Now that the group of Syrian nuns held captive for three months by jihadi forces have been released (in exchange for prisoners held by the Syrian government), they have confirmed that "they did not feel comfortable wearing their crosses and crucifixes."

Indeed, back on February 18, I discussed how pictures of the nuns showed no pectoral crosses in "Kidnapped Nuns No Longer Bear the Cross." This was in keeping with the fact that Islamic law bans Christian "dhimmis" from showing their crosses or Bibles around Muslims.

Still, the Guardian's first line of the nuns' release is "Nuns say they were not forced to remove crosses during captivity," because "the group's leader, Mother Pelagia Saayaf, who heads the Mar Takla monastery, said: 'We took off our crosses because we were in the wrong place to wear them.'"

Yet does this diplomatic response not speak for itself concerning, not just contempt for the cross, but for Christians in general? For it simply means that, by wearing crosses they would have exposed their Christian identity — and that would not have been a wise thing, considering they were in "the wrong place," that is, a place hostile to Christians.

And does it not stand to reason that those hostile to Christians would be hostile to Christian symbols?

Equally telling is the fact that other Christians in Syria were recently offered a "pact," one modeled after the Islamic rules conquered Christians historically followed, and it specifically includes words banning the appearance of the cross.

At any rate, read my original article, including the now prophetic words of one Syrian priest who said:

St Paul says “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” (Galatians 6:14). You [jihadis] removed the cross from the nuns’ breasts. Remove it! We do not rely on the visible. But know that the cross is firmly planted in the hearts of each and every one of those nuns.

Coptic Solidarity

Abu ‘Ubaida, a leader of Ansar Bayt al-Muqadas, the most recent terrorist organization to plague post-Muslim Brotherhood Egypt, was killed yesterday by Egyptian forces.

According to Egyptian Maj. Gen. Muhammad Nour al-Din, ‘Ubaida was the regional director of the terrorist organization in Egypt, and was directly involved in the planning and implementation of all attacks in Cairo.

Speaking yesterday on the television program “Happening in Egypt,” which airs on MBC Egypt, Nour al-Din said that “Today’s killing of Abu ‘Ubaida counts as a major blow from the National Security Agency to the members of Bayt al-Muqadas.”