Christianity Under Conquest

Recently, I have been revisiting UK Christian websites to see if there have been any changes in positions vis-a-vis Jews and Israel since I surveyed their attitudes several years ago. Coincidentally, two things popped up this week which revealed that the pro-Palestinian/pro-Islamic, left-leaning strain among certain ecclesiastics is still alive and kicking in the UK and Europe, while their faith groups quietly move toward a vanishing point.

The Gatestone Institute offers Giulio Meotti’s article about unused British and European churches and synagogues which are being re-purposed for businesses or residences, or, increasingly, have been converted into mosques. Driving the abandonment of these properties are a combination of decreasing religiosity among Christians, and the virulent anti-Semitism which has driven Jews out of areas where Muslims now predominate.

As Meotti points out, there has been little protest over the creeping spread of Islam and little done which effectively stanches the bleeding loss of congregations. In this situation, should state churches hyper-focus on promoting family and social values in local communities? Are church international aid objectives a distraction from fortifying themselves locally? So far, government funding for foreign aid projects and the sale of church properties have fueled foreign exploits, including support for the “occupied Palestinians”. With a declining European Christian population, these efforts are already looking as if someone on a raft in the Pacific is giving away life preservers to a passing cruise ship.

Demographic shifts may well mean state funding for churches will dry up when most of the electorate is either apathetic or antagonistic towards these institutions. Yet, as we will see, there is a long-term strategic goal.

In a related moment of absurdity, the Catholic Archbishop of Cologne, Rainer Maria Woelki, stated that Christianity and Islam must be considered on an equal footing, especially as Muslims are now part of the German landscape. Even worse, he stated that Islam is compatible with the German constitution. This is the reiteration of the rights of Muslims as a protected faith community. During his tenure as Archbishop in Berlin Cardinal Woelki supported, inter alia, a refugee café offering homework help for immigrant youth. In other words, the Cardinal is trying to win hearts and minds by being open and actively promoting outreach to the Muslim community.

Considering that the mass rape in Cologne this past New Year’s Eve occurred right outside Cardinal Woelki’s cathedral, it seems that well-intentioned efforts will have little if any impact on the hordes of migrants spilling into Europe. What Woelki fails to grasp—or state—is that these migrants are an invasion, not a herd of poor sheep that needs tending. The ongoing influx of young Muslim men into Europe is an aggression; the rape of women on the doorsteps of the cathedral was also a Koranic, political act. In Islam women are part of the spoils of war, and for Woelki to defend Islam is to defend the rights of Muslims to rape German women.

To ignore the salient point that Islam is an imperialist political movement with a faith component on the side is to wholly miss the point. Yet many church officials seem to be directly opposed to getting the point. And that is why a small group of liberal elites persist in defaming Israel, the country with the only increasing Christian population in the Middle East, while supporting radical Palestinians who have driven Christians out of Palestinian-controlled areas. Europeans and church groups are key funders of fringe traitorous Israeli groups such as Breaking the Silence. BtS uses anonymous, unprovable accounts to smear the IDF.

While UK and European church elites continue to support the anti-Israel projects promoted by the World Council of Churches, their home base is shrinking. Yet the budgets for foreign aid they control or influence are anything but insubstantial. Members of the Church of England’s Christian Aid subsidiary sit on the UK’s DFID board that metes out foreign aid. Internationally, other WCC-affiliated churches operate similarly.

From an Israeli perspective, we were often ignorant of the actions and motives of these church-based charities and NGOs; now this is changing. The current government is trying to force a minimal amount of transparency on these groups’ lawfare and political meddling here in Israel.

From a much wider perspective, the anti-Israel efforts are a necessary public relations component as these churches see their historical home bases shrinking. Anglicans and Catholics see their future in Africa, Asia and South America—among the Non Aligned Movement nations which side with the U.N.’s Islamic bloc. The NAM held their 2012 conference in Teheran. In their newer bases, at some point, these left-leaning ecclesiastical groups will face militant Islam without fat foreign aid budgets to smooth their way. Having given up the fight in their homelands, they will, ultimately, face it elsewhere.