After ....
The Glastonbury Holy Thorn Tree, located in Glastonbury, England (125 miles west of London) is said to have dated back to the beginnings of Christianity. Local English legends place religious significance on the tree, and many in England consider it a Holy place.
Someone attacked the tree over the evening of Dec. 8/9, sawing off all the limbs and leaving just a stump. The criminal(s) and motives are unknown, though the attack took place shortly after a Christian themed Holiday ceremony was performed at the tree's site.
I admit to never having heard of this tree or its legend before this past weekend. I do not know if it is indeed a Holy site. I do know what I read about the attack, and am disturbed (though not surprised) at the lack of outrage over it.
My main source of info was an online article from NPR. This horrendously liberal group calls itself a source of news. However, I admit that the article did not reach any anti-Christian conclusions. Neither did it condemn the attack, either as an example of religious persecution or religious hatred. I don't think they even consider it to be a crime.
What torques me off about this is the double standard. Since it was an attack on Christianity, it is no big deal. If the tree was a Muslim Holy site, this would have been front page news all around the world - an example of the West's attack against the peace loving peoples of the Islamic faith.
If this wasn't an attack on a site that Christians revere, if it was just some anonomous 2000 year old tree in the English countryside, NPR would be up in arms over the ecological disaster that had occurred, and they would demand the culprits (as long as they were Christian) be hung. Eco-nazis all over the world would be rioting in the streets, trying to find a way to blame George Bush.
Religious hatred is religious hatred, no matter who is the victim. Just because the offended parties are Christian, does this make it any less heinous than if they were Muslim? Why is it that the mistreatment of a Koran is a hideous offense, one punishable by death in the minds of many Muslims (and a horrid offense in the minds of almost everyone else) - and the burning of a Bible is considered to be a protected expression of Free Speech?
Religious freedom and tolerance has to be across the board, no matter what the religion in question is. That's the way it should be. Sadly, it never has been, and doesn't look like it ever will be.
Before ....Photos credt Getty Images
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