CHRISTIANS AND CHURCHES ATTACKED IN THE WEST
Right Side News
Dec 24 2014
24 December 2014 09:32
Written by Raymond Ibrahim
-“You have a cross on… Do you know what we do to people like you?” —
Muslim in Denmark.
-Muslim Fulani gunmen forced their way into the church, cut [the
pastor], his wife and a daughter with a machete, and then tied the
hands and feet of the three of them before setting the building on
fire… We only found the charred remains of the three of them in the
morning. I heard them shouting at the top of their voices, saying
they must obliterate any traces of Christianity in the town.” —
Eyewitness account, Nigeria.
-Each year, approximately 1,000 women in Pakistan are forced to
convert to Islam and marry Muslim men. Whenever a case of this nature
reaches the law courts, those women, under threat and blackmail, often
declare that their conversion and marriage were decisions freely made,
and the case is closed.
The Muslim persecution of Christians in September started making
prominent appearances not just in the Islamic world, but also in the
West–in America, Australia and Europe.
In the United States, in Columbus, Indiana, three churches were
vandalized on the same night. The words most frequently sprayed were
“Infidels!” and “Koran 3:151.” The verse from the Koran states,
“We will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve [or
“infidels”] for what they have associated with Allah [reference to
Christian Trinity] of which He had not sent down [any] authority. And
their refuge will be the Fire, and wretched is the residence of
the wrongdoers.”
Father Doug Marcotte of Saint Bartholomew’s Catholic Church, one of
those vandalized, said, “There’s a lot of bad stuff being done in
the name of Allah and so when people see this happening in Columbus,
whether that was truly the person’s intent or there’s something else
going on, it makes people nervous. It makes people upset. It makes
them scared.”
Meanwhile, in Australia, AAP reported that “Church-goers in Sydney’s
west have been left shaken after a stranger shouted death threats
from a car bearing the Islamic State flag. The car drove past Our
Lady of Lebanon Church at Harris Park on Tuesday and witnesses claim
it had a flag similar to those brandished by Islamic State jihadists
hanging out the window.” A church official said the people in the
car threatened to “kill the Christians” and slaughter their children:
“They were strong words and people were scared of what they saw.”
Witnesses saw a flag outside the window with the words, “There is only
one god and Muhammad is the prophet.” And as happens frequently in
Muslim-majority nations, police security was later dispatched to patrol
the Harris Park church while hundreds partook of the mass inside.
In Denmark–2013’s “happiest country in the world”–Christians of
Middle Eastern backgrounds continued to experience “harassment, verbal
attacks and in some cases direct violence from Muslims,” reports TV2,
especially in Muslim-majority areas, such as Nørrebro. One Christian,
“Jojo,” born in Denmark of Lebanese parents, shared her experiences.
Once when sitting in her parked car, several Muslims surrounded it,
harassing her about her Western attire. When one of them noticed she
was wearing a cross, he said “Well, you have a cross on–then you
are also a Christian f***ing whore. Do you know what we do to people
like you? Do you know what we do to people like you? You get stoned
[to death].”
Another Christian woman of Iranian background recounted how she and her
son are harassed on the Muslim-majority block where they live–and
where she stands out for not wearing a hijab, the Islamic veil:
“My son is being called everything. I get called all sorts of things.
Infidel. Filthy Christians. They tell me I ought to be stoned to
death. My son was beaten at the bus stop. He was called pig, dirty
potato (Muslim slang for Danes), and that ‘you and your mother
should die.”‘
Islamic dreams of conquering Europe were prevalent. A senior analyst
in Spain warned that, because Islamists see the Iberian peninsula
as being “under Spanish and Portuguese occupation,” greater risk of
terrorism exists there than in other Western areas. Because Iberia–or,
in Arabic, Al-Andalus–was under Islamic domination for centuries,
many Muslims consider it part of the Islamic world, or Dar al-Islam,
which needs to be reconquered, no less than Israel, also seen as
occupied Islamic territory.
More pointedly, in the Islamic State [IS], in a lengthy message
partially addressed to the “crusaders”–a reference to the West–some
members declared, “We will conquer your Rome, break your crosses,
and enslave your women, by the permission of Allah.” Members of the IS
also invoked a statement attributed to Muhammad, that Constantinople
would be conquered before Rome–and it was, in 1453. The implication
was that the Eternal City of Rome would be next.
