Must…break…inertia…so I lifted a comment I made at Bonald’s Throne and Altar. (My first, maybe? I forget.)
Can anyone explain this mystery to me?
God to Arab Muslim: Strap a bomb to your chest and blow yourself up in a crowded space.
Arab Muslim: God is great!
God to Catholic couple: Have unsterilized sex and have lots of cute babies.
Catholic couple: But, but, but….our freedom!!!
Am I just fooled by (a particular strand of) Muslim devoutness being so much more spectacular than Catholic devoutness? But there are an awful lot of young Muslims who, although not signing up for suicide missions, are fired up over the same causes. The population of Catholics of suicide-bomber-age who are fired up for fighting the Church’s fights and making babies seems to be just nonexistent.
In response to him (and Nick B. Steve’s comment that Bonald was comparing the most devout Muslims to the widest group of Roman Catholics) I wrote the following…
In comparing would-be Muslim bombers with would-be Christian parents there are extreme differences in soteriology, and differences in targets.
According to my formerly Muslim step-father: Islam teaches that each person is judged and weighed according to their earthly deeds. Unlike Christianity, this measurement is not thrown out on account of Jesus’s grace extended to us (I’m simplifying, here.) who are in communion with Him.The only sure way to avoid being found unworthy is to die in jihad.
What jihadi clerics do then is prey upon those Muslims who have been, or currently are, the most Westernized; the most decadent; etc. Went to a stripclub and snorted cocaine of a stripper? My son, only death in jihad can outweigh that. You’ll notice that the facts surrounding who blew up what, where they were raised, how much money their family had, etc. supports this.
In contrast, virtually all Christians are called to marriage and procreation. What is not rare is often not valued, so marriage and children seem to many like humdrum aspects of Christianity; such as candles or modest clothes. Like those things: Marriage and children aren’t even peculiar to Christians alone. It’s a case of Christians starving to death in the middle of an supermarket because supermarkets are bourgie, yo.
We’re all hipsters, now.
Things that We have Heard and Known 