'The Cross is ISIS' main enemy; today no trace of a Cross can be seen in Mosul'

This story provides further proof � if any is still needed � of the Islamic religious roots and motivations of the Islamic State. 

The Cross is symbolic of Islam's main enemy: Christianity. Under the terms of the dhimma contract and the Pact of Omar, Christians may not display the Cross openly, either on their buildings or on their person. 

The breaking of crosses is a potent symbol of Islam's global supremacy in the end times. Muhammad prophesied that when Isa (the Muslim Jesus) returns, he will  "fight the people for the cause of Islam. He will break the cross, kill the swine and abolish jizya� and establish the rule of Allah throughout the world (Hadith from Sunan Abu Dawud, Book of Battles, 37:4310).

Demolition of churches and crosses, or converting churches into mosques, is a classic trait of Islam's treatment of Christians wherever it has conquered for fourteen centuries now. In our days, Muslims are even taking to breaking crosses in cemeteries, as seen in the infamous YouTube videos of 2012.

In Syracuse NY we recently saw the "breaking of the crosses" on a huge scale; a venerable Roman Catholic church was converted into a mosque, the crosses removed the spires, and 10,000 crosses in the interior covered over in a hugely symbolic victory for Islam.

See also Raymond Ibrahim's recent article, 'Islamic Hate for the Christian Cross', and my own piece 'Islam's Hatred of Holy Icons � and what that means for Persecuted Eastern Christians'. 

"The Cross is ISIS' main enemy; today no trace of a Cross can be seen in Mosul"

Pravoslavie, September 26, 2015:

(Mosul, September 23, 2015) A war is currently being waged against Christianity on the territory of the Biblical city of Nineveh, which is currently under control of the �Islamic State� militants: according to eyewitnesses� evidence, the fanatics are trying their best to eliminate the very memory of the Christian presence in Mosul, reports Ankawa news agency.

In his report, sent to the Ankawa agency�s staff writer Yunus Zanoun, the journalist A.S. from Mosul gave information about ISIS�s intention to wipe out all the Christian symbols from Nineveh, and that they are working hard in order to achieve this ambition. �The cross is ISIS�s main enemy; that is why today no traces of crosses can be seen in Mosul,� A.S. noted.

According to the journalist, the terrorists threw down all the crosses from domes of Mosul churches within two weeks after seizing city; they organized raids on houses of Christian residents of Mosul to destroy all the crosses and icons in the city.

�The dwellings were ravaged with great fury � and the vestiges of this hatred for Christianity can be seen here to this day� As for churches and monasteries, whole teams are involved in the job of dynamiting or partially demolishing their buildings. For example, large-scale work at the St. George�s Monastery in the al-Arabi neighborhood of Mosul was carried out to dismantle the iron crosses from the fencing, while the St. Ephraim�s Monastery in the ash-Shurta neighborhood was deliberately �enlarged��this was done to conceal a huge cross carved on the front of the monastery�s main church,� A.S. related.

At the same time, the Alsumaria.tv portal reported that �Islamic State� militants exploded a number of Christian homes in the Karakush district. There is still no information on the number of victims or the extent of damage to the residents� property.

Why Western Nations Should Only Accept Christian Refugees

Raymond Ibrahim makes a compelling case as to why Western nations should only accept Christian refugees, keying on four main reasons:

• Christians are true victims of persecution;

• Muslim persecution of Christians has been further enabled by Western policies;

• Unlike Muslims, or even Yazidis, Christians are easily assimilated in Western countries, due to the shared Christian heritage;

• Mideast Christians bring trustworthy language and cultural skills that are beneficial to the West.

Why Western Nations Should Only Accept Christian Refugees
by Raymond Ibrahim � September 16, 2015

As refugees from the Middle East flood the West, a number of countries�including Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Cyprus, and Australia�are defying political correctness by wanting to accept Christian refugees only.

While more �progressive� voices cry �racism,� the fact remains: there are several objective reasons why the West should give priority, if not exclusivity, to Christian refugees�and some of these are actually to the benefit of European host nations.

Consider:

Christians are true victims of persecution.  

From a humanitarian point of view�and humanitarianism is the chief reason being cited in accepting refugees�Christians should receive top priority simply because they are the most persecuted group in the Middle East�well before the Islamic State phenomenon came into being.  As Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop put it, �I think that Christian minorities are being persecuted in Syria and even if the conflict were over they would still be persecuted.�

Indeed.  While they are especially targeted by the Islamic State, before the new �caliphate� was established, Christians were and continue to be targeted by Muslims�Muslim mobs, Muslim individuals, Muslim regimes, and Muslim terrorists, from Muslim countries of all races (Arab, African, Asian, etc.)�and for the same reason: Christians are infidel number one.  See Crucified Again: Exposing Islam�s New War on Christians for hundreds of anecdotes before the rise of ISIS as well as the Muslim doctrines that create such hate and contempt for Christians.

Conversely, Muslim refugees�as opposed to the many ISIS and other jihadi infiltrators posing as �refugees��are not fleeing direct persecution, but chaos created by the violent and supremacist teachings of their own religion, Islam.  It�s not for nothing that Samuel Huntington famously pointed out that �Islam�s borders are bloody, and so are its innards.�  This means that when Muslims enter Western nations, chaos, persecution, and mayhem follow.  Take a look at those West European cities�for example, Londonistan�that already have a large Muslim population for an idea.

Muslim persecution of Christians has been further enabled by Western policies, especially those of the Obama administration.  

In other words, Western nations should accept Christian refugees on the basis that Western meddling in the Middle East is directly responsible for exacerbating the plight of Christian minorities.  After all, Christians did not flee from Bashar Assad�s Syria, or Saddam Hussein�s Iraq, or Muamar Gaddafi�s Libya.  Their systematic persecution began in earnest after the U.S. and others interfered in those nations in the name of �democracy.�  All they did is unleash the jihadi forces that the dictators had long kept suppressed. Now the Islamic State is deeply embedded in all three nations, enslaving, raping, and slaughtering countless Christian �infidels� and other minorities.

Vladimir Putin�s thoughts on the refugee crisis are plainly true:

This is a crisis which was absolutely expected�.  We in Russia and your humble servant said several years ago that there would be massive problems if our so-called western partners conduct what I have always called the �wrong� foreign policy, especially in regions of the Muslim World, the Middle East and north Africa, which they continue practically to this day.

The Russian leader correctly adds that �people are running away not from the regime of Bashar Assad, but from Islamic State, which seized large areas in Syria and Iraq, and are committing atrocities there. That is what they are escaping from.�

Thus if the West is responsible for unleashing the full-blown jihad on Christians, surely it is the latter that the West should prioritize, from a humanitarian point of view.

Unlike Muslims, or even Yazidis, Christians are easily assimilated in Western countries, due to the shared Christian heritage.  

As Slovakia, which prefers Christian refugees, correctly points out, Muslims would not fit in, including because there are no mosques in the Slavic nation. Conversely, �Slovakia as a Christian country can really help Christians from Syria to find a new home in Slovakia,� said an interior minister.

This too is common sense.  The same Christian teachings that molded Europe over the centuries are the same ones that mold Middle Eastern Christians�whether Orthodox, Catholic, or Protestant.   As San Diego�s Father Noel said in the context of the Iraqi Christian refugees who managed to flee ISIS but are now rotting in a U.S. detention center, Mideast Christians �who come here [America] �want to be good citizens� and many who came here a decade ago are now lawyers, teachers, or other productive members of society.�

Meanwhile, Muslims follow a completely different blueprint, the Koran�which condemns Christians by name, calls for constant war (jihad) against all non-Muslims, and advocates any number of distinctly anti-Western practices.   Hence it is no surprise that many Muslim asylum seekers are anti-Western at heart, if not members of jihadi organizations.

