There are Many Ways to Help Persecuted Christians Around the World

PRAY

The number one thing that persecuted Christians ask for is prayer. Learn more about the different ways you can pray for persecuted Christians.

TRAVEL

Want to encourage persecuted Christians face to face? Learn more about our travel opportunities to meet with those who are persecuted for their faith.

VOLUNTEER

You can have an amazing impact on persecuted Christians without leaving the United States. Learn more about our volunteer opportunities.

ADVOCATE

Be a voice for the persecuted Church! Through petitions, education and contacting cultural leaders, you can change the course of history for persecuted Christians. Learn more about our advocacy program.

DONATE

You can make a world of difference in the lives of persecuted Christians by providing for their greatest needs. Check out the different ways you can support persecuted Christians.

EVENTS

Check out upcoming Open Doors events to see if there is anything happening in your area! 

More information at: https://www.opendoorsusa.org/take-action/

Iran’s Regime Arrests Christians on Christmas Day

From the National Council of Resistance to Iran
(NCRI) 

NCRI - Iran's fundamentalist regime arrested a group of practicing Iranian Christians on Christmas Day at an in-house church in the city of Shiraz, southern Iran.

The group of Iranian Christians had gathered together last Friday, December 25, to celebrate Christmas when plain-clothes agents of the Iranian regime's notorious Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) raided the in-house church.

Armed MOIS agents ransacked much of the place and confiscated personal items and satellite dishes, according to eye-witness reports, which also said that the agents behaved 'offensively' towards those detained.

continue reading at http://www.ncr-iran.org

IRANIAN PASTOR, HELD WITHOUT TRIAL, RELEASED AFTER FIVE YEARS IN PRISON

By Janelle P in Middle East
From World Watch Monitor

An Iranian pastor has been released early from prison, just six months after he failed to appeal a sentence to an extra year in jail and 74 lashes for allegedly possessing alcohol in his prison cell.

Farshid Fathi was serving a six-year prison sentence – extended to seven years – for “action against the regime’s security, being in contact with foreign organizations, and religious propaganda.”

Due to be released in Dec. 2017, he was then told by prison officials in early July that he would be released this year – at that time they said on Dec. 10.

He was originally arrested on Dec. 26, 2010 at the same time as around 60 other Christians, many belonging to house churches in Tehran and other cities. Most of those have now been released.

The governor of Tehran, Morteza Tamadon, on Jan. 2011 described the detained Christians as “extremists” who “penetrate the body of Islam like corrupt and deviant people.” He added that they were trying to establish “an extreme form of Christianity like the Taliban and Wahhabis in Islam.”

Fathi, who is a 35-year-old father of two, was imprisoned without trial in Evin prison. After 15 months of uncertainty, he was tried in January 2012. Details of his court trial have not been published.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Seyyed Ali Khamenei had made a speech in October 2010 saying that house churches should be “dealt with.” A new wave of surveillance and arrests against Christians followed soon after, with leaders of house church groups, such as Farshid Fathi, especially singled out for longer detentions. Born into a Muslim family, Fathi became a Christian at the age of 17 and at the time of his arrest he was working full-time as a pastor and leader of house churches.

Story continues: https://www.opendoorsusa.org/newsroom/

FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE START OF THE ARAB SPRING FINDS CHRISTIANS IN THE REGION GENERALLY WORSE OFF

Jerry Dykstra
Open Doors

Today marks the fifth anniversary of the uproar in Tunisia that started a wave of protests, riots and government upheaval across the region that become known as the Arab Spring. What was initially received with optimism—that the regional turmoil would lead to more democratic societies and increased freedoms for residents—has actually produced a mixed bag of social changes. Unfortunately, the results for Christians in the regions have been overwhelmingly negative.

While the protestors who began the riots were young people fed up with economic inequality and the ruling elites, those who swooped into the power vacuum had very different agendas. Islamic extremists capitalized on the instability of the region to seize power. In countries like Syria, Iraq and Yemen, the unprecedented violence held horrific consequences for Christians. Today, virtually all personal rights have been rescinded and Christians have been the targets of violence and murder. Women and girls of the region have become victims of human trafficking, forced marriages and sexual slavery.