Around the same time, Rome responded by rejecting a motion to name a
street after the late Oriana Fallaci, a veteran journalist who had once
written that, “the Muslim world is attempting to conquer the West in
the name of Islam.” In explaining their decision, local politicians
described Fallaci’s writings as containing “religious hatred,” or
“Islamophobia.”
In Canada, while 80 special Muslims went to the trouble of attending a
Muslim rally on behalf of persecuted Christians, sadly, another rally,
an extremist Al Quds Day Anti-Israel Hate Fest, drew approximately
6,000 participants.
The rest of September’s roundup of Muslim persecution of Christians
around the world includes (but is not limited to) the following
accounts, listed by theme and country alphabetical order, not
necessarily according to severity.
Muslim Attacks on Churches
East Jerusalem: A Christian church was attacked numerous times: On
September 29, young Muslim men, with ties to a Palestinian militant
group, wired shut the door of the Living Bread Church and sprayed a
gaseous substance at those inside. An earlier gas attack had already
occurred on September 17. Hours before the second attack, someone threw
a rock through one of the windows of the church, and the day before
that, Sunday, September 28, a Palestinian and others assaulted a church
member as he was emptying trash into a dumpster outside the church.
On Sept. 21, a Palestinian militant, without warning, ran up behind
a church leader, Karen Dunham, and knocked her to the pavement: “This
guy charged me as fast as he could,” she said. “He came up behind me
and just slammed into my back, and I fell and I hit the ground. My
face is bruised. There’s bruises on the side of my cheek, on my face,
on my head, on my knee, cuts on my head, and my wrist was fractured.”
Egypt: A Christian priest in Egypt appealed to President Abdel
Fattah El-Sisi to intervene on behalf of yet another church being
threatened by “religious extremists.” So far, local authorities have
done nothing. Four years ago, the Coptic Church of St. Abram in Shubra
al-Khaima received a permit to build an additional building. During
those same four years, seven “thugs”–in the words of the report–have
prevented it from being built. The “thugs” had mobilized local Muslims
to threaten and demonstrate against the church. “The priest lamented
that ‘after suffering many long years’ they finally managed to acquire
the permit to build, but then the next obstacle presented itself in the
person of the aforementioned seven ‘thugs’ who constantly harass, and
incite Muslim mobs, against the church, whenever it tries to exercise
its right to build the services building. Islamic law forbids the
building of new churches or the renovation of existing churches.”
Iraq: Islamic State militants “completely destroyed” the ancient Green
Church in Tikrit. They packed the church with explosives and detonated
them — completely destroying the ancient church, which belonged to the
Assyrian Church of the East. Almost from the time it was built in the
seventh century, when Islam overran Iraq, the church had been attacked,
ransacked, and destroyed by Muslim rulers and others, but was restored
on the orders of Iraq’s late President Saddam Hussein in the 1990s.
Nigeria: Many more churches and a Christian university, Kulp Bible
College, were forced to shut down as a result of the advances of
the Islamic jihadi group, Boko Haram. In one instance, a pastor
reported that “Boko Haram violence has been getting worse every day,
and our members are fleeing the area by the thousands. Recent attacks
in Borno and Adamawa states where our churches are located have seen
Boko Haram take over the Army base. As a result, about 350 Christians
have been killed.”
Separately, in Kaduna state, where “Muslim Fulani assailants seem
driven to rid the area of Christianity and use the land to graze
their cattle,” according to church leaders, 46 Christians, including
two pastors, were slaughtered in raids. According to an eyewitness,
“Suddenly we heard sounds of gunshots around our village. The pastor
was still in the pastorate when the Muslim Fulani gunmen forced their
way onto the church premises. They cut him, his wife and a daughter
with a machete, and then tied the hands and feet of the three of them
before setting the house on fire. The three of them were burned to
ashes in the living room of the pastorate. We only found the charred
remains of the three of them the following morning…. The gunmen
then came onto the church premises and began shooting. I heard them
shouting at the top of their voices, saying they must obliterate any
trace of Christianity in the town.”
