It's not about religion

Bemused by the sheer volume of culpably ignorant commentary sparked by the visit of Benedict XVI, it took me a while to relate it to all the shrill yapping there has been about Islam/Islamism since the terrorist spectacular in New York nine years ago.

Practically none of the latter has been between Muslim and non-Muslim. It's virtually all been non-Muslims using the issue as yet another front in the culture war between "left" and "right". Regardless of the clumsy military response to 9/11 and occasional rhetorical excesses by outraged Christians, there can be little doubt that the so-called "left" put itself squarely on the wrong side of this issue, and totally devalued the epithets "imperialism" and "racism" in the process.

The astonishing thing is that the marxhorroids should have wasted their ammunition in a battle to win greater "understanding" of the jihadists, when the more you study their motivation, the clearer it is that they are animated by murderous hatred for what the western "left" stands for. To a devout Muslim, the marxhorroids' rejection of monotheism and their "green" camouflage is simply nature-worshipping paganism.

Fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every warlike stratagem; but if they repent, and establish regular prayers and practice regular charity, then open the way for them.  Qur'an 9:5

Not a lot of room for "inclusion", "equality" and "diversity" there. Yet they are precisely the causes the self-styled "progressives" believed would be advanced by their bizarre decision to denounce their own culture in order to ingratiate themselves with people who totally reject everything they stand for.

So to the Pope's visit and yet more partisan ping-pong. For centuries, the Roman Catholic church has been a safe refuge for male and female homosexuals. The RC church teaches that homosexuality per se is not a sin:

The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.  Cathechism 2358

What the RC church does teach is that sexual intercourse is sanctified by the possibility of creating life, consequently artificial contraception, masturbation and sodomy are sins. So does Islam. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is celebrated in both the Old Testament and the Qur'an.

It follows, does it not, that the denunciation of the traditionalist Benedict XVI by prominent male homosexuals, orchestrated and given a national platform by the BBC, should also be directed against traditionalist Islamic teachers.

The reason why this does not happen is very simple: blaspheme against Christianity and all you get is a pained look. Do so against Islam and there is a distinct possibility of getting killed.

Real heroes, these "progressives".