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§ "They defend freedom of worship in the West
in order to ban it in their homeland. They fight to build mosques in someone
else's homeland whilst destroying churches and synagogues where they have
power." — Kamel Abderrahmani, Arab journalist, Algeria.
§ "ISIS publicly caged and burned alive 19
Yazidi girls for refusing to have sex with ISIS fighters, according to local
activists. Yazidi leaders last year showed Fox News photographs of the Islamic
jihadists burning babies to death on a slab of sheet metal, photos that show
tiny, roasted bodies side by side as flames engulfed them." — ISIS in
Iraq, Fox News, June 14.
§ The Erdogan government seized at least 50 Syriac
churches, monasteries, and Christian cemeteries, many of which were still
active, in Mardin province, and declared them "state property." —
Turkey.
§ A presidential order replaced Christian
education with Islamic Studies in secondary schools. While the subject,
"Christian Religious Knowledge," no longer exists, Islamic, Arab, and
French studies have been introduced in the new curriculum.... The Christian
Association of Nigeria further denounced this move "to force Islamic
studies down the throats of non-adherents of the religion," as being an
"agenda deliberately crafted towards Islamization." — Nigeria.
Jesuit Father Henri Boulad, an Islamic scholar of the Egyptian
Greek Melkite rite, pulled no punches in an interview concerning the motives of
Islamic terror and Western responses to it. "Islam is an open-ended
declaration of war against non-Muslims" and those who carry out acts of
violence and intolerance are only doing what their creed requires, said the
priest. The interviewcontinues:
Those who fail to recognize the real threat posed by Islam are
naïve and ignorant of history, he said, and unfortunately many in the Church
fall into this category.
Citing a letter he wrote last August to Pope Francis, Father
Boulad said that "on the pretext of openness, tolerance and Christian
charity — the Catholic Church has fallen into the trap of the liberal left
ideology which is destroying the West."
"Anything that does not espouse this ideology is immediately
stigmatized in the name of 'political correctness,'" he said.
The priest went so far as to chastise Pope Francis himself—a
fellow Jesuit—suggesting that he has fallen into this trap as well.
"Many think that a certain number of your positions are
aligned with this ideology and that, from complacency, you go from concessions
to concessions and compromises in compromises at the expense of the
truth," the priest wrote to Francis.
Christians in the West and in the East, he wrote the Pope,
"are expecting something from you other than vague and harmless
declarations that may obscure reality."
"It is high time to emerge from a shameful and embarrassed
silence in the face of this Islamism that attacks the West and the rest of the
world. A systematically conciliatory attitude is interpreted by the majority of
Muslims as a sign of fear and weakness," he said.
"If Jesus said to us: Blessed are the peacemakers, he did not
say to us: Blessed are the pacifists. Peace is peace at any cost, at any price.
Such an attitude is a pure and simple betrayal of truth," he said.
The priest also stated his belief that the West is in an ethical
and moral debacle, and its defense of Islam is a denial of truth.
"By defending at all costs Islam and seeking to exonerate it
from the horrors committed every day in its name, one ends up betraying the
truth," he wrote.
June's roundup of Muslim persecution of Christians around the
world includes, but is not limited to, the following:
Muslim Attacks on and
Desecration of Christian Churches
Philippines: On June 21 in the village of Malagakit,
the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) — which earlier pledged
allegiance to the Islamic State — vandalized a Catholic church.
Describing the desecration as "wicked," the chief police inspector
said the "crucifix and images of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ were
destroyed while the sacred hosts were thrown all over the floor." Cardinal
Quevedo, who condemned the sacrilege in the strongest terms possible,
challenged the leaders of the BIFF to punish its men who desecrated the chapel:
"If the BIFF wants to have an image as a respecter of all religions, it
must punish its members who perpetrated the odious desecration and educate all
its members in strictly respecting other religions," the prelate said.
