Recently in Muslim persecution of Christians Category

Will the Islamophobia never end?

"Persecution of Christians soars in Iran," by Michael Carl for WND, February 12:

Reports coming out of Iran say persecution of Christians is only growing more bold and brazen, as Iranian authorities once again raided a house church – this time in Shiraz – and arrested between 6 to 10 members of the congregation.

The detainees are being held in an undisclosed location.

Jihad Watch publisher Robert Spencer says that the Iranians don’t know that they’re doing the very thing that will produce more Christians.

“They don’t know that Christianity grows amid persecution,” Spencer said. “Islam has expanded through violence and intimidation, so it isn’t at all surprising that they’d resort to it again.”

Clare Lopez, a senior fellow with the Center for Security Policy agrees, speculating that if the Iranian mullahs know persecution grows the Christian church, they don’t care. They’re following their sworn duty as Muslims.

“The issue has little to do with perceptions of how Christianity might respond,” Lopez said, “but rather with the obligation under Islamic doctrine to put and keep dhimmis in their ‘place’ within Muslim society.

“The forces of Shariah Islam are in the ascendant all over the Middle East these days,” Lopez continued, “and with the new-found sense of empowerment combined with what is perceived as Western complicity and weakness in the face of that situation, it is to be expected that all religious minorities, but especially Christians and Jews, increasingly will feel the brutality of Islamic supremecism.”

Lopez says Americans need to remember that Islam doesn’t focus on “Western” values and political ideas.

“Remember, pluralism and tolerance are totally Western ideas, completely foreign to Islam and certainly the Middle East,” Lopez said. “Recall that Persian history, aside from the brief interlude of the Pahlavi dynasty in the 20th Century, was one of dynasty, jihad and vicious anti-Semitism.

“Islam is supremacist, and whenever it feels the ability to dominate and suppress non-Muslims, that is what will occur,” Lopez said, “which is completely in accord with the Pact of Umar and Islamic law on treatment of ‘People of the Book.’ This is from Sura 9.29, the Sura of the Sword.

“In reality, what we are seeing now is the ‘default position’ of Islam,” Lopez added....

Not surprisingly, authorities are not holding the army accountable, but are instead leveling retaliatory charges against two Coptic priests for "incitement." Egypt's post-revolutionary government is beating Orwell at his own game; one will recall that this was the first large-scale public act of brutality of its kind by the army against its people. The Maspero massacre of Christians was the prototype case for the behavior that has followed against other protesters, and what the army got away with there, it has continued against the rest of the population.

But first, they came for the Christians, and no one cared. "Two Coptic Priests Charged With 'Incitement' in Maspero Massacre," by Mary Abdelmassih for the Assyrian International News Agency, February 11:

(AINA) -- Two Coptic priests appeared yesterday before an investigations judge in connection with the events of the Maspero Massacre, in which 28 Copts were killed and 329 injured after being shot and run over by and military Armored Personnel Carriers (AINA 10-10-2011). Father Mattias Nasr of St. Mary's Church in Ezbet el-Nakhl in Greater Cairo and Father Filopateer Gameel of St. Mary's Church in Giza, both founding members of the Maspero Coptic Youth Union, which organized the October 9 demonstration, were accused of causing the death of military soldier Mohamed Ali Shetta, possession of weapons, use of force against the military, attempting to storm the Maspero TV building and incitement to violence.

As evidence, the investigating judge produced video footage collected from radical Islamic websites. "Between the footage there were parts in which a shaikh called on me to convert to Islam," said Father Filopateer.

Commenting on the investigations Father Matthias Nasr said: "I wonder about the conditions prevailing in Egypt now, whereby victims are being investigated, while the real perpetrators are ruling the country and continuing with their crimes against the Egyptian people and peaceful demonstrators everywhere."

According to Father Nasr, the investigations carried out by the military police follow the same lines as those of the Mubarak regime, where the victims become the accused. "We all saw who ran over the demonstrators and who shot at them, all Egyptians saw that on videos and photos. These investigations will not intimidate us or make us retreat from demanding our rights."

Outspoken Coptic Priest Filopateer Gameel said he was not worried about the accusations levied against him and Father Mattias, because they are untrue and can easily be defended, but "the tragedy is the victims of the Maspero Massacre and Two Saints Church in Alexandria will not receive justice, and the assailants will not be punished."

Catch 22:

Father Gameel accused Brigadier Hamdi Badeen, head of the military police, as well as generals Damati, Assar and Mohamad Emara, of being responsible for the Maspero massacre, and submitted evidence against them and asked for an investigation, but the judge told him that being high ranking military officials, they can only appear before a military prosecutor and not a civilian one. "I told the judge as long as the military are ruling the country, none of them will be brought to justice."

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights has called for a change to the articles in the Military Judiciary Law to lift the protection of military officers who commit crimes against civilians and to allow the general prosecution to question them.

Father Filopateer said the case of the Maspero Massacre will most likely end with charging the three who drove their personnel carriers with unintentional manslaughter and each would probably be detained only for one week in his unit.

The ruling military council has denied all along that military forces used live ammunition against the Maspero protesters, or that personnel intentionally used armored vehicles to run over civilians.

Fathers Mattias and Filopateer were summoned in October 2011 by the military prosecution but they refused to deal with the military investigations, and demanded a civilian judge on grounds that the military "is a direct opponent in this case." The investigation was mandated by the Minister of justice.

Prior to appearing before the investigating judge, they were informed that they are prevented from leaving the country, together with Coptic attorney Dr. Naguib Gabriel, head of the Egyptian Union of Human Rights Organization, who is due to appear before prosecutors on February 11 for investigation in connection with the Maspero Massacre. Gabriel views this as a political decision "to damage Coptic symbols, and to use them as scapegoats for a crime in which some top military officials are accused of being complicit."

Unfortunately, all they need to do is look all around them, to Iraq, where the Christian population has been decimated, and to Egypt, where many who can flee are also doing so. There is every reason to believe that Syria's case would follow the same pattern. "Syrian Christians Fear Genocide if al-Assad Falls to Muslim Extremists," by Bruce Walker for the New American, February 10 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

Catholic bishops are warning that if the Bashar al-Assad (left) regime in Syria falls to Islamists, there may well be a mass genocide of Christians, such as seen in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Though Christians cannot support the brutality of the Assad dictatorship, few believe that rule by Muslim extremists will be any better.

Syria — home to Damascus, one of the most important cities of the ancient world and of special religious significance to Christians — has long had a tolerant attitude toward religious minorities. Syria's Christians — estimated to be about 10 percent of the population, or 2.5 million — cherish this tradition of non-religious government. The Ba'athist Party of Syria had a counterpart in the Ba'athist Party of Iraq, whose last leader was Saddam Hussein. The party was actually founded by Michael Aflaq, a Syrian Christian, and although there are many objectionable features to its politics (it is, for example, overtly socialist), people of all faiths were able to live in relative safety even in a Syria in which the overwhelming majority of the inhabitants are Muslims.

Ignatius Joseph III, Patriarch of the Syrian Catholic Church, explained the plight of the Syrian Christians:

"The Christians in Syria face a dilemma. They are morally obligated to support the protestors, but if Assad falls, sectarian strife could ravage the country and Islamic terrorists will target Christians as they have in Iraq and Egypt. If they support Assad and he falls they could be targets for revenge. That is why the Christian community in Syria is largely silent, not knowing what to do."

Gwendolyn Cates, a filmmaker who has produced documentaries on religious minorities in the Middle East, agrees that Assad's is “a very repressive regime,” but also notes that Syria has been open to religious refugees who flooded the country after the rise of the Islamic regime in Iraq. She has interviewed Christians who have left Syria, and relates that the situation of those still in the country is grim.

David Wood, a Christian activist who focuses on radical Islam, notes:

"Assad is brutal, but he’s equally brutal towards everyone, Muslim and non-Muslim. If Islamists take over the country, and they most certainly will if the secular regime falls, they will be every bit as brutal as Assad, but they will not treat people equally. Christians will be in quite a bit of trouble."

A church leader in Syria who fears to make his identity known, spoke of the peril to Christians:

"Look at what happened in Egypt and Iraq. Christians want to peacefully go out and ask for certain changes, but Islamist groups are sneaking in with their goal, which is not to make Syria better but to take over the country with their agenda. Christians will be the first to pay if this happens."

Others have predicted the dangerous position for the few Christians who might remain if there is a general exodus of Christians. The more who flee, the smaller the Christian vote in any democratic process as well as the smaller the Christian presence in community life, where many of the Christians in Syria have deep and ancient roots in their homeland.

Disturbingly, the U.S. government has been vocally supporting “democratic movements” in Syria, as it has in Egypt and Libya.

Once again, their attempt at showing who's boss is ultimately a display of weakness. There have been other recent actions against house churches, and if this is the "national security threat" they need to distract themselves with while committing economic suicide over their nuclear program, that speaks volumes. Of course, the "security" angle is ultimately a pretense for enforcing Sharia's own denial of freedom of conscience; apostasy from Islam is a "security" crime against Sharia.

In either case, the mighty Islamic Republic shows itself to be insecure and unstable in its reaction to ten people praying in a private home. "Ten Iranian Christians arrested at a prayer meeting," from Asia News, February 10:

Tehran (AsiaNews/Agencies) – More Christians are arrested in Iran. On Wednesday, plainclothes agents raided a house and arrested 10 people who had gathered for prayer service. All 10 detainees were transferred to an unknown location. The authorities refused to give the families any information in this regard.

Although precise details are still not available, Mohabat News reported that a man called Mojtaba Hosseini, 23, was among the people arrested. He had been arrested on 11 May 2008 with eight other people on charges of converting to Christianity. Security officials had asked him to renounce his faith and collaborate with the Intelligence office.

Mohabat News notes that the latest incident is part of a crackdown against Iran’s tiny Christian community. Converts are especially targeted.

The authorities have also forcibly closed churches where services are held in Persian (Farsi), Iran’s national language. In other churches, the Intelligence Ministry imposed the requirement of keeping out Farsi-speaking people

For this reason, Christian converts are forced to meet in small numbers in private homes. For the authorities, they are tools and spies for the West.

As we have jokingly suggested for other such cases, someone should also leak the information to the Iranians that a man of Jewish background has entered the country and has a habit of joining in "wherever two or three are gathered" in such settings. The headlines, again, would be priceless: "Ayatollahs desperate to find Jesus."

The January report is out, over at Stonegate Institute (via RaymondIbrahim.com), and contains the usual dozens of incidences of Christian suffering under Islam -- including things like a woman being whipped in front of hundreds of jeering Muslim spectators for converting to Christianity, and Muslims breaking into a church with an axe, destroying the furniture, and beating children for singing carols "too loudly" and thus disturbing the Muslims' prayers in a nearby mosque. Accordingly, the Chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom recently found that "the flight of Christians out of the region is unprecedented and it's increasing year by year"; in our life time alone, he predicts "Christians might disappear altogether from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Egypt."

Read the January report.

On particularly prominent display here is the use of the Orwellian "reconciliation meetings," where "reconciliation" depends in practice on Christians' giving into whatever demands are imposed on them. "Alexandria: forced eviction of 62 Coptic families by the Salafis," from AsiaNews, February 9:

Cairo (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The radical Muslims are trying to empty a village near Alexandria of its Coptic population - 62 families, on the basis of unfounded allegations against a Copt. The Copts of Kobry-el-Sharbat (el-Amerya) were attacked on Jan. 27 by a crowd of some three thousand Muslims led by Salafi leaders who set fire to the Copts houses and shops. The violence were sparked by the allegations of a barber Muslim Toemah, who claimed that a Coptic tailor of 34, Samy Mourad Guirgis, had "illegal" photos of a Muslim woman on his cell phone. Mourad has denied the charges, and turned himself in to police in fear of his life. The Muslims set fire to his house and his shop, and his whole family was forced to leave the village. Mourad is still under police custody.

