Soon when I start flying out of my local airport, Chicago's O'Hare International, my children and I will be subjected to the indignities of the full-body scan. Extraordinarily expensive and not at all foolproof - humans would still have to review the detailed images on the screen - such is the response to the attempt to blow up an airliner on Christmas Day.
From the "shoe bomber" to the "underwear bomber." A video making the rounds on YouTube questions what might happen if we were to have a "suppository" bomber. The video, "It's The Christians," pokes fun at the extreme political correctness surrounding the alleged attempted terror attack by Muslim radical Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. The writers posit an absurd world in which it's organized, Christian extremist terror that is threatening our skies and lives.
One laughs at the video. But let's assume that, somehow, there was a threat from Christian extremists equal to what we are experiencing today from Muslim radicals. What would be an immediately observable and fundamental difference between the two?
Answer: Probably there would be a vocal response by Christian leaders worldwide. Just consider those instances when so-called Christians have attempted, and have sometimes succeeded, in taking the lives of abortion providers. You can't get through the airwaves overloaded with Christians denouncing such an atrocity. And, by the way, openly and vociferously shunning any such folks who might advocate such a path.
Where are the worldwide leaders of Islam when it comes to organized condemnation of the atrocities and attempted atrocities of Muslim jihadists? Are the imams marching in the streets condemning such actions? Are they crowding news programs denouncing such things as evil, and excoriating those who practice them? Are they unified in excluding those who advocate such violence from their fellowship and communities?
Though occasionally one finds a Muslim leader or organization speaking out, it is all too rare, and typically too subtle. There seems to be nothing happening in Islam's midst today like the great movements of history in which boldness by Christian leaders and followers turned the tide of real evil.
Law-abiding Muslims alone have religious influence on their brethren to help stop the terror. So the lack of public, passionate outrage from that community and especially its leadership is little short of appalling.
Examples abound. Christian leaders and foot soldiers excoriated slave owners in the South, including and sometimes especially fellow Christians. Even more than the Civil War, it is they who changed a nation's sentiment about human bondage. Before that, it was outraged Christians in Britain who did the same thing. It's Christians of all races who later successfully led the civil-rights movement, in part by condemning those who professed to be Christians but who still upheld segregation or, worse, "vigilante justice" against African-Americans.
Sure, I'm well aware of history, and the many wars and evil done in the name of Christianity. But it is also the case that examples of Christian leaders speaking out and acting out en masse - when it comes to wickedness by those who claim to be adherents of the gospel - are staggering. In some cases, doing so has literally changed the world.
These are lessons in integrity I want my children to cherish.
In other words, we know exactly what would happen if Christian radicals were somehow responsible for acts of terror.
Look, I fully believe that most Muslims want the terror to end. After all, it threatens their well-being, too. Consider that it was the father of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab who tried to alert authorities that his son had become a jihadist.
But if the Muslim leadership in particular doesn't start a worldwide, passionate, public movement against those who say they are of their religion and practice terror, invasive airport screening will continue to be the least of any of our concerns.
Betsy Hart is the author of "It Takes a Parent: How the Culture of Pushover Parenting is Hurting our Kids - And What to do About It." Reach her through hartmailbox-mycolumn@yahoo.com.