"Last month, terrorist gunmen also desecrated St. Mary's Cathedral in
Marawi, some 150 kilometers from Cotabato," the report noted. "The
gunmen were seen on a video [here] destroying religious images and burning
the cathedral."
Egypt: An Islamic terror cell consisting of six members, two of whom
were described as "suicide bombers," planning on bombing yet
another Coptic Christian church in Alexandria, was exposed and arrested by
police before they could launch their attack. According to a statement from the
Egyptian Interior Ministry, "one attacker had planned to detonate an
explosive vest inside the church and the other to blow himself up when police
arrived to the scene." Several similar, recent attacks on Christian churches
in Egypt had left about 100 churchgoers dead and hundreds severely wounded.
Separately, authorities raided a church-owned building being
used by the local Coptic Christian community for worship. After police removed
furniture, Christian iconography and other items from the building, they
chained down the doors to prevent Christians from entering the building. Christians
had for some time tried to have the building legally recognized as a church,
only to face a backlash from both local Muslims and authorities. According to a
local Christian:
"During the early hours of Friday, June 16, we [Christians]
were surprised to find the furniture, rugs, icons, pictures, and worship
utensils ... had been thrown outside and the building closed down with seals
and chains. We took the belongings into our homes. We don't know why the police
did that."
When dozens of church leaders met with the local governor
insisting that they needed a place to worship, he told them the building they
were using had been found to be in a state of disrepair and needed to be
demolished.
Algeria: On June 9, the state oversaw the demolition of the Catholic church located
in Sidi Moussa, 15 miles from Algiers. According to Kamel Abderrahmani, an Arab
journalist who covered the incident:
"Algerian authorities found a very shallow argument to
justify this anti-Christian act. According to the authorities concerned, the
church was listed in the red category by the technical inspection services. The
legitimate question that arises from this is, since the building was deemed in
danger of collapse, why was it not restored and listed as part of the national
heritage? The statement of the mayor was of unprecedented clarity. He had
announced the construction of a mosque and a Quranic school on the same site.
Such statements caused outrage, as many saw the demolition as an act of
vandalism."
Kamel also noted how the Algerian government had demolished other
churches on other pretexts, and concluded by calling Muslim governments and
activists "hypocrites":
"If the mayor of Paris or Rome had destroyed a mosque to
build a church, what would have happened? Sunni Muslims would have shouted
scandal and Islamophobia! This question shows the hypocrisy of Islamists and
their double standards. They defend freedom of worship in the West in order to
ban it in their homeland. They fight to build mosques in someone else's
homeland whilst destroying churches and synagogues where they have power."
Iraq: In June 2015, when Mosul was under the Islamic State's control,
the group had announced it was converting St. Ephrem Church into a "mosque
of the mujahedeen." The cross from the dome was broken off, and all
Christian symbols were purged from within the house of worship. Now, months
after Mosul was liberated, the occupied church was exposed as being used as a sex-slave chamber where
approximately 200 Yazidi girls and women were abused by the Islamic State. A
report recounts "ISIS' depravity towards Yazidi women and girls. On the
floor of the iconic house of worship lie tiny pieces of pink and yellow
underwear and flower headbands belonging to the very young Yazidi sex slaves
the barbaric terrorist group took captive." The June 14 report also notes:
"Last week, according to local activists, ISIS publicly caged
and burned alive 19 Yazidi girls for refusing to have sex with ISIS fighters,
according to local activists. Yazidi leaders last year showed Fox News
photographs of the Islamic jihadists burning babies to death on a slab of sheet
metal, photos that show tiny, roasted bodies side by side as flames engulfed them....The
butchered Christian building and its Yazidi remnants serve as chilling
reminders of the genocide experienced by the two religious minorities."
