin
Wednesday, September 3, AD 2014 5:45am

Yes, it could certainly have been done by actual jihadist Muslims, but I wouldn’t be so quick to assume that ordinary non-Muslim troublemakers are “not literate enough” to quote the Quran. Copies of the Quran aren’t that hard to find. And if conversions to Islam among prison inmates are as common as indicated above, who’s to say that a friend or relative of an ex-con, who is still hanging around with unsavory companions, didn’t get the idea from reading said friend/relatives copy of the Quran?

All I’m saying is that we can’t rule out any possibility, including the possibility that it was done simply by some jerk who wanted to see people freak out and NOT necessarily by a serious jihadist bent on warning the people of Indiana that it was time to convert or die.

TomD
TomD
Wednesday, September 3, AD 2014 6:53am

We in the U.S. have had the airline jihad on 9/11/2001, the IED jihad at Times Square and the Boston Marathon, multiple examples of parking lot and college campus SUV jihad, the Washington DC Beltway sniper jihad, and many examples of stillborn jihad thanks to the FBI. There will be more. Does anyone really think that it matters if this graffiti was put there by some smart-aleck kids, or not?

Philip
Philip
Wednesday, September 3, AD 2014 10:48am

What matters most?

TomD points to recent incidents here in the land of the free. It’s a war that’s been waged on Christianity for centuries and it’s now in our backyard.

Q: Do we become desensitized to any form of hatred toward Christianity?

Q: Do we prepare by steadfast faith in the possibility of red martyrdom to come?

Will the most popular newborn male name be Mohamed in these United States? If so, is it because it invokes a message of peace, or rather a message of world conquest and domination.

Only time will tell.

Steve Phoenix
Steve Phoenix
Wednesday, September 3, AD 2014 12:26pm

While the certainty of facts and the identity of the culprits are being developed in this matter, Chris C’s mock-shock at the likelihood of a Catholic Church being vandalized by Muslim youth, esp. given the facts so far, is hard to sustain.

For what it is worth, in Belgium (particularly around Genk and the urban areas of Brussels) where one of my daughters lives, it is so common for Muslim youth to spray paint the Catholic Churches with Quran citations and threats that most of the churches now have locked cyclone fences surrounding them during the week or after morning services (in particular you can see this at the main parish church in Genk). So many youth that are Muslims have been apprehended that to believe otherwise as to whom is behind the matter is a practiced blindness that must take a lot of energy to maintain.
So now it has come to America—as has been promised by the imams. So now open your eyes.

chris c.
chris c.
Wednesday, September 3, AD 2014 6:05pm

Steve, do you think you know more about the situation than the folks in Columbus, Indiana? Fr. Marcotte of St. Bartholomew, and a minister at one of the other of the vandalized churches probably know their community, including their Islamic neighbors a lot better than you do. They are withholding judgment and giving their neighbors the benefit of the doubt. Why can’t you?
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/indiana-churches-hit-vandals-quoting-koran-article-1.1924890

Stephen E Dalton
Stephen E Dalton
Thursday, September 4, AD 2014 9:26am

chris c., haven’t you learned anything about Islam since 9/11/2001?

chris c.
chris c.
Thursday, September 4, AD 2014 11:50am

Stephen, I guess I have learned about as much as Fr. Marcotte. Enough to continue to act like a Christian, by the grace of God, “in season and out.” In this case it means withholding judgment and being careful not to condemn until all the facts are known. Perhaps you and others have been busy learning something else.

Steve Phoenix
Steve Phoenix
Thursday, September 4, AD 2014 11:59am

Mr Dalton, you don’t understand: it isnt sufficient for one to choose to be blind, but you too must share his blindness.

“To believe otherwise as to whom is behind the matter is a practiced blindness that must take a lot of energy to maintain.
As in Genk, as in Brussels, as in Paris, So now it has come to America—as has been promised by the imams. So now open your eyes.”

Philip
Philip
Thursday, September 4, AD 2014 12:11pm

chris c.

Cool heads in this case is good advice.

Losing your head from the sword of a coward is a reality. No question about it. This early determination on the culprit (s) is speculative and if your false flag idea proves true then shame on me.

Beheadings are evil. The emotions are running high. No excuse to rush though.

