Religious
Martyrdom Is a European Ideal, Too
By Paolo Pontoniere
Pacific News Service
Political analysts in Europe and the United States
a month ago reacted with horror to the news that
a native-born Belgian woman had become the first
female Western convert to Islam to blow herself
up for “martyrdom.” It’s as
if being born and raised in the West were a vaccine
against religious extremism.
But Muriel Deraque’s tragic end in Iraq
could be a sign that the lure of religious self-sacrifice
is once again resonating among some Europeans,
a zeal that isn’t exclusive to fanatical
followers of Islam.
As an Italian and a Roman Catholic, I find in
Muriel’s story a confirmation that the spiritual
wall that separates Muslim and Christian extremism
isn’t very thick. Italian, German and French
thinkers, both on the left and on the right, have
often advocated nationalism, protectionism and
anti-globalism with an unapologetic embrace of
extremist violence. Indeed, the fight against
evil worldwide provides Catholic and Islamic zealots
a lot to agree on, including the practice of martyrdom.
Doctrinal similarities between Roman Catholicism
and Islam provide an easy bridge for dissatisfied
Christians to cross into Muslim faith. Seen through
the window of Catholic orthodoxy, Muriel’s
decision not only becomes conceivable -- even
the late Pope John Paul II called the invasion
of Iraq immoral -- but also hints that she may
be only the first of a long line of European defenders
of God getting ready to fight against Western
materialism and moral turpitude.
Martyrdom, intrinsic to Catholicism, rose to prominence
during the fourth century when Catholics came
to believe that dying for one’s faith was
not just a duty, but also an honor and a privilege.
Under Catholic canon law, Christian martyrs are
assured immediate ascension to Paradise upon their
death. Martyrdom cleanses the person of every
sin, even capital ones. At the time of the Crusades,
the promise of eternal life achieved through fighting
for the glory of God, and not only the lure of
free land and war loot, compelled thousands of
Christians to travel to Jerusalem, especially
during the first Crusade.
Closer to our time, the late Pope Jean Paul II
actively celebrated the gift of martyrdom. During
his papacy, he beatified 266 martyrs. In 1982,
he canonized Maximilian Kolbe as a martyr of charity.
Kolbe was a Polish priest and theologian who,
while interned at Auschwitz in 1941, offered his
life in exchange for that of another prisoner.
The Nazis condemned him to slow death by starvation,
but seeing that he was lasting longer than expected
they terminated him with a poisoned injection.
Today Kolbe is considered the protector saint
of journalists, families, prisoners and chemically
addicted persons.
“Charity, in conformity with the radical
demands of the Gospel, can lead the believer to
the supreme witness of martyrdom,” wrote
JPII in his encyclical Veritatis Splendori. In
so doing, he recognized that those who act --
witness -- on their faith against tyranny are
to be considered martyrs. While the definition
has been used generally to recognize those who
do not fear self-destruction for the sake of affirming
the sacredness of human life, in the US, anti-abortion
bombers and snipers do not hesitate to cloak themselves
with the mantle of martyrdom.
Members of the Army of God, like Paul Hill, who
was executed in a Florida prison on Sept. 3, 2003;
Eric Rudolph, who was responsible of the 1996
bombing of the Atlanta Summer Olympics that caused
the death of two people; and James Kopp, a Catholic
who in 1998 summarily executed abortion provider
Dr. Barnet Slepian at his house in Buffalo, NY,
have never hesitated to define themselves as martyrs
in the fight to save innocent unborn children.
“If you believe abortion is a lethal force,
you should oppose the force and do what you have
to do to stop it,” said Hill from the death
chamber on his execution day. “May God help
you to protect the unborn as you would want to
be protected,” Hill added before exhaling
for the last time.
These warriors of God had found plenty of support
and refuge across Europe. Many security analysts
say European women converting to Islam via marriage
could represent the latest and most serious threat
to the stability of the continent. Anti-terrorism
experts believe that while in many cases these
conversions are just normal steps in marrying
a Muslim, in a few instances they are true political
statements.
In 2003, French Judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere, foretelling
what would come years later, warned that terrorist
networks in Europe were actively seeking to recruit
Caucasian women. He predicted that in an initial
phase they would be used merely for logistics
and communication, but that it would be just matter
of time before they started to carry out attacks
themselves. Deraque’s case seems to confirm
that the time has come.
(PNS contributor Paolo Pontoniere is a correspondent
for Focus, Italy’s leading monthly magazine.)
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