Vice Pays Homage to Virtue!

Sir Winston Churchill, perhaps the greatest leader in British history, said, "The British nation is unique in this respect. They are the only people who like to be told how bad things are, who like to be told the worst." Ever since the British Prime Minister Tony Blair declared his support to go to war against Iraq's Saddam Hussein and since committing British troops to the coalition forces, contrary to the typical and predictable British attitude of apathy and self absorption, the extreme liberal British press has been beating the drum of ill tidings, in character to Churchill's unfailing assessment.

Added to its incessant gloom and doom depiction of the effort to bring democracy to Iraq and the Middle East, the far left liberal press has been on witch hunt to advance the popular Arab and Muslim sentiments of equating the desire and effort to bring democracy and individual freedom to the Middle East as another Christian Crusade, led by George Bush and Tony Blair, both of whom are Christians. I have wondered about the motives of the British press, in its hypocritical quest to discredit Blair by his association with George Bush, a “born again Christian”. I have come to the conclusion that strife and hatred sometimes create strange bedfellows and induce self-destructive tendencies. This appears to be the case here; the far left liberal British press and political Islamists, both hate Christianity and wants it completely stamped out of England, Europe and the whole world, hence their unholy alliance.

The spin on Blair’s statement in an interview with THE INDEPENDENT, published on March 4, 2006 proves my point. THE INDEPENDENT wrote, “Tony Blair has proclaimed that God will judge whether he was right to send British troops to Iraq, echoing statements from his ally George Bush.” The article went on to spin Blair’s statement, in an attempt to discredit the Prime Minister. They must be saying to themselves, aha! He finally said it'. It is abundantly clear that they have been waiting for this time, now it has finally come and they are going to make the most of it. Alas, it is only to their inevitable peril.

It is said that in the eyes of skepticism, words become redundant. That may be so, but does common sense also have to become redundant? It is apparent that the liberal British press mirrors the general sentiment of the British people, afraid of the Muslims in their midst, afraid of the Islamic fundamentalists, who are ever so willing to commit suicide, create chaos, just to destroy as many innocent lives as possible. Muslims in Britain sensing this fear, as a predator senses the aura of fear emanating from its prey, are increasingly flaunting the symbolic power of their lethal weapon (suicide bomber regalia, etc.) and newfound power over the "infidels" —fear and uncertainty, of exploding buildings, trains, buses and airplanes. The suggestive conducts of those protesting the cartoon of Prophet Mohammed on the streets of London recently is a clear indication.

Feeling exposed and construing Tony Blair's support for the war as an open invitation to Islamic terrorists, the British press has been trying to discredit Prime Minister Tony Blair, by seeking to create the impression that his action on Iraq was directed by his Christian faith, absurdly implying that Blair and Bush are engaged in a religious war against Islam and against Muslims. But, I am comforted in knowing that a little over half a century ago, Britain was also gripped by fear of the Nazis, but one man was brave enough to rouse the latent courage of the British people, who built bridges with their bodies to beat back the evil that came knocking on their doors and steamed-rolled their tranquil towns and cities.

Prime Minister Tony Blair knew the British press has been on his case, right from the start of this war. Unfortunately, despite being aware of the trick questions the far left liberal British press has been incessantly fielding to entrap him, Blair failed to learn from Jesus’ experience with Pontus Pilate just before Jesus was crucified. Pilate asked Jesus the trick question, "Are you the king of the Jews?" Jesus knowing Pilate’s motive for asking the question replied, "Are you asking this on your own, or have others told you about me?"

Someone once said that hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue. Such is the notion of standing for something and yet not wanting it to come about. One cannot claim to want freedom for all people, yet hinder the efforts that will bring it about. How can anyone speak from both sides of the mouth—take refuge in the protective arms of good virtue, yet deny the essence of good virtue. It is akin to eating an apple and denying its existence or insisting that it is beef or something else. Such is the attitude of the far left liberal British press to Christianity and such can only be for no other reason except mischief or malice.

When I hear people castigate the idea of freedom for every person, regardless of place or position; I wonder what they would offer in its place. Those who engage in witch hunting to discredit George Bush and Tony Blair, by taking issue with their faith, as to castigate their desire to see freedom come to all people, are blinded by their hatred and antagonism to Christianity. It is really not about Bush and Blair; it’s all about Christianity. But these protagonist of existentialism and antagonist of Christianity must remember that the very idea of freedom for all is a Christian virtue, a virtue founded on truth—another Christian virtue. “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” Remember that? This is because it is the truth that makes one free.