TomD
TomD
Thursday, September 4, AD 2014 12:16pm

chris c., Christians are told to be as innocent as doves and as wise as serpents. Please stop dropping the wisdom part from your homiletics. Christians cannot, must not, turn a blind eye to the evils perpetrated for Islam, and so cannot turn a blind eye to the potential for Islamic violence in many Muslims who until now have never committed such acts. I refuse to prejudge any Muslim as a potential jihadist, but I refuse to prejudge a Muslim to not be a jihadist either. All the evidence in the world shows that there are many shades of gray in Islam.

chris c.
chris c.
Thursday, September 4, AD 2014 2:00pm

Tom, as it pertains to this case, I’ll do my best to maintain the same level of Christ-informed wisdom as exhibited by Fr. Marcotte in his comments. No more and no less. My interest in this discussion is about the specific matter in Columbus Indiana. A broader discussion about Jihad or Islam is for another day as far as I am concerned. My comments relate to 3 churches in Columbus Indiana, and the distinct possibility, as noted by Fr. Marcotte and the pastor of another defaced church, that indeed this MAY not be as it appears. Or maybe it is. Who knows until an arrest is made. But it sounds as if you and a few others maybe the ones who are too innocent. Graffiti+Defaced Church+Koran verse = Jihad. Maybe. Maybe a “false flag” provocation. There have been enough hoaxes, some involving graffiti, some not; to make it wise to withhold judgment.

Steve Phoenix
Steve Phoenix
Thursday, September 4, AD 2014 2:59pm

TomD, Gnostics have wisdom that you and I do not. Also, a lack of curiosity as to the fact that 3 Christian churches were vandalized but no mosques. However, Columbus, IN, unlike most rural Indiana towns, does have a putative mosque, the Islamic Society, right in downtown, at 23rd & Chestnut. Oh, by the way, it is about 8 blocks from St. Bartholomew’s Church (.6 mi). Oh, by the way the other two churches are about 5-8 min. short drive, all within about 3 mi. of the Islamic Society site. Just a coincidence.)
.
Oh, by the way,since I am familiar with this part of Indiana,it should be noted that there are no synagogues in Columbus, IN (nearest ones are in Bloomington and Indianapolis), so please note, that is why they werent nailed. In case you non-Gnostics were wondering.

TomD
TomD
Thursday, September 4, AD 2014 6:05pm

chris c., jihad is the central tenant of Islam. All other requirements of Islam, including the Five Pillars, may be excused if excusing them brings victory in jihad. Fatwa after fatwa makes this clear, and any fatwa to the contrary can be viewed as an expression of shirk, which is the greatest sin a Muslim can make (and the reason so many are killed by their co-religious). The deck is simply stacked against decent Muslims who want to live their lives out in any other way. I have no problem seeing a Muslim teen spraying Quranic references on Christian churches in Indiana as fulfilling a minor and relatively harmless jihad. Who knows, he may go to college and make a fortune on Wall Street or do kidney transplants, and never do another act of jihad, but deep down he would know exactly why he did what he did.
As to the local Indiana clergy, I just have to assume they are like nearly everyone else and prefer not to face unpleasant realities.

trackback
Saturday, September 13, AD 2014 12:44pm

[…] U.S.: Anti-Christian Hate Crime by Muslims – D.R. McClarey JD (fixed) […]

Ursula Riches
Ursula Riches
Sunday, September 14, AD 2014 8:29pm

How does anyone know that it was not done by non Muslim warmongers? Could this have been done by those who want war in the M. East but those who are not anything to do with ISLAM. Could this have been done by JEWS?
I ask all Catholics to remember how our bible and our faith is viewed differently by others who call themselves Christians and how it can be twisted into something unpleasant by those with twisted minds and evil hearts.

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Sunday, September 14, AD 2014 9:10pm

UR:

My money is on teenaged mutant ninja sasquatches with nothing more productive in their minds.

Stephen E Dalton
Stephen E Dalton
Monday, September 15, AD 2014 12:19am

Ursula, how many Jews are going around loping off heads, let alone spray painting Quran verses on churches? Until you or someone else can actually prove such alleged claims, sthu!

Steve Phoenix
Steve Phoenix
Monday, September 15, AD 2014 1:38pm

I have to laugh at Ursula R’s comment about the vandalism likely being done by “THE JOOS”, er, “JEWS, as she puts it”: I have a little familiarity with this part of Indiana and I believe she would be hard-pressed to find a resident Jewish person in much of the heartland here/there. But then again, to satisfy her, perhaps those devilishly clever children of Abraham are at it again, and maybe the Mossad has covered well their tracks— yet again.

Paul W Primavera
Paul W Primavera
Monday, September 15, AD 2014 2:27pm

Amazing that there always has to be someone who must blame the Jews, but the Muslims whose Koran commands them to lie to Jews and Christians, whose Koran tells them to subject Jews and Christians to dhimmitude, whose Koran tells them to slay Jews and Christians by the sword are blameless.
.
Yeah. Right.