Since then there have been three "reconciliation meetings" in the police headquarters in el-Amerya, attended by representatives of the Coptic Church, the Salafis and the Muslim Brotherhood. According to police, the woman concerned has denied the whole story, and no compromising photos of any kind were found Mourad’s cell phone. But radical Muslims argue that "Muslim honor has been damaged," and at the first meeting, they refused any type of compensation for the Copts who were innocent victims of their violence.

On 30 January a crowd of Muslims attacked the village of Kobry- el-Sharbat for the second time, setting fire to three Christian homes, under the eyes of the security forces. Following this Islamic representatives have requested that a wealthy Coptic merchant, Soliman, be expelled from the village, accusing him and his sons of having fired into the air while their house was being burned. The family of the merchant denies that there were gunshots, and no one was injured. The police, however, has issued an arrest warrant for Soliman’s sons.

On 1st February in a "reconciliation meeting" demands were made for a number of Coptic families to be expelled from the village and the forced sale of Soliman’s assets, under the supervision of the Salafist Sheikh Sherif el-Hawary. Otherwise Kobry el-Sharbat would be attacked again, and the Coptic houses completely burned. Soliman signed the agreement, defined by father Boktor, who was present at the time, "a complete injustice." Soliman agreed only to avoid further damage to the Copts. Magdy Khalil, head of Middle East Freedom Forum, said that "reconciliation meetings" were totally illegal, and that the complicity of Egyptian authorities is obvious and urged Copts to return to their homes. "If we accept this, we will open the door to an avalanche of forced evictions." And forced deportation is a crime under international law.

More: "Muslim Council in Egypt Evicts 8 Christian Families, Seizes Their Property," by Mary Abdelmassih for the Assyrian International News Agency, February 9 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

(AINA) -- National and international rights groups have consistently criticized the recourse to the so-called "reconciliation meetings" -- dubbed "Bedouin sittings" -- that take place between Copts and Muslim assailant after every attack on Copts. The meetings are conducted under the auspices of state security. Last week a series of meetings were held by radical Muslims to decide on the fate of the Copts in a village in Alexandria, and Muslims insisted that the whole Coptic population of 62 families must be deported because of an unsubstantiated accusation levied against one Coptic man.

Copts in the village of Kobry-el-Sharbat (El-Ameriya), Alexandria, were attacked on January 27 by a mob of 3000 Muslims led by Salafi leaders, who looted and torched homes and shops belonging to Copts. The violence was prompted by allegations made by a Muslim barber named Toemah that a 34-year-old Coptic tailor, Mourad Samy Guirgis, had on his mobile phone illicit photos of a Muslim woman. Mourad denied the accusation and surrendered to the police for fear for his life. Muslims looted and torched his workshop and home after he surrendered to the police, and his entire family, including his parents and his married brother Romany, were evicted from the village. He is still in police detention.

Three "reconciliation meetings" were held at the El-Ameriya village police headquarters. They were attended by Salafi and Muslim Brotherhood representatives from neighboring villages, as well as church representative. Muslims demanded the eviction of all Coptic inhabitants from the village because "Muslim honour had been damaged."

Many believe that the mobile phone story was fabricated as an excuse to start violence against the Copts. According to the police, the woman in question denied the story and no photos were found on Mourad's mobile phone, according to Ihab Aziz, a Coptic-American activist who is presently in Egypt.

During the first reconciliation meeting it was agreed that only Copts who were directly involved with the Mourad incident would be evicted, and the church demanded compensation of two million pounds for the innocent Copts whose homes and businesses were torched on January 27. Muslims, especially Salafis from the neighboring villages, refused any kind of compensation and insisted on the eviction of all Copts.

On January 30 a Muslim mob attacked Copts in Kobry-el-Sharbat for the second time, and torched three Coptic homes in the presence of the security forces, "which took the role of an onlooker and made no effort to stop the violence," according to Joseph Malak, lawyer for the Coptic church in Alexandria. "This proves that the assailants were not afraid of the security forces or the law."

Muslim representatives demanded the eviction of the wealthy Coptic merchant Abeskhayroun Soliman, together with his four married sons and their families, accusing them of causing sedition by shooting in the air when Muslims broke into and torched their home while the family was inside. "No one was wounded due to the alleged shootings, which the family says never took place. The police authorities issued an arrest warrant for two of the Soliman sons," said Ihab Aziz.

The Solimans have been in hiding with a Muslim family which saved them from their burning homes, and is presently giving them protection. Muslims threatened that if eight Coptic families were not evicted by February 3rd, all remaining 54 Coptic families in the village would be subjected to violence after Friday prayers. They called it "Friday of Eviction" and "Friday of Clean-up."

On Wednesday February 1, a hastily organized reconciliation meeting was arranged by security authorities, and was attended by Ebeskharion Soliman and one of his sons.

The terms of the agreement which resulted were:

- eviction of eight Coptic families, namely three of the Mourad families, in addition to five Soliman families.
- selling of the assets of the wealthy Abeskhayron Soliman family within three months by a committee, under the supervision of Salafi shaikh Sherif el Hawary. Soliman has no right to get involved in the sale or even accompany a prospective buyer.
- the Committee is to collect any money accrued from the sale of his land, properties, businesses as well as collect promissory notes pending from business transactions by the Soliman-owned chain of stores.
- in case of non-implementation of this Agreement, all Copts in the Kobry-el-Sharbat village will be attacked, their homes and property completely torched....

There is more.

An extraneous criterion is giving Muslim students an edge over non-Muslims with higher marks. Putting displays of piety over competence: What could possibly go wrong? "Educational bias: Memorise the Quran for twenty extra marks," by Taha Siddiqi for the Express Tribune, February 8 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

LAHORE: Haroon Arif, a student from DG Khan in Punjab, could not get high enough marks to get into medical school. This is a standard situation for many young people in the country. What’s different here is that Haroon, who missed the grade by less than 0.1%, would have earned 20 extra marks if he was Hafiz-e-Quran. He tried to claim his knowledge of the Bible was equivalent, but this made no impact.

“I deserved it and yet just because I am Christian, I have been put at a disadvantage,” Haroon says.

He found out about the discrimination on viewing the results at his test centre last month.

“There was a separate column for Hafiz-e-Quran, and I found out that those who had memorised the holy book got 20 extra marks,” he adds.

Haroon got A grades in both matriculation and intermediate exams, but was an agonising 0.0255% behind the line for medical school in his final aggregate. This miniscule figure changed the course of his life.

“I know of students who did not perform well in the test and had lower marks in their matriculation and intermediate exams, but they got in, just because of these twenty marks,” he complains.

Haroon tried to show the university his three certificates in Bible education, but the authorities said they had no policy to accept these. Since Haroon’s parents are poor, his only hope was a government-run medical university, where fees are 10% of what private universities charge.

His father is a health worker and his mother a nurse. “I have seen my parents in this profession but only as support staff. Is that all Christians are destined to do?” he asks.

If the Islamic supremacists have their way, yes.

Haroon refused to give up. “My father could not afford a lawyer so I decided to approach a human rights organisation, who advised me to go to the courts for help.”

In his petition, Haroon maintained that under Article 25 his rights have been violated, as no person should be denied the same protection which is enjoyed by other citizens of Pakistan. Along with his documents, he submitted two letters, one from the Church of Pakistan and the other from the Bishop of Islamabad, clearly stating that Haroon’s religious education is at par with any Islamic education.

“Despite all relevant documents from competent authorities, the courts did not acknowledge this as a human rights issue,” says Peter Jacob, head of the organisation
Haroon approached. “They are passing the matter on to the next authority, and we have been unable to get any positive response from anywhere,” Peter says, adding that there is a policy vacuum as the government never addresses educational bias.

The University of Health Sciences, which conducts the medical tests, seems to think it is not its domain to make policy.

“This is a sensitive religious issue, and we cannot change policy on our own. The same happens in engineering universities also, and it has been in place since the time of Zia-ul-Haq,” says Mohammad Atif, the head of public affairs at the university, adding that around 50 students were given 20 extra marks this year since they were Hafiz-e-Quran....

They're fleeing all that "tolerance" that's just breaking out all over. "Egypt’s Christians, post-Mubarak," by Aline Sara for NOW Lebanon, January 31:

“We don’t feel as safe as before,” said Georges Nader, an Egyptian Copt who lives in Cairo. A year after the revolution that led to the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, Nader said that the number of Egyptians Copts fleeing the country was on the rise.

“Half of my family is in Canada or the US, and they are trying to get us out of the country too. We are just waiting for the right opportunity,” the 25-year-old told NOW Lebanon.

Last fall, the Egyptian Coptic Church’s lawyer Naguib Gibrael estimated that some 100,000 Christian families had left the country in the preceding months, and that since Mubarak’s ouster, sectarian strife has escalated in the country.

A little over a year ago, 21 Copts died in an attack on a church in Alexandria, while last spring, another 15 were killed in Imbaba when three Coptic Orthodox churches were burned.

It wasn’t until last October, however, that violence peaked, with a new group behind the hostilities: Egypt’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). The military body, which assumed power in the wake of Mubarak’s fall, responded to a peaceful Coptic demonstration against churches being burned by setting the security services on protesters, resulting in 27 deaths. None of those responsible for the killings have been brought to justice.

Of course not. The army would have to arrest itself.

Josette Abdullah, a Cairo-based clinical psychologist, said that even though she as a Copt has never experienced threats or discrimination in Egypt, Christians’ current fears are understandable.
“Even with my name, which is clearly not Muslim, I have never encountered any problems, and from my personal experience, in addition to historically speaking, Egypt has shown relatively few signs of sectarian violence,” she said. “But lately, it seems to be about wreaking havoc, and whoever is behind the instigation is willing to create tension between religions or other groups in society.”

Though on paper, Egyptian Christians and Muslims are equal by law, many admit that Copts, who make up approximately 10 percent of the country’s population, are often discriminated against. Between 2008 and 2010, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) recorded 52 cases of Coptic-Muslim conflict. Many fear that with the new Islamist majority in parliament, things will only get worse.

“At first, Islamic figures will come across as protectors of their Christian brothers, but that is solely about reeling in support,” said Georges al-Sanady, a 25-year-old engineer from Cairo. Sanady says that after paying lip service to equality, the Islamists in power will try to enforce Sharia law.

“It will not happen overnight, but Christians are not buying this, regardless of their social class,” he said....

Newsweek, February 2012

Spencer pamphlet, April 2011

Bob Dylan: "Mavis, I've had the blues."
Mavis Staples: "Oh, Bobby, don't tell me you got the blues."
Bob Dylan: "Yeah, I've been up all night, laying in bed, having insomnia, reading Snoozeweek."
Mavis Staples: "Snoozeweek? That ain't gonna get rid of no blues. Let's do some singing. Sing about it, you know..." -- Bob Dylan and Mavis Staples, "Gonna Change My Way of Thinking," 2003

It is good to see Newsweek, which has been an energetically dhimmi publication, finally taking notice of the rampant worldwide Muslim persecution of Christians. It's also quite surprising, given that in the past, Newsweek has denied the existence of the stealth jihad; billowed fogs of deception about the pro-Sharia Ground Zero mosque imam Feisal Abdul Rauf as a "moderate"; dismissed concerns about the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as a "conspiracy theory"; dismissed concerns about Eurabia, i.e., the Islamization of Europe, as "false fears"; and even called for a general surrender of the West to the global jihad.

So why is a thoroughly compromised publication like Newsweek suddenly noticing the worldwide jihad against Christians? Your guess is as good as mine, but in any case it is a welcome development to see the mainstream media finally waking up to this phenomenon, which we have been tracking here at Jihad Watch for years. Ayaan Hirsi Ali has written a fine piece for them. Because she is an ex-Muslim and an African woman, she is allowed to say things in Newsweek that Newsweek would charge me with "racism," "bigotry" and "Islamophobia" for saying.

For more in-depth coverage of this issue, see my April 2011 pamphlet, "Muslim Persecution of Christians." And as for Snoozeweek, in case you're not planning a trip to the dentist this week, here is an excerpt: "Ayaan Hirsi Ali: The Global War on Christians in the Muslim World," by Ayaan Hirsi Ali in Newsweek, February 6:

From one end of the muslim [sic] world to the other, Christians are being murdered for their faith.

