Terrorists affiliated with ISIS stormed a church near Rouen, France, during morning mass on Monday. The two masked men slit the throat of an elderly priest and took two parishioners and two nuns hostage before delivering a sermon in Arabic at the altar. Ultimately, police shot the invaders dead.
It was the latest attack on a church by Islamofascists. But the scholars at CNN don’t see the incident as an affront on Christianity. Instead, they maintain that the true targets are — wait for it — Muslims.
“The goal in going after such a provocative target? To trigger a backlash against Muslims in France and drive the country’s Muslims into the recruiting arms of the Islamic State,” the cable network surmises.
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Although France is a deeply secular country, CNN concludes the attack is especially provocative because Catholicism is “still deeply entwined in the national fabric.” By attacking churches, the logic goes, ISIS is hoping to fan the flames of a religious war that will ultimately result in persecution of Muslims, which in turn will drive them right into the arms of ISIS.
The tactic is working, according to CNN, which cites a 223% rise in the number of anti-Muslim threats and attacks last year reported by the French Human Rights Commission. The publication does go on to discuss at length the genocide ISIS is committing against Christians in its territory, but the clear implication is that Muslims, not Christians, face the largest threat in Europe.
“In urging attacks on churches, ISIS is trying to eliminate what it calls the ‘grey zone’ for Muslims in the West by provoking a far-right backlash,” reports CNN. “A drumbeat of attacks in France has led to a groundswell of anti-Muslim anger, which is being stoked and exploited by far-right politicians.”
This report, by Rachel Stoltzfoos, was cross-posted by arrangement with the Daily Caller News Foundation.
