The Right Opinion
Of Gods and Men
It's a discussion for another day as to why those entrusted with the delivery of news so stubbornly refuse to cover the very deadly war being waged at this very moment against Christianity in the Middle East. The aggressors are radical Islamists, the victims Christians, especially those wearing the cloth. Every week, another report detailing another attack seeps through the wall of non-information, of men condemned to death in Saudi Arabia for the crime of conversion, of Catholic churches bombed in Baghdad on Christmas Day, of Coptic congregations slaughtered in Egypt and the like.
Sad and troubling to be sure, but it's over there ... over there. Do you have any recollection of the story 15 years ago of the small community of Trappist monks in Algeria kidnapped in a prisoner-exchange plot and then murdered? To the extent I was aware of the brutal story, it was something I quickly filed away in the memory banks under "Oh, dear." Nothing more.
French filmmaker Xavier Beauvois challenges us to remember. He has delivered the hauntingly beautiful "Of Gods and Men," winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. "Schindler's List" was aimed at your heart; "Of Gods and Men" captures your soul.
The movie tells the story of Brother Christian and his half-dozen fellow monks, mostly elderly, as so many monastic congregations are, living the simplest of lives in impoverished and violent Algeria in 1996. Their Trappist vows mandated a life providing basic medical needs to the Muslim peasants in the village Tibhirine; of producing and marketing simple produce like honey for their own sustenance; of prayer and song in their little chapel; of contemplation and of silence.
But that world is shattered by Islamic terrorism. In the one and only grisly scene, a few Croatians are repairing a local road when a convoy of jeeps, with engines roaring and tires squealing, emerge. The terrorists dismount, grab the foreigners, innocent and unarmed, and viciously slit their throats.
The news reaches the monks. They know that as "infidels," they are now marked men. They know the government, corrupt and murderous in its own right, is equally threatening. If they stay, it is only a matter of time. They will be killed. The villagers plead for them to leave.
On Christmas Eve, the monastery is assaulted by these killers. The defenseless monks are ordered to surrender their medical supplies. But Brother Christian refuses to do so, citing the need to provide it for the children and the elderly. It is a war of nerves, and the terrorist leader blinks. He turns to leave, but Brother Christian stops him and, quoting from the Koran, admonishes him not to disturb the sanctity of God's house on this holy night. The message resonates. Chagrined, the Muslim terrorist apologizes.
The monks know they will return, and this time, there will be finality. They meet to discuss their future. Initially, the brothers are divided; after much prayer, contemplation and consultation, the community embraces the will of God. It was their calling to minister to these villagers, and with these villagers they will remain.
The terrorists return. At gunpoint, the monks are kidnapped. In the final heart-breaking scene, these holy men are silently led away to their execution.
There is a riveting exchange in "Nearer My God," William F. Buckley Jr.'s magnificent opus on his Catholic faith, wherein he attempts to capture the essence of the monastic experience. He poses a series of questions to Father Michael, a cloistered Benedictine monk in France, the final one regarding the "manifest tendentiousness" of monastic life. Father Michael's answer is prescient.
"Men who are drawn to be monks are radicals by temperament; there are other ways to 'put on Christ,'" he explains. "The monk feels a huge tug to go it the whole way, to climb to the very summit, and to dedicate his life to that and that alone ... I like to think of the metaphor of a road winding its way up a mountain, encircling it as it rises. The man on the road is conscious mostly of the never-ending series of obstacles and difficulties, which change but little in nature. Yet from time to time he can gaze out on the expanse below him and judge ... the distance he has travelled. The monk's life is a continuous striving, a daily battle, and the prize, the summit of the mountain, is Christ."
Brother Christian and his fellow martyrs reached the summit. Perhaps it would be appropriate in this Lenten season to pray for all men of the cloth, of all vocations, so many in such danger in a world where evil rages, or who are just simply mocked by a secularist society that rejects their commitment to faith. I reserve special intentions for Father Michael, my brother Michael, who began his own ascent, and the daily battle, 32 years ago.
COPYRIGHT 2011 CREATORS.COM
16 Comments
BoFromTexas
Saturday, April 2, 2011 at 3:22 AM
How many of us will stand in the gap when the going gets tough? These priests put their lives where most of us put only our mouths. There will be a time when we are challenged, as these holy men were. Most of us will deny being Christians so that we do not lose lives, property, etc. We will be tested by fire, as is already happening on college campuses and other workplaces. God sees and will see our cowardice. Will I have the courage to stand up? I hope so, but I do not know. I do know the consequences if I do not.