We hear so often about Muslims as victims of abuse in the West and combatants in the Arab Spring’s fight against tyranny. But, in fact, a wholly different kind of war is underway—an unrecognized battle costing thousands of lives. Christians are being killed in the Islamic world because of their religion. It is a rising genocide that ought to provoke global alarm.

The portrayal of Muslims as victims or heroes is at best partially accurate. In recent years the violent oppression of Christian minorities has become the norm in Muslim-majority nations stretching from West Africa and the Middle East to South Asia and Oceania. In some countries it is governments and their agents that have burned churches and imprisoned parishioners. In others, rebel groups and vigilantes have taken matters into their own hands, murdering Christians and driving them from regions where their roots go back centuries.

The media’s reticence on the subject no doubt has several sources. One may be fear of provoking additional violence. Another is most likely the influence of lobbying groups such as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation—a kind of United Nations of Islam centered in Saudi Arabia—and the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Over the past decade, these and similar groups have been remarkably successful in persuading leading public figures and journalists in the West to think of each and every example of perceived anti-Muslim discrimination as an expression of a systematic and sinister derangement called “Islamophobia”—a term that is meant to elicit the same moral disapproval as xenophobia or homophobia.

But a fair-minded assessment of recent events and trends leads to the conclusion that the scale and severity of Islamophobia pales in comparison with the bloody Christophobia currently coursing through Muslim-majority nations from one end of the globe to the other. The conspiracy of silence surrounding this violent expression of religious intolerance has to stop. Nothing less than the fate of Christianity—and ultimately of all religious minorities—in the Islamic world is at stake.

More here.

My Crisis column this week, "The Church That Converted Khans," gives a capsule history of the Assyrian Church of the East and its sister Church, the Chaldean Catholic Church, both of which are now facing ferocious persecution in Iraq:

...Christians who remain in Iraq live increasingly in an atmosphere of terror. Christian women have been threatened with kidnapping or death if they do not wear a headscarf. Muslim gangs have even terrorized Christian neighborhoods in Baghdad, knocking on doors and demanding payment of the jizya, the religion-based tax assessed by Islamic law against Christians, Jews, and some other groups of non-Muslims who live in Muslim lands. Iraqi Christians today are streaming into Syria, or, if they can, out of the Middle East altogether. An Iraqi businessman now living in Syria lamented that “now at least 75% of my Christian friends have fled. There is no future for us in Iraq.”

That is bitterly ironic, since at one time one of the only places that held any future at all for what are now known as Assyrian Christians and Chaldean Catholics was Iraq. Late in the fourteenth century, the fabled and notorious Timur the Lame, or Tamerlane, a self-styled ghazi (warrior of Islam) who saw himself as the son and heir of Genghis Khan (who had an Assyrian Christian teacher), unleashed a persecution of the Assyrian Church so ferocious that northern Iraq was one of the few places where it survived....

So Eastern was the Church of the East that it considered all Christians of the Roman Empire, even those otherwise universally classified as “Eastern,” such as the Patriarchates of Constantinople, Alexandria, and Antioch, as “Western.” And indeed, its orientation was decidedly Eastern, as is seen most spectacularly in its remarkable expansion into China. The Persian Nestorian missionary priest Alopen arrived in China in 635 and so impressed the Tang Emperor Taizong that just three years later, Taizong issued a decree protecting the Church of the East in China. After that the Church grew rapidly in China, but was banned again and persecuted in the ninth and tenth centuries, such that by 986 a monk of the Church of the East reported back to the Patriarch Abdisho: “Christianity is extinct in China.”

Yet even after this, the Church of the East returned there, and doesn’t seem to have disappeared altogether from the Middle Kingdom until the fifteenth century. It maintained a considerable presence in Central Asia, even among the Mongols, such that in 1287 the Mongol ruler Arghun Khan sent a Nestorian Christian official in his court, Rabban Sauma, as an emissary to Europe to try to conclude an alliance between the Mongols and European Christians to fight their common enemy, the Islamic jihadists. Rabban Sauma met with, among others, the Byzantine Emperor, the Pope, and the King of England, but ultimately no alliances were concluded. Rabban Sauma’s meeting with a group of cardinals in Rome (the pope had recently died) is revealing of the theological knowledge and controversies of Rome in those days: faced with the specter of a Mongol Christian, the cardinals quizzed him about his faith. They had never heard of Nestorius or of the by-then ancient controversy over his Christology, but they did get irritated when Rabban Sauma recited the Creed and left out the Filioque. Rabban Sauma, however, would have none of the controversy. “I didn’t come here to argue with you,” he explained. “I came to venerate the Lord Pope (Mar Papa).”

The fact that nothing came of Rabban Sauma’s fascinating journey is one of the great missed opportunities of history, for in the next century Tamerlane destroyed most of the dioceses of the Church of the East between Iraq and China, and the Church of the East would never again recapture its former numbers, power, or presence in the expanses of central Asia. A remnant remained in India, a portion of which later became the Syro-Malabar Church in communion with Rome. The Patriarch of the East relocated to Alqosh, near Mosul, where he oversaw his own remnant — among whom fresh controversy arose when the Patriarch Shimon IV Basidi, whose lengthy reign lasted over fifty years (1437-1493), declared the patriarchate the hereditary property of his family alone. Henceforth only the nephews or other blood relatives of the Patriarch, who was himself celibate in accord with universal Eastern discipline for bishops, could become Patriarch of the East.

Assyrians defended the hereditary succession as a way to protect the Church from interference from Muslim officials, who would often appoint prelates they could control. The hereditary succession, Assyrians maintained, kept the patriarchate from falling into the hands of forces that did not have the best interests of the Church at heart. Nonetheless, discontent over this practice brewed for the next half-century, until finally in 1552 a group of bishops who were presumably all unrelated to Shimon IV Basidi chose a new Patriarch, Yohannan Sulaqa, in preference to the hereditary standard-bearer, Shimon VII Ishoyahb. Sulaqa then made his way to Rome, where he appealed to Pope Julius III for help and made a profession of the Catholic Faith. Julius named him Patriarch of Mosul and Athur, a title he quickly changed to Patriarch of the Chaldeans. Sulaqa returned to Mosul and reigned there as Shimon VIII until 1555, when the local Muslim ruler had him jailed, tortured, and ultimately executed, apparently at the instigation of Shimon VII or his followers....

On December 2, 2011, I received this chilling email from an Assyrian Christian in Iraqi Kurdistan: “Today after Friday prayers, Muslim Kurds in Zakho (near Dohuk) attacked and besieged liquor shops, salons, hotels, massages that are owned by Christians. The security didn’t do anything and the rampage has continued till now!”

Several hours later he wrote again: “The attacks haven’t stopped, and I just got the word that they are attacking a Catholic Diocesan office. The security is standing still and watching as I am writing this to you. Christian homes are being fired upon as well.”

As captured on video, the Muslim mob shouted “Allahu akbar,” “jihad” and anti-Christian slogans as it rampaged. One Christian liquor storeowner reported that the mob did half a million U.S. dollars’ worth of damage to his businesses—and stole $300,000 from his safe. Another Christian sent me pictures of a small club, destroyed in a fire the mob set, and explained: “This was a small social club for us Christians that we spend our nights. As you see, we live very poorly and humbly. They had no reason to attack us. All we want is to enjoy a beer after a hard day of work. Is that too much to ask? Are Muslim minorities in the West treated like this?”

This attack came about because a local imam, Mullah Mala Ismail Osman Sindi, had preached a Friday sermon that day railing against moral corruption, after which a man in the congregation, roused to a pitch of moral indignation, stood up and started calling out the names of local businesses that Christians owned. An archdeacon of the Assyrian Church of the East, Emanuel Youkhana, noted: “The interesting thing with this incident is the place where it happened. [The Kurdish Regional Government] is, for the most part, safe and secure, and all inhabitants enjoy prosperity and security, until now at least. The future is, by all means, bleak for Christians and other minorities living there.”

Indeed, and it has been for quite some time. Since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, escalating Muslim persecution has caused over half of the prewar population of around a million Christians to flee the country. Jihadis have particularly targeted clergy: on April 5, 2008, Youssef Adel, a Syriac Orthodox priest in Baghdad, was killed in a drive-by shooting as he was opening the gate of his house. Just weeks before that, Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho of the Chaldean Catholic Church was kidnapped and murdered in the Iraqi city of Mosul.

There is more.

An all too unsurprising update on this story. "Christian women report being assaulted after arrests," by Michael Carl for World Net Daily, February 4:

BOSTON – Saudi Arabian authorities are adding sexual assault to their routine for processing prisoners when they are Christian women, according to a new report that is imploring the international community to pressure the restrictive Islamic nation on basic human rights.

International Christian Concern’s Jonathan Racho says the 35 women prisoners were arrested for meeting for a prayer time, and they are reporting that they were molested.

“The female prisoners have told us about how they were sexually harassed. When the Saudis arrested them, they knew the Ethiopians were Christians,” Racho said.

“They took off the women’s clothes and touched them. When the strip searching was going on, the officers were touching the women,” Racho said.

Racho adds that some of the details are graphic.

“They were using gloves to strip search and they were putting their fingers into their genitals,” Racho said.

“This is a very, very serious accusation of harassment and we want the international community to look into this,” Racho said. “The Saudis have to stop harassing these Christians.”

Racho adds that the treatment of the Christians is the opposite of Saudi public statements.

“The Saudis in the past have publicly said that they want religious tolerance and dialogue between the people of faith,” Racho said. “The Saudi king and the Saudi government have been very active in promoting peaceful existence and religious freedom.”...

To Western audiences, that is, as in the case of the Saudi-backed institute for religious "tolerance" based not in Mecca, not in Medina, but in Vienna: the King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue.

There appears to be a state of official denial of how conditions for religious minorities in Indonesia have deteriorated, even just in the past 10 years. Officially, Indonesia is still modern, moderate, and tolerant, and that's that. Everything is fine on paper, so everything must be fine in reality. "37 Indonesian Christians to Be Deported From US This Month," from Antara, February 3:

A group of Indonesian Christians to be deported from the United States despite voicing fears of religious persecution at home are scheduled to return on Feb. 29, the Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

That group of 37 will be joined by 58 more in November, Foreign Ministry spokesman Michael Tene said.

The 95 Indonesians, who spent the last 20 years in Garrison City, New Hampshire, are joining at least 70 more of their countrymen living in New Jersey who received similar notices from US immigration authorities.

They had all been petitioning US officials for a bill that would allow them to reapply for asylum after missing a key cut-off date.

Tene on Friday urged the citizens to abide by US laws.

“These are our citizens who have entered the US and their stay permits have expired. Therefore, we appeal to them to abide by the existing rules,” he said.

Tene also said that their fears of being persecuted at home were not a valid reason for the Indonesians to seek asylum in the United States.

“Their reasons are not true because no one is threatening their religious freedom in Indonesia.”

He said the state guarantees religious freedom in Indonesia, and that cases of religious persecution were isolated incidents.

“There has never been a conscious or systematic effort to suppress minority groups. All kinds of groups and religions are allowed to exist in Indonesia,” he said.

There has indeed been a systematic effort to suppress the Ahmadis, and the government has turned a blind eye to persecution of Christians by thugs like the Islamic Defenders Front and local governments like that of Bogor. For that matter, there is a major difference between "allowed to exist" and genuine freedom of religion.

Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir is already wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide and war crimes, and continues to be protected by the Arab League and OIC.

"Sudan bombs US-funded Bible school, forcing students, teachers to flee; US condemns attack," from the Associated Press, February 3:

NAIROBI, Kenya — Sudan’s military bombed a Bible school built by a U.S. Christian aid group, prompting students and teachers at the school to run for their lives in the Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan state.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations condemned the attack.

Pictures obtained by The Associated Press on Friday showed that two stone school buildings were demolished in the attack. No one was hurt or killed despite the fact school was in session.