“The prediction that the Arab Spring would lead to greater freedom for minority voices in Arab nations has, sadly, not panned out,” said Open Doors President and CEO David Curry. “To the contrary, the overall impact of the Arab Spring on Christians in the region has been catastrophic.”

Article continues: https://www.opendoorsusa.org/newsroom/tag-news-post/

Rome: Coptic Bishop Addresses International Conference on Christian Response to Persecution

Independent Catholic News
December 18, 2015

His Grace Bishop Angaelos, General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom, gave an address titled 'Christians in the Middle East: Light in darkness, hope in despair' during a conference at the Pontifical Urban University in Rome, on 12 December.

He said: "The world seems to suddenly be waking up to the fact that there is a problem in the Middle East. That problem, however, did not start with the mass exodus of Christians from Mosul, because there has been a systematic and systemic persecution of Christians throughout the Middle East over decades and indeed over centuries. This ethnic cleansing is an accumulative effect and our silence has been a contributing factor to what we are seeing today."

"The Christian presence in the Middle East decreased from 25% to just 5%. An even more alarming statistic, is when you take Egypt out of the equation as the most populous country with the most populous Christian presence, that percentage falls from 5% to somewhere between 1% and 2% because there are 13 million Christians in Egypt."

"That said, I welcome the recent steps taken to present the actions of the caliphate to be those of genocide. I also welcome even more strongly, the efforts in the past few days that have sought to ensure that Christians are not excluded from that equation."

Speaking of a solution to the Middle East crisis, Bishop Angaelos said: "We cannot export models of what we consider to be viable democratic process to a region that is governed by its own demographics, dynamics and understanding of what religion is and where it belongs, both in society and in the lives of individuals."

"There is a growing disregard for the sanctity of life, and that must be what offends us. It is not about Christians or Muslims being killed, but about life and humanity as God's creation, and that disregard is a violation that we cannot be silent about. In response we must realise that we have to respond together, collaboratively."

Report continues: http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=29069

Ignoring the Obvious

Do unruly students have a right to stay in their schools?

The Left Has Its Pope

The ideological road that led to Pope Francis.

The State Department Turns Its Back on Syrian Christians and Other Non-Muslim Refugees

By Nina Shea

Over the past five years of Syria’s civil war, the United States has admitted a grand total of 53 Syrian Christian refugees, a lone Yazidi, and fewer than ten Druze, Bahá’ís, and Zoroastrians combined. That so few of the Syrian refugees coming here are non-Muslim minorities is due to American reliance on a United Nations refugee-resettlement program that disproportionately excludes them.

Past absolute totals of Syrian refugees to the U.S. under this program were small, but as the Obama administration now ramps up refugee quotas by tens of thousands, it would be unconscionable to continue with a process that has consistently forsaken some of the most defenseless and egregiously persecuted of those fleeing Syria.

The gross underrepresentation of the non-Muslim communities in the numbers of Syrian refugees into the U.S. is reflected year after year in the State Department’s public records. They show, for example, that while Syria’s largest non-Muslim group — Christians of the various Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant traditions — constituted 10 percent of Syria’s population before the war, they are only 2.6 percent of the 2,003 Syrian refugees that the United States has accepted since then.

Syria’s Christian population, which before the war numbered 2 million, has since 2011 been decimated in what Pope Francis described as religious “genocide.” Tens of thousands of Aleppo’s 160,000 Christians alone have fled, many to Lebanon, after 1,000 of their community, including two Orthodox bishops, were abducted and murdered, according to Melkite Catholic archbishop Jean-Clement Jeanbart.

Story continues: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/

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More Christians Die, More Western Leaders Lie

 

Throughout September, as more Christians were slaughtered and persecuted for their religion—not just by the Islamic State but by “every day” Muslims from all around the world—increasing numbers of people and organizations called for action, while those best placed to respond—chief among them U.S. President Obama and Pope Francis—did nothing.

“Why, we ask the western world, why not raise one’s voice over so much ferocity and injustice?” asked Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, the head of the Italian Bishops Conference.

Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch Gregory III also said: “I do not understand why the world does not raise its voice against such acts of brutality.”

As one report put it: “Human rights activists see it. Foreign leaders see it. And more than 80 members of the U.S. Congress see it. Together, they are pressuring the leader of the free world [U.S. President Obama] to declare there is a Christian genocide going on in the Middle East.”

In response, the White House said it was preparing to release a statement accusing the Islamic State of committing genocide against religious minorities, naming and recognizing various groups, such as the Yazidis, as victims. However, Christians are apparently not going to be included as victims, as Obama officials argue that Christians “do not appear to meet the high bar set out in the genocide treaty.”

Meanwhile, Father Behnam Benoka, an Iraqi priest, explained in a detailed letter to Pope Francis the horrors Mideast Christians are experiencing. To his joy, the pope called the Middle Eastern priest and told him that “I will never leave you.” As Benoka put it, “He called me. He told me certainly, sure I am with you, I will [not] forget you, I will [do] all possible to help you.”

However, later in September, when Pope Francis stood before the world at the United Nations, his energy was,once again, spent on defending the environment. In his entire speech, which lasted nearly 50 minutes, only once did Francis make reference to persecuted Christians—and even then they did not receive special attention but, in the same breath, their sufferings were merged in the same sentence with the supposedly equal sufferings of “members of the majority religion,” that is, Sunni Muslims (the only group not to be attacked by the Islamic State, a Sunni organization):

I must renew my repeated appeals regarding to the painful situation of the entire Middle East, North Africa and other African countries, where Christians, together with other cultural or ethnic groups, and even members of the majority religion who have no desire to be caught up in hatred and folly, have been forced to witness the destruction of their places of worship, their cultural and religious heritage, their houses and property, and have faced the alternative either of fleeing or of paying for their adhesion to good and to peace by their own lives, or by enslavement.

Yet, as the following roundup from September shows, “members of the majority religion”—Sunnis—are not being slaughtered, beheaded, and raped for their faith; are not having their mosques bombed and burned; are not being jailed or killed for apostasy, blasphemy, or proselytization.

Savagery and Slaughter

Uganda: Three Muslim men beat and raped a 19-year-old Christian woman (name withheld). The young student was returning home from St. Mary’s Teachers College in Bukedea when she was ambushed by three masked men. “I tried to scream, but one blocked my mouth and another slapped me as they forcefully dragged me off the footpath,” said the victim. “I heard one of them telling the others that I should be killed because my parentsdeserted Islam. But another said, ‘But we are not sure whether this girl is a Christian.’” Instead of killing her, they raped and beat her so severely that she is still receiving hospital treatment for her injuries.

United States: Freddy Akoa, a 49-year-old Christian healthcare worker in Portland, Maine, was savagely beaten to death in his own home by three Muslims. Found next to Akoa’s body was his blood-splattered Bible. The slain had cuts and bruises all over his body and a fatal head trauma. Internally, he suffered 22 rib fractures and a lacerated liver. The police affidavit stated that Akoa “had been beaten and kicked in the head, and bashed in the head with a piece of furniture in an assault that continued relentlessly for hours.” Akoa was apparently throwing a party before or during the attack. The three assailants were all Muslim refugees of Somali origin. In recent times, both in America and Europe, several “refugees” have turned out to be Islamic terrorists, some with direct ties to ISIS. (A faction of Al Shabaab, Somalia’s premiere jihadi organization, recently pledged allegiance to ISIS.)

Syria: A Christian from the Qaryatin village in the province of Homs was executed by the Islamic State for refusing to obey the dhimmi [second-class, “tolerated”] conditions imposed on Christian villagers. ISIS also killed a Christian priest, chopped his body into pieces, and sent the pieces back to his family in a box. Earlier ISIS had kidnapped the priest and demanded a ransom of $120,000 from his family, which finally managed to raise the ransom money after two months. But after paying it, ISIS reneged on their word and brutally killed the Catholic priest anyway.

