(FreedomBeacon.com)- Raymond Ibrahim, a scholar of Islamic history and religion, recently published an essay in which he stated that Pope Francis wants Christians to submit in the face of violence.
Ibrahim says that Pope Francis, a strong proponent of Doormat Christianity, is at it again, teaching absolute passivity—even in the face of deadly aggression—in an attempt to undo nearly two millennia of Christian dogma.
“A war is always—always!—the defeat of humanity, always,” Francis proclaimed in front of an audience on March 18, 2022.
The Pope said that this battle had crushed us, the educated, who work in education since we are accountable on the other side. Then Francis said that there is no such thing as a just war; they do not exist.
Ibrahim is concerned that this is a dangerous proposition that could easily lead to extinction if accepted—as millions of other naive minds would do.
Despite the Pope’s assertions, the religious scholar feels there is such a thing as a fair war—the only appropriate response to unjust wars—and it is deeply rooted in Christian, mainly Catholic, doctrine.
Historian Christopher Tyerman says that Christian theologians have long held that the so-called charity passages of the New Testament, which taught passivism and forgiveness rather than revenge, were clearly defined as referring to the private person’s beliefs and actions rather than the state.
Ibrahim reminds us that Christ distinguished between the social and spiritual spheres when he told his disciples to render Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what God’s is (Matthew 22:21).
When Jesus was slapped for the only time, he did not “turn the other cheek” but instead challenged his slapper to explain himself (John 18:22–23). The Nazarene also complimented a Roman centurion without urging him to “repent” by leaving one of the world’s most ruthless military (Matthew 8: 5–13).
When a group of soldiers asked John the Baptist how they might repent, he told them to be pleased with their army pay (Luke 3:14) and mentioned nothing about leaving the Roman army.
Tyerman states there is no inherent contradiction in a doctrine of personal, individual forgiveness that condones certain forms of necessary public violence to ensure the security in which Christians can ‘lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty,” as St. Paul put it (1 Tim. 2:2).
Ibrahim believes nothing is wrong with Pope Francis’ broad denunciation of war and its horrors. His customary lack of distinction—in this case, equating righteous and unjust wars—is troubling, if not dangerous.
Make no mistake, today’s world would be a very different place ‘if not for righteous wars and the heroic soldiers who fought them,’ concluded Ibrahim.