Ryan Boyette, a former aid worker who lives in Sudan and is now leading a team of 15 citizen journalists, spoke to a teacher at the site of Wednesday’s attack in the Nuba Mountains. The teacher, Zachariah Boulus, told Boyette that he couldn’t find his wife and children after the attack because everyone ran into the mountains for safety.

Boyette said that two of eight bombs dropped hit the school.

The Heiban Bible College was built by Samaritan’s Purse, a North Carolina-based aid group. Samaritan’s Purse President Franklin Graham said the attack was carried out by the Sudanese Air Force.

“Please pray for the safety of believers, and that God would intervene,” Graham said.

Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said she was outraged by what she called a “heinous” bombing.

“It was the first day of school, and the campus was full of students, teachers and families,” Rice said in a statement. “While miraculously no one was killed, this attack-involving eight bombs dropped from the air-underscores the viciousness of Sudan’s ongoing military campaign in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states.”

The Nuba Mountains have been an area of conflict between Sudan’s military and a rebel group formerly aligned with South Sudan for months. Tens of thousands of people have fled the violence. Rice said the conflict is affecting more than 500,000 people.

If the conflict continues, it could precipitate a famine, Rice said. Sudan is preventing aid groups from accessing parts of Sudan’s South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.

"Radio Vatikan. The Voice of the Pope and the World Church," the German-language division of Vatican Radio, is not as politically correct as the Pope himself -- who became very quiet after apologizing for quoting the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Paleologos, who said in 1391: "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."

Yesterday, February 2, 2012, there were, for example, two articles about the ethnic cleansing of Christians in Africa: "Nigeria: The Muslims could do more (to stop Boko Haram)" and "Egypt: Extremists attack Copts".

I have translated the text introducing a radio programme on "Bosnia: The Ethnic Cleansing of Catholics" (from German):

Until the early nineties there lived 820,000 Christians in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Since the Balkan War broke out, their number has shrunk by nearly half, to 460,000 people. The exodus of Catholic Croats from Bosnia-Herzegovina does not stop: because of countless everyday problems, constant tension and a growing Islamic radicalism.

I tried to tell you. "Christians fear losing freedoms in Arab Spring," by Oren Dorell and Sarah Lynch for USA Today via the Tucson Citizen, January 30:

From her home in a labyrinth of stonewalled alleyways, Samia Ramsis holds a key chain bearing the face of the Virgin Mary as she sits in her yellow pajamas on the morning of Orthodox Christmas.

Sunlight pours in through a window. Outside, visitors come to look upon the spot where Egypt’s Christians — most known as Copts — believe the Holy Family found refuge after fleeing Bethlehem and assassins sent by King Herod to kill the baby Jesus.

Once crowded with Christians, Cairo’s Coptic quarter where Samia lives with her husband, Mounir, and two children is home to fewer than 50 Christian families.

“We know many Christians have left,” says Mounir Ramsis, speaking not only about this quarter but about all of Egypt. “But we love this country and will stay until death.”

The Arab Spring uprisings that have toppled secular dictatorships in the Middle East and North Africa have unleashed long-suppressed freedoms that have allowed Islamic parties to gain a share of political power they have been denied for decades. Their rise is creating near-panic among ancient Christian communities that dot the Muslim world and predate Islam by centuries.

•In Tunisia, where the regime of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was ousted last year after 32 years in power, the dominant political party, Ennahda, has worried some of Tunis’ 22,000 Catholics by vowing to tilt the country’s yet-to-be-written constitution toward sharia, or the detailed and often harsh system of Muslim theocratic laws.

•In Libya, Christians are uneasy as the powerful head of the Tripoli Military Council, Abdul Hakim Belhaj, who once led an Islamic militia with links to al-Qaeda, has said he plans to run for office in elections scheduled for April.

•In Afghanistan, no new building permits have been issued for churches, and the last church open to the public was demolished over the summer. In Iraq, the Christian community has decreased by two-thirds since 2003 amid bombings of churches and assassinations of priests.

•And Christians in Syria, where Muslims have risen up against President Bashar Assad, have been subjected to murder, rape and kidnappings in Damascus and rebellious towns, according to Christian rights groups, including Open Doors, which helps Christians facing persecution.

Many had hoped for better in an Arab movement that proponents said was about replacing tyrannies with democracies.

“The outlook is grim,” says John Eibner, CEO of the California-based human rights group Christian Solidarity International.

“If the current trajectory continues, it’s reasonable to think that within a generation these (Christian) communities will not look like functioning communities,” Eibner says. “They’ll look more like the once-flourishing Jewish communities” across the Arab world that are all but gone.

Nowhere is the irony more profound than in Egypt, where an estimated 8 million Christians live with more than 70 million Muslims.

Christians demonstrated alongside Muslims early last year to oust Hosni Mubarak. Before Mubarak’s overthrow, Christians had suffered from years of church burnings and murders at the hands of radical Muslims who want an Islamic state free of religious minorities. And after the ouster, the military regime that has been running the country has refused to make any arrests in attacks on Christians.

Mina Bouls, 25, a Copt who fled to Philadelphia, recalls cowering with his mother in 1997 as a mob stoned the family home and chanted anti-Christian slogans. But the difference then was that Mubarak ordered the military to protect Christian communities and jail extremists, Bouls says.

In October, Copts organized a protest in downtown Cairo over the authorities’ failure to investigate attacks, including the bombing of a church in Alexandria on New Year’s Day 2011 that killed 20 people. The military attacked the demonstrators and 17 Christians were run down and killed by military vehicles, according to Human Rights Watch.

Bouls wants to bring his family to the United States because he says he is petrified by the new society forming in Egypt. The first free elections in decades held in the past two months handed power not to moderates but to members of the Muslim Brotherhood and radical Salafi candidates, who combined took nearly 70% of seats.

“If people try to rule the country with the Koran, with sharia law, that means they look to us as second-class people,” Bouls says....

The exodus came amid 60 church bombings and the deaths of 900 Christians, says William Warda, chairman of the Hammurabi Human Rights Organization in Baghdad.

“We consider that genocide,” he says.

Malik says Western nations must stand up for the rights of Christians, who he says may be cleansed from lands where democratic elections are used to oppress minorities rather than empower them.

Malik says it must be done “in a way that is not misperceived on the other end.” However, “the West should not be cowed.”

Should not be, indeed. But probably it will be.

If the Western intelligentsia takes notice of this at all, it will be to excoriate the "bigotry" and "provocation" by the Christians at the carnival, and to call for restrictions on the freedom of speech to guard against "denigration of religion." No one will call on the Muslim community to stop reacting with violence to mockery, but to accept the fact that in a pluralistic society, some people will do things to which they object, and the proper response is genuine tolerance, not arson and riots.

"Church set on fire after carnival," from the UKPA, January 31:

An Orthodox Christian church famed for its valuable icons was set alight in southern Macedonia overnight amid religious tension between Christians and minority Muslims over a carnival in which Orthodox Christian men dressed as women in burkas and mocked the Koran.

Firefighters extinguished the fire on Monday night in the two century-old Sveti Nikola church, near the town of Struga. The church's roof was destroyed but its icons were not damaged, the fire service said.

Hours before the fire, Muslim leaders had appealed for calm among community members.

The January 13 Vevcani festival prompted angry, sometimes violent demonstrations by Muslims, who are nearly all ethnic Albanian and make up 33% of the country's 2.1 million population and accuse the majority of stoking hatred against them.

Maybe if they cut back on the violent demonstrations and church burnings, they'd find the majority hating them less.

Ethnic tension has been simmering in this small Balkan country since the end of an armed rebellion in 2001, when ethnic Albanian rebels fought government forces for about eight months, seeking greater rights for their community. The conflict left 80 people dead, and ended with the intervention of Nato peacekeepers.

The Vevcani carnival, said to have been held for some 1,400 years, attracts thousands of visitors. Local residents traditionally wear elaborate, frequently sarcastic masks, with some of the most common costumes including devils and demons.

But this year's perceived mockery of the Koran and the burka costumes caused outrage.

On Saturday, protesters attacked an inter-city bus heading from Struga to Vevcani, throwing rocks at the vehicle but injuring nobody. They also defaced a Macedonian flag outside Struga's municipal building, replacing it with a green flag representing Islam. On the same day, perpetrators attacked a church in the nearby village of Labunista, destroying a cross standing outside.

Macedonian Muslim leaders called for restraint but also accused the government of promoting Islamophobia.

Deputy Prime Minister Musa Xhaferi said such incidents "create discord" and "violate mutual respect and trust."

Muhammad said: "I will expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula and will not leave any but Muslim." - Sahih Muslim 19.4366.

Of course, it would be bad for business for the Saudis to say they're giving them the boot for daring to gather in prayer and worship, so they have invoked another rule, against the mingling of unrelated men and women. Not that they look any less ridiculous for it.

Once again, just for fun, someone should tell authorities that a man of Jewish background has slipped into the country and, according to local reports, is in the habit of joining these gatherings "wherever two or three" come together. It could make for a good all-points bulletin, not to mention the subsequent headline: "Saudis desperate to find Jesus."

An update on this story. "Ethiopian Christians to be deported from Saudi Arabia," from BBC News, January 31:

Some 35 Ethiopian Christians face deportation from Saudi Arabia for "illicit mingling", the global rights body Human Rights Watch (HRW) says.

Police arrested the group - including 29 women - after raiding a prayer meeting in the second city of Jeddah.

The women were subjected to strip searches and the men beaten and called "unbelievers", according to HRW.

In 2006, the Saudi government promised to stop interfering with private worship by non-Muslims.

The group was arrested in a private home as they gathered to pray during the run-up to Christmas, celebrated by Ethiopian Orthodox Christians on 7 January.

HRW spoke to a man and two women by telephone from the prisons where they are being held.

They say they have been charged with mixing with unmarried persons of the opposite sex - even though HRW says Saudi Arabia has no law defining "illicit mingling".

Mixing of the sexes is not allowed in public - but normally permitted in private unless for "the purpose of corruption", according to the religious police.

The ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom bans the practice of any religion except Islam - but in recent years pledged to leave people of other faiths alone if they worshipped in private homes....

Talk is cheap, and "war is deceit."

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 28 — Former Selangor Islamic affairs executive councillor Datuk Hasan Ali claimed today Christian ministers have resorted to handing out electronic gadgets and wearing kopiah (skullcaps) to mosques in their efforts to convert Muslims.

The Gombak Setia assemblyman, who was sacked from PAS and the state government earlier this month, told an anti-apostasy rally in Kepala Batas, Penang that Muslims in the country were vulnerable to these methods due to their lack of faith.

He said that when he was Selangor executive councillor, he received at least 60 reports of apostasy including how Muslims were enticed with money and given gifts of laptop computers, cameras, cars, monthly food provisions and gadgets like solar-powered bibles.

“There were reports of foreign Christian ministers wearing Muslim skullcaps and attending prayers at a certain mosque in Petaling Jaya to establish a communal relationship with Muslims before converting them.

“I was told these international Christian groups have unlimited funds,” he told a crowd of about 2,000, a tenth of Himpunan Sejuta Umat’s (Himpun) targeted 20,000 attendess.

Unlimited funds? How underhanded and dastardly!

The coalition of Muslim NGOs has organised several such gatherings in response to the “challenge of Christianisation”.

Himpun was mooted following last year’s controversial August 3 raid by Selangor Islamic authorities on the Damansara Utama Methodist Church (DUMC) in Petaling Jaya, where it was alleged that Christians were converting Muslims.

Hasan had backed the raid and said there “could be hundreds, maybe even thousands” of cases of Muslims being converted by Christians.

Last November, the former Selangor PAS chief told the Selangor Legislative Assembly that evangelical Christians are using high-tech devices such as solar-powered talking bibles to proselytise Muslims in the state.

The organization and transition to violence always seem to happen more than a little too easily, once again suggesting a rampage waiting for an excuse. And any old excuse will do.

These are not the makings of a stable society, and there can be no prosperity if society is so unstable that one fears anything one invests in might be obliterated at the drop of a hat.