Mideast Christians bring trustworthy language and cultural skills that are beneficial to the West.  

They understand the Middle Eastern�including Islamic�mindset and can help the West understand it.  

Moreover, unlike Muslims, Christians have no �conflicting loyalty� issues: Islamic law forbids Muslims from aiding �infidels� against fellow Muslims (click here to see some of the treachery this leads to in the U.S. and here to see the treachery Christians have suffered from their longtime Muslim neighbors and �friends�).  Indeed, an entire book about how �double agent� Muslims have infiltrated every corner of the U.S. government exists.  No such threat exists among Mideast Christians.  They too render unto God what is God�s and unto Caesar what is Caesar�s.

Finally, it goes without saying that Mideast Christians have no sympathy for the very people and ideology that made their lives a living hell�the very people and ideology that are also hostile to everything in the West.  Thus a win-win: the West and Mideast Christians complement each other, if only in that they share the same foe.

��

All the above reasons�from those that offer humanitarian relief to the true victims of persecution, to those that offer benefits to the West�are unassailable in their logic and wisdom.  Yet, because Western progressives prioritize politically correct ideals and fantasies over stark reality, there is little chance that they will be considered.

Quite the reverse: in America and Britain persecuted Christians are �at the bottom of the heap� of refugees to be granted asylum. Muslims receive top priority.  Since January 2015, the U.S. has granted asylum to approximately six Muslims for every Christian it takes in.

The reason for this is simple: for the progressive mindset�which dominates Western governments, media, and academia�taking in refugees has little to do with altruism and everything to do egoism: It matters little who is really being persecuted�as seen, the West is directly responsible for greatly exacerbating the sufferings of Christians.

No, what�s important is that we �feel good� about ourselves.  By taking in �foreign� Muslims, as opposed to �siding� with �familiar� Christians, progressives get to feel �enlightened,� �open-minded,� �tolerant,� and �multicultural��and that�s all that matters here.

Meanwhile, reality quietly marches on: The same Islamic mentality that slaughters �infidel� Christians in the Middle East is now welcomed into the West with open arms.

5 Middle East Churches That Could Cease to Exist If Islamic State Influence Continues to Spread

A high-level overview of five of the local Christian Church communions most severely threatened by the 21st-century resurgence of pure Islam. 

Coptic Icon of Jesus Christ, Pantocrator

The below article is a welcome contribution to the education of American Protestants and Evangelicals, some of whom do not consider Eastern Christians of any kind to be true Christians. This is also a great help for us in our daily prayers for those being persecuted for their faith in Jesus Christ. 

At the same time, it must be noted that the thumbnail sketches in the Christian Post article below concerning non-Chalcedonian Christology do not do justice to the theology of these "Oriental" churches. Further reading for an expanded understanding of this issue is highly recommended.

Therefore, immediately below are links to related articles which explore in far greater depth the question over the "non-Chalcedonian" Christian Churches.

_______

THE NON-CHALCEDONIAN CHURCHES:

Regarding the division which occurred after the Ecumenical Council at Chalcedon in 451, and recent efforts to examine anew the faith of the non-Chalcedonian churches, see the following:

• RECENT EFFORTS FOR UNITY BETWEEN THE TWO FAMILIES OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH - Coptic.net
• VARIOUS DOCUMENTS CONCERNING EASTERN ORTHODOX AND ORIENTAL ORTHODOX JOINT COMMISSION AND UNITY - Orthodox Joint Commission
• Beyond Dialogue: The Quest for Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Unity Today - Rev. John Erickson, Dean, St Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary

The report at Coptic.net linked above begins with this statement:

Since 451, at the Council of Chalcedon,  there has been a division within the Orthopdox [sic] Church due to different Christological terminology. In recent times, members  of the Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian Orthodox Churches  have met together coming to a clear understanding that both  families have always loyally maintained the same authentic Orthodox Christological faith, and the unbroken  continuity of  the apostolic tradition, though they may have used Christological terms in different ways. It is this common faith and continuous loyality [sic] to the apostolic tradition  that has been the basis of the conversations held over the last two decades towards unity and communion.

For a traditionalist Orthodox response to recent dialogues between Orthodox and non-Chalcedonian churches, see:

• Eastern Orthodoxy and "Oriental Orthodoxy" - Orthodox Christian Information Center

As for my own view of the non-Chalcedonian question, I give thanks to God for all things, even for our sufferings and for this new age of global Christian persecution, for it enables each one of us to confess Jesus Christ, and to prove our love for Him and our faith in Him. Regardless of semantic differences in the theological expression of our faith in Jesus Christ, we are united at the very least by a communion of blood, a communion of the Cross, a communion of martyrdom.

See also:

• What is an Assyrian Christian?
• What is an Armenian Christian?

_______

5 Middle East Churches That Could Cease to Exist If Islamic State Influence Continues to Spread
Christian Post via Pravmir � August 24, 2015

There are Christian churches throughout the Middle East that trace their roots back to the time of the apostles that could cease to exist if Islamic State and other radical Muslim groups continue to gain control of more territory in the region.

The Islamic State Caliphate: Darkness falls across the Middle
East, North Africa, Central Asia, and on into Europe.

Author George J. Marlin, who is also chairman of the Board of Aid to the Church in Need USA, recently released a book titled Christian Persecutions in the Middle East, which not only discusses the growing threat to believers in the region, but also provides the history of many of the churches that have existed in the Middle East since the time of the apostles that could now be facing extinction at the hands of Muslim extremists.

Listed below are five of those churches.

1. The Syrian Orthodox Church

The Syrian Orthodox Church came into its modern formation when Syrian Christians rejected decrees made by the Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, and Western Christian Churches at the Council of Chalcedon in A.D. 451. The Council acknowledged that Christ has two natures, divine and human, which come together in one person.

(PHOTO: REUTERS/MAJED JABER. Jordanian Christian clerics hold a mass at the Syriac Orthodox Church in Amman, May 21, 2013.

In an attempt to hold onto their beliefs about Christ, which state that He is one nature of full humanity and full divinity, Syrian Christians regrouped under their own bishops and broke away from the established church.

The Syrian Orthodox Church traces its origins back to the church of Antioch found in the New Testament and considers St. Paul its first Bishop. The head of the Syrian Orthodox Church today is known as the �Patriarch of the God-protected City of Antioch and of all the Domain of the Apostolic Throne.� He is elected by fellow bishops and must be celibate. The patriarch resides in Damascus and the church has archdioceses in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey, Jordan, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Palestine.

Today, the Syrian Orthodox Church has 5 million members worldwide.

2. The Coptic Orthodox Church

The Coptic Orthodox Church � Coptic meaning Egyptian � traces its roots back to A.D. 42 when St. Mark the Apostle first brought Christianity to Egypt. Monophysitism, the belief that Christ has a single divine nature, first took root in Egypt and was embraced by the head of the church and patriarch of Alexandria, Dioscorus.

Coptic bishop surveys church in Minya, destroyed by Muslims.

His teachings were condemned by the Council of Chalcedon, leaving many Egyptian believers separated from Catholic and other Orthodox churches.

The Coptic Orthodox church continues to be operated today under the leadership of its patriarch, formally known as �The Most Holy Father and Patriarch of the great city of Alexandria and of all Egypt, of Nubia, Ethiopia and the Pentapolis, and of all places where St. Mark preached.� He is elected by the church�s bishops and must be celibate, abstain from meat and fish for life, and be over 50 years old.