Pakistan: The Muslim family of a woman who converted to Christianity and married a Christian murdered her husband and wounded the young woman. Aleem Masih, 28, married Nadia, 23, last year after she put her faith in Christ. The couple then fled their village as the woman’s family sought “to avenge the shame their daughter had brought upon them by recanting Islam and marrying a Christian,” said a lawyer involved in the case. Eventually Nadia’s father, Muhammad Din Meo, and his henchmen managed to abduct the couple and took them to a nearby farm. “The Muslim men first brutally tortured the couple with fists and kicks and then thrice shot Aleem Masih – one bullet hit him in his ankle, the second in the ribs while the third targeted his face,” the attorney said. “Nadia was shot in the abdomen.” The Muslim relatives left believing they had killed the couple. “The attackers returned to their village and publicly proclaimed that they had avenged their humiliation and restored the pride of the Muslims by killing the couple in cold blood.” Police, however, found Nadia still breathing when they arrived at the farm. “She was shifted to the General Hospital in Lahore, where she is fighting for her life after a major operation in which two bullets were removed from her abdomen.” A large number of Muslims were gathered at the hospital when the critically wounded woman arrived. “The mob, some of them armed with weapons, was shouting furious anti-Christian slogans…. They were also praising Azhar for restoring the pride of the Muslim Ummah [community] and saying that he had earned his place in paradise for killing an infidel.”

Philippines: Islamic terrorists from the jihadi group Abu Sayyaf were suspected in the bombing of a passenger bus in the predominantly Christian city of Zamboanga on September 18 that killed a 14-year-old girl and wounded 33 others. Intelligence sources had warned that Abu Sayyaf would be targeting cities and communities with heavy Christian populations. Only 20 % of Zamboanga is Muslim, and the rest almost entirely Christian (mostly Catholic).

Egypt: The mother of a Coptic priest was robbed and killed in Fekria city in Minya.

Muslim Attacks on Christian Churches

United States: On Sunday, September 13, 40-year-old Rasheed Abdul Aziz was arrested for threatening the Corinth Missionary Baptist Church in Bullard, Texas. The Muslim-American had a gun and was dressed for combat—complete with camouflage helmet, camouflage pants, tactical vest and boots—when he entered the church around 1 p.m. According to Pastor John Johnson, Aziz said that Allah had told him to “slay infidels” and that “people are going to die today.” Added the pastor: I believe that his intent was when he came to our church was to actually kill somebody.”

Tanzania: During the course of one week, six Christian churches were burned down. On September 23, the Living Waters International Church, Buyekera Pentecostal Assemblies of God, and Evangelical Assemblies of God Tanzania Church—three churches—were set ablaze. Three days later, on September 26, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Kitundu Roman Catholic Church, and Katoro Pentecostal Assemblies of God Church—another three churches—were also set ablaze. According to a local source, “The people woke up on 27th Sep to find their sanctuaries burnt down… The scenarios are the same; unknown people broke in, piled things onto the altar, poured petrol over it and set it alight. They fled before anyone could respond and so remain unknown.” The east African nation is mostly comprised of Christians and Muslims, though the ratio is disputed.

Bethlehem: Muslims set fire to the St. Charbel Monastery. Sobhy Makhoul, the chancellor of the Maronite Patriarchate in Jerusalem, said, “It was an act of arson, not a fire caused by an electrical problem [as local authorities had claimed], an act of sectarian vandalism by radical Muslims.” The fire caused no casualties or injuries -- fortunately the building was unoccupied and under renovation -- but the damage is evident, and the local Christian community feared further violence. The Maronite leader added that, “The attack is… anti-Christian, like many other incidents across the Middle East. Extremist groups operate in the area, including some Hamas cells.”

Iraq: A report that discusses how one Christian is slaughtered every five minutes in Iraq, adds that, “Islamic State Militants in Iraq are using Christian churches as torture chambers where they force Christians to either convert to Islam or die.”

Syria: Within days of capturing the city of Qaryatain, the Islamic State destroyed an ancient Catholic church and threw away the remains of a revered saint. The Sunni terror group then gave an ultimatum to the Christians in Qaryatain to either pay jizya (extortion money), convert to Islam, or leave.

