As Muslim jihadis, mobs and regimes terrorized Christians and others throughout the world of Islam, in the West, institutions—from governments to grade schools—empowered and praised Islam, often at the expense of Christians.
U.S. President Barack Obama described the idea of giving preference to persecuted Christian refugees as “shameful”— even though helping persecuted refugees is what America has always been doing and much of what it is about. “That’s not American. That’s not who we are. We don’t have religious tests to our compassion,” Obama admonished. Unfortunately for the president, statistics were soon released indicating that “the current [refugee] system overwhelmingly favors Muslim refugees. Of the 2,184 Syrian refugees admitted to the United States so far, only 53 are Christians while 2,098 are Muslim.” So, although Christians are 10% of Syria’s population—and possibly the most persecuted group—only 2% of the refugees entering America are Christian.
Adding to the confusion, Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush falsely claimed that Syrian President Bashar Assad “executes Christians.” In reality, not only have Christian minorities long been protected under the secular regime of Assad — himself a member of a religious minority — but many Christian refugees who fled the jihad in Iraq went to Assad’s Syria for sanctuary.
Accordingly, the head of the Syrian Catholic Church, Mar Ignace Youssif III Youan, in a November interview, accused Western governments of “perpetuat[ing] the endless conflict in Syria” and of having “betrayed the Christians of the East. We explained from the beginning that our situation was different from that of other nations in the region, they were not listened to. And now we mourn deaths over the past five years….It’s a shame that the West has abandoned Christians to this situation.”
Less than a week after jihadis murdered 130 people in Paris, Hillary Clinton asserted that Muslims “have nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism.”
The same pro-Islamist, anti-Christian spirit floated through some Western schools. In the United Kingdom, Pupils at Oldknow Academy were reportedly led in “anti-Christian chants” in assemblies which were “like a rally” with a “plainly divisive” attitude.” According to theBirmingham Mail, Asif Khan, a Muslim teacher, led pupils, shouting, “We don’t believe in Christmas, do we?” and “Jesus wasn’t born in Bethlehem, was he?” Children were also asked to shout: “Do we send Christmas cards? No!” and “Do we celebrate Christmas? No!” Khan denies the claims.
However, Ann Connor, an education advisor contracted to work for Department for Education who had earlier visited the school, said, “I found the school to be extraordinary. There was an element of fear.” A female staff member was said to be “frightened of Mr. Khan.” And a parent complained of the “increasing Islamic ethos in the school.”
In the United States, a seventh-grade teacher at Spring View Middle School in Huntington Beach, California, deviated from the district’s official curriculum and had students sing “This Is My Fight Song.” Lyrics from the song included, “Islam … Allah’s on the way. They will preach them loud tonight. Can you hear their voice this time? This is their fight song. Spread Islam now song. Prove that they’re right song.”
Parents only found out about the song after some students accidentally brought the pamphlet home. “I believe that by singing the song,” one of the angry parents said, “the children feel comfortable that maybe Allah is the only god and maybe that they should start following him. I’m not OK with that.” The school responded by sending an apology to parents and said it would continue looking into the incident.
Meanwhile, in the Islamic world, it was business as usual. November’s roundup of Muslim persecution of Christians around the world includes, but is not limited to, the following:
Muslim Slaughter of Christians and Savagery
Libya: Two Christians were killed by gunshot wounds to their heads. The bodies of Wasfy Bakhit Gad Mikhail, 37, and his brother Fahmy, 27, were found on November 13 near Al Khums. On their bodies were black gloves with Islamic phrases. Like many other Christians killed in Libya—including the 21 who were slaughtered earlier this year by the Islamic State—the brothers were working as laborers and sending their earnings back home to support their families. “They were targeted and killed because they are Christians,” said Father Sulaiman Botros. “They kept the faith and refused to deny the Lord Jesus Christ. They are our church’s martyrs.”
Egypt: Marwa Ahmed, a 26-year-old former Muslim woman, was killed by her family for converting to Christianity and marrying a Christian. Three years ago she fled her hometown and moved to Alexandria with her new husband, where she gave birth to a boy and girl. But when her uncle and cousins learned that she was back visiting Taymiyya, they tracked her down and kidnapped her. According to the report, her uncle then forced her younger sister to “kill her to ‘punish’ her for her conversion [to Christianity].” Other reports say that the uncle killed Marwa himself.
Yet another Christian soldier was killed in his (Muslim majority) unit. Bishoy Nata‘i Bushri Kamal, 21, was found dead at his military station in Cairo. The army told his family that he had committed suicide by hanging. However, the boy’s uncle, Sami Bushri, said: “We completely reject this [assertion that he had committed suicide].” The uncle added that Bishoy had recently gotten into a quarrel with a certain “Mustafa,” a fellow soldier. Injuries were found on Kamal’s abdomen, face and back —all of which indicate that he was tortured, then murdered. (See here for five more examples of Egyptian Christian soldiers found dead, followed by military claims of suicide or some other “accident,” and rejection of these claims by their families. They all point to conflicts with Muslim soldiers in the unit (including attempts to force the Christians to convert to Islam).
Yemen: Two Muslim converts to Christianity, in two separate incidents, were murdered on charges of leaving Islam…