The Time to Act is Now or Never

Published in Christian Solidarity International

The following article was written for Christian Solidarity International, "an international, Christian human rights organization, campaigning for religious liberty and human dignity, and assisting victims of religious persecution, victimized children and victims of catastrophe." Be sure to sign CSI's petition urging President Obama to present during his forthcoming State of the Union Address his "administration's policy to prevent the eradication of the endangered Christian communities and other religious minorities of the Islamic Middle East." When the major media reported a few months ago that Iranian Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani was set to be executed for leaving Islam, many Western people were shocked, finding it hard to believe that in the 21stcentury people are still being persecuted—by their governments no less—simply for being Christian. The fact is, Muslim persecution of Christians in the modern era has been consistently growing worse. Yet, because only one out of every few hundred or so cases ever receives major attention, few in the West have any idea that it exists. For instance, around the same time that the case of Pastor Nadarkhani made headlines, 129 Christians in Sudan were imprisoned, and one in Somalia wasbeheaded—like the pastor, simply for converting to Christianity.The fact is, Muslim persecution of Christians in the modern era has been consistently growing worse. Yet, because only one out of every few hundred or so cases ever receives major attention, few in the West have any idea that it exists. Dozens of other documented cases of persecution were occurring at the same time, none of which received much media attention. These include Christians imprisoned, tortured, and killed for allegedly "blaspheming" Islam; Christian girls abducted and raped because they are "infidels"; churches burned, Bibles confiscated, and crucifixes destroyed—and in one instance, a Christian boy killedfor refusing to conceal his crucifix. To anyone familiar with Islam's history and traditional teachings, none of this is surprising. Instead, all of these accounts demonstrate 14 centuries of continuity. With Islam's resurgence and the concomitant upsurge of anti-Christian violence, however, the very existence of Christian and other non-Muslim communities is under threat. The process of religious cleansing could lead to their eradication within a generation [see CSI's Genocide Warning]. So why is there such a lack of awareness concerning this matter in the otherwise "humanitarian" West? One reason has to do with recent history. During the colonial era and into the mid 20th century, when Western influence in the Muslim world was strong, Christian persecution was markedly subdued. Because of the lull in persecution, generations of Westerners came to see events closer to their time as more representative of reality. They tended to overlook the historic and doctrinal roots of Christian persecution under Islam, and thus failed to comprehend what is otherwise so obvious. This anachronistic perspective is enforced by the "guardians of knowledge"—the mainstream media, academia, and political activists and apologists —who have made the ugly truths of persecution unknowable, all in the name of "multiculturalism" and "political correctness." For example, aside from the fact that it is so rare for the major media actually to report on Christian persecution, when it is reported, it is almost always in the context of "sectarian strife" and other neutral phrases that conflate victim with persecutor. Likewise, far from being content with relaying objective facts concerning the Muslim world, Western academia often puts the best spin on things—forcing facts to conform to the prevailing multicultural ideologies and not vice-versa. The situation is fundamentally exacerbated by the fact that the majority of Western Christian leaders, whether fearful of "offending" Muslims or eager to appear "tolerant," are reluctant to speak openly about persecution. If expected from secular journalists, the silence of so many church leaders is far more perplexing. Today, in light of the so-called "Arab spring," the West needs to acknowledge the crisis of survival facing Christians in the Middle East. We have already seen the fruits of democracy in Muslim nations like Iraq, where, since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, Christians have been brutally persecuted to the point that more than half of them have fled their homeland, where they are nearing extinction; and in Afghanistan, a decade after the West overthrew the Taliban—committing billions of dollars and thousands of lives—the last public church was just destroyed, even as Christians suffer under blasphemy and apostasy laws enforced by the government installed by the West. Now, as Muslims in Arab countries begin to elect Islamist parties—which make no secret of their bigotry against Christians—the future of the latter looks especially grim. The first step to ameliorate this situation is simple awareness—to get Western people to learn of it. To do this, the establishment first needs to be jarred from complacency, needs to reassess its politically-correct narrative. Accordingly, next month, when President Obama gives his State of the Union address, he has an opportunity to include some measured words—for instance, that aid to Muslim nations is contingent on the protection of religious minorities. Along with holding these nations accountable, such words might further cause some in the West to reassess the established narrative, creating a trickle-down effect of knowledge. Through CSI's Petition to the President, you have the chance to encourage him to do so.

Published in FrontPage Magazine

Dear Reader:

If the ongoing eradication of Christians under Islam is of concern to you, please consider signingChristian Solidarity International's petition urging President Barack Obama to present during his forthcoming State of the Union Address his "administration's policy to prevent the eradication of the endangered Christian communities and other religious minorities of the Islamic Middle East."

