From Breitbart
A Catholic priest has called for Christians to take a stand against Islamic terror, arguing that pacifism in the face of mortal danger is immoral and un-Christian.
On Monday, Europe, already reeling from a wave of Islamic terrorist attacks in France and Germany, was again shocked by the beheading of a Catholic priest near Rouen in France in an apparent ritual sacrifice of some kind.Responding to the attack, Pope Francis expressed his “pain and horror for this absurd violence, with the strongest condemnation for every form of hatred and prayer for those affected,” and is reported to have prayed that God would “inspire in all thoughts of reconciliation and brotherhood”.
Meanwhile Archbishop Dominique Lebrun of Rouen, said: “The Catholic Church can take up no weapons other than those of prayer and brotherhood among people of goodwill.” He asked the people of his diocese “not to give in to violence,” but instead “become apostles of the civilization of love”.
But writing for LifeZette.com, Father George Rutler, the pastor of St. Michael’s church in Hell’s Kitchen, New York City, argues that not only is such pacifism immoral, it is the Christian duty to protect both oneself and other innocents from violent aggressors.
Referring to Jesus’s exhortation, found in Matthew 5:39 – “But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.” – Fr. Rutler says that this isn’t an instruction to engage in pacifism, as so many European Christians appear to believe.
“Turning the other cheek is the counsel Christ gave in the instance of an individual when morally insulted: Humility conquers pride. It has nothing to do with self-defence,” he says.
Arguing rather that pacifism is therefore a corruption of the virtue of peace, Fr. Rutler continues: “As racism distorts race and sexism corrupts sex — so does pacifism affront peace.
“To shrink from the moral duty to protect peace by not using force […] is not innocence — it is naiveté.”
He points to the Catholic Catechism, which directs Catholics to engage in legitimate self-defence as part of the duty to love ourselves as we do our neighbours.
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