Self-government, such as Egypt is said to desire, depends on the government of the self, on the individual level, and in communities. "Over 3000 Muslims Attack Christian Homes and Shops in Egypt, 3 Injured," by Mary Abdelmassih for the Assyrian International News Agency, January 28:

(AINA) -- A mob of over 3000 Muslims attacked Copts in the village of Kobry-el-Sharbat (el-Ameriya), Alexandria this afternoon. Coptic homes and shops were looted before being set ablaze. Two Copts and a Muslim were injured. The violence started after a rumor was spread that a Coptic man had an allegedly intimate photo of a Muslim woman on his mobile phone. The Coptic man, Mourad Samy Guirgis, surrendered to the police this morning morning for his protection.

According to eyewitnesses, the perpetrators were bearded men in white gowns. "They were Salafists, and some of were from the Muslim Brotherhood," according to one witness. It was reported that terrorized women and children who lost their homes were in the streets without any place to go.

According to Father Boktor Nashed from St. George's Church in el-Nahdah, a meeting between Muslim and Christian representatives was supposed to take place in the evening in Kobry-el-Sharbat. But, by 3 P.M. a Muslim mob looted and torched the home of Mourad Samy Guirgis, as well as the home of his family and three homes of Coptic neighbors. A number of Coptic-owned shops and businesses were also looted and torched. "We contacted security forces, but they arrived very, very late," Said Father Nashad. The fire brigade was prevented from going into the village by the Muslims and the fires were left to burn themselves out. "Those who lost their home, left the village," said Father Nashed.

Coptic activist Mariam Ragy, who was covering the violence in Kobry-el-Sharbat , said it took the army 1 hour to drive 2 kilometers to the village. "This happens every time. They wait outside the village until the Muslims have had enough violence, then they appear." She said that she spoke to many Copts from the village this evening who said that although their homes were not attacked, Muslims stood in the street asking them to come to their homes to hide. "They believed that this was a new trick to make them leave, so that Muslims would loot and torch their homes while they were away," said Ragy.

The Gov of Alexandria visited al-Nahda, near Kobry-el-Sharbat, this evening and told elYoum 7 newspaper that the two Copts and one Muslim who were injured were transported to hospital. He said that the family of the Muslim girl whose image was on the Copt's mobile phone wanted revenge from the Coptic man. They broke into his home and torched a furniture factory located in the same building.

Joseph Malak, a lawyer for the Coptic Church in Alexandria, said it is too early to count injuries to Copts or losses to their property.

Mr. Mina Girguis, of the Maspero Youth Union in Alexandria, said that "collective punishment of Copts for someone else's mistake, which is yet to be determined, is completely unacceptable." He believes that the reason for this violence is fabricated, and the military is behind it. "They are trying to divert the attention from the second revolution which is taking place now."

Father Nashed denied that Islamists were present, only ordinary village Muslims, and could not give an explanation as why people who have lived together amicably for years could commit such violence. "Maybe because of lack of security, they think that they can do as they please."

He said that the nearly 65 Coptic families were ordered to stay indoors and not to open their shops and businesses tomorrow. He added that security forces did not arrest any of the perpetrators, "on the contrary, they were begging the mob to go home."

By midnight the violence had subsided.

The jizya tax is a state protection racket. This was a private-enterprise version, of which there are many in Egypt now, as this report describes. "Nag Hammadi: Muslim bandits kill two Copts. Christians live in fear of being kidnapped," from AsiaNews, January 27:

Cairo (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Two Copts, father and son, were killed yesterday in Bahgourah, a suburb of Nag Hammadi in Upper Egypt, shot dead by a Muslim bandit, and his accomplices because they refused to pay the money demanded by the racket. Four days ago the head of the gang, Ahmed Saber, asked Moawad Asaad, a Coptic contractor for a large sum of money to enable him to continue working.

Yesterday afternoon Ahmed Saber went to Asaad’s home to demand the money, the Copt refused to get into Saber’s car to speak, for fear of being kidnapped. At that point, four men came out of the car armed with machine guns and opened fire on Moawad and his son Asaad Mowad an engineer. Both were killed instantly. Their deaths have sparked the protest of thousands of Christian Copts outside the government building at Nag Hammadi, demanding protection for the Coptic community, the victim of racketeering and violence by Muslims. A sit-in is taking place in front of police headquarters, attended by four thousand people who have vowed to continue the protest until Ahmed Saber and his accomplices are arrested.

The Bishop of Nag Hammadi, Kyrollos, said since last year Ahmed Saber, well known to the police, has extorted money from members of the Coptic community, and kidnapped the children of Christians to get the ransom money. "Police have received numerous complaints about these crimes. I do not understand why they have not arrested them. I think that the police, and Muslims, are fully responsible for the situation of terror in which the Copts of Bahgourah live." The bishop called the authorities in Cairo, and the Interior Ministry demanding that protection be provided to the Copts living in the Nag Hammadi, "who are constantly subject to kidnappings and terror."

This last weekend, I participated in a well-attended conference on the plight of Christians under Islam, sponsored by CAMERA. In "Boston Event Spotlights Imperiled Middle East Christians," from the Institute on Religion and Democracy, Matthew May describes the event. Because the report is long, below are snippets from my talk -- though be sure to read it all for summaries of the other speakers and their engaging talks:

Columnist and author Mark Steyn always gets a well-deserved laugh when he tells audiences that, to the useful idiots in the U.S. media and citizenry, “Allahu Akbar,” the calling card of Islamic terrorists the world over, is Arabic for “Nothing to see here!” But as author and scholar Raymond Ibrahim told a forum on violence against Middle Eastern Christians perpetrated by Islamists, what it really means is “My God is better than your God.”

The plight of Christians in the Middle East at the hands of Islamic jihadists – and U.S. media inattention and indifference to such struggles - was the subject of a forum entitled “The Persecuted Church: Christian Believers in Peril in the Middle East,” hosted and sponsored by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting (CAMERA), held at the Sheraton hotel in Framingham, Massachusetts, on January 21, 2012.

Dr. Walid Phares, who among several other roles advises the U.S. House of Representatives Anti-Terrorism Caucus, delivered the conference’s keynote address entitled “The Ongoing Fight for Freedom.” Phares said that the battle of ideas is fiercer than combat battles because the same forces who have visited violence upon Christians, Jews, and others in the Middle East have tried to suppress the West’s understanding of what is really happening in the Middle East and what is being taught in U.S. academic institutions. [...]

Ibrahim, author of The Al Qaeda Reader discussed his research on Islamic primary sources and the emergence of the same patterns of behavior among Muslims who forcibly have demanded that non-Muslims submit to Islam for the past 1,400 years. He said the same acts, the same accusations, the same flattery, and, eventually, the same violence that modern-day Muslims have carried out against non-Muslims is documented by Muslim clerics throughout history.

Ibrahim pointed out that Muslim attacks against churches all over the world are not an aberration. He cited a Koranic verse that instructs Muslims to “fight the people of the book” [Christians and Jews] until they pay jizya and feel themselves subdued. Ibrahim argued that the word “until” reveals that such a verse is prescriptive and perpetual in meaning. He also cited the eighth century Pact of Umar and its provisions that prohibited Christians from building churches. He introduced the term “Islamicate” to describe a prevailing cultural attitude among Muslims that non-Muslims are beneath Muslims, which has seeped into the collective conscience of devout and non-practicing Muslims alike.

Ibrahim argued that the media are all too willing to undermine the realities of the Islamic faith, utilizing code terms such as “sectarian strife” to describe atrocities committed by Muslims without having to actually identify the religious affiliation of the perpetrators. He also denounced as “stupidity” the U.S. government’s prohibition against using qualifiers to describe Muslim violence against non-Muslims, which he argued erases a wealth of knowledge and pattern development....

"There is no compulsion in religion," according to Qur'an 2:256, but in reality, Islamic law is rife with means of coercion directed at unbelievers, whom Qur'an 9:29 offers the options of conversion, subjugation, or war. For that matter, "compulsion" is ultimately in the eye of the person in power doing the compelling, and rationalizations abound to blur the lines between persuasion and compulsion: "it's good for them." "It's for the best." "They'll thank us later when they realize we're right."

But, just to keep things looking good on paper, many forced converts are also forced to sign documents saying they converted of their own free will, or, as was the case in this report, brought to court to make a statement under duress.

Nadia Bibi got away. One other captive bride also recently got away. But Saba and Anila Masih, Farah Hatim, and untold others are still in captivity (and not only in Pakistan), with many cases of abducted Christian and Hindu girls and women going unreported.

Pakistan is a major recipient of U.S. assistance. We have leverage we are not using to insist Pakistan protect the rights of non-Muslims and to free those wrongfully imprisoned by various means on account of their faith.

"Christian Girl kidnapped and converted to Islam back home after 10 years," from Agenzia Fides, January 24 (thanks to E.):

Lahore (Agenzia Fides) - Nadia Bibi, a Christian girl who was abducted and forced to marry a Muslim man, returned to her family, of Catholic faith, after 10 years. Nadia was only 15 when, in 2001, she was kidnapped in Mariamabad (in Punjab), a city with a Catholic majority: her case is not an isolated case, as confirmed by Catholic sources of Fides in Punjab, there are at least 700 cases a year of Christian girls kidnapped and forced to marry a Muslim. If one adds the cases of Hindu girls, the number rises to 1,800 cases per year, says a recent Report carried out by the NGO "Asian Human Rights Commission".

Nadia's parents had turned to the police but, as often happens, they had been intimidated and threatened by the kidnappers, while the police refused to register a complaint. Later, when they heard that Nadia had been forced to marry the Muslim Maqsood Ahmed, her parents went back to the police and this time they managed to register a FIR (First Information Report). But the police refused to arrest him and the story ended up before the High Court of Lahore. Here Nadia, under threats, issued a statement in favor of her husband, expressing her free will to marry, for fear of tragic consequences for her and her family. So the case was closed.Meanwhile, for Nadia life was unbearable: Maqsood beat her and treated her badly, even asking her to convert her parents to Islam. After 10 years in December 2011, Nadia found the strength to escape, returning home to her parents. However Maqsood returned with a group of armed men, threatening to kill and kidnap Nadia’s younger sister. The family then fled and turned to the NGO CLAAS (Center for Legal Aid Assistence and Settlement) that protects Pakistani Christians. CLAAS has arranged to host Nadia and her sister in a hidden place, starting a new criminal case against Maqsood.

As reported by CLAAS to Fides, Nadia said: "Maqsood made my life miserable. I was afraid of being killed because Maqsood knew I was not happy with him. I felt totally helpless and I was very confused. Maqsood is inhumane, he has ruined my life. Now I have regained hope and even faith".Nadia's story is exemplary and follows a clichet [sic] that is repeated in many other cases, like that of Farah Hatim kidnapped and converted to Islam in 2011. Although her case was concluded with a statement (forced), made in court, in favor of the perpetrator but some international NGOs reported the story to the United Nations.

Wherever there arises a renewed interest in Sharia, the observable effect is that tolerance decreases and harassment increases, and violent persecution often results with the aim of putting the unbelievers in their supposed place. "Violence against Indonesia’s religious minorities surges -HRW," from by Thin Lei Win for AlertNet, January 24 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

BANGKOK (AlertNet) – Violence against religious minorities surged in Indonesia in 2011, with authorities standing aside and failing to uphold the rule of law as Islamist mobs attacked Christians and Ahmadis, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in its annual report on the country.

The report, part of a larger HRW publication monitoring human rights in more than 90 countries, also said violence continued to rack [sic] Papua and West Papua. The report said the authorities used excessive force against peaceful protesters in these Indonesian provinces, where a low-level separatist insurgency has been going on for decades.

Elaine Pearson, the group’s deputy Asia director, said attacks on religious minorities and police violence in Papua “got a lot worse in 2011.”

“The common thread is the failure of the Indonesian government to protect the rights of all its citizens,” she said.

The report said senior government officials, including Minister of Religious Affairs Suryadharma Ali, Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi, and Minister of Human Rights and Law Patrialis Akbar, “continued to justify restrictions on religious freedom in the name of public order.”

