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Islamic terrorism's useful idiots

By Chris Ashton - posted Monday, 19 January 2015


O'Keefe: Bombing an abortion clinic is an act of terrorism based upon your religious belief.

So, forget the Lindt Café, and the "radical" imams in Lakemba and Auburn, and however many would-be Islamic terrorists have now been arrested by the Australian Federal Police; we evidently don't "need to talk about" such things as they impact Australians. Not at this time, anyway.

Panahi: When's the last time an abortion clinic was bombed, Andrew, by Christians?

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O'Keefe confesses his ignorance, but takes the question on notice. Of course, had the question been "when was the last time Islamic terrorists or militants killed innocent people?" he wouldn't have needed to search for it on his phone. But at least he's a quick googler.

O'Keefe (again, smugly): On abortion clinic bombings, the last one was in 2009.

We have a winner! But I wonder how many days there have been since 2009 when Islamic groups haven't shouted "Allahu Akbar" and avenged blasphemy against the prophet. Or killed shoppers and staff at shopping malls or chocolate cafes. Or strapped bombs to children.

And I wonder how quickly O'Keefe could find a church that promotes or approves of abortion clinic violence? Or a group? Or a bishop? Or a PDF magazine? Maybe he's not that quick a googler after all.

Anyway, Condren was getting bored, sitting there listening to O'Keefe getting to say all the stupid stuff.

Condren: I'm in the Andrew camp…Where was this conversation when the IRA was bombing London and parts of Ireland on the basis of their Catholic religion? Where was all the moral outrage?

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Oh boy. When, precisely, did Gerry Adams or Martin McGuinness or Sinn Féin or the IRA ever use the Catholic faith to justify their terrorism? It was part of a specific campaign for an independent, unified Ireland – as opposed to a caliph, or what Catholic theologians call a theocracy - which explains why their targets were always political, and why they didn't extend to, say, Australia. But as you know, sir, there was still plenty of moral outrage, including from outraged Christians.

Inexplicably the radio man then tried to back up his argument that Islam shouldn't be held responsible for the majority of terror acts globally by citing an Islamic terror organization (I know, very awkward).

Condren: We're very, very focused on what's happened in Paris…but Boko Haram has killed up to two thousand people in the last couple of days in north-eastern Nigeria.

And you're in the Andrew camp?

While Channel 7 was encouraging useful idiots like Patrick Condren and Andrew O'Keefe to mock the intelligence of most of its viewers, Boko Haram had just finished up a busy week of indiscriminate killing in the name of its religion. Its macabre coda was to explode a device word by a (probably unknowing) 10-year old girl in a bustling marketplace in Maiduguri, Nigeria. The Telegraph says that "Boko Haram is now a mini-Islamic State, with its own territory."

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About the Author

Chris Ashton is married with two children, works for the Presbyterian Church, and has a Master's in church history. He has written for The Spectator Australia and the ABC's The Drum, and tweets @chrisashton.

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