Iraq, Pakistan, and now Nigeria: inaction abounds. An update on this story. "Christians in Nigeria Decry Police Inaction in Church Burnings," by Lekan Otufodunrin for Compass Direct News, March 2:
LAGOS, Nigeria (CDN) -- The head of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Zamfara state told Compass that he was disappointed in the lack of response by state police to recent church burnings by Muslim youths.
"It is unfortunate that there has been no response from the police, and even the state governor has refused to meet with us," said the acting state chairman of CAN, the Rev. Edwin Okpara.
The Redeemed Christian Church of God building in Tudun Wada was partly burnt on Jan. 25, and Christian Faith Bible church and the Living Faith Foundation Chapel, both in Gusau, were partly burnt in attacks on Jan. 20 and 24 respectively. Zamfara state, one of the predominantly Muslim states in northern Nigeria, was the first in the country to implement Islamic law (sharia).
In the petition dated Jan. 26, CAN stated that the church burnings came in the aftermath of "a grand plot to unleash mayhem on churches and Christians in the state due to the religious clash in Jos, Plateau state."
The association alleged that those who attacked the Zamfara churches were emboldened because officials made no serious move to arrest those who carried out the Jos attacks. Two pastors and 46 other Christians were killed in the outbreak of violence in Jos on Jan. 17, triggered when Muslim youths attacked a Catholic church; 10 church buildings were burned, and police estimated more than 300 lives were lost in the clash.
"We are seriously disturbed by the restlessness and panic these attacks have created among the Christian community and ask that every necessary and urgent step be taken by your command to secure the lives of both Christians and Muslims in the state as citizens of Nigeria," the CAN petition states. "Despite these attacks and provocation, the church and Christians as peaceful people have remained calm and have no plans to retaliate, but [we are] appealing to you to act and protect our interest."
The State Police Command was not available for comment on the CAN request.
Okpara lamented that Christians in the state have been suffering in silence with little means of drawing attention to their plight.
"The level of persecution in Zamfara is alarming, more than in any other state in the country," Okpara said. "Not even in Sokoto or Kano are Christians subjected to the kind of discrimination we are subjected to."
He said it was impossible to get land to build churches in Zamfara state; Christians are forced to sign an understanding binding them to refrain from using land in the state for church buildings.
"We are more or less operating underground churches in the state," he said. "The present state government has turned out to be more anti-Christian than the former government in the state, which introduced the sharia law."
Leaders of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) on Tuesday (Feb. 23) decried cases of persecution and discrimination against Christians and called on the federal government to put an end to it. Virtually all churches in predominantly Muslim northern Nigeria have been refused certificates of occupancy for their buildings, they said.
"There seems to be an unwritten law that churches are not welcomed in the northern part of the country," the PFN leaders noted in a statement.
Actually, it's a fixture in Sharia law, based on precedents like the Pact of Umar, that the construction of new churches or the repair of old ones are forbidden.
Bloguer le Coran : Sourate 2 “la Vache”, versets 1-39
Sourate 2, Al-Baqara (“La Vache”), comme presque chacun des chapitres du Coran, tient son titre de quelque chose dont il est question dans son contenu – en l’occurrence, l’histoire de Moïse communiquant le commandement de Allah aux Israëlites pour qu’ils sacrifient une vache. (2:67-73). C’est la sourate la plus longue du coran – 286 versets – et elle introduit le schéma général (mais non absolu) du coran qui consiste à aller du plus long au plus court chapitre, à l’exception de la Fatiha, qui occupe une position privilégiée en tant que première Sourate à cause de son caractère central dans l’Islam. La sourate Al-Baqara, “La Vache,” fut révélée à Mahomet à Médine – c’est à dire lors de la seconde partie de sa vie de prophète, qui débuta à La Mecque en 610. En 622 Mahomet et la première communauté Musulmane se déplacèrent à Médine où pour la première fois Mahomet devint un chef politique et militaire. Les théologiens islamiques considèrent généralement que les sourates de Médine prévalent sur les sourates de la Mecque partout où il y a un désaccord, selon le verset 106 de ce chapitre du Coran, dans lequel Allah parle d’abroger des versets et de les remplacer par de meilleurs. (Cette interprétation du verset 106, toutefois, n’est pas universellement acceptée. Certains disent qu’il ne s’agit pas de l’abrogation de versets du Coran, mais seulement des Ecritures juives et Chrétiennes. Nous traiterons cette question plus loin dans notre série.)
NEW ARTICLE OF ROBERT SPENCER'S BLOGGING THE QUR'an translated in French
Nouvel article de bloguer le Coran DE ROBERT SPENCER traduit en Français
http://www.avraidire.eu/2010/03/bloguer-le-coran-sourate-2-la-vache-versets-1-39/
This has been going on for years. Flash back to Feb. 18, 2006, during the uproar over the Danish Muhammad cartoons:
"LAGOS, Nigeria (CNN) — Sixteen people were killed and 11 churches were burned Saturday in Nigeria as part of the continuing violence over cartoons of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed.
"The violence comes a day after at least 10 people were killed in Libya and another in Pakistan, where five deaths have been reported this week.
"Demonstrations and skirmishes broke out Saturday in the Muslim-dominated northern Nigerian cities of Maiduguri and Katsina. The cities also have significant Christian populations.
"Maiduguri bore the brunt of Saturday’s violence. Fifteen people were killed, 11 churches were burned and 115 people were arrested there, a national police spokesman said. There also were reports of attacks on businesses owned by Christians."
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/13687
The Muslim riots soon spread to other cities, and the death toll ended up topping 127:
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/churches.burned.in.nigeria.riots.death.toll.passes.127/5481.htm
Yet another example of the universal and transcendent peaceful coexistence which muslims practice across all times and all places. There must be something just wonderfully inspiring in that quran.
Isalm is obviously not just a sick Theo-political creed but a very dangerous one to which every day more and more people wake up to and more will fight. If you are a muslim living outside your islamic paradise, prepare to reap the consequences of jeopardizing our life and liberty.
surely the Pentecostals know that the state governor is bound by the state preference for Sharia Law. at best, he can wince.
and they, then, should know that the policework in this state will be guided by the Muslim units, who will provide little support for the Christian assets to conduct their investigation.
the only Christians acceptable to the northern states are the military (who aren't really "accepted"), maybe some finance wizards, enslaved and marriageable females.
from the Muslim perspective it is only appropriate,because of the Sharia, that the Christians suffer.
Is al jazeera reporting on this gross violation of rights of christians? Oh yes, I forgot they only report on the gross violations of pal arab rights by isreali. only.
Iraq, Pakistan, and now Nigeria: inaction abounds.
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Oh, and Egypt:
"Egypt: Muslims burn church, police arrest Christians"
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/07/egypt-muslims-burn-church-police-arrest-christians.html
And Turkey, and Sudan, Indonesia, and Malaysia, and many other places in Dar-al-Islam, where the police are, at best, tacitly complicit in attacks on non-Muslims, and at worst, are active participants.
more:
He said it was impossible to get land to build churches in Zamfara state; Christians are forced to sign an understanding binding them to refrain from using land in the state for church buildings.
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As Marisol has noted, this is all straight from the odious 7th-century Pact of Umar, which has made miserable the lives of Christians in Muslim-controlled lands for almost 1400 years.
"We shall not build, in our cities or in their neighborhood, new monasteries, Churches, convents, or monks' cells, nor shall we repair, by day or by night, such of them as fall in ruins or are situated in the quarters of the Muslims."