Incidents of sectarian violence “got more deadly and more frequent” last year, with 184 cases of religious attacks in the first nine months of 2011, the rights group said. Churches as well as Ahmadi mosques and communities in various places came under assault.

The Ahmadis are followers of a minority Ahmadiyya sect founded in the 19th century. They believe there have been other prophets of Islam since its founder Mohammad, although he is regarded as the most important. Mainstream Muslims consider them heretical, and Ahmadis face increasing threats of violence in many countries including Pakistan and Indonesia.

“Short prison terms for a handful of offenders did nothing to dissuade mob violence,” the report added, pointing to the February incident in western Java when some three Ahmadis were killed and five injured when some 1,500 Islamic militants attacked a house.

The event was caught on film – police officers were shown watching as the mob wreaked havoc – but only 12 men were charged, and none for manslaughter. One of the Ahmadis injured in the attack was later convicted of assault and disobeying police orders.

Yesterday on Christian Solidarity International (via RaymondIbrahim.com), I discussed the many reasons why a president of the United States -- I don't name any, specifically, lest I be accused of great naivety -- should speak up on behalf of the religious minorities being persecuted, cleansed, or merely oppressed under Islam. [Note: If, while reading the following article, you wish to tell the current president to stand up for religious minorities in the Islamic Middle East, sign CSI's petition]:

On January 24, during his State of the Union Address, the president of the United States has a chance to expose the plight of religious minorities living in Muslim majority nations. Doing so would not merely shed light on one of the most ignored humanitarian crises of the 21st century; it would help alleviate it.

Why should the president speak up on the oppression of religious minorities? For starters, because it is the right thing to do, and reflects American values and principles.

He should speak up because religious cleansing is currently underway in nations like Nigeria, where Boko Haram—"Western Education is Forbidden"—and other Islamic groups have declared jihad on the Christian minorities of the north, killing and displacing thousands, burning and bombing hundreds of churches, most notoriously this last Christmas, where over forty people were killed while celebrating Christmas mass. Likewise, since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, about half of Iraq's one million Christians have been forced by targeted violence to flee their homeland, the most notorious incident, again, being a church attack, where some 60 worshippers were killed.

He should speak up because churches are constantly being attacked, burned, or forced into closure, not just in Nigeria and Iraq, but in Afghanistan, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia (click on country-links for the most recent examples). In Egypt alone, after several churches were burned, thousands of Christian Copts gathered to demonstrate—only to be slaughtered by the military, including by being run-over by armored vehicles.

He should speak up because Muslim converts to Christianity are regularly ostracized, beat, killed, or imprisoned—recent examples coming from Algeria, Eritrea, Kashmir, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, and even Western nations. Iran's Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, whose plight actually made it to the mainstream media, is but one of many people imprisoned and tortured for simply following their conscience and converting to Christianity. Uganda offers a typical example: there, a Muslim father locked his 14-year-old daughter for several months without food or water, simply because she embraced Christianity. She weighed 44 pounds when rescued.

He should speak up because Christian girls are being abducted, raped, and forced to convert to Islam—recent examples coming from Egypt, India, Pakistan, and Sudan. In Pakistan alone, "a 12 year-old Christian [was] gang raped for eight months, forcibly converted and then 'married' to her Muslim attacker." Now that she has escaped, instead of seeing justice done, "the Christian family is in hiding from the rapists and the police." Earlier in Pakistan, a 2-year-old Christian girl was savagely raped and damaged for life because her father refused to convert to Islam...

In Crisis Magazine today, my ongoing almost-nothing-to-do-with-jihad series on the Eastern Churches continues with "Keepers of the Lost Ark" on the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Ethiopian Christianity in general. Here is the bit that's jihad-related:

Today this Church, and the people who have so lovingly protected and preserved it for so many centuries, is – like all the strains of Eastern Christianity – increasingly endangered. Muslims make up only one-third of the Ethiopian population, but they are in in recent years in Ethiopia (as in many other parts of the world) growing markedly more assertive and aggressive. In March 2011, a Muslim mob in Ethiopia burned down 69 churches and displaced thousands of people in riots triggered by rumors that a Christian had desecrated a copy of the Qur’an. Then last April, four Muslims went to Kale Hiwot church, a Protestant church in Worabe (a predominantly Muslim area of Ethiopia) and told the pastor, Abraham Abera, that one of his closest friends was seriously ill and that he should visit him immediately. Once they had convinced Abera to go with them, they turned on him and beat him to death. When his pregnant wife ran up to try to save him, they began beating her as well. One of the attackers made their motive clear, saying: “You (Christians) are growing in number in our area. You are spreading your message (the gospel). We will destroy you.” And in November, a mob of 500 Muslims, including policemen, shouted “Allahu akbar” (Allah is greatest) as they burnt down a church that they claimed had been built without the proper permits, although it had been standing on that spot for over sixty years.

There is more.

But Nigerian officials assure us that the end of Boko Haram is near, only weeks after admitting that the jihad group had friends and supporters in high levels of the Nigerian government. Sounds as if the claims that the jihadis' end is near are just face-saving.

"Troops swoop on Boko Haram, claim end of sect is near," from The Guardian (Nigeria), January 24 (thanks to Clark):

SECURITY agents operating under the aegis of the Joint Task Force (JTF) on Operation Restore Order (ORO) in Maiduguri have killed four persons suspected to be members of the fundamentalist Islamic sect Boko Haram.

But the uncovering of vehicles laden with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) cast a shadow over this victory.

The vehicles with the IEDs said to be owned by members of Boko Haram were uncovered in Kano where about 200 people were killed by the sect last Friday.

It was learnt that two vehicles, Honda and Camry cars, were discovered to have contained the explosive devices at Gorondutse and Sheka parts of the metropolis.

Though there is no official reaction to the discovery, it is believed that the explosives may have been abandoned by Boko Haram members.

To ensure the return of peace to the state, Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso and the Emir of Kano, Ado Bayero, yesterday led hundreds of Muslim faithful in a special prayer session.

However, commercial banks that initially opened had to shut down at about 10.00 a.m. when false news filtered into town that the state government had declared yesterday a work-free day.

Armed soldiers and plain clothes security personnel patrolled strategic points within the metropolis and stern-looking security operatives barred residents from gaining access to any of the police formations within the metropolis.

Suspected Boko Haram members took their terrorism to Minna, Niger State as they set ablaze a Christian missionary home, Bethany Home, and destroyed property worth millions of naira.

Although no life was lost in the attack, occupants of the home, mostly orphans and the less-privileged were rendered homeless as a result of the attack.

The Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Oluseyi Petinrin yesterday assured that Boko Haram might soon run out of suicide bombers.

Oh, that's a relief!

Is there still actually a government in Jakarta? One could be forgiven for doubting, in yet another episode of the Yasmin Church saga.

The great irony for the Islamic supremacist thugs here is that their prolonged persecution of the Yasmin Church has made it, and its perseverance, known to the world. By trying to make them disappear, they have made them more visible in public life than they ever would have been. That's a great, big "own goal." "Radical Groups Disrupt Yasmin Church Sunday Service," by Vento Saudale for the Jakarta Globe, January 22 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

Hundreds of people from various radical groups launched a search on Sunday to find the location of the Yasmin church congregation’s service and prevent them from worshiping. The groups even went to the home of one of the worshipers.

Protesters from the Indonesian Muslim Communication Forum (Forkami) and the Islamic Reform Movement (Garis) surrounded the home where the service was held on Jalan Cempaka no. 10, Taman Yasmin complex in Bogor.

“It crosses the line now. The protesters now come to the residential area, which is not a public place,” politician Lily Wahid, the sister of late president Abdurrahman Wahid, said at the scene.

Police were present to safeguard the house, but the worshipers were unable to leave the home because the mob blocked their way out.

The GKI Yasmin church has been illegally sealed off by the city administration on the pretext that the congregation doctored a petition needed to obtain a building permit.

The congregation has since 2008 been forced to hold Sunday services on the sidewalk outside the church and now in the home of parishioners.

Asia Bibi is already frail, and a reported beating at the hands of a prison guard did not help. Authorities seem to be half hoping she will die in prison so they will be spared the fallout on one hand of carrying out her sentence, or on the other, of releasing her.

Qari Salam let himself be used by fellow Muslims who promised to "chase her through hell," and as a result, an innocent woman has been sentenced to death and dumped in a Pakistani jail after a show trial with no attorney or a chance to make a statement. The judge feared the wrath of Islamic supremacists who wanted her dead.

Salam is not ready to retract his charges, however, still believing that "it will bring me a better place in heaven."

Does Barack Obama know the name of Asia Bibi? Do Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, or Ron Paul? Anyone in a potential position to deal with foreign policy regarding Pakistan certainly should. "Aasia Bibi’s case: Weighed down by guilt, blasphemy accuser mulls pulling back," from the Express Tribune, January 21 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

A guilty prayer leader prowls the narrow, fetid streets of Ittanwali village in Nankana district.

At the forefront of a popular, polarising case, Qari Salam ostensibly regrets filing a blasphemy charge against an impoverished Christian woman, Aasia Bibi.

The source of his guilt – realisation that the case was not based on facts but on hyped religious emotions and personal bias of some village women.

Aasia has been languishing in Sheikhupura jail since a sessions court awarded her death sentence for insulting Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

Support from London

Qari, according to some of his close friends, was now thinking of not pursuing the case anymore and expressed his desire to some of his friends, only to find himself in a difficult situation when activists of a religious organisation ‘convinced’ him not to change his mind.

“We will chase her through hell … don’t worry about the money, hiring best lawyers,” Salam told The Express Tribune, quoting the son of Khatm-e-Nabuwat’s London chapter’s leader.

The leader’s son flew in to Nankana from London after hearing that Salam might not go to Lahore High Court (LHC) when the review petition against Aasia’s conviction is taken up.

Salam himself, however, denied he ever thought of backtracking from his stance.

“How can I change my mind,” he said. “I believe it will bring me a better place in heaven. It gives me pleasure, it is my pride,” Salam told The Express Tribune.

Salam said Khatm-e-Nabuwat had hired Mustafa Chaudhry as counsel to fight his case in the higher court, and were ready to go to an extent to seek death for Aasia.

Counsel seek bail

While bullets may have silenced Aasia’s lone supporter, former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer, they have faltered in the face of the silent resolve of her counsel.

Despite death threats from religious right [sic], Aasia’s lawyers are now planning to seek bail for her from LHC.

Lone supporter? Why no mention of Shahbaz Bhatti, who was also assassinated?

“Yes, we are ready to file a bail application and will be moving ahead with it in a couple of weeks,” said Rai Ajmal, one of the two lawyers who were Aasia’s counsel in Nankana court which sent her to gallows in 2010.

A review petition against the verdict filed by Rai, and a fellow lawyer Sardar Khan Chaudhry, is pending before the LHC and there are little chances that it can be taken up for at least another three years.

Rai said the LHC is still hearing review petitions filed in 2006-07, and judges are reluctant to use their discretionary powers to take up Aasia’s case on a priority basis due to its controversial nature.

Aasia’s review petition was filed in 2010 and, according to sources in the LHC, it will purportedly not be taken up before 2015, while Aasia languishes in jail.

They have owned the property for 125 years, but according to the prior report -- surprise! -- the local government decided it was government property.

The land is now worth a great deal. Local authorities have found that, as Hedy Hedley Lamarr declared in Blazing Saddles: "Unfortunately there is one thing standing between me and that property: the rightful owners."

"Lahore, Catholics go to court against the "blasphemous" demolition of their institute," by Jibran Khan for Asia News, January 21:

Lahore (AsiaNews) - The Catholic community of Lahore is up in arms against the illegal demolition of the "Gosha-e-Aman", a "place of peace" that welcomed Christians and Muslims, last January 10 by the provincial government of Punjab. One victim has decided to take the case to court by filing a written complaint against the Development Authority and other officials involved in the affair. Meanwhile, it appears that one of the police officers present during the demolition of the building (Malik Ahmed Raza Tahir), was in charge of security in Gojra in August 2009, when a Muslim mob attacked the local Christian minority, resulting in seven dead - burned alive – and the burning of several homes and properties.

