Lifestyle > Train of Thought
The oppression of Christians around the world....
Real American:
Why are Muslims so intolerant and full of hatred for people of other religions?
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/12/19/opinion/main1135805.shtml
The Real War On Christmas
(National Review Online) This column was written by Nina Shea.
Christmas is a time of joy for Christians and, for multitudes around the world, a time of suffering. Last Wednesday, under the auspices of Senator Rick Santorum and the Congressional Working Group on Religious Freedom that he co-chairs with Congressman Roy Blunt, some of the world's foremost defenders of persecuted Christians gathered in the U.S. Capitol to draw attention to this suffering.
Over Christmas 2000 in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country and one traditionally renowned for its religious toleration, terrorists bombed churches in 18 cities, killing scores and wounding hundreds. At Wednesday's forum, Catholic Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver observed that "violence against the Christian minority has steadily continued over the past decade." As an example, he cited the beheadings of three Christian teenage girls in Sulawesi in late October. International Christian Concern's Jeff King brought photos of the incident; the girls' heads were left at a church, each with a note that vowed, "We will murder 100 more Christian teenagers and their heads will be presented as presents."
Last Christmas in Iraq, St. John's Church near Mosul was attacked. Assyrian cultural expert Eden Naby described the scene: "The Mass begins. It is cold inside the stone church. Suddenly you hear automatic fire. The doors fly open. The Christian guards are shot, and in march armed Kurdish Peshmarga who shoot up the church, beat up the priest and drive the parishioners cowering home." In prior months, other churches in southern Iraq had been bombed by Islamic militants, some during worship services. Though the terror came from two different sources, in each case the purpose was the same — to intimidate and force out the ancient Chaldo Assyrian Christian community.
In Saudi Arabia, Christians, a large percentage of the foreign workers making up a quarter of the population, will not be able to find any churches whatsoever to worship in this Christmas — churches are forbidden. Dozens of those who pray together in private houses were arrested and jailed earlier this year. This fanatically intolerant kingdom even forbids Muslims, under threat of death, to wish a Christian "Happy Holidays," much less "Merry Christmas."
Christians face similar repression in Iran. Episcopal priest, Rev. Keith Roderick, representing Christian Solidarity International, reported that as the Christmas season got underway around the world last month, Tehran's tyrannical President Ahmadinejad met with 30 provincial governors and reportedly declared, "I will stop Christianity in this country," avowing to shut down the country's growing house-church movement.
Egypt had been a place of refuge for the Holy Family fleeing Herod's wrath. Today, however, Christians are fleeing Egypt itself. As Fr. Roderick attested, Christians are treated as "second-class citizens" under state-sponsored discrimination and actively persecuted by Islamic militants apart from the government. He cited the week-long riot in October against St. George's Coptic Church in Alexandria by a 10,000-strong mob incensed by rumors of blasphemy.
Christians in Pakistan will be wise to keep their Christmas celebrations low-key this year. One of them, Yousaf Masih, a 60-year-old illiterate janitor from northwestern Pakistan, is among those under arrest for "blasphemy" because he allegedly burned a Koran. As Paul Marshall of the Center for Religious Freedom recounted, three weeks ago in Sangala Hill, after word of his case got out, mobs destroyed three churches, a convent, a Christian school, and Christian homes. Last week a militant mob rallied to demand Masih's public hanging and the eradication of the entire Christian community there.
And while China manufactures and exports Christmas lights and ornaments, it arrests and imprisons Christians who lead worship services, preach, or minister without state approval. Richard Land, director of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, gave as an example Catholic Bishop James Su Zhimin of Hebei, who on December 25 will be observing his 27th Christmas in confinement. Cai Zhuohua, a Protestant pastor in Beijing, was sentenced in early November to three years in the gulag, or laogai as it's called in China, for printing and distributing Bibles. His defense lawyer, the prominent civil rights attorney Gao Zhisheng, also a Christian, has been disbarred and now worries he may become his own next client.
Christmas has been banned in North Korea for half a century. Land reported on a new study conducted by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom — "Thank you, Father Kim Il Sung" — based on dozens of in-depth interviews with North Korean escapees. All of them said that there is absolutely no freedom of thought, conscience or belief in North Korea. All report, in fact, that such liberties are explicitly and actively prohibited. None had ever seen churches in North Korea. Most did not know of the three state-controlled churches in Pyongyang, the country's only churches. None of the interviewees was aware of any authorized religious activity inside North Korea. Two interviewees provided graphic and detailed eyewitness testimony of the summary executions of individuals accused of engaging in unauthorized religious activities. Another interviewee said that her brother was executed for involvement in such activities. One additional interviewee had heard of executions of North Koreans involved in unauthorized religious activities, and, as a police official, had been involved in two separate cases resulting in the arrest of eleven individuals accused of involvement in such religious activities. Of the eleven arrested, two died during interrogation; the interviewee believed that the other nine had been executed. Others mentioned executions they had heard about but had not witnessed themselves.
