Islamic Tolerance Alert. In the U.S., if you dare note that Christians do not enjoy full equality of rights with Muslims in any majority-Muslim country today, you will be vilified as an "Islamophobe." Unfortunately, however, those who do the vilifying don't say a thing when stories like this one come out.
"Asylum for Eritrean gospel singer," from the BBC (thanks to Meilor):
An Eritrean Christian gospel singer who was tortured and detained without charge for two years in her homeland has been granted asylum in Denmark.Helen Berhane was imprisoned inside a metal shipping container and beaten in an effort to make her recant her faith.
And just what faith did her captors want her to adopt, O BBC?
Freed in December 2006, she took refuge in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, before being granted asylum.Ms Berhane uses a wheelchair because of severe injuries to her legs and feet sustained in prison beatings....
Her account of the cruel and inhumane treatment she suffered is echoed by the testimony of hundreds of others persecuted for their religious beliefs.
Prisoners say they are routinely subjected to extremes of heat and cold, denied water and sanitation, according to testimony collected from exiles by Release Eritrea, an organisation that campaigns for the rights of religious minorities.
Now, Ms Erhane is probably not an Anglican.
But perhaps Abp Rowan Williams, before writing a full formal reply to the 'Letter from the Muslims', should muster up the wit and the guts to invite Ms Erhane to dinner at the Archiepiscopal Palace, and then the courtesy to listen carefully to her testimony, AND BELIEVE WHAT SHE SAYS.
Furthermore, I think he could respectfully suggest to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, that as Defender of the Faith, she should give a special dinner at Buckingham Palace in honour not only of Ms Erhane but of all the others like Ms Erhane who are currently living in Britain (I suspect there would be quite a few), and Muslim-background-believers who have left Mohammed for Jesus within Britain itself, and have maintained their new-found Christian faith in the teeth of vicious harassment from the Muslim community. Bishop Sookhdeo could, I am sure, with little difficulty compose a suitable guest list. Perhaps an invitation could go to Italy, as well, to that Afghan Christian who is in hiding there, and M15 could escort him safely to Britain.
Imagine what it would mean if Her Majesty were to be photographed humbly pushing Ms Erhane's wheelchair, as an expression of heartfelt honour for a hero of the Christian faith?
Was it the Lutherans?
Three cheers for tiny, courageous Denmark!
Dumbledoresarmy:
Some very worthy suggestions. Well said!
"There is no complusion in religion......"
Quick, someone needs to contact Hooper over at cair so he can straighten all of this out.
Someone has to do something to stop these Amish!
It's funny how the left and Islamists go on and on about Western imperialism, when there is simply nothing remotely comparable to Islamic imperialism operating on the globe right now. Africa is a case in point. The expansionism of Islam in Africa is breathtaking. It's not just expansionism but radicalization too. Older Muslim groups that once lived nominally alongside non-Muslims are now coming under Wahhabi influence. I hear this from Africans I know that they now speak of the trouble caused by Africans who have spent time in Saudi Arabia and now foment Wahhabi radicalism within the older Muslim communities. Many of these countries are so unstable to begin with that this kind of Saudi influence is pushing countries like Eritrea to the brink of civil war. Africans are often caught between jihadis and non-Muslim strongmen rulers who are ostensibly trying to maintain order. In the end, the strongmen seem to fail, while the jihadis just get stronger. Part of the jihadi agenda appears to be to get secular strongmen to crack down and then exploit the resulting mayhem.
The 7th century in Eritrea rules with a vicious religious fervor. Ms. Berhane, a Christian tortured for her faith, must escape to the 21st century Denmark's rule of tolerance. The 'religion of peace' is the biggest lie on Earth, which persecutes those who believe in God, and Jesus. And 'Islam of submission' hates freedom.
Vatican, all Christian church leaders, there is your cue. Take it from there, and keep this vicious primitive 7th century hate and intolerance out of the 21st. Take it home, God willing, to freedom.
And her church says, exactly as the majority of muslims say and believe, that gay people ought to be killed out of hand.