Speaking to AsiaNews, the archbishop emeritus Mgr. Lawrence Saldanha condemned the demolition decided by the authorities, the prelate emphasizes that we are in the presence of "ancient institution, worthy of respect," owned "by the Church in peace for 125 years" and used "for charitable purposes."

The faithful have dubbed this past January 10 "Black Tuesday" and demand the restitution of property and compensation for damage, if not, they warn, protests will continue until the authorities meet their demands. The institute "Gosha-e-Aman", founded in 1887, is surrounded by two acres of land, worth a total of billions of rupees. Inside there was a home for the elderly, a girls' school, a convent and a chapel for prayer. The dispute relating to the possession of the building and surrounding area had long been the center of a lawsuit, it seems the demolition was triggered by a woman - converted to Islam - who in the past sought shelter in the center.

Catholic Christian leaders and government officials have expressed solidarity with the victims, in search of a makeshift shelter that can accommodate them in the coming weeks. In Lahore Catholics, Anglicans, Protestants and non-governmental organizations have strongly condemned the abuse by the local government. Zenobia Richards, 61, one of the victims of the demolition, has launched a lawsuit by filing a petition to the High Court, citing the authority for urban development, along with other officials. She worked 24 years for Caritas Pakistan and lived in "Gosha-e-Aman". "It was a center of peace - she says - a lot of memories bind me to that place. That's why I wanted to bring a case against those who demolished the building, which I call home. "

During demolition operations, the workers also destroyed a statue of the Our Lady and several copies of the Bible: "I used to pray in this place," adds Zenobia (pictured, on the rubble of the building) and that's why "I intend to cite the crime of blasphemy "because they" desecrated a church and religious material in my house". "This is not just a piece of land - she adds - but the emotions, feelings, rights of minorities in Pakistan." She says she is "not afraid" and points the finger at the Punjab Minister for Minorities: “I will fight for my rights, "she concludes, confirming today that she has filed an appeal in court.

Archbishop Saldanha, archbishop emeritus of Lahore, speaks of "clear violation of the rights of minorities." The prelate told AsiaNews that the government "is short of funds" and is looking for "easy targets to fill the budget deficit." He adds that Catholics can and should continue in the protest and "appeals to the international community: I myself have spoken to the Department for religious freedom in Canada." The Archbishop hopes that international pressure "will have a positive impact and that the land mafia will fail in their criminal intent."

From Yahoo News:

NEW YORK, Jan. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A prominent international human rights organization is calling upon the United Nations and the international human rights community to act quickly and decisively to save the Christians of Syria, who are being increasingly threatened and victimized by Islamic supremacists.

Stop Islamization of Nations (SION) notes with sorrow the one hundred dead in Syria in the recent and ongoing series of kidnappings and murders of Christians. SION President Pamela Geller said in a statement: "We deplore the manifest lack of respect for human life and the dignity of the human person. We call upon the United Nations Security Council and UN Commission on Human Rights to schedule an immediate meeting to discuss how to protect the Christians of Syria."

Geller added: "We call upon Muslim groups in the U.S. and the Middle East to condemn these killings in word and deed, instituting programs in mosques and Islamic schools to teach Muslims that the lives of non-Muslims must be respected as equal in dignity and value to those of Muslims. We call upon the centers of Islamic authority and education to repudiate the specifications in Islamic law that set the value of a non-Muslim's life as less than that of a Muslim, and call upon the international human rights community to focus on those inherently discriminatory laws as a human rights abuse."

SION is an international umbrella organization dedicated to defending human rights, religious liberty, freedom of conscience and the freedom of speech against Islamic supremacist intimidation and attempts to bring elements of Sharia to the West.

The confirmed list of Board of Advisors for SION currently includes Dr. Ali Sina, the renowned ex-Muslim author and founder of FaithFreedom.org; Dr. Wafa Sultan, the ex-Muslim human rights activist and author; the German pro-freedom activist Stefan Herre of Politically Incorrect; the Israeli author Dr. Mordechai Kedar; the Hindu human rights activist Babu Suseelan; and Anders Gravers of Stop Islamisation of Europe (SIOE). More prominent pro-freedom activists will be added to the Board shortly.

A worldwide summit of SION freedom activists is currently being organized; location, date and other details will be announced in the coming weeks.

SION establishes a common American/European coalition of free people determined to stand for freedom and oppose the advance of Islamic law, Sharia. Islamic law is not simply a religious system, but a political system that encompasses every aspect of life; is authoritarian, discriminatory, and repressive; and contradicts Western laws and principles in numerous particulars. SION respects Muslims as fellow human beings and rejects Islamization as a comprehensive political, religious, cultural and social system of behavior and ideology.

SION stands for:

-- The freedom of speech - as opposed to Islamic prohibitions of
"blasphemy" and "slander," which are used effectively to quash
honest discussion of jihad and Islamic supremacism;
-- The freedom of conscience - as opposed to the Islamic death
penalty for apostasy;
-- The equality of rights of all people before the law - as
opposed to Sharia's institutionalized discrimination against
women and non-Muslims.

A foremost objective of SION is to establish a network of free nations that work to free the oppressed and to call worldwide attention to the persecution, slaughter and subjugation of non-Muslims and free women enslaved by the Sharia. SION will act only through democratic and non-violent means, and categorically rejects all acts of violence and vigilantism. It aims to preserve the fundamental freedoms and rights articulated in the Constitutions of the Western democracies, the U.S. Bill of Rights, and the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

SION will also work to winning back the culture, with a particular focus on the academic world, as the Islamic teaching of history is based on faith and Sharia, not on the Western objective criteria of truth. In the West, history must be taught according to the truth, not according to the dictates of ideology.

SION also offers diversity and sensitivity training to corporations and government agencies at the local, state and national levels. This diversity training is designed to help these entities understand the jihad threat in all its different manifestations, including Islamic supremacist cultural initiatives to assert Islamic law and practice in the American workplace. It helps them protect their business practices in the face of demands for special accommodation for Muslim employees.

Will the Islamophobia never end?

"Muslims in Egypt Burn Christian Homes and Shops, Attack Church," by Mary Abdelmassih for AINA, January 20 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

(AINA) -- A Muslim mob attacked Copts today in the Upper Egyptian village of Rahmaniya-Kebly, Nag Hammadi, Qena province, destroying and torching their homes, straw huts and shops, while chanting Allahu Akbar. No one was reported killed or injured (video). According to reports, security forces were present but did not intervene and the fire brigade arrived 90 minutes late.

An eye-witness said that a straw hut belonging to a Copt was torched to clear the area for a mosque. There are more than 300 mosques in the village and one church.

According to Coptic residents, the reason behind the violence was the parliamentary elections. The Salafists wanted to prevent Copts, who number more than 50% of the inhabitants (20,000), from voting because they intended to vote for two moderate Muslims and not the Salafi candidates. "No Copt from Rahmaniya-Kebly was able to vote today, so the Salafists will win the elections," said a witness. Copts were forcefully prevented from voting.

US-based WAY TV, which covered live today's Rahmaniya attacks, called commander Osama, head of security at Rahmaniya, who said "everything was OK" -- despite live pictures on TV of the burning homes. Joseph Nasralla of WAY TV spoke to security and made them aware that the videos of the fires were being broadcast in the U.S. and Middle East, which caused the immediate dispatch of security vehicles. By late evening the violence had stopped.

Joseph Nasralla is the courageous human rights activist who has spoken at our AFDI/SIOA Freedom Rallies at Ground Zero on September 11, 2010 and September 11, 2011.

In another incident today, a large number of Salafis and members of the Muslim Brotherhood entered the Abu Makka church, in Bahteem, Shubra-el-Khayma, Qaliubia province, and informed the congregation that the church has no licence and no one should pray in it. One Muslim said the 1300 square meter church would be suitable for a mosque and a hospital....

Christians are identified with the relatively secular Alawite Assad regime; if it falls to an Islamic supremacist regime, life for the Christian community in Syria will get very hard. Iran wants to keep its client regime in place, but now the Saudis are agitating for the U.S. to aid the protesters, as this will lead to a Sunni Islamic supremacist regime and keep the Shi'ites from gaining too much power in the region. So we will soon see whether Barack Obama is more interested in kowtowing to the Saudis rather than the Iranians, but so far, in holding back from supporting the Syrian protesters, he has been firmly in the mullahs' camp.

"Christians in Syria targeted in series of kidnappings and killings; 100 dead," from Barnabas Aid via the Pakistan Christian Post, January 19:

Damascus: January 19, 2012. (Barnabas Aid) The Christian community in Syria has been hit by a series of kidnappings and brutal murders; 100 Christians have now been killed since the anti-government unrest began.

A reliable source in the country, who cannot be identified for their own safety, told Barnabas Aid that children were being especially targeted by the kidnappers, who, if they do not receive the ransom demanded, kill the victim.

And the source provided detailed information ¨some of which cannot be made public for security reasons¨ about incidents that have taken place since Christmas. Two Christian men, one aged 28, the other a 37-year-old father with a pregnant wife, were kidnapped by the rebels in separate incidents and later found dead; the first was found hanged with numerous injuries, the second was cut into pieces and thrown in a river. Four more have been abducted, and their captors are threatening to kill them too.

Two Christians were killed on January 15 as they waited for bread at a bakery. Another Christian, aged 40 with two young children, was shot dead by three armed attackers while he was driving a vehicle.

These latest reports are reminiscent of the anti-Christian attacks that have become commonplace in Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion, and heighten concerns about the future for Christians in Syria as the anti-government protests there continue....

A Western-backed military campaign in alliance with the Syrian rebels against the Assad regime is looking increasingly likely, and this could be devastating for the Church in Syria. Christians in Syria have enjoyed a considerable measure of freedom and protection under President Assad; if he falls, there could be a repeat of the tragic near-extermination of the Church in post-Saddam Hussein Iraq.

On January 6, 2012, the Council of Evangelical Churches in Baghdad was dissolved, signaling another nail in the coffin for Christianity in Iraq. The once sizeable Christian minority there has been reduced to no more than a few hundred thousand today....

On PJ Media (via RaymondIbrahim.com), I document that all too familiar pattern: appease Muslims by compromising Christmas in the West, even as Christmas under Islam is a time for increased Christian persecution:

Earlier I discussed how mosques, some of which breed radicalization and serve as terrorist bases, flourish in America, while churches are increasingly targeted and destroyed in the Muslim world, especially the Middle East, the cradle of Christianity.

This pattern—religious appeasement of Muslim minorities in the West, religious hostility for Christian minorities under Islam—continues and manifests itself in other ways.

Consider Christmas. The same appeasement that allows a "victory mosque" to be erected near Ground Zero, where jihadists killed some 3,000 Americans, compromises one of Christianity's most important events.

For instance, a "Montreal suburb has decided to remove a nativity scene and menorah from town hall rather than acquiesce to demands from a Muslim group to erect Islamic religious symbols." Contrast this with Iran, where many churches were "ordered to cancel Christmas and New Year's celebrations as a show of their compliance and support" for "the two month-long mourning activities of the Shia' Moslems," a reference to the bloody flagellations and self mutilations Shias perform in memory of Imam Hussein during Ashura.

Likewise, the University of London held Christmas service featuring readings from the Quran—Islam's holy book that unequivocally condemns the Incarnation, which is precisely what Christmas celebrates. Meanwhile, Islam's clerics in the West proclaimed things like "saying Merry Christmas is worse than fornication or killing someone," since doing so is to "approve of the biggest crime ever committed by humanity": the belief that God became man on Christmas. As the cleric makes clear, these are not his words, but rather the words of Islam's most authoritative clerics.

Nor are these just words. Around the Muslim world, Christmas time for Christians is a time of threats, harassment, and fear. One can point to any number of Muslim attacks on Christians to prove this—whether churches attacked, burned, or forced into closure; whether Muslim converts to Christianity beat, killed, or imprisoned; whether Christians abused on "blasphemy" charges; or whether just sheer violence and killings of "infidel" Christians. (See "Muslim Persecution of Christians" for a list of December's abuses alone).