Sincerely –

Raymond Ibrahim

A recent Fox News report tells of how "a rash of attacks on Christian-owned businesses in northern Iraq has raised troubling questions about the future safety of the country's shrinking Christian community, particularly as U.S. forces withdraw completely from the nation they've refereed since 2003."

In fact, "questions about the future safety of the country's shrinking Christian community" have been raised ever since the U.S. toppled secular strongman Saddam Hussein, thereby unloosing the forces of jihad previously corked. The report continues:

The attacks, which have received little international attention, raged through northern cities following a sermon last Friday by a local mullah. Video purportedly from the riots posted online shows mobs burning and wrecking businesses, which included liquor stores, hotels and hair salons.

Note the two important facts here that play over and over whenever Christians are persecuted under Islam: 1) Despite their frequency and severity, they "receive little international attention" (indeed, only the most spectacular of terrorist attacks on Christians—such as the 2010 Baghdad church attack which left some 60 dead—ever receive mainstream media attention); and 2) as usual, the attacks followed "a sermon last Friday by a local mullah" (in other words, are Islamic in nature).

As if the situation wasn't bad enough, after pointing out that "Iraqi Christians ... are living in fear," U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf said:

"Now with the [U.S.] forces leaving ... I think the Iraqi Christians are going to go through a very, very difficult time." … He urged the Obama administration to do more to speak up on the issue. "They know this is a problem. Our government ought to be advocating and ought to be pushing."

It ought to, but it's not. After calling the U.S. government's silence concerning the blatant persecution of Iraq's Christians "disturbing," the founder of the Iraqi Christian Relief Council added: "We're on the verge of extinction."

Writer Kenneth Timmerman, who recently returned from Iraq, was asked in an interview "what if anything is the U.S. doing to alleviate the plight of Christian minorities … in Iraq?" His response:

Under President Obama the U.S. is doing nothing. They are putting no pressure on Al-Maliki in Iraq. … I just returned from Northern Iraq … I can tell you that this is a community that is on the verge of extinction. The Assyrian Chaldean Syriac community in Iraq [i.e., the Christian community] constitutes the indigenous people of Iraq. They have been there for millennia. They are being driven out by Jihadi Muslims on the one hand and by Kurdish Nationalists on the other.

Worse, whereas Iraq's Christians were in the habit of fleeing to neighboring countries for refuge, in light of the so-called "Arab Spring," these countries are no longer safe, as their own Christians are increasingly targeted.

In fact, by pushing for "democracy" and "elections, the Obama administration has helped unloose some of the most anti-Christian—not to mention anti-Western, anti-Israel, in a word, anti-infidel—forces in the region. Consider Syria, for instance, where many Iraqi Christian refugees have fled to:

As the Assad regime comes under mounting international pressure, Christians, who comprise around ten per cent of the population, are particularly concerned about what the future holds for them and Iraqi Christian refugees living in the country. Should Assad fall, it is feared that Syria could go the way of Iraq post-Saddam Hussein. Saddam, like Assad, restrained the influence of militant Islamists, but after his fall they were free to wreak havoc on the Christian community; hundreds of thousands of Christians were consequently forced to flee the violence. Many of them went to Syria. … Most of the Iraqi Christians living in Syria are worried because they do not want to see Syrian Christians passing through the same path as happened with them in Iraq.

As if all this was not enough, Pamela Geller reports that "Christians are being refused refugee status [in the U.S.] and face persecution and many times certain death for their religious beliefs under Sharia, while whole Muslim communities are entering the U.S. by the tens of thousands per month despite the fact that they face no religious persecution."

Such is the increasingly surreal world we live in.

Published in Hudson New York

The so-called "Arab Spring" continues to transition into a "Christian Winter," including in those nations undergoing democratic change, such as Egypt, where the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis dominated the elections—unsurprisingly so, considering the Obama administration has actually been training Islamists for elections.

Arab regimes not overthrown by the "Arab Spring" are under mounting international pressure; these include the secular Assad regime of Syria, where Christians, who comprise some 10% of the population, are fearful of the future, having seen the effects of democracy in neighboring nations such as Iraq, where, since the fall of the Saddam regime, Christians have been all but decimated.

Meanwhile, it was revealed that "Christians are being refused refugee status [in the U.S.] and face persecution and many times certain death for their religious beliefs under Sharia, while whole Muslim communities are entering the U.S. by the tens of thousands per month despite the fact that they face no religious persecution."

