It is almost 80 years since a crazed dictator announced his Nuremberg Laws (September 1935) effectively beginning his attempt to destroy the Jewish people and to "retain the racial purity of the German people." Seems like ancient history, until you see this headline from CNN on December 13: "ISIS: Enslaving, having sex with 'unbelieving' women, girls is OK."
Most of the world will choose to ignore this as the ranting of a few "madmen" just as they did with Hitler. Nobody really believed what he was about to do, but over 6 million people died because of it. This is just one section of this ISIS Manifesto: "It is permissible to have intercourse with the female slave who hasn't reached puberty if she is fit for intercourse," the document reads. "However, if she is not fit for intercourse, he (the owner) can only enjoy her without intercourse. ... It is permissible to buy, sell or give as a gift female captives and slaves, for they are merely property."
Not only is this entire manifesto an outrage to any and all reasonable human beings, it is a major step backward for the anti-slavery and anti-trafficking movements, because it will give those who are looking for a justification for their evil intent, the absolute right to proceed.
This is the holiday season. Christians celebrate the birth of Christ with the hope that there will be "Peace on earth and good will toward man." Jews celebrate Chanukah with the hope that "The candles will provide the light of freedom to all mankind." Yet in the face of these hopes, thousands, maybe millions will find this season filled with pain, despair... slavery of the most horrible kind.
We all know that the world waited too long to deal with Hitler's ranting, and in the end, WWII took a total of 60 million lives. If any of us believes that this ISIS manifesto cannot be the beginning of another holocaust against humanity, we had better think again. In 1935 the world, tired from WWI and the Great Depression, chose to allow Hitler to do what he wanted within Germany, never wanting to believe that he would take all of Europe and most of Russia. Today we think that ISIS is just a small local threat, too.
Now is the time for all of those who care about good will and freedom to put aside their differences and take a united stand against this abhorrent threat to young girls and women. But that is not enough. The entire Islamic world must also stand up and be counted here because I believe that the overwhelming majority of Muslims are peace loving, and when confronted with this aberration of their religion will be as outraged as I am.
If the people of the Middle East stop funding and supporting these killers, then the rest of the world will surely stand by their side. Now is the time to act, before this becomes such a compelling case to so many more testosterone driven, frustrated men that we are plunged into a new world war in the Middle East to stop them.
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Do you want to be a source of hope during the holidays? Visit www.worldofchildren.org/holiday/