In the Midst of the Egyptian Turmoil a Concern over Christians and A Truly Bizarre Tale

As the situation in Egypt intensifies, the worry at the turn of the year that Christians were under assault everywhere in the middle east becomes that much more serious. It doesn’t help in the least that Vatican-Egyptian relations are at a low point. And this week’s odd contribution to conspiracy theory thinking about Christian intentions in the Middle East is bound to make things worse.

The story of how legendary investigative journalist Seymour Hersh provoked one of the oddest controversies in some time, and re-animated one of the hoariest conspiracy theories normally found in the pages of a Dan Brown novel, might actually be an object lesson in how the mainstream media can truly lose its way.

In a speech (you can read the speech here) in Doha, Hersh slammed the Bush administration and the Obama administration for entrusting a military leadership in its wars; in Iraq, Afghanistan and other Special Forces skirmishes in Yemen and in contention with Iran; to a group of officers and advisers who are members of The Knights of Malta and other ‘dangerous Catholic organizations’.

"Many of them are members of Opus Dei. They do see what they're doing -- and this is not an atypical attitude among some military -- it's a crusade, literally. They see themselves as the protectors of the Christians. They're protecting them from the Muslims [as in] the 13th century. And this is their function."

What might be even more sad than Hersh’s comments has been the reaction to the speech. Foreign Policy Magazine first spotted the speech and made mock of it at the same time, even going so far as to explore just who the Knights of Malta were and the role they play in conspiracy thinking. For many this was just evidence that Hersh was on to something which led to some intriguing interplay between on-line pundits, summarized in this piece entitled “Seymour Hersh The Knights of Malta and Me”. Whereas FP magazine saw the comments as evidence of a journalist losing it others took the assertions more straight on as evidenced in this posting to the Huffington Post “Seymour Hersh: Military branch Being Run by Crusaders”. What seemed to matter to no one is whether mere membership in the Knights or Opus Dei was proof of anything let alone a conspiracy of incredible magnitude.

Clearly suggesting that American Forces are on a crusade in the Middle East only adds fuel to the fire of Christain-Muslim antagonism, a fire that grew hotter this month in the square off between the Vatican and Egypt over attacks on Coptics. While the Vatican makes no link between the current unrest and the possible suspension of on-going dialogue, the Vatican is making clear that it hopes it can continue to hold mutually beneficial talks on religious freedom, an issue of vital importance to Benedict.

Given the upheavels in Tunisa, Lebanon and now Egypt and Yemen and the on-going violence in Iraq, this is a story that will continue to preoccupy many.