Powerline

By John Hinderaker

From Pakistan, another in a long series of horrifying news stories: because of a (presumably false) rumor that they had burned pages of a Koran, a Christian couple was burned alive by a mob of Muslims:

Sajjad Maseeh, 27, and his wife Shama Bibi, 24, were set upon by at least 1,200 people after rumors circulated that they had burned verses from the Quran, family spokesman Javed Maseeh told NBC News via telephone late Thursday. Their legs were also broken so they couldn’t run away. “They picked them up by their arms and legs and held them over the brick furnace until their clothes caught fire,” he said. “And then they threw them inside the furnace.” Bibi, a mother of four who was four months pregnant, was wearing an outfit that initially didn’t burn, according to Javed Maseeh. The mob removed her from over the kiln and wrapped her up in cotton to make sure the garments would be set alight.

This outrage prompted the President of the Pakistan Christian Congress to write a letter to President Obama:

It is surprising that neither US Administration under your honor nor US State Department even bothered to condemn this horrific crime of burning live of Christian couple by a mob living in country named Islamic Republic of Pakistan which is receiving billions of aid of US taxpayers. I would appeal your honor to put pressure on government of Pakistan to end misuse of blasphemy laws against Christian, Ahamadiyyia and other religious minorities and condition US Aid to Pakistan on human rights and repeal of blasphemy laws.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for Obama to Obama to do anything about the persecution of Christians. Who knows, it might cause an anti-Muslim backlash! What I want to know is, are the 1,200 people who comprised the mob that burned the Maseehs alive “real” Muslims? Or are they just a handful of deviants who defame the beautiful message of the Prophet?

Actually, the story is the same wherever Muslims dominate. Westerners naturally focus on Islamic terrorism that is directed at them, but that is only one aspect of a pervasive pathology. If you follow the link above, you can read accounts of Muslim persecution of Christians in Bangladesh, Egypt, Iraq, East Jerusalem, Malaysia, Kenya, Nigeria, Syria, the Islamic State and elsewhere. The author, Raymond Ibrahim, performs a tremendous service by chronicling the persecution of Christians on a regular basis. Like the President of the Pakistan Christian Congress, he must be baffled that hardly anyone seems to care.

[Source: Alerta Digital]

• Portuguese

Friday, January 9. A man was kneeling in prayer before the statue of the revered Madonna, with the photograph of a loved one in hand, in the small chapel of St. Barnabas in Perugia (Italy), when he was attacked by five “immigrants.”

The first thing they did was rip the photo from his hands.

Next they unleashed their hatred against the image of the Virgin Mary. They broke the statue to pieces and then urinated on it.

Don Scarda, pastor of St. Barnabas, said the event was led by five “foreigners.” By the time police arrived at the chapel, the unidentified attackers had already fled.

The incident has caused a stir among locals. Some have lambasted Pope Francis who is accused of appeasing immigrants—mostly Muslims—to wild extremes. Earlier he had said that “Migrants, through their own humanity, cultural values, expand the sense of human brotherhood.”

Although the Diocese condemned the act of sacrilege against the Madonna statue, it also followed the Pope’s lead by absolving Islam of any responsibility for what happened. In the words of Monsignor Paolo Giulietti, the auxiliary bishop of Città della Pieve, near Perugia:

For Islam, the figure of Mary is very important: she is the mother of the Prophet Jesus conceived in virginity, and the Blessed Virgin is the most holy woman. Muslims pray at the Marian shrines in the Middle East. We cannot see in this act of vandalism—which as I said is wrong in every way—an episode of religious hatred. It is important not to feed mutual suspicion, especially at this time.

Meanwhile, Pope Francis has called on Catholics and Western people in general to refrain from insulting other religions—namely Islam: “It’s normal, it’s normal [violence]. One cannot provoke, one cannot insult other people's faith, one cannot make fun of faith.”

He made these statements on January 16, apparently in reference to the Charlie Hebdo massacre, when armed Muslims killed a dozen non-Muslims working for a satirical magazine that had mocked Islamic prophet Muhammad.

One wonders if the Pope would call it "normal" if members of his own flock were to murder those who urinated on the Virgin statue?

Thanks to funding from neighbors, the desecrated image could be restored and replaced in its original location. Hundreds of Catholics participated that day in a rosary of relief.

The Islamic State at it again. And lest there be any confusion as to where it gets its approach, the huge Arabic banner reads, "The Islamic State: a Caliphate Built on the Prophetic Approach." And of course next to that is the Islamic shehada — "There is no god but Allah; Muhammad is the messenger of Allah."