Spain: A Muslim man stormed a Christian church during
a marriage ceremony, and started shouting "Allahu Akbar" —
"Allah is greatest." He "tried to throw liturgical objects
around him to attack the priest and churchgoers," according to a report. A
number of wedding attendants managed to apprehend the 22-year-old Moroccan and
hand him over to police, who reportedly charged him with "disturbing
public order, crime against religious feelings and threats." Police also
investigated the church for potential explosives before permitting the wedding
ceremony to resume. According to the officiating priest, the incident began
when a "group of young troublemakers" started making offensive noises
at the back of the church.
"Suddenly, someone started to shout and charged at the altar.
A lot of people, including the bride's mother, were crying, and there were
people who had already jumped out of the pews because we did not know whether
this person came alone or not, or if he was armed."
Turkey: The Erdogan government seized at
least 50 Syriac churches, monasteries, and Christian cemeteries, many of which
were still active, in Mardin province, and declared them "state
property." According to the report, "The Syriacs have appealed to the
Court for the cancellation of the decision." The Chairman of Mor Gabriel
Monastery Foundation — a 1,600 year-old monastery that was still in use and
also seized — said, "We started to file lawsuits and in the meantime our
enquiries continued."
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The Syriac Orthodox
Mor Gabriel Monastery is one of at least 50 Syriac churches, monasteries, and
Christian cemeteries in Mardin province, Turkey that were recently seized by
the Turkish government and declared "state property." (Image
source: Nevit Dilmen/Wikimedia Commons)
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The Muslim Slaughter of
Christians
Pakistan: A Chinese Christian couple—Lee Zing Yang, 24, and his wife Meng
Lisi, 26 — were abducted in Quetta and executed on the
accusation that they were preaching Christ to Muslims; the Islamic State
claimed responsibility for their killing and released "video footage
showing the bloodied body of the Chinese man, Lee Zing Yang, taking his last
breaths," says a report. The Pakistani government cited the murdered
couple's "misuse of the terms of a business visa" as playing a major
role in their deaths: "instead of engaging in any business activity they
went to Quetta and under the garb of learning Urdu language ... were actually
engaged in preaching."
Kenya: Armed Muslims connected to neighboring Somalia's Islamic
terrorist group, Al Shabaab, walked into an elementary school compound in
Garissa and shot a Christian teacher to death.
When a Muslim teacher interfered with their attempts to abduct another
Christian teacher, "Al Shabaab got angry," reported another anonymous
teacher, "and told the teacher, 'We are going to teach you a lesson for
protecting the infidels,' and immediately the two were carried away to unknown
destination"—but not before the Somali militants proceeded to "beat
Muslims of Somali descent at the school for housing Kenyan Christians."
Philippines: More news and revelations concerning
the jihadi uprising that began in late May in the Islamic City of Marawi
appeared in June. The eight or nine Christians originally reported as
being tied together and shot dead,
execution style, had apparently first been ordered to recite the Islamic
confession of faith, which they refused to do, an act leading to
their execution. "Their bodies were reportedly thrown into the ditch, and
a signboard was placed beside them reading 'Munafik,' which means
traitor or liar," said a report. "The
assailants also asked Police Senior Inspector Freddie Solar to recite the
Muslim creed, and as a non-Muslim [Christian] he too declined and was
killed." Seventeen others were
found ritually decapitated or butchered by the Islamic State-affiliated
militants. A priest and 13 parishioners from the St. Mary Cathedral were also
kidnapped; the priest "appeared in a propaganda video on Tuesday (May 30)
pleading for his life."
Egypt: More eyewitness details concerning the Islamic State massacre of 29 Christian pilgrimstraveling
to a Coptic monastery in the Egyptian desert in May 2017 emerged. One ten-year
old boy, who witnessed the slaughter of his father, recounted:
"We [he and his 14-year-old brother] saw dead people, just
dumped on the ground. They asked my father for identification then told him to
recite the Muslim profession of faith. He refused, said he was Christian. They
shot him and everyone else with us in the car.... Every time they shot someone
they would yell God is great [Allahu Akbar]."