The church�s membership has eroded significantly since the conquest of Egypt by Muslim Arabs in A.D. 640 and Coptic Orthodox Christians are now a persecuted minority in the region.

3. The Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem

Church fathers at the Council of Chalcedon decided that Jerusalem should be elevated from being a diocesan see to patriarchate because of its significance to the birth of the Christian faith. The decision led to the reorganization of 60 diocese in the region that now come under the jurisdiction of a Jerusalem patriarch.

PHOTO: REUTERS/AMMAR AWAD. Members of the Greek Orthodox clergy await the arrival of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Metropolitan Theophilos before the washing of the feet ceremony outside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem�s Old City, April 9, 2015, ahead of Orthodox Easter.

The city flourished as a Christian hub until Arabs conquered the city in A.D. 637. During this period, Christian monasteries and churches were destroyed while much of the population converted to Islam.

European Crusaders took back the land in 1099 and appointed a Latin patriarch. But when Saladin, the Sultan of Egypt and Syria reconquered Jerusalem in 1187, the Latin patriarch serving at that time fled.

The Ottoman Turks took control of the city in 1516 and Constantinople, the former capital of the Byzantine Empire, re-established itself in Jerusalem, which led to the selection of Greek patriarchs in the region.

Today, the Orthodox Church controls many of the holy sites in Jerusalem. Patriarch His Beatitude Theosophilos III has headed the church since 2005 and he resides in Jerusalem where he oversees the affairs of the church�s 130,000 members.

4. Melkites (Melkite Greek Catholic Church)

The Melkite Greek Catholic Church was originally comprised of Christians from Alexandria, Antioch and Syria that complied with the decrees of the Council of Chalcedon in A.D. 451. The Church also traces its origins back to the New Testament Antioch church.

PHOTO: REUTERS/MUHAMMAD HAMED. Christians take part in a candlelight march and prayed for peace in Gaza, Jordan, and in the Arab region, at the Greek Orthodox Church, in Al-Fuheis near Amman August 11, 2014.

Melkite, a term which derives from the Syriac word for king, was originally used to describe Christians in the Middle East who embraced the Christology of the Council of Chalcedon.

After the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox schism of 1054, many Orthodox believers in Antioch looked to re-establish communion with Rome and in 1729, the churches were reunited under the Councils of Reunion.

The Melkite title was then reserved for members of the Antioch Orthodox who were reunited with Rome. The Melkite Church is headed by a patriarch who is elected by its bishops. His election must be confirmed by the Vatican and the leader currently resides in Damascus. There are around 1.2 million Melkite Catholics worldwide and most of them reside in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel.

5. The Chaldean Catholic Church

The Chaldean Catholic Church descended from the remnant of Nestorian Christians or believers who followed the teachings of former Constantinople Patriarch Nestorius that were contested by the Council of Chalcedon who resided in what is now modern-day Iraq.

PHOTO: REUTERS/AHMED SAAD. Iraqi Christians attend mass at Mar George Chaldean Church in Baghdad, March 1, 2015. Iraqi Christians say they have no intention of leaving the country despite the recent abduction of over 100 Assyrian Christians by the Islamic State.

After the mass slaughter of Christians in the region at the hands of the Mongols, a family of believers who passed down the office of patriarch for generations governed those who had survived.

John Sulaka, an abbot at a Nestorian monastery opposed the established patriarch and sought to have communion with Rome by traveling there in 1551. He was ordained as a bishop by the Catholic Church and upon his return, he set up a new patriarch affirmed by the pope.

Sulaka, who had taken on the new name Simon VIII, was captured and killed in 1555 by the Pasha of Amadya, and for the next few centuries the Chaldeans fell into chaos.

In 1830 under Pope Pius VIII, however, they were brought into full communion with Rome and a new patriarch was established who resided in modern day Mosul, Iraq. Today, there are 18 Chaldean dioceses in the Middle East with 10 of them being located in Iraq. The patriarch was moved to Baghdad after World War II and its 500,000 members are mostly comprised of Assyrians.

For more information on churches that have roots in the Middle East that are now facing the threat of radical Islam read George J. Marlin�s book Christian Persecutions in the Middle East.

Iraqi priest: �There�s no such thing as moderate Islam�ISIS represents Islam one hundred percent�

�Wake up! The cancer is at your door. They will destroy you. We, the Christians of the Middle East are the only group that has seen the face of evil: Islam... 

�Please, if there�s anyone who still thinks ISIS doesn�t represent Islam, know that they are wrong. ISIS represents Islam one hundred percent.�

� Fr. Douglas al-Bazi, Iraqi Catholic Priest and Confessor for Christ,

captured and tortured by Muslim jihadists in 2006.

Let us all try to do something � whatever we can � in the face of the tsunami of evil wiping away our Christian brothers and sisters in the Middle East, Egypt and North Africa, Pakistan, Indonesia, throughout the entire Islamic world. Let us pray for them, even as we start to heed the warnings and cries of the new confessors and martyrs like Fr Douglas al-Bazi, who daily follow Christ to their Golgotha, bearing their unimaginable cross!

Speaking in 1980, Blessed Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose) of Platina had this to say about Golgotha:

It is a law of the spiritual life that where there is Golgotha�if it is genuine suffering for Christ�there will be resurrection. This resurrection first of all occurs in human hearts, and we do not need to be too concerned what outward form it might take by God�s will... 

Our inward, spiritual resurrection is what we should be striving for, and the events in Russia give us hope that there will yet be a resurrection of true, suffering Christianity, not only in Russia, but wherever hearts have not become entirely frozen. But we must be ready for the suffering that must precede this...

Are we in the West ready for this? Golgotha does not mean the incidental sufferings we all go through in this life. It is something immense and deep, which cannot be relieved by taking an aspirin or going to a movie. It is what Russia has gone through and is now trying to communicate to us. Let us not be deaf to this message. By the prayers of all the New Martyrs, may God give us the strength to endure the trials coming upon us and to find in them the resurrection of our souls.

� Fr. Seraphim Rose, The Orthodox Revival in Russia as an Inspiration for American Orthodoxy, The Orthodox Word #138, 1988, p. 51. (From a talk given in 1980.)

  

Obviously, what Fr Seraphim was speaking of regarding the New Martyrs of Russia in the 20th century under Communism is equally true about the New Martyrs of the 21st century under Islam. Let us heed his prophetic voice and rouse ourselves to zeal and perseverance in following our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ!

��There�s No Such Thing as Moderate Islam�: An Iraqi Priest Describes the Christian Genocide,� by Matteo Matzuzzi, Il Foglio, August 26, 2015 (translated by Francesca Romana, Rorate Caeli), courtesy of Jihad Watch:

Rome. �Please, if there�s anyone who still thinks ISIS doesn�t represent Islam, know that they are wrong. ISIS represents Islam one hundred percent.� Father Douglas al Bazi, an Iraqi Catholic parish priest in Erbil, raised his voice during an intervention at the Meeting in Rimini, with a choice of words � in a provocative way and in hard tones � that few had ventured use so far.