It is in the truth that one is declared free or innocent, just as an accused person is declared free in the truth of his innocence, just as a person in bondage is set free in light of the truth of his humanity, and just as a person who is afraid of the unknown is liberated by the knowledge of the none existence of the very thing he feared. “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Remember that one too? This is because someone has to bring the truth to those who lack freedom that they might then have freedom. Look at the Iraqis, they are learning things they never could have imagined, doing things they never knew they could do—choosing who will rule them and saying what they would like to say. That is freedom and someone had to bring it to them. Democracy works and it should not matter whose idea it was or where it originated.

True freedom derives from truth itself, because true freedom can only be freedom in the truth. Indeed, there is no freedom without truth. True freedom is not found in doing what one likes, but in doing what one ought. The former is illusory, superficial, and fails to recognize the whole truth about the essence of humanity. To that extent, Bush and Blair are doing what they ought in Iraq, while the far left is cheering for the status quo—oppression and stagnation. They are the “do nothing bunch.”

No one, not even the most rabid liberals, who have become quite famous as antagonists of Christianity, can point to one thing that Jesus Christ ever said or did that is not to the benefit of all people, yet they seek to discredit Blair on his account. The problem the liberals have with Christianity is that they want and enjoy freedom, not the truth that underlies it. But freedom must have fidelity with truth, if it is not to become bondage. One may have the freedom to sniff heroin, but in the addiction that follows, one losses his freedom, ends up in bondage and quickly discovers that he never had the freedom he thought he had in the first place.

Obviously, the state of collective irrationality that the far left has found itself is in keeping with the essential postmodernist principle—the rejection of the very idea that language actually refers to something or signifies an actual existing thing, and the belief that the act of speaking gives reality (meaning and substance) to things and ideas, and that language is not a pure description of reality, hence the spin, the lies, and more lies—essentially whoever shouts louder or longer, regardless of what is being said. This consciousness is of course founded on the profusely divergent ideas of multiculturalism. It is a war of words, and words have power—the power to guide or misguide, the power to set the mind and body free or take them captive. The power of life and death lies in the tongue, the Bible says.

Under the guise of tolerance, the over zealous liberals have clearly shown that they are anti-Christian. In fact, Christian bashing has become a favorite pastime of the enforcers of multiculturalism and the Political Correctness horse traders; hence their convenient attacks on Bush and Blair. It is quite clear that multiculturalism and political correctness have become tools for persecuting Christians in Western societies.

All through time, Christians have been taken advantage of, persecuted and pushed aside, because of the very essence of Christianity – love (even for their enemies), peace, forgiveness, and justice. The notion of Christians as wimps that would readily turn the other cheek repeatedly and endlessly to be slapped on, has led Christian haters everywhere to essentially bully Christians, expecting no consequence or retribution. Yet they never fail to exhibit their wimpiness when it comes to Muslims, of course for obvious reasons.

In their growing disdain for Christians and apparent fear of Muslims, the left is catering to Muslims, in essentially promoting Islam by constantly making excuses for Islam and Muslims, while vigorously deriding Christianity and Christians. Clearly the application of the constitutional injunction of separation of church and state has become covert attack on Christians. They are ever willing to bend the rules, even abandon them for Muslims, but ever willing and eager to use the law to marginalize Christians. Of course, this is understandable, given that they scared to death by a few Muslims in the midst, but they have nothing to fear about Christians, except a troubled conscience inspired by the moral imperatives Christianity bears.

In their unrestrained and almost maniacal zeal to get at Christians, the far left Western media have shown that they will go to any length to do so, even if it means dubiously promoting Islam. Their ill fixation on Christianity is nothing short of a suicidal tendency. It is indeed a perilous premise.

Malcolm Muggeridge, in The End of Christendom, wrote "A strange thing I have observed over many years in this business of news gathering and news presentation is that by some infallible process media people always manage to miss the most important thing. It’s almost as though there were some built-in propensity to do this. In moments of humility, I realize that if I had been a correspondent in the Holy Land at the time of our Lord’s ministry, I should almost certainly have spent my time knocking about with the entourage of Pontius Pilate, finding out what the Sanhedrin was up to, and lurking around Herod’s court with the hope of signing up Salome to write her memoirs exclusively. I regret that this is true. Ironically enough, as the dramatization of the public scene gains impetus, so we move farther and farther from the reality of things and become more and more preoccupied with fantasy".