IN THE NAME OF CHRIST ?

Malcolm Browne’s photograph of a self-immolating Buddhist monk in Saigon, Vietnam.

When Thich Quang Duc, a Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk, set himself aflame on June 11, 1963 it was in protest of the persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government of Ngo Dinh Diem.

In 1959, Diem had dedicated his country to the Virgin Mary. South Vietnam’s population at the time was estimated to have been 70-90% Buddhist. President Diem was among the minority who were Roman Catholic; his brother was Archbishop Ngo Dinh Thuc.

 Following the French model, the Diem regime heavily favored Catholics in every way from the allocation of American aid to military promotions. Many of the country’s Catholic priests even ran private armies that attempted to force conversion to Catholicism.

The publication of Browne’s photographs caused a worldwide stir. American President John Kennedy became concerned that Diem was a hindrance to the success of the war with North Vietnam and gave approval for the CIA to remove him.

On November 01, 1963, Diem was assassinated.

It was Kennedy who decided to make South Vietnam a puppet government so that the U.S. could take complete control of how the war would be conducted.  

Kennedy escapes most of the criticism given to Presidents Johnson and Nixon because only 21 days after Diem’s assassination on November 22, 1963, another Roman Catholic president was murdered.

I don’t know who first said it, it has frequently been repeated that “more people have been killed in the name of Christ than in any other name.” 

The truth is Christ told His followers : “Love your enemies” – Matthew 5:44