Ursula Riches
Ursula Riches
Monday, September 15, AD 2014 3:20pm

STHU yourself you rude arrogant LP Stephen. Steve, you have to laugh, really intellectual comment or arrogant put down?
If Jews hate Muslims, as they clearly do with great intensity, leading to loss of life and liberty and loss of land for the Muslims, then surely it would be a really hateful thing to dress up as a Muslim and do something nasty to others so that others hate them too? Now if I were a Muslim and I really hated Jews which really one could hardly wonder at, then it would make sense for me to dress up like one and paint stars with six points onto churches in order to make everyone else hate them too. If someone who had upset me had a big falling out with someone else, if I was evil, I would target that person in order to stitch up the person I was getting revenge on. If I was a black American and I wanted action taken against the Klu klux klan, I could put KKK graffitti everywhere to get them into trouble, If I put on a white gown with hood and I was seen but not caught, they would get into trouble. Evildoing is sneaky and is sneakily done, it is not straightforward and getting others into trouble is more evil than targeting them in an outright way.
I heard about a Jewish person putting up swastikas near her student living quarters, she was caught on camera.
Some verses of the Koran were put onto churches, this is more likely to have been done by those who hate Muslims than by Muslims themselves.
Who is Elliott Shimon?

TomD
TomD
Monday, September 15, AD 2014 3:29pm

Now if I were a Muslim and I really hated Jews which really one could hardly wonder at, then it would make sense for me to dress up like one and paint stars with six points onto churches in order to make everyone else hate them too.
Yep, hate of Jews is soooo understandable.

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Monday, September 15, AD 2014 3:32pm

A million surplus Mussies are willing to bear the yoke;
And, a man is only a man, but a good Mussie is a joke.

With apologies to Kipling.

TomD
TomD
Monday, September 15, AD 2014 3:36pm

Don, deleting UR’s posts would be like photoshopping the Quran quotes off of the church photo. Please leave the evidence for all to see.

Paul W Primavera
Paul W Primavera
Monday, September 15, AD 2014 3:41pm

Jesus was a Jew.
.
Er, I mean Jesus IS a Jew. After all, He rose from the dead and will never die again and His Mother is certainly Jewish and She is in Heaven with Him.

Steve Phoenix
Steve Phoenix
Monday, September 15, AD 2014 4:18pm

Re. TomD’s cogent comment on “shirk” —i.e.,”… shirk, which is the greatest sin a Muslim can make (and the reason so many are killed by their co-religious).” as a violation to true faith in the oneness of Islam—

I didnt connect the Qu’ran/Islamic definition to the Merriam-Webster defined definition/origin of the word til reading his post., and our common usage (i.e., “to shirk one’s responsibilities..”)

Merriam-Webster :
“In Islam, idolatry and polytheism, both of which are regarded as heretical. The Qu’ran stresses that God does not share his powers with any partner (sharik) and warns that those who believe in idols will be harshly dealt with on the Day of Judgment.

The concept of shirk has broadened considerably throughout the dogmatic development of Islam, and it has come to be used as the opposite of tawhid (the oneness of God). Different grades of shirk have been distinguished by Islamic law; they include the belief in superstition, belief in the power of created things (e.g., reverencing saints), and belief in those who profess to know the future—all of which pale beside polytheism in seriousness.”

TomD
TomD
Monday, September 15, AD 2014 4:55pm

Steve: “The concept of shirk has broadened considerably throughout the dogmatic development of Islam”. Exactly right.

Shirk can now include anything that would constitute what we would term ecumenical outreach. A Muslim who in any way gives any small credence to any other faith can be accused of it. For example, Islam has a version of the Golden Rule, but it is carefully worded to apply only to Muslims. A Muslim who states that the Islamic Golden Rule applies to all of humanity is open to a charge of shirk – unless he proves to his inquisitors that he is engaged in deceit for the sake of jihad. If you are a decent fellow it’s just better to keep quiet and not run the risk.

TomD
TomD
Monday, September 15, AD 2014 5:33pm

“…all of which pale beside polytheism in seriousness”
And let us not forget that in Islamic theology the Trinity is a form of polytheism.

Steve Phoenix
Steve Phoenix
Monday, September 15, AD 2014 6:48pm

By the way, TomD, “The concept of shirk has broadened considerably throughout the dogmatic development of Islam”—that is Merriam-Webster “speaking”—note it fast before they are forced to change it!

TomD
TomD
Monday, September 15, AD 2014 8:12pm

Steve, I think that sentence is already PC. The fact is it “broadened considerably” in the first years of Islam. The broadening was not a linear progression.

TomD
TomD
Tuesday, September 16, AD 2014 4:10pm

The mussulman, eh? That reminds me of this classic http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2008/02/heere-bigynneth.html

Discover more from The American Catholic

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading

Scroll to Top