His name is Charles Clément Boniface (Father Samuel) and was actually born in Turkey as Samuel Ozdemir but rejects that name because he says it was forced upon him by the Turks. In the 1970’s he fled to Belgium because Christians were suffering increased persecution. In 2006, Father Samuel was prosecuted by the Belgian government for words critical of Islam. The trial lasted six years but he was ultimately acquitted.

Here he is in Belgium earlier this summer, speaking out against Islam at the International Civil Liberties Alliance (ICLA). Notice his qualifications. He says he’s been studying Islam for forty years.

So, a Catholic born in Turkey becomes a priest and flees to what he thought was safer ground (Belgium) due to Islamic persecution. He is then prosecuted by his new homeland for issuing warnings he’s qualified to issue. Six years later, after being acquitted, Father Samuel is finally being listened to. Imagine if his comments had been welcomed in 2002 instead of attacked for ten years. Didn’t Churchill attempt to warn his country about the Nazis for about that long?

We run carelessly to the precipice, after we have put some thing before us to prevent us seeing it. – Blaise Pascal