Genocide,
to me, is the ugliest word in the English language.
Among
all the animals on this planet, we humans are the most violent, the
most murderous. We can rail against homicide in the streets or the
killing of innocents in abortion clinics—and we do every day--but
no atrocity is greater in scope or horror than the systematic
extermination of a people for its ethnic identity or its religious
beliefs.
Armenians,
Jews, Cambodians, Ugandans and many others have been mass victims of
monsters. But genocide is not a thing of the past. It is going on
every day in many regions of the world, but particularly in the
Middle East at the hands of Muslim fanatics. Yazidis, Druze, and
Assyrian Christians in Syria and Copts in Egypt are all facing
extinction. We read almost daily of beheadings, incinerations, and
crucifixions of these people. Yet, we rarely hear of efforts to
protect them or to save them.
There
are some voices crying out in the wilderness, but we don't hear them,
because we are too preoccupied with presidential primaries, falling
stock prices, or the latest sex scandal. Pope Francis has spoken out
against Christian persecution, but I have yet to hear his words
repeated in my church, and I suspect not much is being said in other
local churches either. I hope I'm wrong. As for our politicians,
they're too preoccupied with preventing illegal immigration at our
southern border to think of helping desperate people abroad.
The
strange thing is that we have given safe haven to millions of Muslim
immigrants and refugees in this country, but virtually none, for
example, to Syrian Christians who have been displaced by persecution
and are seeking our help. Poland is one of the few countries with
programs that actively welcome Christian refugees. Why can't the
United States do the same?
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