Right wing outrage at the Islamic State. Where is this rage at Christianity's own evil past?

Perhaps some warped form of retrospective good may yet come out of the global outrage, particularly among Right wing at the recent cremation, in a cage, of the hapless and unfortunate Jordanian pilot, Muath Al-Kasaesbeh, by his sinister captors from the forces of the Islamic state, or ISIL as they are sometimes known.

He was captured at some point in December last year (2014), dragged half naked out of the Sea, after he was forced to eject from his aircraft after it was said to have been shot down by a heating seeking missile by fighters from ISIL during a failed bombing mission he was carrying out as part of the US led coalition against the same group. 

I was particularly amazed by American right-wingers who almost went berserk in their condemnation of this hideous act. Islam was denounced without qualification and they swore, at least on internet boards, and doubtless in the privacy of their dining rooms; indeed in public too that, given a chance, they would volunteer themselves to service of their country and gone and “educated” those Arab “barbarians”. All Arabs are equally evil in their view.

In the midst of their collective fury, President Obama, gave a measured speech that touched on religious extremism at a recent national breakfast prayer meeting held in Washington on February 5.

In this speech, he reminded many of those very same self righteous right-wingers of the role that their own professed religion, Christianity, played in similar acts of barbarity. Below is some of what he said.

“Humanity has been grappling with these questions throughout human history, and lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ. In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ.”

The response of these  Conservative “good folks of the Lord” was staggering to say the least. Rather than embrace the undeniable even if uncomfortable truth of what the President was talking about and engage in debate and so on, they chose to go on the offensive. After all, this type have never been the sort to face up to their own evil, past and present, as well as their long held prejudices against those of a darker shade. 

Instead they and their followers tend go to extraordinary lengths to avoid these issues wherever their own kind is involved. They will furiously say to the black man "get over it!, It was not me who did this!" when you try to discuss slavery and America's long standing troubles with racism with them. So why blame all Muslims in their entirety when it is clear to any fair minded person that it is not all of the Muslims who are responsible for this act of wickedness? Muslims could easily come back with retorts couldn't they?

Here is former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore who makes no attempt to actually debate what President Obama said. He is just angry that Christianity's dirty linen was aired in public it would seem.

“The president’s comments this morning at the prayer breakfast are the most offensive I’ve ever heard a president make in my lifetime. He has offended every believing Christian in the United States. This goes further to the point that Mr. Obama does not believe in America or the values we all share.”

Huh?....  Below we shall see some of the "American values" that persisted in the South and indeed in Virginia not so long ago.

The same goes for Russell Moore the head of the Southern Baptists and Ethics and Religious Liberty commission, who described the speech as ...

“An unfortunate attempt at a wrongheaded moral comparison.” and went on to say that 

"What we need more is a “moral framework from the administration and a clear strategy for defeating ISIS,” 

Its worth noting that before Pastor Moore assumed the Presidency of this Southern Baptist organisation, it was led by a man called Richard Land who vacated, or rather, was forced to vacate, the position in the wake of these comments about the Trayvon Martin case

Anyway, moving on, lets leave aside for a moment the medieval brutishness inflicted upon by their ancestors by the "Christian" church at the rack, and the many unfortunate souls who perished in agony at Europe's stakes for not believing sufficiently in God and in his alleged son Jesus, and take the time to look at what used to happen in their very heartlands in the South and in the Mid west.  

Lets meet Henry Smith who was accused of murder and tortured and incinerated to death without the decency of a trial in Texas

You may read about Jesse Washington's case here too... another cremation

The retrospective good I refer to in first paragraph; indeed in its opening line, is that perhaps, with the passage of time, and when the current emotions, real of imagined, have dimmed a bit, these right wing warriors might just take the time to examine themselves, and their past as well as the past of their very, very, recent ancestors, in as far as the value of life is concerned. I never see any condemnation of the lynchings that used to take place in America by these people and, in fact, what I more often see are twitter posts from their kind mocking the brutality and agony our black forebears went through at the lynching stake.

All life is precious regardless of race or creed and these would be crusaders would do well to get to grips with their own behaviour, past and present before they go poking their judgemental and chubby, tobacco stained fingers into the behaviour of others.

Brotha Afritude.