Although Muslim Fulani have historically had property disputes with
Christian farmers, Christian leaders say attacks by the herdsmen
constitute a war “by Islam to eliminate Christianity” in Nigeria.
Sudan: In the latest incident of a nearly two-year wave of church
demolitions, closures and confiscations, security agents padlocked
a 500-member church building, the Sudan Pentecostal Church [SPC] in
Khartoum. The church also houses the Khartoum Christian Center (KCC).
“The church is concerned that the building might be sold by the
government, which renders more than 500 worshippers to have no place
for worship,” a source told the Morning Star News. The Islamist
government appears to be seeking any pretext for closing churches,
sources said. In this instance, the space for the church was originally
designated as “office space.” But, as one source asked, “How do you
close a church building that has been in operation for 20 years in
the name of the church being meant for offices?” The church has a
deed showing that it owns the building and property — a situation
that raises the question of the government’s right to sell it.
On June 30 bulldozers demolished the Sudanese Church of Christ in the
Thiba Al Hamyida area of North Khartoum as church members watched,
while security personnel threatened to arrest them if they tried to
block the bulldozers, church members said.
Syria: The Islamic State destroyed the Armenian Genocide Memorial
Church in Der Zor, seen as the “Auschwitz” of the Armenian Genocide.
Hundreds of thousands of Armenians perished in Der Zor and the
surrounding desert during the genocide. In the summer of 1916 alone,
more than 200,000 Armenians, mostly women and children, were massacred
by Ottoman Turks. Armenia’s foreign minister issued a statement calling
the church’s destruction a “horrible barbarity,” and referred to the
Islamic State as a “disease” that “threatened civilized mankind.” The
church was built in 1989-90 and consecrated a year later. A genocide
memorial and a museum housing the remains of the victims of the
genocide were also located in the church compound.
Thousands of Armenians from Syria and neighboring countries gathered
at the memorial every year on April 24 to commemorate the genocide.
Pakistani Rape and Dhimmitude
Four young Muslims gang raped a 15-year-old Christian girl and
filmed it. The girl’s father, although he was threatened against
filing a complaint, went to police, who confirmed the existence of a
video that corroborates the violence. The video will apparently be
introduced as evidence against the youths. A lawyer, Mushtaq Gill,
issued a statement that, “Many Christian girls continue to be victims
of sexual assault by young Muslims, who go unpunished” and that,
“in this case there is also a video, flaunted as a trophy.”
Two Christian women were abducted, forced to convert to Islam and marry
Muslim men. Lawyer Mushtaq Gill said, “A Christian girl, Sairish,
forced to marry a Muslim in 2009, in her heart never abandoned
the faith and continued to pray to Jesus Christ even after her
marriage. After a few years she found the courage to rebel against
the situation and run away…. Her life is now in danger because if
she declares herself Christian, Muslims may accuse her of apostasy
and the punishment would be death.” Each year, approximately 1,000
women in Pakistan are forced to convert to Islam and marry Muslim men.
Whenever a case of this nature reaches the law courts, those women,
under threat and blackmail, often declare that their conversion and
marriage were decisions freely made, and the case is closed.
Another Christian family fled their hometown, Lahore, to save their
daughters from forced conversion to Islam. According to the Justice
and Peace Commission, the two sisters, aged 12 and 8, were studying
in public schools, where learning to recite the Koran is mandatory.
Apparently, because the girls recited the shehada, the Islamic
declaration of faith, “an Islamic cleric, the father of a student
stated that these girls had become Muslims and thus needed to be taken
from their Christian parents and entrusted to adult Muslims.” The
parents pulled their daughters out of school, but then the headmaster
and other Muslim teachers “warned the parents to send them back to
school, offering the family financial aid regarding the school fees.”
The parents quit their jobs and fled the region.
Police arrested 15 Christians and booked 45 other members of the
minority community under the blasphemy law for allegedly desecrating
Muslim graves in a village in Punjab province. According to the AP,
“The case was registered after a local cleric filed a complaint
alleging that the Christians had desecrated over 400 Muslim graves to
occupy the land in Chak village in Faisalabad, about 150 kilometres
from Lahore.” Rights groups said it was a spurious charge meant
to prevent the Christians from acquiring the land. In fact, the
accusations were later proven false.
