St. Louis, G.K. Chesterton--and Ann Coulter!
That's right, Ann "we should invade their countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity" Coulter.
In an article at Renew America, Steve Kellmeyer provides further support for the unfashionable truth that, even for Christians, sometimes violence really is the answer:
When war is waged in order to protect the innocent and turn the wicked from their ways, it is an expression of love. That is why St. Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, could demand a sinner be turned out of the community, turned over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh so that his soul might be saved on the last day. This kind of language is precisely the kind of language the earliest Christians used constantly in explaining the Gospels. They understood that war is necessary because love sometimes requires it.
That understanding has never left Catholic Faith. G. K. Chesterton quotes St. Louis, who followed St. Paul one thousand years later, as saying, "I must either convince the pagan (Muslim) of the rightness of Catholic Faith or thrust my sword through his body as far as it will go." St. Louis was just paraphrasing St. Paul. Ann Coulter simply repeats the wisdom of both. History demonstrates the problem: while Islam and Christendom are both in the world, there will be war.
And, yes, that's Saint Louis, for you pacifists out there. Read the whole thing.
That's right, Ann "we should invade their countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity" Coulter.
In an article at Renew America, Steve Kellmeyer provides further support for the unfashionable truth that, even for Christians, sometimes violence really is the answer:
When war is waged in order to protect the innocent and turn the wicked from their ways, it is an expression of love. That is why St. Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, could demand a sinner be turned out of the community, turned over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh so that his soul might be saved on the last day. This kind of language is precisely the kind of language the earliest Christians used constantly in explaining the Gospels. They understood that war is necessary because love sometimes requires it.
That understanding has never left Catholic Faith. G. K. Chesterton quotes St. Louis, who followed St. Paul one thousand years later, as saying, "I must either convince the pagan (Muslim) of the rightness of Catholic Faith or thrust my sword through his body as far as it will go." St. Louis was just paraphrasing St. Paul. Ann Coulter simply repeats the wisdom of both. History demonstrates the problem: while Islam and Christendom are both in the world, there will be war.
And, yes, that's Saint Louis, for you pacifists out there. Read the whole thing.
posted by Anonymous at
12:28 AM
1 Comments:
I am sure that the pacifists out there will say that we've "outgrown" the kind of words and feelings that St. Paul, St. Louis, G.K. Chesterton and Ann Coulter have all spoken. I don't believe we have, and I also believe we need more people to say them today. In the days immediately following the September 11th attacks, Coulter's words were the simplest and most direct statement of the solution to the problem of how to respond to Islam. They still are.
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