Although President Sisi had depicted the terrorists as
"foreigners," the ten-year-old said that the fifteen assailants
"had Egyptian accents like us and they were all masked except for two of
them ... They looked like us and did not have beards." The same report
states that, a month after the massacre, the Egyptian government had failed to
provide adequate security for the residents of Dayr Jarnous, a Christian
village that was home to seven of those killed, "and has done nothing to
help the victims' families."
Muslim Attacks on Christian
Religious Freedom
Pakistan: A new blasphemy case was
registered against yet another Christian. After Mohammad Irfan refused to pay a
repair bill to Ishfaq Masih, a Christian who fixed his bicycle, the Muslim
denounced the Christian of blaspheming against Islamic prophet Muhammad,
leading to the Christian's arrest. According to Masih's cousin:
"During the argument, Irfan said that he obeys only one
master, Prophet Muhammad, to which Ishfaq said that he was a Christian and his
faith ends at Christ. Upon hearing this, Irfan raised a clamor that Ishfaq had
blasphemed against Muhammad. Soon a mob gathered at the spot, and someone called
the police, who took Ishfaq into custody."
Mohammad Irfan also rallied a number of other Muslims — including
Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Naveed, and Mohammad Tahir — who
claimed that they "heard Ishfaq Masih say derogatory words against the
Muslim prophet." According to the Christian's lawyer, only one of the four
"witnesses" was even present during the altercation.
"Irfan had gathered the other men, including the complainant
Mohammad Ishfaq, and they then concocted the allegation against Ishfaq Masih
and got him arrested.... The FIR [First Information Report] is quite weak, as
it does not contain any specific blasphemous words that my client may have
allegedly said.... It also shows that the police did not even bother to
investigate the charge before registering a case against the poor man. This is
the routine practice of the police in blasphemy cases, and it's a shame that
nothing is being done to stop it."
Separately, after a Christian couple was slaughtered for preaching
Christ among Muslims (see Slaughter section), a South Korean Christian was
arrested for allegedly also engaging in "illegal preaching activities."
Authorities revoked his visa and ordered him to leave the Muslim nation.
Philippines: A Muslim teacher in the Muslim majority
island of Mindanao forced Jen-Jen, a young Christian schoolgirl apparently of Islamic
origins, to say Islamic prayers in class or else fail the class. According to
the report:
"Despite being uncomfortable, Jen-Jen learned the words of
the prayer to recite to the teacher. But rather than asking Jen-Jen to say the
words in an oral test, the teacher later announced students would be required
to go to a mosque and pray the prayer aloud."
When the girl and another Christian classmate told the teacher
that praying in a mosque contradicts their faith in Christ, the Muslim teacher
"ignored the request and told them to turn away from Christ,"
adding: "You must comply or else you will fail in this subject. You should
revert to your Islamic faith." The girl was then "forced to complete
the long walk to the mosque while wearing a traditional Muslim dress and veil
covering, despite burning up with a fever."
"The schoolgirl got so sick, however, that she lost
consciousness and blacked out. Even as she came back to, the teacher refused to
excuse her from listening to the entirety of the Muslim imam's message. Since
the day at the Mosque, Jen-Jen has been pressured to conform to many other
Muslim practices, such as fasting during the month of Ramadan.... [O]ther
students have also teased and bullied Jen-Jen because of her faith, sometimes
bombarding her as she walked to and from school and pushing her or insulting
her."
Malaysia: The Centre for Human Rights Research and Advocacy — the
statement of purpose of which is to define and promote "Human rights from
the Muslim perspective" — asserted that all
forms of Christian evangelicalism should be banned. According to the CEO of the
Centre, Azril Mohd Amin, "It is a fact that the groups that are spreading
Christian propaganda to Malaysians, especially Muslims, will keep up their
efforts as they believe that there is no effective law that can stop
them." Jo-Anna Henley Rampas, a leading member of a more progressive and
inclusive party, responded by saying this move is "reflective of the
erosion of religious freedom in the country" thanks to the "federal
government's failure to instil proper understanding, tolerance and harmony
among citizens."