He carries on his own body the scars of the torture he underwent nine years ago, when a band of Jihadists kidnapped him for nine days, keeping him in chains and blindfolds along with a broken nose from being kneed: �For the first four days they didn�t even give me anything to drink. They would walk past me saying �Father, do you want some water?� All day long they would listen to the reading of the Koran to let the neighbours hear what good believers they were.��

Father Douglas Al Bazi is in charge of two refugee shelters for Christians who survived the advance of the black horde � not far from Ankawa. After the marking of houses with the �n� of the Nazarene plus the Christians displaced on the Nineveh plain, a year ago, �from morning to night we receive thousands of refugees� and the exodus continues. �I�m proud to be an Iraqi, I love my country. But my country is not proud that I�m part of it. What is happening to my people is nothing other than genocide. I beg you: do not call it a conflict. It�s genocide�, said the priest, who doesn�t want to hear anything about �moderate Islam�: 

�When Islam lives amidst you, the situation might appear acceptable. But when one lives amidst Muslims, everything becomes impossible. I�m not here to instigate you to hate Islam. I was born amid Muslims and I have more friends among them than I have with Christians. But people change and if we go to my country, no-one will be able to distinguish the light from the darkness. There are those who say: 'but I have lots of Muslim friends who are very nice'. Yes, certainly! They are nice over here! Over there the situation is very different!�

A situation in which regard the vice-President of the French Conference for Imams also had some tough words to say. Hocine Drouiche, also the Imam of Nimes, intervened last July at the European Parliament: �In the world, Christians are being persecuted, hunted down, deprived of work, imprisoned, tortured and murdered. All means are being used to force them to deny their faith, including the ritual of collective rape, considered in some states a form of penal sanction. Owning a Bible has become a crime, religious worship is prohibited and there has been a return to the times of Masses in the caves and the first martyrs�. And the fault, Drouiche had added in a discourse which had not been highlighted very much by the European media�, is contemporary Islam�, which is much closer �to sectarianism rather than a universal, open religion�.

�I believe in the end they will destroy us�

Father al Bazi�s account is of one who runs the risk of being murdered on the street every day: We never know if coming out of the church we�ll be able to go into it again alive. In Baghdad they had the church explode right in front of me. They shot me on the legs with a AK-47, a type of Kalashnikov, and probably sooner or later they�ll kill me�. Yet his faith is solid: �When they put me in chains, during my kidnapping, they tightened a big padlock on my wrists. On the chain there were ten extra rings, which I used to recite the Rosary. I have never prayed it so earnestly as I did in that situation�. �I � added Father Douglas � don�t implore your help. I�m not frightened just as my people aren�t frightened either. I believe they�ll destroy us in the end. But I also believe that we will have the last word. Jesus told us that we need to carry our own crosses, and that is what we in the Middle East are doing. Yet the most important thing is not the carrying of the cross, but following it. And following it means accepting, challenging and committing oneself right to the very end�.

�We need to have patience and carry the cross each day, but we also must react�, said Father Ibrahim Alsabagh, parish priest in Aleppo, echoing him, and reported how the city is now �divided in tens of parts, each one of them in the hands of a different group of Jihadists. Our Church of St. Francis is sixty metres from the firing line. They have already hit many churches, we don�t know when it will be our turn�. Here is why Father Douglas, at the end of his intervention, launched a warning to the feeble West:

�Wake up! The cancer is at your door. They will destroy you. We, the Christians of the Middle East are the only group that has seen the face of evil: Islam��.

Islamic State is 'beheading, raping, and selling' Christians while Obama does nothing, asserts Justice Group

The American Center for Law and Justice is pressing the Obama Administration to act swiftly to stop the genocide of Christians and other minorities in the Middle East, highlighting the administration's inaction on several fronts. But action is unlikely to be forthcoming. 

As Raymond Ibrahim has shown, reporting of Muslim persecution of Christians does not fit "The Narrative" which the Obama Administration holds to, that Islam is innocent and there is no religious dimension to the strife in the Middle East and Africa. Therefore the plight of Christians will likely continue to be ignored by the U.S. government as a matter of Obama's anti-Christian, pro-Islam policy.

Such is the political dimension of this new age of martyrdom in which we live. 


ISIS is 'beheading, raping, and selling' Christians while Obama does nothing, Justice group asserts
by Thomas D. Williams, PhD, Breitbart News, August 21, 2015

The American Center for Law and Justice is urging President Barack Obama to defend Christians who are suffering intense persecution from Islamic State terrorists, especially by naming an ambassador to fill the vacant mission of Special Envoy to Promote Religious Freedom of Religious Minorities in the Near East and South Central Asia.

The ACLJ has drafted a petition appealing to the Obama Administration to act swiftly to stop the genocide of Christians and other minorities in the Middle East. The petition has already garnered more than 93,000 signatures.

The organization reminds the administration that ISIS is �beheading, raping, and selling Christians� and that hundreds of thousands of Christians have been forced to flee or die. But while ISIS tracks down Christians for sale and slaughter, the Obama Administration and other Western leaders stand by idle.

For more than a year, the justice group states in an article on Thursday, �President Obama has failed to appoint an Ambassador to lead a Special Envoy to Promote Religious Freedom of Religious Minorities in the Near East and South Central Asia.�

�While Christians and other religious minorities are decimated in that region, the Obama administration leaves this vital position unfilled. This is why the ACLJ has urged them to fill this spot and will continue to do so,� it said.

Just this week, in fact, the Catholic relief agency Aid to the Church in Need announced that �Christians have become a form [of] currency in this tragedy.� They report that many Arab Christians are being abducted and held for ransom as a means of funding ISIS.  One priest�s family managed to scrape together the $120,000 ransom put on his head, but once they paid the sum, they were mailed his cut-up body parts in a box, the ACLJ notes.

The Islamic State has seized significant territory across Iraq and Syria, and for more than a year now has been heavily targeting Christians and other religious minorities.

�Despite President Obama�s insistence that there is no need for greater U.S. involvement with ISIS,� the letters states, �these jihadists continue to gain more influence, money, and power.  Every day, we see new accounts of Christians & Yazidis begin captured, women being enslaved, and mass murders being committed by ISIS.�

�If this is not the kind of evil that our government is established to stop, then one must ask what is,� the ACLJ said. �This evil must be stopped.�

When the Obama Administration when it intended to appoint a special envoy to protect religious minorities in the Middle East and South Central Asia�even though Congress passed legislation over a year ago creating the post�the White House responded that it does not know.

�We have no personnel announcement to make at this time,� said Alistair Baskey, a spokesman for the White House�s National Security Council told CNSNews.com in response to queries as to when the post will be filled and why there has been such a long delay in filling the position.

Islamic State bulldozes 1,500-year-old Syrian monastery, captures over 200 Syriac Christians

Islam's war against Christianity continues to advance. In this report you see it all: Muslims conquering, destroying Christian sites, taking of captives, offering the "three choices" � convert to Islam, pay the jizya, or death." And tens of thousands of Muslims from all over the world are flocking to the Middle East to join the Islamic State because they see it adhering to pure Islam.

Islamic State bulldozes 1,500-year-old Syrian monastery

by Robert Spencer, Jihad Watch � August 21, 2015

Besides removing supposed temptations to idolatry, Islamic jihadists want to destroy the artifacts of non-Muslim civilizations because doing so testifies to the truth of Islam, as the Qur�an suggests that the destroyed remnants of ancient non-Muslim civilizations are a sign of Allah�s punishment of those who rejected his truth:

Many were the Ways of Life that have passed away before you: travel through the earth, and see what was the end of those who rejected Truth. (Qur�an 3:137)

This is one of the foundations of the Islamic idea that pre-Islamic civilizations, and non-Islamic civilizations, are all jahiliyya � the society of unbelievers, which is worthless. Obviously this cuts against the idea of tourism of ancient sites and non-Muslim religious installations. V. S. Naipaul encountered this attitude in his travels through Muslim countries. For many Muslims, he observed in Among the Believers, �The time before Islam is a time of blackness: that is part of Muslim theology. History has to serve theology.� Naipaul recounted that some Pakistani Muslims, far from valuing the nation�s renowned archaeological site at Mohenjo Daro, saw its ruins as a teaching opportunity for Islam, recommending that Qur�an 3:137 be posted there as a teaching tool.