TruthInAction
Saturday, April 2, 2011 at 7:20 AM
Amen.
mrkim
Saturday, April 2, 2011 at 2:32 PM
It's admirable when anyone is willing to stand up for their beliefs and do so most particularly in light of overwhelming expectations of their own demise for having done so.I find any and every violent action by an opposing theocratic ideology as a violation of the base tenets of their ideology, since they all claim to be peaceful.Though at my core I stand opposed to the acceptance of any theocratic ideology, I certainly respect all others rights to believe as they choose, so long as profession and practice of their religion causes no harm to others.That having been said, the Islamic/Muslim religion is the only one I truly fear, nor can I in clear conscience extend the same level of acceptance I extend to others. With deception, violence, persecution, condemnation, degradation and the murder of all non-beleievers they regard as infidels as an accepted and reasonable practice of Islamic faith my query is how could any thinking, caring human logically embrace such ideas and feel good about that :>/
CRAIG PRICE
Saturday, April 2, 2011 at 10:29 PM
ANYONE WHO DOESN'T THINK MUSLIMS WANT TO EXTERMINATE ALL OF US "INFIDELS" JUST GOOGLE WAHHABIISM --THE MAIN SAUDI "RELIGION"CRAIG PRICE
Eric
Sunday, April 3, 2011 at 9:02 AM
A much more dangerous religion than Islam exists in the west; the religion whose followers claim that there is no higher power than man. Western civilization which, at its highest point, held to the belief that government exists to protect the rights that each individual, made in the image of God, had been given by God. Rejecting the existence and authority of God, western man put himself in the place of God, and as the worst rose to power, crafted laws to ensnare, and enslave fellow men to work their will. A menu of abusive forms of government sprang to life; communism, socialism, fascism, and yes democratism in which the life of the individual is laid claim to by the majority. Why is Islam on the rise in the west? Faith in the God of the Bible has been systematically been destroyed by the system of government which spans from the schools to the courts. You can't fight a culture war with kinetics. Bullets do not kill ideas. The message of Islam resonates with many because it is closer to the Truth than the message of humanism. May the One True God help us all.
mrkim
Sunday, April 3, 2011 at 1:24 PM
Your statements above leave me unsure of your focus.First you make the case that the fall of western civilization is because of people turning away from theocracy which statistically seems improbable as globally the purported figures for those who lack of theocratic belief ranges between 5 and 15% depending on the source.Then you state the rise of Islam is because "The message of Islam resonates with many because it is closer to the Truth than the message of humanism."With the purported goals of the rise of Islam being the destruction of western civilization (with its supporters now nearing 50% of the earths population), it would seem there's much more reasonable fear of the destruction of our civilization will come at the hands of Muslims than a minute statistical rise in the number of atheists.Most of we atheists really just want theists to be the kind, loving and accepting souls they all espouse themselves to be, with world peace as a byproduct of that acceptance. While I suppose some could view that as irrational, I'm unsure how supportable such a claim could be, nor how such a hope would lead to the demise of western civilization.Muslims however, do not seem to hold such a view and herald persecution and even death of anyone believing differently than themselves as reasonable and even a true act of profession of their faith. Seems like there's far more reason to fear Islam and its spread than could reasonably be accredited to atheism ;>)
CA Conservative
Sunday, April 3, 2011 at 2:48 PM
mrkim, On this issue we agree, today's world has infinitely more to fear from Islam than from atheism and I think any argument otherwise to be weak at best. My only real problem with atheism in America is that if one does not believe their rights come from a creator but rather from other men it seems they are far more likely to colude with other men to deny me my God given rights. The most successful tyrants of the 20th century were all atheist (Hitler, Stalin, Mao), not a coincidence but not necessarily as a direct result of their atheism, it may just have been an enabler for them.At least I don't fear atheist killing me because I don't believe as they do. Everyone should fear the fundamental teachings of Islam, including "moderate" Muslims who a believe in a diluted version of the Koran.
Tex Horn
Sunday, April 3, 2011 at 8:19 PM
How may Muslims have been slaughtered because one of them burned a Bible?