Muslim Contempt for and Abuse
of Christians
Pakistan: A Christian sanitary worker died after
pious Muslim doctors who were fasting for Ramadan refused to touch the
"unclean" infidel's body. Thirty-year-old Irfan Masih had fallen
unconscious along with three other sanitary staff while cleaning a manhole on
June 1. He was rushed to a governmental hospital where the doctors refused to
treat him; he died hours later. "The doctors refused to treat him because
they were fasting and said my son was napaak[unclean]," said
the mother of the deceased. A few weeks later, a court, responding to
complaints from hospital officials accusing the family
and friends of Irfan of terrorizing the hospital, ordered police to register a
complaint against them. "The hospital has levied a false charge against us
in order to save themselves," explained a cousin of the deceased, who also
works in sanitation.
"The doctors were responsible for Irfan's death, because he
would have been alive today had they not refused to treat him immediately. Our
outburst against the doctors was natural, but we did not damage or steal
anything from the hospital. It is a lie, and even the police know it."
A senior police official admitted that "we believe that the
hospital is making frivolous accusation against these people..... The hospital
is ostensibly trying to pressure the family to withdraw their case."
Egypt: Suzan Ashraf Rawy, a 22-year-old Christian woman, was reportedly kidnapped on
the morning of June 5 while walking to the Coptic Orthodox church where she
worked. "When she did not return home that evening, her mother called the
church," an area Christian leader said. "That is when she discovered
Suzan did not arrive at the church in the morning. It is expected that she has
been abducted." She is the third Christian woman in the area of Al
Khosous, a predominantly Christian town on the outskirts of Cairo, to disappear
since May 30, when a Copt accidentally shot and killed a Muslim bystander
during a quarrel with someone else. "Since then, the Muslims started to
wage revenge attacks on the Christian community living there, especially the
women," the Christian leader said. According to the report:
"Two other young Coptic Christian women disappeared without a
trace after the May 30 incident. The families of the women suspected to have
been kidnapped have received no communication from alleged kidnappers, the
sources said. Area Muslims have long disfigured Christian women for not wearing
veils by throwing acid on them, but there has been a surge in such attacks in
the past few weeks, sources said.... Fear has seized Coptic Christians in the
area, with women afraid to leave their homes. One of the church women's
meetings, which Rawy attended, has been suspended until further notice out of
fear for the safety of the participants."
Bangladesh: Three Muslim men sexually assaulted a
20-year-old Catholic girl in the village of Madarpur on June 18. Her loud cries
drew the attention of village locals who came to her rescue, prompting the
rapists to flee. After her parents filed a complaint, they began to receive
threatening messages to withdraw it or else. "Last year her family was
involved in a land dispute," adds the report. "The violence - a
premeditated attack - was also witnessed by the police, deployed by the Muslims
who wanted to expropriate the land. The young woman, along with her parents,
was forced to leave the house and live in a slum."
Pakistan: The home of a journalist who extensively covers the plight of
religious minorities in the Muslim nation was vandalized. When Rana Tanveer,
chief reporter of The Express Tribune, went to the police, they failed to
register a formal complaint. Days later, an unidentified vehicle intentionally
ran over Tanveer, while he was riding his motorcycle in Lahore on Friday, June
9. According to the report:
"Tanveer underwent surgery for a fracture in his pelvic bone
on Saturday. His recovery may take months and he has expressed fears for his
safety as well as that of his family.... Tanveer says that his work on exposing
the poor treatment meted out to the country's religious minorities like the
Ahmadis and the Christians has made him a target of extremists."
Sudan: A court in El Gedaref fined a number of Christians for selling
food and tea during Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting: "This is a clear
discrimination against Christians and contrary to the slogans of religious
coexistence launched by the Sudan Government for the international
community," contended one defense layer. About a dozen people were each
fined $2,000 Sudanese dollars ($298 USD).