�Isis in Syria: 1,500-year-old Mar Elian monastery bulldozed by Islamic State in Qaryatain,� by Gianluca Mezzofiore, International Business Times, August 21, 2015 (thanks to David):

Islamic State (Isis) militants have bulldozed parts of the ancient monastery of Mar Elian in Qaryatain, a strategic town located in the central Syrian province of Homs which has been seized from forces loyal to president Bashar al-Assad earlier this month. IS-linked Twitter accounts posted pictures of the destruction of the monastery, which was founded in 432 on the claimed spot of St. Elian�s death, for �worshipping a God other than Allah�.

According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), IS also transferred dozens of Assyrian Christians, who were kidnapped after the capture of Qaryatain, near its northern Syria de facto capital of Raqqa.

Mar Elian is also the place where priest Jacques Mourad was abducted back in May. Mourad was known to help both Christians and Muslims and was preparing aid for the arrival of hundreds of refugees from Palmyra�.

The jihadist group captured Qaryatain, which lies south-west of Palmyra Roman ruins and 85km from Homs, after heavy clashes with regime forces. Then the group abducted about 230 Syriac Orthodox and Syriac Catholics. Of those captured, 48 have been released and 110 were transferred to Raqqa, according to SOHR. The Christians would be given the choice of conversion to Islam or paying �jizya�, a tax on non-Muslims.

Earlier in March, IS blew up part of the ancient monastery of Mar Behnam in Iraq near the predominantly Christian town of Qaraqosh, south-east of Mosul. Photos released by IS members on social media show the 4th-century monastery�s tomb complex of Mar (Saint) Behnam and Mart (Saint) Sarah reduced to rubble.The monastery was also founded in the 4th century and built on the tomb of Berhnam and his sister Sarah, who were converted to Christianity by St Matthew. IS fighters stormed the monastery in July 2014 and expelled its resident monks.

�They�re doing this gradually. They scared the people away and now they�re destroying these people�s heritage. I don�t understand: why would you do that? Why destroy something it�s not yours?,� al-Jeloo said. �No palace, monastery, church, ruins is ours to destroy. It�s the world�s property. That�s why I�m concerned the world�s community is not doing enough to stop Isis.�

In March, an IS-linked Twitter account posted pictures of what appears to be jihadists smashing crosses and defacing statues, Christian murals and paintings at St George Chaldean Catholic monastery near Mosul. The monastery, located on the Ba�werah neighbourhood on a hill north of Mosul on the other side of the Tigris river, was founded by the Assyrian Church of the East in the 10th century but rebuilt as a seminary by the Chaldean Catholic Church in 1846.

Also in March, IS militants reportedly bulldozed the 2,000-year-old city of Hatra, and the Nimrud archaeological site near Mosul. On 26 February, the jihadist group published a video showing militants destroying artefacts in a Mosul museum and at the Nergal Gate to ancient Nineveh.

Islamic texts justify sex slavery

Perhaps you have seen the important NY Times article which has gone viral this week: 'ISIS Enshrines a Theology of Rape'. To those unfamiliar with Islamic history or jurisprudence, the revelations in the landmark article are shocking, mind-blowing. But to those of us who have been studying Islam for at least a little while, the NY Times piece seems long overdue.

Following my recent post of the article by Fr George Maximov, 'Women Saints Who Suffered Under Islam', I was thinking of doing some followup posts on the theme of Islam's treatment of women. First in the series has to be the below excellent article by Robert Spencer, in which he comments on the NY Times article and expounds on the theological foundations of sex slavery in the Quran and the example of Muhammad.

Why should Christians be made aware of this satanic component of Islam?

1) To shine light into the darkness, and expose the lie that the "god" of Islam is the same as the True God revealed to the world in the Person of Jesus Christ;

2) To wake up well intentioned but uninformed Christians, who have been led to believe that Islam is basically "almost the same" as Christianity. One Orthodox hierarch in the Middle East openly teaches that "if you are a Christian and you know a lot about Islam and love what you know, your heart will embrace the Muslims around you and if you are educated, you will hold in esteem much from their religion and openly recognize the truth that is in their religion." This kind of thinking is the leaven of apostasy;

3) To equip Christians to refute Muslim preachers and proselytizers, so instead of being silent before them, Christians may point out to them the errors in their beliefs, and hopefully, by God's grace, lead them to repent, that, as St Silouan prayed for the peoples of the whole world, "they may come to know Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit."

�He Said That Raping Me Is His Prayer to God�

It must be faced: in Islamic texts and teachings, the theological basis for this horror exists.

by Robert Spencer, PJ Media � April 14, 2015

There have been reports of hundreds of Yazidi women and children being sold at jihadi slave markets. In this picture a displaced Yazidi girl takes shelter at a school in Dahuk - See more at: http://en.alalam.ir/news/1645633#sthash.NqKlikgm.dpuf

�He told me that according to Islam he is allowed to rape an unbeliever. He said that by raping me, he is drawing closer to God. � He said that raping me is his prayer to God.�

These extraordinary statements come from girls who were kept as sex slaves by jihadis of the Islamic State, as reported in a lengthy and revealing New York Times piece that was published Thursday.

Not only does the piece illustrate the horrifying ordeal that Yazidi and other non-Muslim women endure at the hands of the Islamic State when they are forced into sexual slavery, but � most surprisingly � the article explains in detail how these monsters believe they are pleasing their bloodthirsty god by destroying these girls.

Reported the Times� Rukmini Callimachi:

In the moments before he raped the 12-year-old girl, the Islamic State fighter took the time to explain that what he was about to do was not a sin. Because the preteen girl practiced a religion other than Islam, the Quran not only gave him the right to rape her � it condoned and encouraged it, he insisted.

Both before and after he raped her, he prostrated himself in Islamic prayer:

�He told me,� the girl recounted, �that according to Islam he is allowed to rape an unbeliever. He said that by raping me, he is drawing closer to God.�

This was no isolated incident. A fifteen-year-old girl who had been forced into sex slavery recalled:

�He kept telling me this is ibadah� � that is, worship of Allah. �He said that raping me is his prayer to God. I said to him, �What you�re doing to me is wrong, and it will not bring you closer to God.� And he said, �No, it�s allowed. It�s halal.��

All this is reminiscent of Hamas� statement:

�Killing Jews is worship that draws us closer to God.�

What kind of god is this?

What kind of moral blindness has overtaken non-Muslim leaders? They sit and drink tea and �dialogue� with Muslim clerics while being careful to avoid mention of anything like this � if they�re even aware of it at all � much less ask them what they�re doing to combat within Muslim communities the theological basis for sex slavery.

It must be faced: in Islamic texts and teachings, such a theological basis manifestly exists.

The Times quotes Kecia Ali, an academic Islamic apologist at Boston University:

In the milieu in which the Quran arose, there was a widespread practice of men having sexual relationships with unfree women.

�Unfree women�: for some reason, Ali doesn�t want to say the word �slave.� She goes on to claim:

[I]t wasn�t a particular religious institution. It was just how people did things.

However � and surprisingly, considering the track record � the Times had the integrity to cite Cole Bunzel of Princeton University. The article noted that Bunzel points out:

[There are] numerous references to the phrase �Those your right hand possesses� in the Quran, which for centuries has been interpreted to mean female slaves. He also points to the corpus of Islamic jurisprudence, which continues into the modern era and which he says includes detailed rules for the treatment of slaves.
�
There is a great deal of scripture that sanctions slavery. You can argue that it is no longer relevant and has fallen into abeyance. ISIS would argue that these institutions need to be revived, because that is what the Prophet and his companions did.

Bunzel is right: the seizure of infidel girls and their use as sex slaves is sanctioned in the Qur�an.

