The neoconservative warhawk Pamela Geller did what all great strategists in the history of armed conflict would recommend — from Sun Tzu to Thucydides to B. H. Liddell Hart: she organized a cartoon drawing contest to mock what is most sacred to her enemy in an effort to show the moral superiority of her people over that enemy.
Brilliant.
If Ms. Geller cannot be commended for prudence or fortitude, she can at least be crowned as the queen of unfeminine bluster and foolhardiness for her adolescent stunt.
Catholics may not be pacifists, for sure. Nor can we be naive about the historical and present-day threats of Islam. But neither may we be warhawks as almost all popular so-called “conservatives” appear to be today — and a big handful of liberals, too. (Well, maybe they’re mostly chickenhawks.)
America’s foolish bipartisan foreign policy aside, the real way to defeat the enemy is to assimilate him, or at least to make him a friend. Our ultimate victory over Islam will be the conversion of the Muslims.
Brother Francis used to say that this would be achieved by three “M’s”: Mary, miracles, and martyrdom. I have no time now to develop these three points, but I believe that the full unfolding of the revelations of Our Lady of Fatima — a Marian title with a notably Islamic sound to it — will see the fulfillment of the first M, and quite possibly the other two. (And yes, Our Lady occasionally lends military support in the struggle against Islam, as we know.) Miracles are entirely God’s domain; suffice it to say that Muslims still convert because of them. As for martyrdom, that expression of true Christian fortitude (and charity) will always make the antics of Charlie Hebdo and Pamela Geller look like the immature, secularist nonsense they are.
Mike Church has a short piece that contrasts the fortitude of Saint Francis of Assisi with Ms. Geller’s foolhardiness: “Hippie” Saint, Francis of Assisi, Didn’t Need Cartoons To Confront Jihadis. Here is a snippet:
Well, If you REALLY want to challenge Jihadis with “free-speech” don a rosary, crucifix and a cassock, and try what St Francis Assisi did to the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire as author Frank Rega tells this story in his book on St Francis: “Francis of Assisi and the Conversion of the Muslims; With Concise Biography of the Saint”
The whole (short) piece is worth a read.