More telling, however, are the attacks that specifically targeted or revolved around Christmas...

Today on FrontPage Magazine (via RaymondIbrahim.com), I discuss the Nigerian jihad against Christians, which, as JW readers know, only gets more savage by the day:

The New Year's resolution for "Sunnis for Da'wa [Islamization] and Jihad"—also known as Boko Haram, or "Western education is forbidden"—is to create a Christian-free Nigeria, beginning, naturally, with the north, where Muslims outnumber Christians.

Right at the start of 2012, Boko Haram issued an ultimatum giving Christians living in northern Nigeria three days to evacuate or die—an ultimatum the group has been living up to, so much so that Nigeria's President Jonathan recently declared a state of emergency.

This, of course, is not to say that Boko Haram has not been long targeting Christians, as the New York Times—which all but apologized for the group's terrorism—would have it.

Boko Haram and other Muslims have been terrorizing Nigerian Christians for years, killing thousands of them, and destroying hundreds of their churches. Just last November, hundreds of armed Muslims, many from the group, invaded Christian villages, "like a swarm of bees," killing, looting, and destroying. At the end of their four-hour rampage, at least 130 Christians were killed. Forty-five other Christians in another village were slaughtered by another set of "Allahu Akbar!" screaming Muslims.

Likewise, another jihadi attack from last November, enabled by "local Muslims," left five churches destroyed and several Christians killed: "The Muslims in this town were going round town pointing out church buildings and shops owned by Christians to members of Boko Haram, and they in turn bombed these churches and shops." In one instance, a local Muslim pleaded with Boko Haram members not to burn down a particular church—not out of altruism, of course, but rather because that Muslim's home was adjacent to the church, and might also have caught fire. The church was spared....

The marriages of captives are abrogated, by order of the Qur'an: "And all married women (are forbidden unto you) save those (captives) whom your right hands possess. It is a decree of Allah for you" (4:24).

"There is no compulsion in religion," according to Qur'an 2:256, but the nature of the "compulsion" is in the eye of the overlord/beholder. There is, in reality, plenty of coercion hardwired into Islamic law, even via Qur'an 9:29, which gives unbelievers the options of conversion, subjugation, or warfare. All options are intended to lead the way to conversion by making life so otherwise intolerable, humiliating, and terrifying as to wear down resistance. But hey, you know, no compulsion or anything. Just "an offer you can't refuse."

Often, just to keep things looking good on paper, these women and girls are made to sign under duress (if not while drugged) a document saying they converted of their own free will. Is there "no compulsion" in document signing?

"Choora," variously spelled "Chura," or "Choohra," is a derogatory term. Literally, it means "sweeper," referring to the menial jobs to which Christians are frequently relegated on account of their faith and the social barriers to their advancement.

Pakistan remains a major recipient of U.S. aid. We have leverage we are not using to help Pakistan's second class citizens realize their full rights in society, and liberate the abducted and wrongfully imprisoned. "Girls being raped and tortured," from The News, January 16 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

“I saw two of my daughters being raped in front of me,” an old lady from Essa Nagri told The News. “It is considered that Chooras have no integrity.” She says that around midnight, men from other areas start gathering in their neighbourhood. “They are usually drunk. They choose which home they will plunder.”

She adds that one night they stormed into her home and raped two of her girls, while she “was locked in another room hearing their cries for help”. “I am a widow without any financial prospects, but I did go to the MPA representing us. What good is he if he can’t do anything to protect us?” The fear to report these cases is such that at first, no one even admits that an incident of rape or torture has taken place.

Forcible conversions

Within the past three months, nine women have been abducted and forcibly converted to Islam. MPA Javed adds that the purpose is not to gain good deeds, but to sell them. A majority of the Christian girls converted are married, he says.

According to reports he received from different areas of the city, the abducted women are later sold to feudal lords in Sindh and Punjab. Citing a recent example, Javed says that in Essa Nagri, a 23-year-old married girl was forcibly remarried to a 60-year-old Muslim man, who was notorious for selling girls.

"Known to be pious, but had a side business of selling Christian girls":

Javed said that the man was known to be pious, but had a side business of selling Christian girls. He says many people apart from him knew the truth. The only information that the family received was by a phone call through which they were informed by somebody that their girl is in Punjab.

He points out that there is a judgment by the Lahore High Court which clearly states that a “married Christian woman cannot be remarried to a Muslim even if converted,” but these cases do not even go to the police to be challenged in the high courts.

The Qur'an trumps the court ruling.

Brothel beside a church

Ayub Goth, near the Meteorological Department, is another area known for ethnic and religious discord. The Christians living in the area complain that a brothel was recently established right beside a Catholic church in the area.

In the evening women from outside are brought by “some people.” Residents say that these people have enough political clout to ensure that no one dares raise a finger....

Note the top-ten list for countries persecuting Christians. It's probably "Islamophobic" to notice a pattern there. "Vatican spokesman laments religious persecution, cites ‘Islamic extremism’," from Catholic Culture, January 16 (thanks to Twostellas):

The director of the Holy See Press Office has used his weekly message to draw attention to the plight of persecuted Christians.

“The recent annual report of the international evangelical non-governmental organization Open Doors on the persecution of Christians in the world contains a world index of persecution according to which the first ten places are occupied by the following countries in descending order: North Korea, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Iran, Maldives, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Iraq and Pakistan,” notes Father Federico Lombardi.

“Among the most serious concerns, the increase in Islamic extremism merits special attention,” he continued. “Persons and organizations dedicated to extremist Islamic ideology perpetrate terrible acts of violence in many places throughout the world: the Boko Haram sect in Nigeria is but one example. Then there is the climate of insecurity that unfortunately in some countries accompanies the so-called “Arab spring”--a climate that drives many Christians to flee and even to emigrate.”

Christian martyrs don't explode:

“Such sufferings are a part of the Christian journey,” Father Lombardi concluded. “Nor ought we be amazed. Jesus said so in the Sermon on the Mount: ‘Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,’ is the last of the Beatitudes; its promise is reward in heaven.”

Proselytizing is forbidden. It could get Christians killed. In this case, it could get Christians who had nothing to do with it killed. Good thing an appeals court struck down Oklahoma's anti-Sharia law, eh? Islamic Tolerance Alert from Kashmir: "Indian Christians fear backlash due to Sharia ruling," by M Saleem Pandit for TNN, January 13 (thanks to Twostellas):

SRINAGAR: All India Christian Council in New Delhi on Friday feared backlash against Christians in the country due to incrimination of pastors Jim Borst and CM Khanna by Srinagar's self-styled Islamic Shariat court.

The self-proclaimed Supreme Court of Islamic Sharia headed by Mufti Bashir-ud-din on Wednesday indicted Pastor C M Khanna and Dutch national, Jim Borst for their alleged involvement in luring Kashmiri Muslims to convert to Christianity.

The Deputy Mufti-Azam Jammu and Kashmir and son of grand Mufti Bashir-ud-din, Mufti Muhammad Nasir-ul-Islam in a statement on January 11 said that "it was proved beyond doubt that the accused" pastor Khanna "along with other accomplices was luring Muslim people to change their religion."

"The Kashmir situation is going through a critical phase and if such elements are not brought to book it will have a serious and negative impact on the (Kashmiri Muslim) society. It is shocking and surprising that the state government was allowing such activities. Kashmir society will not tolerate such activities at all and we stand united against such elements," Mufti Nasir said. The deputy Mufti added that a detailed verdict against the accused would be made public soon.

The two pastors have already quit the valley. They left soon after Pastor C M Khanna (who lived in Kashmir for past several years) was released on bail on December 1, 2011. The J&K police had arrested him on November 19, 2011 on charges of fomenting communal trouble in the state.

All India Christian Council in a statement on Friday feared that the Sharia court's threatening that it would issue a sentence soon could "encourage extremist elements to indulge in violence."...

Land grab: surprise! It's "government property." "The land was declared state land by the district collector in 2007." "Church Property: Demolition denounced," by Rabia Mehmood for the Express Tribune, January 10:

LAHORE: The National Commission of Justice and Peace (NCPJ) has accused the Punjab government of illegally demolishing a welfare centre allegedly without a notice.

The centre, Gosha-e-Aman, on Allama Iqbal Road, Garhi Shahu, was a property of the Catholic Church. Father Emmanuel Yousuf Mani, the NCPJ national director, told a press conference at the Lahore Press Club on Tuesday that the demolished compound was home to three families and worth billions of rupees. He said the property was registered as the Lahore Charitable Association and was managed by CARITAS Pakistan.

Father Emmanuel said litigation concerning the property was in court, and a stay order had been issued against its demolition.

Father Emmanuel told The Express Tribune that he found District Coordination Officer Ahad Khan Cheema with policemen and demolition machines when he went to the centre in the morning. He said they demolished the building despite his efforts to stop them. The Christian community representatives said that the DCO informed them that the property had been transferred to the government. They said the property was a Catholic Church property and could not be transferred without permission.

Tariq Zaman, a staff officer at the district coordination office, told The Express Tribune that the land was declared state land by the district collector in 2007. Since then, he said, the government representative had several times notified the owners of the centre.

Zaman said if the Catholic Church claimed that they owned the land, then they should present papers and court orders to explain their position to the government. The Christian community have announced a protest today.

Catch-22: a court date would have been a logical time to present documentation, but the government jumped the gun and destroyed the buildings before the case could be resolved in court.

Jihad against refueling. "Suspected Islamists kill 4 again," from AFP, January 11 (thanks to Twostellas):

KANO, (AFP) – Suspected members of Islamist group Boko Haram on Wednesday shot dead four Christians who were believed to be fleeing violence-torn Maiduguri, residents said.

“Their car had just pulled up at a filling station outside the town to refuel when suspected Boko Haram gunmen in another car also pulled up and opened fire on the Igbos, killing them on the spot,” said a resident of the city of Potiskum who sells groceries nearby.

Members of the Igbo ethnic group are overwhelmingly Christian and generally originate from the country’s east. The attack occurred on the outskirts of Potiskum.

“The car the victims were travelling in was stuffed with bags and other personal effects and it was clear they were heading for the east,” the resident said.

They were thought to be traveling from Maiduguri, a city wracked by violence blamed on Boko Haram.

This is the kind of law that the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is trying to bring West, with willing help from the Obama Administration. "Egyptian Christian faces trial for insulting Islam," from AP, January 9 (thanks to all who sent this in):

(AP) CAIRO — A prominent Christian Egyptian media mogul faces trial on a charge of insulting Islam, lawyers said Monday, based on his relaying a cartoon on his Twitter account.

The case dates back to June, when Naguib Sawiris posted a cartoon showing a bearded Mickey Mouse and veiled Minnie. He made a public apology after Islamists complained, but his action set off a boycott of his telecom company and other outlets. He said it was supposed to be a joke and apologized, but lawyer Mamdouh Ismail filed a formal complaint against him.

After investigation, the prosecution set the trial for Jan. 14. Sawiris was not available for comment.

The case is linked to developments in Egypt after the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak last February. Sawiris and Ismail belong to competing political parties, and sectarian violence between Christians and Islamists has been on the upswing. In Egypt's parliamentary elections, Islamist parties have won a large majority, leaving liberals far behind.

Sawiris co-founded a liberal party, and Ismail heads a party representing ultraconservative Salafi Muslims.

The case has added to fears among many that ultraconservative Islamists may use their new found powers to try to stifle freedom of expression.

Ismail countered that, saying he took legal action against Sawiris because he wants the law to be respected by all, even a famous businessman and politician, in the post-Mubarak era

"The revolution came about because we all are seeking the rule of law without any exceptions," he said. The charge is punishable by up to one year in prison.

Rights lawyer Gamal Eid said the contempt of religion law, in place even before Mubarak came to power, has been used against scholars and activists whose comments about Islam angered conservatives....

Note to AP: it is not "conservatives," but "liberals" who are generally enemies of the freedom of speech.