'Blasphemous': 4 reactions to UN, US honoring fallen Iranian president
Ben Shapiro
During a Tuesday podcast, Daily Wire host Ben Shapiro addressed Senate Chaplain Black's offering of an opening prayer Monday that concluded with one line praying "for the Iranian people who mourn the death of their president."
Shapiro, an Orthodox Jew, called the action "blasphemous."
"Hard to think of something more blasphemous — again, I'm not a Christian — hard to think of something more blasphemous for Christians, I would imagine, than praising an Islamic dictator who wanted to forcibly convert the world," Shapiro said.
Black defended his decision by telling CBN News that he felt compelled to seek compassion for the mourning.
"That same Christ, when crucified, the first words from His lips were words that said, 'Forgive them. They know not what they do.' ... He was praying for His executioners."
"He not only admonished that we pray even for enemies, but He demonstrated it as He was being crucified for those who nailed Him to the cross," Black added.
Shapiro dismissed the idea that the Iranian people are "mourning" Raisi's death, adding that the Iranian people are "moderate" but dominated by a "radical" Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
Regarding the moment of silence the U.N. Security Council held for Raisi on Monday, Shapiro said he wasn't aware of the U.N. doing the same for the victims of Hamas' Oct. 7 terrorist attack. Shapiro stressed that the U.N. Security Council did stand, however, for the dictator who supported the Oct. 7 massacre and other terror groups.
In a Tuesday X post, Shapiro wrote the West "has a deep and abiding sickness."
"Why are the US State Department, the UN, the EU and NATO issuing condolences for the death of the Butcher of Tehran, Ebrahim Raisi? Because the West has a deep and abiding sickness: a perverse belief that all humans are good and therefore evil can be appeased and massaged," Shapiro wrote.