Tex Horn
Sunday, April 3, 2011 at 8:21 PM
Correction: How MANY Muslims have been slaughtered because one of them burned a Bible?
mrkim
Monday, April 4, 2011 at 1:44 AM
CA, great we find agreement, that's always a plus:>)I do suppose you're more likely to find in support of mans laws, but quite simply that's because I don't believe in god so really is that such a stretch?However, I'm not in line with public religious constraint. As one who seeks more freedom and less regulation, that's a given too.Conversely, I do wish theists would also extend the same courtesy to public statements and profession of atheist thinking in advertising, etc. that I willingly extend to their messages.It seems indeed odd that I can drive anywhere and read church billboards with mentions of how I'm destined to eternity in hell from my lack of belief, but when 2 or 3 billboards go up with atheist messages they're met with threats of tearing/burning them down and it turns into BIG news nationally, which hardly seems reasonable or rational :>/
Tom Burgess
Monday, April 4, 2011 at 12:01 PM
RE: Dialogue between CA Conservative and mrkim. I believe the Judeo-Christian Scriptures, which teach that the fear the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom, and that we should not fear those who can kill the body but He who can take the soul. Nonetheless, while I appreciate mrkim's tolerance of public religiosity, I must underscore CA Conservative's implicit acknowledgement that many more multiplied millions died in the 20th century at the hands of atheists (Nazis and Communists) than have died in recent years at the hands of Islamists (although this century is still young).
mrkim
Monday, April 4, 2011 at 1:45 PM
To Tom,Once again the actions of maniacal dictators who were atheist individuals is utilized to perpetrate the allusion that atheists are mass murderers, or at least are to be feared for their lack of belief.Lunacy and maniacal behavior seemingly know no boundaries based in theology, though some things point to the idea it might help if one were.No atheist led groups ever swept across Europe or the Middle East crusading with their swords to impart their lack of theocratic belief to others. No atheist led groups have perpetrated attacks on abortion clinics, hi-rises or claimed to be at war with theocracy, nor western civilization as a whole, while the same can not be said of various theocratic groups in the world.While theists take their best shots at the vilification of atheism, the stark reality that exists is quite simply we are not the enemy of neither man nor religion.Atheists DO fear the killer of the body because that ends life, no matter what one believes comes afterward. When you're dead, the existence in this plane of consciousness, the only one we are all unequivocably assured of, has ended.Some atheists, myself included, tend to fear theocracy itself because the overwhelming historical evidence points to more wars, oppression and death perpetrated by one theocratic group or another upon the people of the earth at the hands of maniacal followers of one god or another than from any other single societal force.If and when one can find mention of an atheist claiming they want to kill theists over their beliefs, then you can reasonably place that atheist in the company of theological groups who openly profess such a goal.However, you can rest assured they will be in the most minuscule minority of minorities when you find such an atheist individual and they're not likely to have even a hand full of supporters.Conversely, when you happen upon a Muslim professing such belief you'll likely find multiple, if not thousands of supporters, financial backing and a decided will to achieve their goals :>/
Robert of Prague
Monday, April 4, 2011 at 3:06 PM
Brent;Great story & soul searching on an under-reported & grave issue. The same goes re: black on black slavery still going on mostly in Africa, the slaves being Christians & slave-masters Muslim.As a former atheist for half my life & a Christian for the other, I understand the off-topic comments from both sides.The issue at hand, as Brent points out, is not btw atheists, Christians & Jews, but what we all going to do when we have a dull sword of an Islamist on our throat. Even an atheist believes in the nonexistence of God. What will give him the strength to die for that belief? As they say, there are no atheists in foxholes.I've always wondered why especially millions of Christians & Jews (think of Rome, pogroms, Stalin, Hitler, ad nauseam) were willing to die for their faith. Many of them highly educated people. I know it now, having that faith myself. We are dual beings & we all have fallen short of God's Grace. The Russians have a great proverb. I give you a ruble if you show me where God is. I give you two if you show me where He isn't.Since my family including myself has withstood the threat of severe punishment for noncooperation from the Red goons, I hope that defiance is part of my determination not to deny Christ.
Richard Ryan
Monday, April 4, 2011 at 3:48 PM
In our church yesterday our pastor preached on the very subject of both living and dying for our Christian beliefs.It is a challenge we as Christians face every day.A life of true Christianity is a very challenging life as Christians are faced with temptation every day.I sincerely hope and pray that I am up to that demanding standard.Richard RyanLamar,Missouri (Birthplace of Harry S Truman)
p3orion
Monday, April 4, 2011 at 6:26 PM
The problem with atheism / humanism, which is also its allure for the various flavors of Marxism, is that there is no longer a higher power that provides an unshakeable morality. That's not to say that atheists are necessarily immoral, but only that if their morality is derived from within, by the thought of man, it can be changed the same way. Hence the curse of "evolving" moral standards.It is this characteristic which makes it so attractive to totalitarian systems of government, which are notorious for perceiving what they believe to be the "greater good" that will require the loss of someone else's liberty or life.In a way, that makes perfect sense. If there is no God, then why the hell not kill others?