Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Whose fault will some see this to be?

Sadly, the four US citizens aboard the yacht taken by Somali pirates were killed by their captors at some point during the negotiations for their release.

There is no doubt about it, this is tragic. These people did no one any harm and were simply doing what their faith moved them to do.

Faith is a funny thing; it's usually difficult to prove, but I would argue these four self-made missionaries proved theirs absolutely in no uncertain terms. I'm not a Christian, but I respect a sincere search for truth, and I'm sad for their families and and their friends and that's the truth.

But another truth is this: these people were murdered by Somali pirates. No one else did this. No one else is responsible. No one else is at fault.

All of this said, however, this tragedy will be spun, somehow and by some, as the fault of the Obama administration, if even only tangentially, it will be nevertheless their fault, their shortcoming.

Wait and see, and mark my words.

Among the evangelical far-right fringe (a base well represented by Fox News), this episode will be spun as a lack of leadership, that had Obama truly been a Christian (and not a closeted Muslim as "everyone knows" him to be), he never would have allowed this to happen; as if his long presidential arms could somehow reach to the East African coast and pluck these people away from their boat, away from harm, away from what will inevitably be viewed as their martyrdom.

Make no mistake: this is tragic.

And again, I'm sad for their families and their friends, but what's more tragic is that supposedly Christian people will sadly use it to their own un-Christian ends.

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