Monday 11 January 2010

Massacre of the innocents

"Massacre of the Innocents", 1611-12, by Peter Paul Rubens.  
This gloriously bizarre blancmange of bottoms and titties reminds me rather of the lovely Charles de Steubens painting that's the header for my blog.  And also brings to mind that if the pantie-bomber had succeeded, nearly 300 people would have perished on Flight 253 on Christmas day.  But how many of them would have been "innocents"?
Elementary, my dear Meeker: all of them, right?  Right?   Well, no, not if you're certain Muslim scholars.  I've commented before that some Muslims (those that know their scripture) say that only Muslims are innocent; the very fact of being a non-believer renders one non-innocent.
Here's another spectacular case of that view, this time from imams in Canada, the "Muslimams", I call them.  They have spoken out against terrorist attacks on Canada and the US.  Because terrorist acts like knicker-bombing planes could lead to massacre of innocents, right?  Well, not really.  They're against attacks on north America because it would be an attack on Muslims!  Doesn't that sound thoughtful and compassionate?  I thought not.