“And throughout history, Islam has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality.” — Barack Obama, Cairo, June 4, 2009
“We don’t want churches on our street. Today we are going to burn the church, and if you continue we are going to burn your house also.” — Flier dropped at the door of a Christian leader in Zanzibar, June 28, 2009
Ah, those Misunderstanders of Islam are everywhere. If only they had listened to the President!
“Tanzania: Two Church Buildings Burned Down In Zanzibar,” from Compass Direct News, June 30 :
NAIROBI, Kenya, June 30 (Compass Direct News) — Two church buildings were razed Sunday night (June 28) on the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar after worship services.
Suspected radical Muslims set the church buildings on fire on the outskirts of Unguja Township, on the island off the coast of East Africa, in what church leaders called the latest incidents of a rising tide of religious intolerance.
“We don’t want churches on our street,” read a flier dropped at the door of Charles Odilo, who had donated the plot on which the Evangelical Assemblies of God in Tanzania (EAGT) building stood. “Today we are going to burn the church, and if you continue we are going to burn your house also.”
With Christian movements making inroads in the Muslim-dominated area, the EAGT church and a Pentecostal Evangelical Fellowship in Africa (PEFA) church building a few miles away were burned down as a fierce warning, church leaders said….
Malanda said the church reported the arson attack to police, who have purportedly begun an investigation, and the congregation has also sought the help of the chief leader of the rural government. The church’s police report included mention of Muslim extremist suspects bent on stopping the spread of Christianity in Zanzibar….
Bishop Obeid Fabian, chairman of an association of congregations known as the Fraternal Churches, said Christians in Zanzibar have received several threats.
“In this latest incident, the threats were spread through pamphlets,” he said. “At other times, Muslim youths have hurled stones on church rooftops and insulted Christians.”…