According to Islamic law, Muslim men can take �captives of the right hand� (Qur�an 4:3, 4:24, 33:50). The Qur�an says:

O Prophet! We have made lawful to you your wives to whom you have paid their dowries, and those whom your right hand possesses of those whom Allah has given you as spoils of war (33:50).

Qur�an 4:3 and 4:24 extend this privilege to Muslim men in general. The Qur�an says that a man may have sex with his wives and with these slave girls:

The believers must win through, those who humble themselves in their prayers; who avoid vain talk; who are active in deeds of charity; who abstain from sex, except with those joined to them in the marriage bond, or those whom their right hands possess, for they are free from blame. (Qur�an 23:1-6)

The rape of captive women is also sanctioned in Islamic tradition:

Abu Sirma said to Abu Sa�id al Khadri (Allah he pleased with him): O Abu Sa�id, did you hear Allah�s Messenger (may peace be upon him) mentioning al-�azl? He said: Yes, and added: We went out with Allah�s Messenger (may peace be upon him) on the expedition to the Bi�l-Mustaliq and took captive some excellent Arab women; and we desired them, for we were suffering from the absence of our wives, (but at the same time) we also desired ransom for them. 

So we decided to have sexual intercourse with them but by observing �azl (Withdrawing the male sexual organ before emission of semen to avoid conception). But we said: We are doing an act whereas Allah�s Messenger is amongst us; why not ask him? So we asked Allah�s Messenger (may peace be upon him), and he said: It does not matter if you do not do it, for every soul that is to be born up to the Day of Resurrection will be born. (Muslim 3371)

It is also in Islamic law:

When a child or a woman is taken captive, they become slaves by the fact of capture, and the woman�s previous marriage is immediately annulled. (Umdat al-Salik O9.13)

One Islamic State jihadi, when challenged over his sexual abuse of a twelve-year-old girl by a woman who pointed out �she�s just a little girl,� replied:

�No. She�s not a little girl. She�s a slave. And she knows exactly how to have sex. And having sex with her pleases God.�

The savage exploitation of girls and young women is, unfortunately, a cross-cultural phenomenon, but only in Islamic law does it carry divine sanction. Until this is confronted, many, many more young girls� lives will be destroyed at the hands of men who think that in doing so they are bringing a smile to the face of their angry, vengeful, violent god.

Raymond Ibrahim: Christian Carnage and Western Indifference - Muslim Persecution of Christians, April 2015

The sheer breadth of global Muslim persecution of Christians, and the depths and variety of the depravity involved, which Raymond Ibrahim dutifully reports month after agonizing month, is beyond horrifying, beyond anything we have seen in history.  There is an infernal spirit behind the resurgence of Islam in our age.

By Raymond Ibrahim, Gatestone Institute � June 22, 2015

Note: The following represents some of the persecution Christians experienced at the hands of Muslims during the month of April, 2015 alone.   After reading this, ask yourself how Western media, politicians, and other foolish talking heads would react if Muslims experienced the same sort and amount of persecution at the hands of Christians or in Western nations in just one month.

Islamic State Slaughters 30 Christian Ethiopians

Approximately two months after the Islamic State published a video depicting its members slaughtering 21 Coptic Christians in Libya, on Sunday, April 19,  the Islamic jihadi organization released another video of more Christians in Libya, approximately 30 Ethiopians�derogatorily referred to by an IS spokesman as �worshippers of the cross��being butchered for not paying jizya, extortion money demanded of the �People of the Book� who refuse to convert to Islam, according to Koran 9:29.

One group of Christians were shot execution style to the back of their heads, the others had their heads carved off, like the Copts before them.

The IS spokesman further addressed �Christians everywhere�:

We say to Christians everywhere, the Islamic State will expand, with Allah�s permission.  And it will reach you even if you are in fortified strongholds.  So whoever enters Islam will have security, and whoever accepts the Dhimmah contract [subjugated, third-class treatment and social status] will have security. But whoever refuses will see nothing from us but the edge of a spear. The men will be killed and the children will be enslaved, and their wealth will be taken as booty. This is the judgment of Allah and His Messenger.

In a statement, the Coptic Christian Church of Egypt pointed out that the Ethiopian martyrs, like the 21 Copts before them, were �murdered purely for refusing to renounce their faith.�

Al Shabaab Murders 147, Separates Muslims from Christians

On April 2 in Kenya, gunmen from the Somali Islamic group, Al Shabaab��the [Islamic] youth��stormed Garissa University, singled out Christian students, and murdered them, some beheaded.  A total of 147 people were killed in the attack�making this jihad more spectacular than the 2013 Al Shabaab attack on the Nairobi mall, which left 67 people dead (then, Islamic gunmen also singled out Christians for slaughter).

Islamic gunmen were careful to separate Christians from Muslims before beginning the carnage said eyewitnesses.  (While Kenya is 83% Christian, it still has an 11% Muslim minority the jihadis are careful not to kill.)  Collins Wetangula, vice chairman of the student union, said he could hear from inside his room where he was hiding the gunmen opening doors and inquiring if the people inside were Muslims or Christians: �If you were a Christian you were shot on the spot.  With each blast of the gun I thought I was going to die.�

Al Shabaab has a long history of singling Christians out from among Muslims for slaughter (here are four examples).  Other jihadi groups�including Boko Haram and the Islamic State�also make it a point to distinguish between Christians and Muslims before slaughtering the former, a fact often omitted from �mainstream media� reports.

Egyptian Churches under Attack

• On Sunday, April 5, as Coptic Christians were celebrating Palm Sunday, a church was attacked in Alexandria, Egypt.   Gunmen in a vehicle opened fire on the church during the night injuring a police officer and two civilians.

• On April 12, Easter Sunday according to the Orthodox calendar, two explosions targeting churches took place in Zagazig vicinity.  One car explosion took place near a Coptic Orthodox church and another bomb exploded near the Evangelical Church in the same area.  Although no casualties were reported, large numbers could have easily resulted, based on precedent.  For example, on January 1, 2011, as Egypt�s Christians ushered in the New Year, car bombs went off near the Two Saints Church in Alexandria, resulting in 23 dead worshippers and dozens critically injured.

• Muslims rioted because President Sisi had agreed for Copts to build a church in Al-Our, where 13 of the 21 Christians who were beheaded by the Islamic State grew up and where their families still live.  Local Muslims rose in violence soon after Islamic prayers Friday, April 3.  They yelled that they would never allow a church to be built, that �Egypt is Islamic!� By night time, Molotov cocktails and stones were thrown at another Coptic church, cars were set ablaze�including one belonging to a relative of one of the those decapitated by the Islamic State�and several people were injured.[i]

• A day later, on Saturday, April 4, Muslims rioted and attacked the Christians of the village of Gala�, Samalout district.  After waiting for years to repair their dilapidated church (see pictures here) Coptic locals finally received all the proper permits to begin restoration.  Soon Coptic homes, businesses, and persons, were attacked including by hurled stones.  Christian owned wheat farms were destroyed and their potato crops uprooted.  Islamic slogans were constantly yelled, including �There is no god but Allah� and �Islamic! Islamic!�

• After waiting for 44 years, the Christians of Nag Shenouda, in Sohag City, finally got the necessary permit to build a new church.  Muslims again rioted and even burned down the tent the Christians had erected to worship under.  Denied, the Christians of Nag Shenouda celebrated Easter in the street (picture here).  And when one of them tried to hold worship service in his home, he and his household were attacked by a Muslim mob.

