A nun who had spent most of her life helping sick people was murdered today by Muslims retalliating for Pope Benedict’s remarks about the violent nature of Islam.
An elderly Italian nun who devoted her life to helping the sick in Africa was shot dead by two gunmen at a hospital Sunday in an attack possibly linked to worldwide Muslim anger toward Pope Benedict XVI. Sister Leonella, 65, was shot in the back four times by pistol-wielding attackers as she left the Austrian-run S.O.S. hospital at lunch time after finishing nursing school for trainee medics. Her bodyguard was also slain.
There was no claim of responsibility for the attack, which came just hours after a leading Somali cleric condemned the pope’s remarks last week on Islam and violence.
So much for there being no casualties in this wave of Muslim violence. Sadly, I suspect she will not be the last.
I disagree somewhat with Ed Morrissey here:
What should influence Europeans and the West is this repetition of the Prophet Cartoons ugliness all over again. The Muslims are not interested in a Socratic dialogue, such as the kind proposed by Benedict in his speech, if one actually bothered to read it. They completely reject any notion of critical thinking when it comes to their doctrines, their laws, and their beliefs. They can make all the comments they want about Jews being descended from pigs and monkeys and the “polytheism” of Christians, but if anyone utters a word of scholarly criticism about Islam, the murders begin until someone admits that Islam is better than any other faith.
I’m sure there are plenty of Muslims around the world who welcome such a dialogue. Indeed, they probably constitute a majority of educated Muslims. The problem, though, is that most Muslims are kept ignorant by their societies and there are plenty of radicals in influential positions poised to fan the flames whenever an incident like this presents the opportunity. (The similarity with the modern remnants of the American civil rights movement is striking in that regard, with the notable exception that Sharpton, Mfume, and their kind stop well short of fomenting violence.)
Patrick Frey joins me in noting the irony of protesting the suggestion that Islam is violent by rioting and murdering.
