Will The West Win This Time? 

President Obama interrupted his Martha's Vineyard vacation yesterday to address the beheading of American journalist James Foley. Obama mustered all the outrage and anger he is apparently capable of. 

After concluding his brief remarks, Obama rushed back to the golf course. In contrast, British Prime Minister David Cameron cancelled his summer vacation and returned to London on the news that Foley's executioner was most likely British.

One sentence stood out because its theme has been repeatedly used by top administration officials. Obama said: "One thing we can all agree on is that a group like ISIL (ISIS) has no place in the 21st century." 

Apparently the president and his colleagues put a lot of faith in the calendar instead of in what courageous, free men are called to do when confronted by pure evil. There is nothing written in stone about what the 21st century is going to be like. All centuries are defined by the actions of living human beings. Throughout the history of mankind there have been times when man suffered greatly at the hands bloodthirsty tyrants. 

Will we rise to the occasion? Or will the world slip into another Dark Age? 

The last time that leaders of free nations and the people they governed held the worldview of the president was during the period between the two Great Wars. All over Europe it was widely believed that after the horror of World War I, no one would dare return to such horrors again. The world desperately wanted to believe that it was "the war to end all wars."

In the highest levels of virtually every government, there was a prevailing belief that pieces of paper, coupled with wagging fingers, could stop barbarians. On university campuses in Great Britain and in other countries, young men were proud to boast that they would never again fight for "King and Country." 

Meanwhile, a demagogic rebel rouser, understanding the thirst for revenge that filled the souls of his fellow Germans, methodically went about plotting conquest and genocide. For years, free nations refused to act, while evil gained strength. Looking back on that sad chapter, there was no guarantee that World War II would end with an Allied victory. And there are no guarantees now that the future belongs to us. 

Obama spent a good deal of his remarks yesterday lecturing ISIS (ISIL). He said, "ISIL speaks for no religion.  Their victims are overwhelmingly Muslim, and no faith teaches people to massacre innocents." That has been a common refrain from public figures in the West ever since 9/11. But there is something odd about it, in my view. 

Clearly, there are millions of Muslims who believe Allah does command them to "kill the infidel." How else can ISIS, Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, Boko Haram and the Taliban exist? 

Instead of having a professorial argument over their faith, we need to get about the business of winning this war for our civilization! Until we do that, ISIS will continue to have a place in the 21st century. 

By the way, if you feel I'm being overly critical, check out this reaction from MSNBC's Chris Matthews, who said that if ISIS wants to die, "Help them out!" 

"The Same Savagery" 

Commenting on the murder of James Foley, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said yesterday: 
 

"You saw the beheading of an American journalist, [James] Foley. It shows you the barbarism, the savagery of these people. Well, we face the same savagery. The people who wantonly rocket our cities and want to conduct mass killings. And when they can, they murder children, teenagers, shoot them in the head -- and use their people as human shields."

Netanyahu is right. Hamas fired 167 rockets into Israel yesterday, hoping to kill innocent Israelis. Israel responded by targeting key terrorist commanders. Three Hamas leaders and a "senior Islamic Jihad terrorist" have reportedly been killed. 

As the attacks on Israel continue, this is a good time to again state the obvious: The problem confronting the world is not the nation that lives under the Star of David. The problem is the caliphate of the mind that is becoming a caliphate of territory under the black flag of Al Qaeda and ISIS. 

But there is a sickness spreading in the West. Radical Islam subjugates women into slavery, forces religious conversions under the threat of death, beheads people, crucifies them, blows up churches and even attacks mosques deemed insufficiently devout. Yet as this "cancer" metastases throughout the Muslim world, the streets of Paris, Berlin, London, New York and San Francisco are free of outraged protestors demanding an end to the carnage. 

It is only when Israel fights back in self-defense that the mobs appear on the scene with their moral critique of what is acceptable in war. Every Western nation ought to be having emergency meetings about how to handle the intellectual heirs of Hitler who are embedded throughout the free world. 

The condemnations of Israel, the one nation on the front lines 24/7, must stop! 

Bless You! 

The politically correct hostility to faith in the public square is now beyond the realm of the absurd. A Dyer County, Tennessee, high school student was reportedly slapped with an in-school suspension for saying "Bless you" when a fellow student sneezed. 

According to senior Kendra Turner, her teacher said such "godly speaking" was for church and banned from her classroom. When the Turner spoke up in defense of her First Amendment rights, her teacher kicked Kendra out of the class, and school administrators cited her for being "aggressive and disruptive."

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a "law and order" guy. In most cases, I'll give cops and teachers the benefit of the doubt. But the suppression of free speech and religious liberty is far too common these days, especially when it involves Christians. 

Moreover, local reports indicate that other students have complained about this particular teacher being "demeaning" toward their faith, and that she had posted a list of banned phrases, which included "Bless You." 

If you'd like to bless Dyer County School officials with your thoughts, you can reach them at 731-285-6712. But, please, keep it godly!