Vietnam, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, India, Cuba, Eritrea, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan were also among the countries cited for violent anti-Christian persecution. And, as the panelists remarked, this list could be extended.
One mark of hope for genuine religious freedom was offered by Marshall at the forum's conclusion. He noted that, this Christmas, many churches in Indonesia will be surrounded by the uniformed Muslim Banser group, a wing of Nahdlatul Ulama, the world's largest Muslim organization. The Bansers will not be there to attack the churches but to help protect them from extremists, to prevent any reprise of the Christmas 2000 bombings. Nahdlatul Ulama has done this for several years, in cooperation with the police and the Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist communities.
Christmas is a time of great suffering for these communities. But as these persecuted Christians commemorate the birth of Jesus from their jail cells, within their house churches, or silently in their hearts, it is also a time of joy. For them, truly, the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.
Nina Shea is the director of Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom.
Kal EL:
Christians have and continue to face martyrdom in many countries. this has gone on for 2000 years. Jesus himself said that this would be the response of many.
Support organizations that bring light to human rights issues (secular and Christian) and let your gov't know how you feel about its foriegn policy that supports in anyway the mistreatment of free religious exchange.
J Bananas:
Other religions hate us because they are forced to live in squalor because of their own fanaticism and we have awesome lives and fun holidays. Its hard being number 1 sometimes, but let's just remember, as much flack as we may catch aroudn the world, we still are better off than the rest of those crazy muslim fucks, or some north korean dictator shithole. let em hate, I just say merry christmas and pass the gifts around to my safe, well off family :)
Real American:
--- Quote from: Lazarus The NEW Creation on December 20, 2005, 04:02:29 PM ---Christians have and continue to face martyrdom in many countries. this has gone on for 2000 years. Jesus himself said that this would be the response of many.
Support organizations that bring light to human rights issues (secular and Christian) and let your gov't know how you feel about its foriegn policy that supports in anyway the mistreatment of free religious exchange.
--- End quote ---
Yeah I agree. I am particularly concerned about what the Muslims are doing to Christians in Sudan.
Kassem:
Why are Americans so intolerent
Attacks on Muslims and Arab-Americans
Following is a sampling of the anti-Arab, anti-Muslim backlash that surfaced following the Sept. 11 tragedy. The list actually understates the number of threats and attacks, because it does not include crimes against Indian-Americans, Sikhs, and South-Asian-Americans.
The list was compiled by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
• Sept. 11. Chicago, IL: Three hundred people shouting anti-Arab insults were turned back by police as they attempted to march toward a mosque southwest of the city. (Chicago Tribune, Sept. 13.)
• Sept. 12, Gary, IN: A Yemeni-American gas station owner survived an attack by a gunman who opened fire directly and fired more than 21 shots from a high-powered assault rifle. The owner was protected by one-inch thick glass. (The TimesOnline.-com, Sept. 13.)
• Sept. 12, Atlanta, GA: Four men attempted to stab a Sudanese man, telling him, "You killed our people in New York." (Atlanta Journal Constitution, Sept. 13.)
• Sept. 14, Tulsa, OK: Police investigated an attack on an Arab American who was beaten while leaving his apartment. Three people jumped on him, knocked him down, covered his eyes and beat him. After addressing him with an expletive, the men threatened, "We are going to cut you like you cut our people." (Tulsa World, Sept. 15.)
• Sept. 17, Meadville, PA: A man with a knife attacked a female high school student of Middle Eastern descent, yelling at her, "You're not an American. You don't belong here." (Associated Press, Sept. 25.)
• Sept. 18, Palmdale, CA: A note sent to a public high school said the World Trade Center attacks would be avenged in a "massacre" of Muslims, with the names of five students listed beneath. (Associated Press, Sept. 20.)
• Sept. 19, Lincoln Park, MI: Ali Al Mansouri, originally from Yemen, was shot 12 times in the back while fleeing from his attacker. The victim was asleep when his attacker broke in, dragged him out of bed and, according to his own police confession and his girlfriend's statements, threatened, "I'm going to kill you for what happened in New York and D.C." (WDIV Detroit, Sept. 21.)
IN FRANCE MUSLIM WOMEN AREN'T ALLOWED TO WEAR THE ISLAMIC SCARF
EVERYTIME I AM IN A AIRPORT IN THE WEST ONCE THEY SEE MY NAME AHMED MOHAMMED KASSEM,THEY GO ON FULL ALERT SEARCHING EVERY MUTHAFUCKING THINK IN MY PAGES,SCREWING OPEN THE PS2.
MEDIA SHOWS MUSLIMS AS FAT UGLY BAD BREATH,CRAZY MUTHAFUCKAS.
So Fuck OFF
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