Iraq: "[T]roubling issues related to discrimination and even
violence targeting ethnic and religious minorities" are widespread in
Kurdish-ruled territories, one report found,
adding:
"Christian citizens of the KRI [Kurdish Region of Iraq] have
issued complaints and held protests against Kurdish residents for attacking and
seizing their land and villages in the provinces of Dohuk and Erbil.... Some
Assyrian Christians accuse Kurdish government and party officials of taking
lands for personal use or financial gain. These Christians believe they are
specifically targeted as part of a policy to Kurdify historically Christian
areas.... Minorities continue to fear growing extremism in the majority
population, which they believe could threaten them in the long term."
Most Kurds are Sunni Muslims.
Nigeria: A presidential order replaced Christian education with
Islamic Studies in secondary schools. While the subject,
"Christian Religious Knowledge" no longer exists, Islamic, Arab, and
French studies have been introduced in the new curriculum. The Christian
Association of Nigeria (CAN), which protested the new changes in front of the
presidential palace, currently filled by a Muslim, described the change as
"a time-bomb, obnoxious, divisive and ungodly.... To us in CAN, its introduction
is an ill-wind that blows nobody any good for so many reasons." According
to the report, "The end result [of these changes] is that a Christian
student will be left with no option than to settle for Islamic Arabic Studies
since French teachers are more or less non-existent in secondary schools,"
all of which "will deprive pupils of moral trainings which CRK [Christian
Religious Knowledge] offers." The Christian Association of Nigeria further
denounced this move "to force Islamic studies down the throats of
non-adherents of the religion," as being an "agenda deliberately
crafted towards Islamization."
Separately, a Christian priest and his companions who were
abducted by Islamic militants in April told of their experiences in June, when
they were released. Fr. Sam Okwuidegbe identified his "kidnappers as
Fulani herdsmen, an Islamic radical group that has killed thousands of people
in Nigeria, including many Christians, in the past couple of decades"
notes the report. That he was unable to recall any phone numbers for the
Islamic terrorists to call to negotiate a ransom for his release
"triggered a series of beatings," says Fr. Sam.
"they huddled me up, hands and feet tied to the back with a
rope like a goat before a kill. They removed my cassock, then my shirt, threw
me into the dirt on the ground, and began to beat me with the back of their
guns, they'd kick me hard on my sides, slap across my face, push and pull me
hard across the ground ... one of them said 'We are going to burn you
alive!'"
Another man in captivity did manage to recall a phone number, a
ransom was set, and the men were eventually released.
Due to the ongoing bleeding of Nigeria's Christian population —
increasingly at the hands of Muslim Fulani herdsmen and not just the Islamic
terror group, Boko Haram — a number of leading Nigerian churches issued a
statement calling on the government "not to abdicate its responsibility of
protecting all Nigerian citizens." According to the communique:
"We are worried that the murderous activities of Fulani
herdsmen have continued unabated and unchecked. The recurring and orchestrated
killings of Christians in Southern Kaduna, mass killings in parts of Benue
State and others across the country have increased suspicion that the so-called
herdsmen are an extension of terrorist groups carrying out an evil agenda of
ethnic and religious cleansing. Characteristically, these mindless attacks are
often unprovoked."
Earlier in January, Bishop Diamond Emuobor, chairman of the
Christian Association of Nigeria, said that, because Christians are facing increasing dangers at
the hands of extremists, so "Christians should defend themselves and he
who has no sword, should sell his coat and buy one to defend himself. We are
all human beings, nobody should catch you like a snail and slaughter because
you believe in Jesus Christ."
About this Series
While not all, or even most, Muslims are involved, persecution of
Christians by Muslims is growing. The report posits that such Muslim
persecution is not random but rather systematic, and takes place irrespective
of language, ethnicity, or location.
Raymond Ibrahim is the author of Crucified Again: Exposing Islam's
New War on Christians (published by Regnery with Gatestone
Institute, April 2013).