More Islamic Attacks on Christian Churches

Syria: The Islamic State destroyed at least three churches under its jurisdiction:

• On Easter Sunday, the Islamic State destroyed the Virgin Mary Church in Tel Nasri, northeast Syria.  The Assyrian church was built and consecrated in 1934.  Loosely translated as �Christian Hill,� Tel Nasri is an ancient Assyrian Christian village.  It is one of the dozens of Christian villages along the Khabur river that were attacked and occupied by the Islamic State in late February (more here and here).

• On April 28, the St. Odisho Assyrian Church in Tel Tal and the St. Rita Tilel Armenian Church in Aleppo, were also destroyed.

Nigeria: A Muslim mob set fire to a church in a Christian village in Nigeria�s northern Kano State on April 1.  Muslims were searching for a young man who had renounced Islam and re-converted to Christianity in order to kill him. They also attacked Christian villagers with machetes and torched the home of a pastor, killing one of his daughters.  According to General Dikko, a local official,

The church and all the properties were burnt down in the presence of the Christian community despite all pleadings for them to stop the destruction. The arsonists gathered cornstalks and put them inside the church in order to cause greater damage�.  We have the right to belong to any religion of our choice and live anywhere in this country. We call on the authorities at all levels to rise up to their responsibilities of protecting lives and properties of every citizen in this country.

Pakistan: Two assailants on motorbikes opened fire on the main gates of a church and Christian school in Lahore.  The school had just closed half an hour earlier and several students were present outdoors.  Police were present, causing the attackers to ride off.  Two passersby were injured in the crossfire.

Malaysia: On Sunday, April 19, a Muslim mob of approximately 50 people rioted and protested against a small Protestant church in Kuala Lumpur, the capital.  The object of their wrath was the cross atop the building of worship�which was removed during the Islamic protest.  Rioters exclaimed that the cross, the central symbol of Christianity, represented �a challenge to Islam� and could �influence the faith of young people.�

More Muslim Slaughter of Christians

High Seas: On April 16, police in Sicily reported that Muslim migrants hurled as many as 53 Christians overboard during a recent crossing from Libya.  The motive was that the victims �professed the Christian faith while the aggressors were Muslim.�  Another report said that the reason the Christians were thrown overboard is because a boy was seen praying to the Judeo-Christian God. Muslims commanded him to stop, saying �Here, we only pray to Allah.�  Eventually the Muslims �went mad,� in the words of a witness, started screaming �Allahu Akbar!� and began hurling Christians into the sea.[ii]

Nigeria: According to a �U.N. human rights chief � all 276 Christian schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014 may have been among a group of women slaughtered by Boko Haram last month [March], Nigerian media reported Monday, April 6.�[iii]

Syria: Islamic rebels fired rockets at a Christian neighborhood in Aleppo, the nation�s largest city, on the night of April 10-11.   The attack left massive destruction in the eastern section of the Sulaymaniyah district, which is predominantly Assyrian and Armenian.  At least 40 people, mostly Assyrians�including women and children�were killed.  Shells also targeted an Assyrian Catholic Cathedral, injuring three civilians. �Our Easter feast has turned to grief,� a nun in Aleppo said: �Some people woke up to find themselves without a home and others did not see the life died under the rubble because they were victims of violence.�

Egypt: A Muslim man stabbed a Christian woman with a knife multiple times and then threw her body into a canal.  The Coptic woman, Gamila Basilious, was 48-years-old and married, living in Minya.  According to police reports, the man, Mahmoud Hassan Abdulhamid, came to her door inquiring about her husband. When he discovered her husband was not present, he took advantage of the situation by attacking her with a knife, with repeated stab wounds found on her neck and chest region.  As �infidels,� Coptic Christians are regularly attacked in Egypt, including kidnapping, church attacks, and just random slaughter.

Islamic Attacks on Christian Freedom:

Apostasy, Blasphemy, Proselytization

Uganda: Five Muslim men gang-raped and beat the teenage daughter of a Christian pastor.  This was done in �retaliation� to the pastor�s refusal to stop Christian worship services in a Muslim-majority region.  The girl was approaching the New Hope Church building where her father serves as pastor when she was abducted and taken to nearby bushes by the rapists.  In the 17-year-old girl�s own words:

The five Muslims took hold of me, and they raped me there.  I tried to scream, but they threatened to kill me. One of them said, �Your father should stop this prayer meeting of trying to change Muslims to become Christians and close the church building�we have warned him several times.

The suspects fled when church members arrived for an all-night prayer vigil. They rushed her to a local clinic, where she was treated for serious injuries and mental trauma.  According to her father, �The girl still has problems communicating.  She just says a few words and then keeps quiet. She needs trauma counseling.�  Earlier, the father had received messages threatening him to cease holding Christian worship services.  One text message said, �Be you informed that we do not want your church in this area. If you continue worship here, then you will live to regret it.�

Bangladesh: A Muslim mob attacked a former Muslim and his wife for converting to Christianity.  The couple was attacked as they were returning home after being baptized. The man was slapped across the face by a Muslim imam in front of his two young children.  The Islamic mob further broke the fence of the new Christians� family home and said they would chase the �apostates� out of the village for leaving Islam.  The man who baptized the couple was also attacked and beat by the mob at his home and later lost his job.

Egypt: Gad Yunan,  a Coptic Christian teacher, and five of his Coptic students were arrested on the charge of �contempt of religions.�  Their crime was to have made a 30-second video on Yunan�s iphone poking fun at the Islamic State�which Egypt�s Muslims and authorities apparently equate with making fun of Islam, even as Muslims in the West insist IS has �nothing to do with Islam.�  Yunan was �banished� from his village of al-Nasriya in an effort to appease local Muslims who reacted to the video with violence, including by pelting the homes and businesses of Christians with stones.  According to Khamis, Yunan�s brother: �I don�t see any insulting of Islam in the video. They were joking and making fun of Daesh (the Arabic acronym for IS), not Islam. My brother didn�t intend to insult the Islamic religion.� [iv]

Ethiopia: Gemechu Jorgo and Sheikh Amin�two men who were distributing Bibles in Ethiopia�s Melka Belo region�were arrested.  Islamic law bans the advertisement and dissemination of any religion other than Islam.  While imprisoned, both men endured harassment and physical abuse by authorities.  At one point, Jorgo reminded District Administrator Jamal Adam of his constitutional right to practice his Christian faith freely.  In response, the Muslim administrator used Jorgo�s Bible to slap him in the face three times.  Amin, formerly a Muslim sheikh and prayer leader of a mosque, is a recent convert to Christianity.  While in prison, officials persistently pressured the apostate to renounce Christ and return to Islam.  He refused.  Both men were eventually released.  Ethiopia is a Christian-majority nation, though Muslims make for 33%, or one-third of the population.

Uzbekistan: Reports appearing in April told of the harassing, jailing and fining of several Christians for exercising their right to freedom of religion or belief. One of the prisoners of conscience�Council of Churches Baptist Doniyor Akhmedov�was fined more than three years� official minimum wage after his release from 15 days in jail.  Other prisoners of conscience to be jailed for short periods include a Protestant in Bukhara, who received seven days� imprisonment for �illegal� religious activity and another Protestant who received 10 days� jail time for �teaching religion illegally.�  Their identities remain anonymous due to fears they might suffer more reprisals.  Nine more Protestants were fined for �illegally storing� Christian literature and materials. Their homes were raided earlier by police who confiscated various Christian books and CDs and DVDs.  �Religious minorities face tight scrutiny in Uzbekistan as they are unable to openly practice their beliefs without facing major penalties such as jail terms or heavy fines,� reports Forum 18 News.

