President Theodore Roosevelt said the United States needs to speak softly and carry a big stick. It took ten years for that big stick to fall on Osama bin Laden.
Now we need to speak softly to help protect the lives of Pakistani Christians and other Christian minorities in Islamic nations.
President Obama took the right course of action when he decided against releasing the Bin Laden death photo.
The assassination of Osama bin Laden is causing concern for Pakistani and Middle East Christians who are now bracing themselves for possible revenge attacks against them and their churches.
The graphic death photo would likely be enlarged and made into propaganda posters that would appear everywhere throughout Southwest Asia and the Middle East.
Obama is right when he expresses concern about the photo possibly inciting retaliation. When extremist Muslims are enraged by events in their country or the world, they take to the streets in protest.
Often the protests turn violent and members of their country’s tiny Christian community bear the brunt.
Christians are only about 2 percent of the population in Pakistan. They’re often attacked when the United States acts in a way perceived to be against Islam.
The October 2001 slaughter of Christians as they attended worship at a church in Bahalwapur, Pakistan is just one example. Shortly after 9/11, Islamic militants opened fire on congregants inside the church because they were angry about the U.S. bombing of Al-Qaeda and Taliban targets inside Afghanistan.
Sixteen people were killed, including the pastor who stood in the pulpit holding his Bible when death came. I was in his home praying with his widow and children six days after the incident.
Instead of responding violently to the attack, family members turned the other cheek and continued on with their church ministry.
This time, militant Muslims throughout the Middle East and Southwest Asia region are calling for violence in response to the murder of Osama.
Speaking from Tripoli, Lebanon, Syrian-born Islamic Mullah Omar Bakri said he expects “heavy retaliation from Al Qaeda” and its supporters against “the barbaric American forces.”
View Bakri's full statement here:
Yes, militants who would murder and destroy would be accountable for their actions, not the Obama administration if it released the death photo. But sometimes actions speak louder than words.
Let’s act softly to safeguard those who may suffer, but if they come under attack, let’s not hesitate to respond with TR’s big stick.