It's Hard to Take the Christian Peacemaker Teams Seriously

As authentic pacifists, that is. True pacifists oppose violence at all times, no matter who might be using said violence.

From the information found on CPT's website, this does not appear to be their mission. They are very selective in who they tell to cease violence. In fact, a lot of their efforts are focused on (gasp) America and Israel. In America, they devote much of their time to protesting at US military installations, as well as border crossings. Iraq is likewise a center for anti-American ranting. In Israel, they protest, well, Israel. I guess as a concept.

In fairness, I'm glad that they've shut down their Adopt-a-Terrorist program, but that they even had such a thing is disturbing. And they also have programs in several other countries, such as Canada, Columbia, and Rwanda.

But reading their website sets off my Moonbat Detector, and I'm sure that I'm not alone. For example, after members of one team were kidnapped by terrorists in Iraq, they released a statement blaming the US and UK for the kidnapping. Not that these nations had done the crime, but that they had invaded Iraq in the first place, causing the problem. Now I suppose that one could create such an argument, but if one is going to critique a indirect cause of the kidnapping, perhaps it would also be rational to critique the direct cause of the kidnapping.

CPT is unfailingly critical of America and Israel. There is much violence in Iraq and Palestine, and CPT lays the blame entirely on these two nations. As this is the position of many pro-terrorist organizations in the West, the thoughtful reader questions the similarity.

Authentic pacifists would not take this stand. Authentic pacifists tell all sides to refrain from violence. In Iraq, this would involve telling the Americans and the terrorists to stop fighting. In Palestine, this entails telling the Israelis and the Palestinians to stop killing. Yet in each scenario, these so-called pacifists are taking one side (and in both cases, the most violent and savage one). True pacifists do not behave this way.

Donald Sensing and Jeff the Baptist have more thoughts on the subject.