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Just read "The Burning Tigris" re: America's response to the Armenian genocide. Very good read. I never know how strikingly FAMILIAR were the scenes of Imams calling for jihads against Christians, and radical Muslim students (sound familiar) who took to the streets indicrminately beating and murdering Armenians who were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Truly a Satanic faith, that Islam...

The first Sunday after I arrived in Istanbul as a visiting professor, I wanted to go to Mass. I thought I had good directions to a church, but I still got lost. I finally found a building, hidden at the back of an alley, that looked like it might be a church. I went back there and found it had all the trappings of a Catholic church: statue of St. Anthony, Stations of the Cross, etc., but nary a sign anywhere to identify what it was, or even lead someone to it.

While I was looking around for something to identify the place, a tour group came in. The tour director was pointing out things, in a language I didn't know. One of the group came over to me and asked if I spoke English. He asked me somthing, which I told him, then I asked, "what is this place?" He said it was an Armenian Catholic Church. The group left after a few minutes, and I figured I'd stick around and see if there was a Mass. People started filtering in and taking seats. Right at 11 o'clock, the priest came out and said Mass.

The thing that struck me the most was not that there were still some Armenians around, but that they practically had to hide themselves and their church. There was never any overt anti-Christian feeling that I could detect in Istanbul, but all the Christian churches still in operation were hidden behind high walls. In one case I could see a church well back in the middle of a block. I walked around the entire block without finding a way to get back to it. Evidently you had to know how. No casual passerby would ever find the entrance.