Dhimmitude:

Generic Violence and Hostility against Christians

France: On April 15, 215 Christian gravestones and crosses in the cemetery of Saint-Roch de Castres (Tarn) were damaged and desecrated (pictures here).  The man responsible was later arrested.  According to Charlotte Beluet, the prosecutor: �The suspect, arrested at 12:45 on Thursday, matches the description given by a witness, a cemetery employee, who came across the man dressed in a white djellaba [Arab/Muslim garb], and followed him�  The man repeats Muslim prayers over and over, he drools and cannot be communicated with: his condition has been declared incompatible with preliminary detention.�  He was hospitalized on the assumption that he is  �mentally unbalanced.�

Iraq: Right around the same time the �mentally unbalanced� Muslim man was destroying Christian crosses and tombstones in France, the Islamic State published pictures of its members destroying Christian tombstones and crosses in cemeteries under its jurisdiction�including Mosul�s oldest Christian cemetery near the Syrian Orthodox Cathedral�and quoted Islamic scriptures justifying its actions.  Several jihadi websites posted these pictures.  Some include Islamic State members using sledgehammers to destroy gravestones and efface the crosses carved on them.

Bangladesh: On Easter day, a Catholic Christian village made up of tribal Khasia people was attacked by Muslims.  Syed Ara Begum, a Muslim owner of a tea plantation, along with a Muslim mob,  attacked the Christian village as its population was celebrating Mass.   The plantation owner reportedly seeks to seize the Christians� land.  Hearing the cries of his flock, Fr. James Kiron Rozario ran to the site of the attack.  Once there, the crowd of Muslims attacked him with a knife, seriously wounding him and threatening to kill him.  The Muslim mob went on to steal items worth almost $4,000.  They also destroyed Bibles, crosses, holy pictures, musical instruments and homes�and randomly killed goats and chickens.  According to Msgr. Bejoy N. D�Cruze OMI, Bishop of Syleht, �We live in fear�.  We want justice and security for our priests and our faithful. We hope that the government will find a peaceful solution and that our people can live free from tensions�. They [Catholic Khasia] are a very peaceful community but often fall victims of the Bengali [Muslim] majority.�

Pakistan:

• On the morning of April 17, suspected Islamic gunmen opened fire on St Francis High School, a Catholic school founded in 1842 in Lahore and long considered one of the finest schools in the city.  One student and two security guards were injured and taken to hospital.  Although the motive behind the attack has yet to be established, Christian lawyer Sardar Mushtaq Gill said in a statement that this �new attack witnesses the deterioration of the situation of Christians in Pakistan and spreads even more fear.�

• On March 29, Shamim Masih�a Christian reporter exposing Muslim persecution�was attacked in Islamabad by two men on a motorcycle.  According to the leader of the Pakistan Christian Congress party, Nazir S Bhatti �The motorbike riders got down from their bike and started beating Shamim Masih�. [They] broke his arm and warned him that if he did not stop reporting on Christian issues, they knew his family and home and would teach him and his family a lesson.�  As usual, police failed to register the incident.  In the words of Bhatti: �as Shamim Masih is a Christian journalist�the police and administration are not paying any attention or interest to investigate this incident.�

• On April 1, Islamic militants shot and wounded the brother of Sardar Mushtaq Gill, a prominent Christian rights official in Pakistan.  This is the latest attack on Gill and his family by Islamic militants angered at him for criticizing the controversial blasphemy laws that are routinely used to attack Pakistan�s Christian minority.  The attack occurred  in the Kasur District of Punjab province.  According to the human rights official, �Pervaiz Gill [his brother] suffered a bullet wound to his lower back, and was rushed to Jinah Hospital in Lahore [city] where it was removed.� However, �the police is not arresting the shooter� who was publicly identified as Muhammad Bilal: �Our life remains under threat if the shooter is not arrested.�  Last August, Gill�s home was sprayed with bullets in the night, for the second time.

Syria: Since the city of Idlib fell to Islamic rebels on March 28, Christian inhabitants have been attacked in various ways. A 57-year-old Greek Orthodox priest, Ibrahim Farah, head of the Greek-Orthodox parish dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was kidnapped.  Last reported, Farah, who chose to remain in the city and tend to other Christians unable to flee, was awaiting a �trial.�

Encouraging Words, No Actions

Because the Muslim persecution of Christians is growing immensely, more Christian and political leaders are beginning to mention it, though with no commensurate action.  During a Mass in April, Pope Francis said that today�s Church is a �Church of martyrs,� adding:

In these days how many Stephens there are in the world! Let us think of our brothers whose throats were slit on the beach in Libya [by the Islamic State]; let�s think of the young boy who was burnt alive by his [see above]; let us think of those migrants thrown from their boat into the open sea by other migrants because they were Christians [see above]; let us think�just the day before yesterday�of those Ethiopians assassinated because they were Christians [see above]� and of many others. Many others of whom we do not even know and who are suffering in jails because they are Christians� The Church today is a Church of martyrs: they suffer, they give their lives and we receive the blessing of God for their witness.

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia�who once wrote a letter to Barack Obama beseeching the president to reconsider his foreign policies which enable the persecution of Christians in Syria�spoke again of the threat of Christian extinction in the Mideast:

I regularly get reports of horrible crimes that are committed there against Christians, especially in northern Iraq. I have visited those places and I remember that there were many churches and monasteries there. The city of Mosul alone had 45 churches. Now there is not a single one. The buildings have been destroyed. Four hundred churches have been destroyed in Syria� Now Christianity is the most persecuted religion. The same is happening in Nigeria, Pakistan, and Northern Africa.

According to Saudi novelist and writer, Hani Naqshabandi, �Our religious institutions do not give us room to exercise free thought.�  By way of example, he pointed out that �They [Saudi institutions] said that the Christian is an infidel, a denizen of hell, an enemy to Allah and Islam.  So we said, �Allah�s curse on them.��  He also admitted the obvious but little known fact that �Christians are in need of protection �  What happened to Christians in Iraq and Syria, and further regions like Algeria, does not receive Arabic media coverage that befits human beings, whatever their religion.�

Even United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron, regularly criticized for being too soft on Islamists, said the following remarks during his Easter message:

We have a duty to speak out about the persecution of Christians around the world too.  It is truly shocking that in 2015 there are still Christians being threatened, tortured, even killed because of their faith.  From Egypt to Nigeria, Libya to North Korea.  Across the Middle East Christians have been hounded out of their homes, forced to flee from village to village; many of them forced to renounce their faith or brutally murdered.  To all those brave Christians in Iraq and Syria who practice their faith or shelter others, we will say, �We stand with you.�

About this Series

The persecution of Christians in the Islamic world has become endemic.  Accordingly, �Muslim Persecution of Christians� was developed to collate some�by no means all�of the instances of persecution that surface each month. It serves two purposes:

1)          To document that which the mainstream media does not: the habitual, if not chronic, persecution of Christians.

2)          To show that such persecution is not �random,� but systematic and interrelated�that it is rooted in a worldview inspired by Islamic Sharia.

Accordingly, whatever the anecdote of persecution, it typically fits under a specific theme, including hatred for churches and other Christian symbols; apostasy, blasphemy, and proselytism laws that criminalize and sometimes punish with death those who �offend� Islam; sexual abuse of Christian women; forced conversions to Islam;  theft and plunder in lieu of jizya (financial tribute expected from non-Muslims); overall expectations for Christians to behave like cowed dhimmis, or third-class, �tolerated� citizens; and simple violence and murder. Sometimes it is a combination thereof.

Because these accounts of persecution span different ethnicities, languages, and locales�from Morocco in the West, to Indonesia in the East�it should be clear that one thing alone binds them: Islam�whether the strict application of Islamic Sharia law, or the supremacist culture born of it.

Previous Reports linked here.