No Surrender To Terrorists
An Al Qaida-linked website has targeted Canadian Coptic Christians and has apparently provoked an unusual response from the police.
Instead of planning to protect Canadian Coptic Christians from violence, the RCMP has instead advised them that they may not be able to protect them from any violence planned against them. As a result, Canadian Coptics – who celebrate according the Julian calendar, placing Christmas on January 7 – will conclude their public celebrations with the reading of the liturgy. This means that several celebrations, including a Christmas dinner, will be cancelled.
According to the CBC, worries about possible attacks on Canadian Coptic Christians heightened after a recent bomb-related arrest in Ottawa. Many Canadians were hoping that this arrest was notrelated to radical Islamic terrorism, but the CBC’s report may give adequate reason to suspect otherwise.
Brian Lilley is far from the only Canadian wondering precisely how the RCMP’s A Division has influenced the decision to cancel these events. If they have, this is cause for a great deal of alarm
In The Kingdom, FBI Director James Grace (portrayed by Richard Jenkins) offers some extremely terse, but sage, advice for a character reluctant to investigate a terror attack perpetrated against American civilians: “Not to go after criminals because they might try to harm you is really not a policy of the FBI. We try not to say uncle. We try.”
The RCMP needs to take this idea to heart. To decline to protect Canadians exercising their religious freedoms because terrorists may try to attack them is not an option. Instead, it’s the RCMP’s responsibility to identify any threats and intercept them before they attack Canadians.
We don’t tell Canadians living in bad neighbourhoods that they shouldn’t leave the house because someone may attack them. No Canadian should be advised to cancel their religious celebrations on account of the same.
In Canada, we cannot afford to say uncle. We must defend our religious liberties – including the liberty from violence – at all costs.
Patrick Ross is a Contributing Writer for The Propagandist