Categorized by theme, November's batch of Muslim persecution of Christians around the world includes (but is not limited to) the following accounts, listed according to theme and in alphabetical order by country, not necessarily severity.

Churches

Ethiopia: More than 500 Muslim students assisted by Muslim police burned down a church, while screaming "Allahu Akbar" (and thus clearly positing their attack in an Islamic framework); the church was built on land used by Christians for more than 60 years, but now a court has ruled that it was built "without a permit."

Indonesia: Hundreds of "hard-line" Muslims rallied to decry the "arrogance" of a beleaguered church that, though kept shuttered by authorities, has been ordered open by the Supreme Court. Church members have been forced to hold services on the sidewalk, even as Indonesia's leading Muslim clerics warned Christians that it would be "wise and sensible" for the church to yield to "the feelings of the local believers, specifically Muslims."

Iran: The nation's minister of intelligence said that house churches in his country are a threat to Iranian youth, and acknowledged a new series of efforts to fight the growth of the house church movement in Iran.

Nigeria: Islamic militants shouting "Allahu Akbar" carried out coordinated attacks on churches and police stations, including opening fire on a congregation of "mostly women and children," killing dozens. The attacks occurred in a region where hundreds of people were earlier killed during violence that erupted after President Jonathan, a Christian, beat his closet Muslim rival in April elections.

Turkey: The ancient Aghia Sophia church has been turned into a mosque. Playing an important role in ecumenical history, the church was first transformed into a mosque in 1331 by the jihadist Ottoman state. As a sign of secularization, however, in 1920 it was turned into a museum. Its transformation again into a mosque is a reflection of Turkey's re-Islamization.

Apostasy and Proselytism

Afghanis around the world are being threatened for leaving Islam and converting to Christianity. One exile, who changed his name after fleeing Afghanistan in 2007 when an Islamic court issued an arrest warrant for his conversion, is still receiving threats: "They [Afghan officials] were very angry and saying that they will hit me by knife and kill me." Even in distant Norway last September, an Afghan convert to Christianity was scalded with boiling water and acid at a refugee processing center: "If you do not return to Islam, we will kill you," his attackers told him.

Algeria: Five Christians were jailed for "worshiping in an unregistered location." International Christian Concern (ICC), an advocacy group investigating the case, states that the five Christians are charged with "proselytizing," "unauthorized worship," and "insulting Islam."

Iran: Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, who caught the attention of the world after being imprisoned and awaiting execution for leaving Islam, remains behind bars as officials continue to come up with excuses to force him to renounce Christianity, the latest being that "everyone is [born] a Muslim." A Christian couple "who had been snatched and illegally-detained" by authorities for eight months without any formal charges, were finally released, beaten again, and have since fled the country. While imprisoned, they were "ridiculed and debased" for their Christian faith.

Kashmir: Muslim police arrested and beat seven converts from Islam in an attempt to obtain a confession against the priest who baptized them. After the grand mufti alleged that Muslim youths were alternatively being "lured" and "forced" to convert by an Anglican priest "in exchange for money," the priest was arrested in a "humiliating" manner. Recently released, his life is now "in serious danger."

Kenya: A gang of Muslims stabbed and beat with iron rods a 25-year-old Somali refugee, breaking his teeth; he was then stripped naked, covered with dirt, and left unconscious near a church. Although he was raised Christian since age 7, he was attacked on the "assumption that as a Somali he was born into Islam and was therefore an apostate deserving of death."

Nigeria: The Muslim militant group, Boko Haram, executed two children of an ex-terrorist and "murderer" because he converted to Christianity. When still a terrorist, he "was poised to slit the throat of a Christian victim" when "he was suddenly struck with the weight of the evil he was about to commit." After finding he converted to Christianity, "Boko Haram members invaded his home, kidnapped his two children and informed him that they were going to execute them in retribution for his disloyalty to Islam. Clutching his phone, the man heard the sound of the guns that murdered his children."

General Killings

Egypt: After a Christian inadvertently killed a Muslim in a quarrel begun by the latter, thousands of Muslims rose in violence, "collectively punishing" the Copts of the village. Two Christians "not party to the altercation" were killed; others were stabbed and critically wounded. As usual, "after killing the Copts, Muslims went on a rampage, looting and burning Christian-owned homes and businesses." Even so, "Muslims insist they have not yet avenged" the death of their co-religionist, and there are fears of "a wholesale massacre of Copts." Many Christians have fled their homes or are in hiding.

