A 74-year-old Catholic priest was attacked this week in Turkey. A man, who was described as mentally ill, was arrested in the knifing of Father Pierre Brunissen. The previous two were linked to Islamic opposition to Christian clergy. This, however, may be a personal case. Here’s what the BBC wrote:
The man had allegedly made complaints about Fr Brunissen trying to convert people to his faith.
Reports said he was attacked in a busy street about 1km from his church.
“I hope this has nothing to with Islamic fundamentalism,” Monsignor Luigi Padovese, the apostolic vicar for Anatolia, told the Associated Press news agency .
“The climate has changed… it is the Catholic priests that are being targeted.”
Anonymously-sourced alleged complaints notwithstanding, this story really could have nothing to do with religious intolerance. But the secular situation in Turkey is very tenuous and worthy of deeper coverage. When I came across this article, I was also pointed to a months-old Washington Post story that looked at the situation in Turkey with a bit more depth. It showed how Muslims believe Roman Catholic missionaries are paying young Muslims to convert to Christianity. It also had this very amazing line:
The tension dates at least to the 13th century, when Christian Crusaders sacked what is today Istanbul.
Really? That’s where the Muslim — Christian tension in Istanbul comes from? From before it was a Muslim city? Interesting.
See, I thought that the great and ancient Christian city of Constantinople (or, as the Post says, “what is today Istanbul”) withstood dozens of attacks from Muslims before finally falling to Sultan Mehmet II in 1453. I mean, yes, soldiers in the Fourth Crusade took over Constantinople — from the Byzantine Christians. I don’t think that’s where Muslim-Christian conflict came from. And the Western-Eastern divide was centuries older, besides. However, I seem to recall there was a particularly brutal final 54-day siege and capture of the city.
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Comments (13) |
July 6, 2006, at 11:14 am
Thanks for noting this.
July 6, 2006, at 12:33 pm
This is yet another example of the media perpetuating the myth of the crusades as “That thing where Christians attacked the Muslims”, completely ignoring the full complexities of the time, as well as similar Muslim attempts to conquer Western Europe. When a poor priest in Istanbul can’t die without implied blame being pinned on his own faith, any traces of journalistic integrity or netrality have vanished.
July 6, 2006, at 1:11 pm
http://music.yahoo.com/track/1628997
and full lyrics here:
http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~yavuzcet/lyrics.htm
July 6, 2006, at 1:12 pm
A point of clarification - the priest did not die. He was stabbed, but his injuries were not life-threatening.
July 6, 2006, at 1:14 pm
Jeffrey,
It’s really nobody’s business but the Turks.
July 6, 2006, at 1:55 pm
Take that woman out and GAFIATE her!
July 6, 2006, at 1:56 pm
“Did you know that ‘Constantinople’ spelled backwards is ‘Elponitsnatsnoc’?” — Poul Anderson
July 6, 2006, at 2:15 pm
Another source of trouble in that country has been the continued discussion of what happened to Armenian Christians…I mean, the Armenians that..
Weren’t there! There were no Armenians…And, they had it coming…No wonder there’s confusion about “Tensions” between Christians and Muslims!
When ther *are* no Christians, the tensions will end. If there are any….
July 6, 2006, at 2:57 pm
Okay, I found an Armenian joke set in Constantinople:
In Constantinople, an Armenian walks by a store window with a bunch of clocks and watches in it. He figures that he might as well go in and repair his watch. He asks the shop owner “Can you fix my watch?” The shop owner looks at him and shakes his head, “I’m sorry, we don’t fix watches here. We don’t sell watches either.”
Surprised and somewhat confused, the man asks the shop owner what exactly his shop does.
The shop owner looks at him in a matter-of-fact way and says “We perform circumcisions! We’ve been in business for years and no one circumcises more children in this town than we do.” Irritated, the man with the broken watch asks him, “Then WHY in the world do you have watches and clocks in you store window?”
The shop owner says, “What would you rather have me display instead?”
(The place online where I found this says it sounds MUCH funnier in Armenian.)
I’m afriad this has nothing to do with the stabbing of a priest, or its religious implications (if any) but it’s the best I can do. Finding jokes with the word “Constantinople” in them is quite difficult.
July 6, 2006, at 5:57 pm
even old new york was once new amsterdam…
July 7, 2006, at 2:45 am
As the Ortho voice here, let me add this word to Mollie’s …
What she said.
July 8, 2006, at 8:12 am
Hmmm… Christian v. Muslim conflict…
What about complaint that Christians *could* have against Isalm based on the conversion by the sword of Christian lands to Isalm in the 7th and 8th centuries?
That would technically make the Christian complaint against Isalm be 400 - 500 years earlier than the Crusades complaint against the Christians…
;o)
July 19, 2006, at 12:28 pm
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