Liam Neeson is the voice of Aslan the Lion in the new 3-D
Narnia film, “Voyage of the Dawn Treader.” He’s got a
great voice for the role. Neeson is even from the North of Ireland,
the same area from which C.S. Lewis, the beloved Christian author
of The Chronicles of Narnia hailed.
But actor Neeson is facing hail of a different kind — a
hail of criticism. That’s because of his
politically correct comments about Aslan. Neeson told
interviewers that Aslan should not be interpreted narrowly and
exclusively as an allegory of Jesus Christ. Aslan might also be
seen, Neeson said, as representing other religious
leaders, such as Mohammed or Buddha.
This is the reason that Hollywood so often is linked to
the Looney Left!
C.S. Lewis’s devoted secretary is also a trustee of the
Lewis estate. Walter Hooper was shocked by Neeson’s absurd
statements. Lewis’ work, he said, “has nothing whatever to do with
Islam. The whole story is about Christ. Lewis could not have been
clearer.”
William Oddie is the former editor of the Catholic
Herald. A lifelong fan of C.S. Lewis, Oddie calls Neeson’s
craven effort “a betrayal of Lewis’ intention and a shameful
distortion” of Lewis’ whole body of work. Oddie sharpened his
criticism: “Aslan is clearly established from the very beginning of
the [series] as a Christ figure. I can’t believe that Liam Neeson
is so stupid as not to know [this].”
Liam Neeson is certainly not stupid. He is, unfortunately,
a dhimmicrat. A dhimmicrat is one who uses his social,
cultural, or political position to smooth the path of
sharia, the law they have in Saudi Arabia. Prince Charles
and the Archbishop of Canterbury are prime examples of dhimmicrats.
The Prince of Wales has argued publicly for Westerners to embrace
Islam’s values in order to save the planet from global warming. The
Archbishop of Canterbury thinks Britain should permit
sharia in ever wider areas to accommodate Islam’s
strictures on family life. That means polygamy. That means arranged
marriages. That means the legal subordination of women.
In this case, however, Liam Neeson’s fawning attempts may
prove dangerous. He did, after all, publicly compare Mohammed to an
animal. No matter that it’s an allegory. It can still be
taken up by Muslim rioters as “blasphemy.”
Is this far-fetched? Not at all. Time magazine
carried the story of a British schoolteacher who was threatened
with death in Sudan in 2007. Her crime? She asked her 6- and
7-year-old students in the capital city of Khartoum what name they
wanted to give to the classroom mascot, a nice, cuddly Teddy bear.
“Mohammed,” cried the muppets in unison. So, with respect for local
sensibilities, the 54-year old Gillian Gibbons let the children
have their wish. Not so fast. Local mullahs were
outraged.
The school’s principal — who presided over a school that
had been in Sudan since colonial days — tried to intercede. “Miss
Gibbons would have never wanted to insult Islam. We tried to reason
with them [the police] but they were coming under strong pressure
from Islamic courts. There were men with big beards asking where
she was and saying they wanted to kill her.” Miss Gibbons got a
fatwa laid upon her.
So this is the rule of law that Prince Charles and the
Archbishop of Canterbury want to see more of in Britain? So this is
the sentiment that Liam Neeson is trying to appease?
George Weigel, famed American biographer of Pope John Paul
II, has called for “no more appeasement of radical Islam.” Weigel
points to the recent murders of more than 50 Catholics in a
jihadist attack on Our Lady of Salvation cathedral in Baghdad and
calls for condemnation from this still silent administration in
Washington.
For all the bowing low before despots, for all the
“outreach” to what the Obama administration calls “the Muslim
world,” what we are seeing is contempt for our faith
traditions. Murderous jihadists for years have demanded a West Bank
judenrein — that is, a Palestinian state ethnically
cleansed of Jews. This administration, for unknown reasons, is
collaborating with the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) to
bring about this state. It is even giving the PLO hundreds
of millions in U.S. taxpayer dollars.
Now, jihadists are trying to eradicate Christian
communities in the Mideast that have existed there since the dawn
of the Christian era. This must be resisted.
Liam Neeson may escape the fate of Miss Gibbons who, at
last report, had not been beheaded. But he should note what all of
us should note: Jihadists cannot be appeased.
Osama bin Laden himself said it: People in Muslim-dominant
countries line up behind the “strong horse.” Liam Neeson and the
dhimmicrats must stop making us appear to be the weak
horse.
America must be that strong horse if we want to survive.
(Say, didn’t Osama compare us to an animal?)