Dhimmitude: Islamic Discrimination Against Christianity
Egypt: Iman Sarofim, a 39-year-old Christian mother of five, returned
home to her family after being kidnapped. Initially it was believed
that she had voluntarily converted to Islam and fled her family to be
with a Muslim man. The woman contacted the family from Suez, where
she had been brought by the kidnapper. The return of the woman was
celebrated by neighbors and relatives in the city of Gabal al-Tir. Her
disappearance had been the cause of clashes between Copts and
police, who believed the narrative that she had voluntarily left. In
retaliation, police officers entered the homes of dozens of Coptic
families and violently arrested dozens of Christians. Separately,
Ehab Karam, a Coptic dentist, was killed after he was abducted by
unknown persons, most likely for ransom. The kidnapping of Copts
for ransom has evidently become a regular part of life in Egypt
for Christians, particularly in Upper Egypt. Last February, for
instance, police dismantled a crime network that for months had been
organizing kidnappings, robberies and extortion against the local
Coptic community. “Unfortunately,” said the Coptic Catholic Bishop of
Assist, Kyrillos William, “the phenomenon continues and there are no
signs of improvement. Police operations are episodic and ineffective,
they are unable to solve the problem.”
Iraq: The Islamic State decreed that all schools in Mosul and the
Nineveh Plain which bore Christian names, some since the 1700s, must
be changed. Also, the teaching of the Syriac language and culture and
Christian religious education has been abolished. Reports indicate
that the Islamic State took these moves “in order to erase all traces
of cultural and religious pluralism in the conquered areas and turn
schools into propaganda tools of jihadist ideology among the new
generations.”
Saudi Arabia: In the Eastern Province city of Khafji, “religious
police,” or agents from the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue
and Prevention of Vice, raided a house where at least 27 Christians,
mostly expatriates from various Asian nationalities, were gathered.
The Christians, including children, were accused of practicing
Christianity in a house church, and were arrested and detained
overnight. Authorities also confiscated musical instruments and copies
of the Bible. The house had been placed under surveillance after a
citizen reported that his Indian neighbor had converted his home into
a Christian church. After witnessing a large number of individuals
enter the home, officers raided the house. The only religion allowed
to be practiced in public in Saudi Arabia is Islam. In the land of
the prophet, no public places of worship for non-Muslims are permitted
to exist.
Turkey: According to the Armenian magazine, Agos, many of the primary
and secondary education books being used for the current school year
still describe the Armenians and other Christian communities as enemy
forces at the service of foreign powers, including Russia and England,
after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. One eighth-grade history
book tries to whitewash the Armenian genocide, which is portrayed as a
“necessary deportation,” never as a massacre.
Uzbekistan: Security forces reportedly raided the home of Pastor
Stanislav Kim in Chirchik, 20 miles northeast of Tashkent, the
capital. They detained 11 teenagers and three adults, who had gathered
there for a volleyball game, and questioned them for more than four
hours before releasing them. Officials also searched the pastor’s home
and confiscated a New Testament, a Bible, several other Christian
books, more than 100 slides of hymns, as well as some computer
equipment. Voice of the Martyrs, which says there are at least 65
unregistered congregations scattered throughout Uzbekistan, said in
a statement, “Please pray that this pastor and his son will not face
fines, but will soon be acquitted of any perceived wrongdoing. Ask God
to strengthen each believer who was present during this unwarranted
raid so that they will not give in to governmental intimidation and
pressure, but instead be emboldened to serve our Lord faithfully.”
About this Series
While not all, or even most, Muslims are involved, persecution of
Christians is expanding. “Muslim Persecution of Christians” was
developed to collate some–by no means all–of the instances of
persecution that surface each month.
It documents what the mainstream media often fails to report.
It posits that such persecution is not random but systematic, and
takes place in all languages, ethnicities and locations.
by Raymond Ibrahim December 24, 2014 at 5:00 am
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http://www.rightsidenews.com/2014122435292/world/terrorism/christians-and-churches-attacked-in-the-west.html#