Kenya: Suspected Islamic extremists, apparently angered at the use of wine during communion—Islam forbids alcohol—threw a grenade near a church compound killing two, including an 8-year-old girl, and critically wounding three others. The pastor of another congregation received a message threatening him either to flee the region "within 48 hours or you see bomb blast taking your life and we know your house, Christians will see war. Don't take it so lightly. We are for your neck."

Nigeria: In the latest round of violence, soon after mosque prayers were heard, hundreds of armed Muslims invaded Christian villages, "like a swarm of bees," killing, looting, and destroying virtually everything in sight; at the end of their four-hour rampage, some 150 people had been killed—at least 130 of them Christians. Another 45 Christians were also killed by another set of "Allahu Akbar!" shouting Muslims who burned, looted, and killed. Hundreds of people are still missing; the attacks have included the bombing of at least ten church buildings. Nearly all the Christians in the area have fled the region.

Pakistan: A 25 year-old Christian was shot dead by "an unidentified gunman in what his family believes was a radical Muslim group's targeting of a Christian." According to the son, "We firmly believe that my father was killed because of his preaching of the Bible, because there is no other reason." He began to receive threats "after voicing his desire to start a welfare organization for the poor Christians" of the region.

"Dhimmitude"

(General Abuse, Debasement, and Suppression of non-Muslim "Second-Class Citizens")

November's major instances of dhimmitude come from two Muslim nations notorious for violating Christian rights—Egypt and Pakistan—neither of which is even cited in the U.S. State Department's recent International Religious Freedom report:

Egypt: Following October's Maspero massacre, when the military killed dozens of Christians, some run over intentionally by armored vehicles, Egypt's military prosecutor detained 34 Christians, including teens under 16, on charges of "inciting violence, carrying arms and insulting the armed forces"; many of the detainees were not even at the scene and were just collected from the streets for "being a Christian." Three are under 16 years of age, including one who, after having an operation to extract a bullet from his jaw, was chained to his hospital bed. Hundreds of Christians also came under attack from Muslims throwing stones and bottles, after the Christians protested against the violence at Maspero: "Supporters of an Islamist candidate for upcoming parliamentary election joined in the attack on the Copts." Meanwhile, a senior leader of the Salafi party, which came in second after the Muslim Brotherhood in recent elections, blamed Christians for their own massacre, calling "Allah's curse on them." Muslim Brotherhood leaders asserted that only "drunks, druggies, and adulterers" are against the implementation of Sharia—a clear reference to Egypt's Christians.

Pakistan: A new U.S. government commission report indicates that Pakistani school textbooks foster intolerance of Christians, Hindus, and all non-Muslims, while most teachers view religious minorities as "enemies of Islam." "Religious minorities are often portrayed as inferior or second-class citizens who have been granted limited rights and privileges by generous Pakistani Muslims, for which they should be grateful," notes the report. Accordingly, in an attempted land-grab, Muslim police and cohorts of a retired military official, beat two Christian women with "batons and punches," inflicting a serious wound to one of the women's eyes after the women spoke up in defense of their land, and shot at Christians who came to help the women. "In the last few years Muslims have made several attempts to seize the land from the Christians, usually succeeding because Christians are a marginalized minority." Likewise, under a "false charge of theft," a Christian couple was arrested and severely beaten by police; the pregnant wife was "kicked and punched" even as her interrogators threatened "to kill her unborn fetus." A policeman offered to remove the theft charges if the husband would only "renounce Christianity and convert to Islam."

About this Series

Because the persecution of Christians in the Islamic world is on its way to reaching epidemic proportions, "Muslim Persecution of Christians" was developed to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of Muslim persecution of Christians that surface each month. It serves two purposes:

1. Intrinsically, to document that which the mainstream media does not: the habitual, if not chronic, Muslim persecution of Christians.
1. instrumentally, to show that such persecution is not "random," but systematic and interrelated—that it is rooted in a worldview inspired by Sharia.

Accordingly, whatever the anecdote of persecution, it typically fits under a specific theme, including hatred for churches and other Christian symbols; sexual abuse of Christian women; forced conversions to Islam; apostasy and blasphemy laws; theft and plunder in lieu of jizya; overall expectations for Christians to behave like cowed dhimmis (second-class citizens); and simple violence and murder. Oftentimes it is a combination thereof.

Because these accounts of persecution span different ethnicities, languages, and locales—from Morocco in the west, to India in the east, and throughout the West wherever there are Muslims—it should be clear that one thing alone binds them: Islam—whether the strict application of Islamic Sharia law, or the supremacist culture born of it.

Previous Reports

October, 2011

September, 2011

August, 2011

July, 2011