Angry in the Great White North

To ignore that he was killed for his principles is to make a mockery of them. That lack of respect comes from his own organization, the Christian Peacemaker Teams:

In grief we tremble before God who wraps us with compassion. The death of our beloved colleague and friend pierces us with pain. Tom Fox’s body was found in Baghdad yesterday.

Christian Peacemaker Teams extends our deep and heartfelt condolences to the family and community of Tom Fox, with whom we have traveled so closely in these days of crisis.

We mourn the loss of Tom Fox who combined a lightness of spirit, a firm opposition to all oppression, and the recognition of God in everyone.

In response to Tom’s passing, we ask that everyone set aside inclinations to vilify or demonize others, no matter what they have done.

Even as we grieve the loss of our beloved colleague, we stand in the light of his strong witness to the power of love and the courage of nonviolence.

Go read the whole thing. Nowhere is it mentioned that he was deliberately killed. Instead he was lost. He passed on. He could have fallen down some stairs or died from eating a bad falafel as far as you can tell from the press release.

He didn't die that way. He died because he was in a dangerous area of his own free will, and was taken by people who know only how to kill, who use religion as a cover for their murderous behaviour. Those people kept Fox captive for months, even after it became clear that his value as a hostage was nil, since the US was not going to capitulate to their demands. So they killed him.

For no good reason. To achieve no measurable result. As if Fox was an animal. Actually, less than an animal -- most animals are killed to fulfill a purpose.

And yet the CPT can make no mention of this. Their only criticism is aimed at the US and Britain, of course:

At the forefront of that support are strong and courageous actions from Muslim brothers and sisters throughout the world for which we are profoundly grateful. Their graciousness inspires us to continue working for the day when Christians speak up as boldly for the human rights of thousands Iraqis still detained illegally by the United States and United Kingdom.

Speaking up for Tom Fox's human rights is not the to-do list for today.

Jesus' advice to his followers to turn the other cheek is not an act of cowardice ("But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." Matthew 5:39). Quite the opposite. You face your opponent and you invite him to strike you again. You mock him by letting him know that his act of violence will not help him achieve his aims. You shame his so-called bravery. You do not indulge in revenge for the sake of revenge, because of the harm it will do to you.

Christians are commanded to show patience, though it is not a command to absolute pacifism (something else people seem to misunderstand).

Jesus did not tell his followers to respond to violence by hiding or cowering. Christians are not supposed to ignore violence done to them and pretend it never happened. Jesus knew that only emboldens violent people. His advice was to meet violence straight on, even if you have no means to defend yourself. Especially if you have no means to defend yourself.

That is what the CPT does when it sends its people into these areas. But along the way, they lost sight of who was evil, and what Jesus' teachings mean. And so Tom Fox is dead, and the evil people who committed this act have been spared the shame of being called out on their cowardly act. These so-called Christians have decided not to show them their other cheek, but to cower and shame themselves. Worse yet, they are willing to allow themselves to be co-opted into supporting the goals of the violent killers.

Why? Partly because it aligns with the world-view of the CPT, I suppose. But also because calling attention to the murderous actions that took first the freedom and then the life of Tom Fox would put the other hostages in more danger, if that were possible. But then if they were true Christians willing to die as witnesses to Christ and to follow His teachings, they wouldn't be worried so much about that.

[More at Michelle Malkin]