Thank-you, but no thank-you. As far as I am concerned intolerant bigotry has simply met, face to face, another intolerant bigotry. May they cancel each other out and leave alone those of us who don't play violent and stupid games with human sexuality. Please!
Yet again we find ourselves defending the indefensible - in this case an intolerant bigot who would be laughed out of court if she stated her primitive and violent beliefs in your front room. Of course she has the right to state her beliefs in total freedom and of course she should be free from Islamic persecution for so doing, but don't run away with the idea that she is some sort of nice and pleasant person for she isn't. She is a fundamentalist bigot of the first order whose personal beliefs include murdering people for no better reason than that they happen to be homosexual.
This is not a nice person - but she is a persecuted person, and persecuted by the very people that we know cannot stand or put up with criticism of any sort. What a pity that she can't, either.
This is not a case of Muslim persecution of Christians. Eritrea has a large Muslim minority and Arabic as one of its official languages, but it is not a Muslim country. The dominant group in Eritrea are Christians of the "Ethiopian" variety. As the BBC article mentions, Eritrea permits Islam and three varieties of Christianity and persecutes all other denominations, including evangelical protestants. Ms. Berhane was persecuted by Eritrea's non-Islamic government because she is an evangelical Christian. This is of course reprehensible, but Islam is not the culprit in this case.
"Ms. Berhane was persecuted by Eritrea's non-Islamic government because she is an evangelical Christian. This is of course reprehensible, but Islam is not the culprit in this case.
Posted by: billposer"
The jihadis are culprits, possibly ? You reckon ?
"Helen Berhane was imprisoned inside a metal shipping container and beaten in an effort to make her recant her faith."
....Islams program for new recruits is indeed a little harsh....
....Islams program for those who chose to leave is even harsher....
Ban Muslim Immigration...
This case , while tragic, has nothing to do with Islam.
Eritrea is a Christian majority country whose president is nominally Christian and whose government is overwhelmingly of Christian background. While Ms Berhane's treatment was atrocious, it was not based on religion but on politics and misguided nationalism.
Christian on Christian violence is as condemnable as Muslim violence, all violate our human rights. My facts were wrong, but the principle is still the same, torturing and killing humans because of religion is damnable behavior and unacceptable in the 21st century.
Eritrea is run by a tyrannical strictly secular government. It has been persecuting Christians (NOT GAYS) for the last 5 or so years. Christians have been leaving it in droves. There are currently 2000 Christians imprisoned for their faith. The fact that it is across the pond from SA and it is right beside Somalia probably explains a lot about the self-destructive positions it has taken. Here are some of the main political players: Eritrean Islamic Jihad or EIJ (also including Eritrean Islamic Jihad Movement or EIJM (also known as the Abu Sihel Movement)); Eritrean Islamic Salvation or EIS (also known as the Arafa Movement); Eritrean Liberation Front or ELF [ABDULLAH Muhammed].
OliverPCamford you seem to have more in common with Muslims than you know.
The ignoring of incidents like the one in this article about the Eritrean gospel singer Helen Berhane by the Daily Kos-type leftwingers offers a perfect opportunity to defeat them and destroy their ugly anti-Christian and anti-American ideological war they have been waging against Americans. The continuing silence on these by the leftwingers on these very real, innumerable, and ghastly crimes against humanity being perpetrated across the globe is due to their hypocrisy and indifference to REAL human rights (AND their tacit allegiance to islamo-fascism!!!).
Exposing this ugly truth about the USA's leftwing moonbats should be no problem and should have fatal political and PR repercussions for them. So let's get on with it! These people are among the major stumbling blocks in our struggle to defeat Islamo-fascism on our soil. The political far left (as evinced in Berkeley, Califonia)cares about perpetrating its ideology, NOT human rights!
Maybe we should start with a blog exposing the leftwingers' extensive ignoring of human rights abuses around the world (usually because they do not involve the US) while feigning concern on the issue when it involves the USA.
The demise of the Daily Kos-type leftwing political ideology that's been gripping the USA these days is long overdue.