Churches are more Covid-secure than trains or takeaways

Monday night’s murderous gunman in Vienna is officially described as ‘Islamist’. Brahim Aioussaoi, the man accused of murdering worshippers in a Nice cathedral last week, arrived (reported the BBC) with ‘three knives, two phones and one Quran’. These would seem to be the basic toolkit required. A friend who lives in southern France tells me that although the latest lockdown measures prevent church services being held, so serious is the terrorist threat to churches that many are guarded by police. So it seems natural that President Macron of France warns of the danger to French Catholics and speaks of ‘Islamist terrorist folly’. Each of his three chosen words rings true, and the link between them cannot be avoided. Even the BBC appears to have dropped its policy of calling such terrorists mere ‘militants’. Yet Macron’s words — and his repeated defence of the publishing of cartoons of Mohammed — have produced furious demonstrations by Muslims across the world, including many who are described as moderate. I think I understand why such Muslims might think their religion misrepresented. Critics like to pull out a few bloodthirsty Quranic texts without understanding wider scriptural and traditional contexts. You can play this game with any ancient religion, including Christianity and Judaism, and it is unfair. However, Muslim organisations look ridiculous — and worse — if they devote their energies after atrocities to stigmatising legitimate criticism as ‘Islamophobia’, thus trying to chill free speech. They evade the fact that the Islamist perpetrators are serious believers, shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ as they kill (and often die) for their God. The extremists arise from worldwide movements, drawing on ideologies with huge followings, such as that of the Muslim Brotherhood. In a tweet, the Archbishop of Canterbury spoke of the ‘godlessness’ of the Nice attack. But surely these people are not godless: they are fanatics who misunderstand what their God teaches.