cultural genocide

This video of ISIS soldiers destroying ancient idols in the Mosul Museum is not as heart breaking as their videos of beheading fellow Christians and humans, but it is still difficult to watch. It is its own kind of dumb. Yes, God did tell his people to destroy idols, but I’m pretty sure he meant objects that people actually worship, not priceless cultural treasures that an ancient Assyrian once served.

Or maybe they’re not dumb. As Richard Engel reports in the piece, this may be part of a larger strategy to wipe out any remembrance of a culture before Islam. Arabs have only been Muslims since the seventh century. Before that, many of them were Christians, and many still are. ISIS wants the world to believe that Arabs have always been and can only be Muslims. Don’t believe them. We may be at war with a traditional interpretation of Islam, but we are not against the people. There are Christians in the land of ISIS, and they need our prayers.