Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Lead by Example

One of the criticisms of Islam recently dealt with how the majority responded to the suicide bombers. "Why don't the leaders speak out against it? Condemn the people who do it, who call for it?" was asked, and it is a good question. I know there are various reasons, such as Islam being very splintered so no one person speaks for the faith like Catholicism, but it was a justifiable question: Why don't the rank and file, or other leaders, condemn calls to violence?

Here's a chance for the people asking that question to show 'em how it's done. Pat Robertson, that walking caricature of religious intolerance, has called for the assassination of Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan President. Here's his exact words:

You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war.

...

We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability. We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator. It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with.

Other moderate and liberal blogs I read have jumped all over this moron: Eschaton, the Washington Monthly, Crooks and Liars, the Moderate Voice, and Balloon Juice. But as of now, 10:30, neither Instapundit or Power Line, two right-leaning blogs I read, have entered anything about it. It may be coming, though.

But the real test will be if the leaders of the Republican Party - a group thoroughly linked with Robertson and the "Christian" Coalition - will at least disavow these remarks, and will other religious groups like Focus on the Family step up to the plate and say, "We don't agree with this"? Or will they, like many Muslims, decide to just let it slide.

Here's your chance, guys. Walk the walk.

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