ISLAMISTS = 21st CENTURY'S SAMSONS

Islamists=Bible Heroes?
By Mark D. Tooley

"The chaplain of a Church of England bishop has kicked up a stir in the British media by comparing the Islamist subway bombers in London last year to Old Testament heroes, Christian crusaders and even the angry Jesus in the Temple.
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Canon Philip Gray claimed that the July 7, 2005 London subway bombers shared the same "religious passion" as the Christian crusaders of the Middle Ages. "Behind modern fanatical Islamic terrorism lie many spiritual and religious passions and narratives also found in the Christian tradition." he wrote recently in his diocesan newspaper.

Gray’s article was to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the 9-11 attacks on the U.S. The 39 year old priest is the chaplain to Bishop of Blackburn Nicholas Reade.
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“Blind Samson, his hairy growth returning, commits an act of suicidal terrorism as he destroys the pillars of the pagan temple,” Chaplain Gray wrote of the Old Testament hero, drawing a parallel between the ancient Jewish warrior and modern Islamists. "The people of Israel sing their song of triumph – which we echo in the Easter vigil – as the bodies of the Egyptians float in the Red Sea,” Gray continued in his comparative historical analysis. He added: "We cannot simply ignore the violent passion of Jesus cleansing the temple with whips. We are never told of the collateral damage possibly resulting from his actions.”

Gray concluded: “We need to consider the same religious passion and spiritual single mindedness lies at the heart of a London bomber and a Christian crusader." Later confronted by media attention and angry controversy, the chaplain pointed out that in no way was he justifying the London subway bombers. But Gray did not deny that he was likening Judaism and Christianity with radical Islam.

“If we as Christians believe we have some comment to make about a response to terrorism, then we must do so with something approaching reality, not just grand statements from the top of ivory towers,” Gray wrote in his original diocesan article.

“What boundaries must the Church draw between taking up our cross, and the crass immorality of crusaders? When does a freedom fighter become a terrorist?"

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Well, that article speaks for itself, READ THE WHOLE THING...

Pertinent Links:

1) Islamists=Bible Heroes? By Mark D. Tooley