Rome Getting It Right on Islam, Part 2

Back in April I posted a note, Rome Getting It Right on Islam, regarding Pope Benedict's efforts to raise awareness about the growing Islamist threat. Then in May, there were several reports about comments made by the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, in a speech he delivered to a group in Naples, Florida, challenging the supposed tolerance in Islam, saying that "In my own reading of the Koran, I began to note down the invocations to violence. There are so many of them, however, that I abandoned this exercise after 50 or 60 or 70 pages." Of course, the obligatory charges of "Islamophobia" and accusations of inciting "fear and hatred" were immediately forthcoming, but his comments even received the backing of Australian Prime Minister John Howard.

But now Archbishop Pell has upset the apple cart yet again in an interview he gave two weeks ago to the National Catholic Reporter (the whole interview is worth the read). Pell is not only restating his charge that the Koran incites violence against unbelievers, but he is also questioning whether so-called "moderate" Muslims can be faithful to the Koran and challenging one of the chief doctrines of the "Golden Age of Islam" myth by claiming that "[i]t's difficult to find periods of tolerance in Islam. I'm not saying they're not there, but a good deal of what is asserted is mythical."

To the priests of multiculturalism, this is heresy. To Muslims, it is inflammatory and makes Pell deserving of death. But Archbishop Pell is telling the truth. God bless him for it. And those who know me would testify that I am one of the last persons on the planet to be heaping praise on the Church of Rome.

That said, I am curious about the silence of US Roman Catholic officials. Why has there been no American Catholic cardinal willing to speak so bluntly about one of the primary global issues of our day? And throwing a few stones at my own glass house, why since Franklin Graham received a presidential rebuke after his "insensitive" comments about Islam after 9/11, saying that it is "wicked" and "violent", have Evangelical leaders been just as silent? Are they more concerned about currying favor with the White House and Congressional leaders, or speaking the truth to a world awash in confusion?

To his credit, Graham has been unwilling to back off his previous statements. But it seems these other so-called Evangelical leaders are willing to blather on about just any other topic than delivering the message about Islam that the world desperately needs to hear. The example of Pope Benedict and Archbishop Pell should be an example to them all.