One should be grateful that Dr. Williams did not conclude his peroration with his signature statement, "Incidents like this cause me to question the existence of God."

Nowhere does he identify the attackers - a fully-equipped, metastasized Western branch office of Al Qaeda, preferring instead to ignore the perpetrators for the kinder, gentler call of ecumenical niceness.

It is, to this writer's mind, the profound failure of Affirming Catholicism; that it does not have a deep enough understanding of Original Sin, hoping that in the Incarnation, and God's all pervasive, unconditional love, that all humanity can dwell in peace regardless of religion and race with the cross as a mere symbol of God's redemptiveness of all people.

By contrast Pope Benedict XVI had this to say: "We are deeply saddened by the news of the terrorist attacks in central London. The Holy Father offers fervent prayers for the victims and for all those who mourn. While he deplores these barbaric acts against humanity he asks you to convey to the families of the injured his spiritual closeness at this time of grief. Upon the people of Great Britain he invokes the consolation that only God can give in such circumstances."

No mention of how nice Islam is as a religion.

What is even doubly tragic is the singular failure of British Muslim leaders not to denounce its own extremists or issue a Fatwa against Osama Bin Laden. This is very troubling. The Jihardist death cult requires a vigorous open condemnation by the Archbishop of Canterbury and he could have led the way. He didn't.

All the large Muslim groups in Britain swiftly condemned the bombings, which they said were contrary to Islam's highest principles of peace, justice and humanity, but none of them mentioned Osama Bin Laden and his destructive organization bent on destroying Western civilization.

New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman said the bombing was a "civilizational problem" and he is right. Western Civilization has its roots in Judeo-Christian teachings, and not to say that is to abrogate one's responsibility in the face of this murderous act and to play footsie with what one hopes are moderate Islamic groups.

And to reinforce the view that Islam is not a religion Christians can lie down with, the Rev. Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo, Director of the British-based Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity, an Anglican priest and world authority on Islam, writes in his book Understanding Islamic Terrorism, "Although Islamic terrorists are few in number, they should not necessarily be considered a marginalized fringe group rejected by the mainstream of Islamic society as "not real Muslims". Their guiding principles are not a modern aberration of some undeniably peaceful true Islam but have deep roots in Islamic history and theology. Such terrorists are simply following a particular interpretation of the sources of Islam."

There you have it.

To criticize Islamic fascism is supposedly to be unfair to Islam, so we allow on our own shores (Britain included) mullahs and madrassas to spread hatred and intolerance, as part of our illiberal acceptance of "not offending Islam," writes Victor David Hanson in the National Review.

But someone did it! Someone hates us. A whole lot of someone's are unrepentant sinners, and they are not simply idealists, they are Muslim ideologues who hate the West, Christianity, Judaism, our democratic institutions and a whole lot more. The 'lets all be nice to everybody' mantra just doesn't cut it. The denial of culpability by Dr. Williams is breathtaking.

Dr. Williams should take note.

But even worse than Williams, was the response by Episcopal Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold.

He wrote this: "My prayers and those of the Episcopal Church in the United States embrace all who have died and have been injured in yesterday's attacks in London. We pray as well for their families and friends. Through this tragedy we are put in mind once again of our common vulnerability.

"In order to win the "war on terrorism" we must address its underlying causes and win peace in the Middle East. The three Abrahamic faiths are called to be the servants of God's peace which embraces all people and alone can overcome the fears and hatreds that divide us and prevent us from regarding one another as God's beloved children. May all who call God Father and the Compassionate One be drawn together in a renewed commitment to peacemaking for the sake of God's world."

No mention of the evil that befell London or the evil that men do, or mention of Al Qaeda, just some well intentioned prayers that probably go no higher than the roof. He talks about "underlying causes." Now this was the same speech he gave when the twin towers were hit on 911, just toned down a bit. At that time Griswold blamed American foreign policy and Islamophobia for what took place. It was an enormous fiction and a lie then and it is now. This time he soft pedaled his criticism, but it is implicitly there.

The message is the same; self hatred, Western self-loathing and guilt. There is no talk about the sin of those who committed murder, no calls for justice for those killed, just a simplistic muddling of the theological waters by appealing to "God Father" (presumably Christian) and the Compassionate One (Allah) to find "peacemaking."

A legitimate Christian would argue that "He (alone) is our peace", that Jesus is the "Prince of Peace", but Griswold is not willing or prepared to say or affirm that. That would be to make Christianity too exclusive; true inclusivity for him is to include all (Abrahamic) Faiths and put them all on an equal footing.

Even counting that Islam claims to be an Abrahamic religion is problematic. Abraham's first son, Ishmael, is the ancestor of all Muslims. The Prophet Muhammad is a direct descendant of Ishmael, thus being a descendant of Abraham. But Muslims believe Hagar's son Ishmael was cheated out of his birthright; and they thus regard all Jews and Christians as "infidels," because Jews and Christians honor Isaac, not Ishmael. Nothing is that simple.

"Whether the jihadists are in Iraq, the United States, or Europe, they all share a sick notion that someone else (the decadent Western oppressor and unbeliever) is responsible for their own poverty and backwardness rather than the fundamentalism, corruption, bias, and intolerance endemic to the Middle East," writes Hanson. And Griswold has fallen right into that propagandist trap. He hates stereotyping, but when did you last here of a 60-year old white male living in suburban Philadelphia with a mortgage, wife and 2.3 kids planting bombs on the New York subway?

Terror is the signature of the Islamist: hit, back off; hit, back off - hoping in a few years to erode the will and nerve of affluent and leisured Western countries, writes Hanson.

But there is also a parasitic dimension to Islam in the West. Through intimidation and terror they have carved out zones of Muslim sanctuary where they can live off the largess of Western society, while overlooking the very notions of freedom and equality that enable them to live while trying to implant Shari' a Law. This is happening in France and northern Nigeria.

Evangelical Episcopal leader and former president of Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry, Dr. Peter Moore got it right when he said; "It is all very well and good for the Archbishop of Canterbury to say that he and the Muslim leaders who were meeting at the time all together condemn the violence. But unless the Muslim leaders voice their own condemnation in unmistakable ways, the A.B.C.'s comments are vacuous. It is precisely the failure of Muslims who live in the free world -- contrary to their own Muslim tenets (for Muslims are supposed, under normal circumstances, to live in Muslim controlled states with Sharia law as the official law of the land) -- to speak out at the violence of the extremists that causes me the greatest concern. Unless there is a chorus of Muslim objection, it is useless for tolerant Christians in the West to continue to defend tolerant Muslims and make a firm distinction between radical and peace-loving Muslims. (Of course Muslims who do speak out risk their own lives. But that is another issue).

One more time our Anglican leaders have failed us. Is it any wonder that both the Church of England and the Episcopal Church are in major decline with millions walking out the door never to return, while Global South nations rocket skyward with new conversions every day.

Western Anglican leaders are giving us stones instead of bread, succumbing to death rather than life, acquiescing to global terror while implanting in us their own self-loathing and guilt. We deserve much better than this. Sadly we will probably never get it.

END