Why so silent about attacks?

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Respect for religious beliefs is supposedly a universal value applicable to all faiths, making the world’s silence on recent attacks directed at Christians so puzzling, and so very unacceptable. This lack of action is especially lopsided considering the willingness of governments and organizations to attack anyone offering insult to Muslims.

Istanbul residents protest U.S. pastor Terry Jones's plans to burn the Qur'an last week. Extensive media coverage of the book-burning incited anger across the Muslim world. Photograph by: Reuters, Times Colonist Read more:

When Florida pastor Terry Jones announced plans to burn the Qur’an on the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, he was roundly, and rightfully, condemned. Christian groups worldwide were at the forefront of the protests, denouncing Jones and calling on him to respect the dignity of Islam. In 2005, allegations that U.S. military personnel had desecrated copies of the Qur’an at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp sparked an internal investigation to ensure no repeat.

Christians should be so fortunate to enjoy similar protection. This week in Pakistan, Asia Bibi, a Christian woman, was sentenced to die for allegedly making slanderous remarks about the Prophet Muhammad — a dire crime under Pakistani law. Her guilt appears less than secure. Bibi’s neighbours objected to an infidel touching the communal water bowl and approached a cleric, claiming she had insulted the Prophet. The cleric instigated a police investigation and now Bibi faces death, while the world looks on indifferently.

Meanwhile on Halloween, terrorists attacked a Catholic cathedral in Baghdad and killed 58 people. Governments spooned out the usual lukewarm condemnations and complained about attempts to destabilize the fragile Iraqi order as the world yawned before moving on. Other incidents have attracted even less attention.

In Iran, a pastor named Youcef Nadarkhani has been sentenced to die for apostasy and preaching to Muslims. His real crime appears to have been complaining after the Iranian government enacted a law forcing schoolchildren of all faiths to read from the Qur’an, even though the constitution promises freedom of religion to recognized minorities.

In Britain, Muslim extremists burned a model of a poppy on Remembrance Day to protest the war in Afghanistan while waving signs claiming the country’s fallen are in hell.

Back in Pakistan, numerous sources, including the Vatican and local clergy, have accused Muslim relief agencies of systematically discriminating against Christians while distributing aid to people affected by last summer’s devastating floods — even though most of the aid has come from Christian nations.

Not one of these incidents has garnered even a fraction of the attention the proposed Qu’ran burning caused. This begs the question: Why?

Perhaps it’s because Christians rarely riot in difficult circumstances. They should not have to. In an enlightened world forever preaching equality and justice, no group should have to resort to death and destruction to get injustices remedied.

The world must speak out whenever and wherever religious freedoms are threatened and those very same Muslims who work themselves into a lather for the smallest perceived slights or criticisms should raise their voices to condemn their co-religionists for murdering and discriminating against Christians in Muslimmajority countries.

By cherry-picking causes for concern, governments and groups expose the hollowness and hypocrisy of their vaunted values. It’s justice for all or justice for none.