Yemen: A day after a Catholic church in Aden was vandalized, another group of unidentified assailants set the Christian building “in flames,” in the words of a witness. Of the 22 churches that operated in Aden before 1967, when the city was a British colony, only a few remain open, used rarely by foreign workers and African refugees. The now-torched St. Joseph Church was one of those few.

Indonesia: On Sunday, September 27, the GKI Yasmin Church in Bogor held its 100th open-air service since 2008, when local Muslims had begun complaining that the church existed. Even though the church was fully registered, the authorities obligingly closed it. In December 2010, the Indonesian Supreme Court ordered the church to be reopened, but the mayor of Bogor refused to comply and kept it sealed off. Since then, the congregation has been holding Sunday services at the homes of members, and occasionally on the street, to the usual jeers and attacks by Muslim mobs.

Muslim Attacks on Christian Freedom (Apostasy, Blasphemy, and Proselytization)

Uganda: A 36-year-old mother of eight requested prayer after area Muslims forced her to return to Islam, or lose her children and be killed. Although Madina (full name withheld) remained Christian after her husband abandoned her a decade ago for her apostasy from Islam, she returned to Islam in September: “The relatives of my husband threatened to kill me and take away the children if I refused to go back to Islam. They said, ‘We are not going to lose our children to Christianity. We better kill you and get back the children.’… I have nowhere to go with my children, so I have decided to return to Islam to save the children and myself. I know Issa [Jesus] will remember me one day.”

United Kingdom: A Pakistani man, his wife, and their six children are suffering “an appalling ordeal at the hands of neighbours who regard them as blasphemers.” Their “crime” is converting to Christianity—more than 20 years ago. Despite being “prisoners in their own home after being attacked in the street, having their car windscreens repeatedly smashed and eggs thrown at their windows” the Christian family said that both police and the Anglican church have failed to provide any meaningful support and are “reluctant to treat the problem as a religious hate crime.” Nissar Hussain, the father, said, “Our lives have been sabotaged and this shouldn’t happen in the United Kingdom. We live in a free democratic society and what they are doing to us is abhorrent.”

Turkey: Since August 27, as many as 15 churches received death threats for “denying Allah.” Even so, “Threats are not anything new for the Protestant community who live in this country and want to raise their children here,” said church leaders. As former Muslims, many of the congregation members, apostates from Islam, were threatened with beheading. The messages accuse the Christians of having “chosen the path that denies Allah” and “dragged others into believing as you do... As heretics you have increased your number with ignorant followers.” One of the messages depicted the Islamic State flag along with the words: “Perverted infidels, the time that we will strike your necks is soon. May Allah receive the glory and the praise.”

Pakistan: Police arrested a Christian brick kiln worker, Pervaiz Masih, in the Kasur District of Punjab province, after a Muslim business rival falsely accused him of insulting the prophet of Islam, Muhammad. Pervaiz, a father of four, including a seven-month-old boy, fled his home after Muhammad Kahlid filed a report, which said that he had made derogatory remarks about Muhammad during a dispute. Police detained four of Pervaiz’s relatives; then officers dragged his wife into the streets and ripped off her clothing as they tried to get information about her husband’s whereabouts. Police also beat local Christians and raided Christian homes for information in Pervaiz’s town. Pervaiz eventually handed himself over to police in order that his relatives be released.

Ethiopia: A group of 15 young Christians were attacked and arrested for engaging in evangelism in eastern Ethiopia. Separately, six Christian leaders were found guilty of inciting public disturbance, destroying public trust in government officials, and spreading hatred. The six men, members of a church administrative committee, had written a letter to their national church leadership on March 11 describing the persecution they endured as Christians living in the Muslim-majority Silte zone. They complained of discrimination in employment opportunities, unfair dismissal from jobs, harsh job performance feedback, burned church buildings, physical attacks and death threats. The letter was leaked to local media and widely disseminated, prompting their arrest and conviction.

Dhimmitude

Germany: According to a report, “Many Christian refugees from Syria, Iraq or Kurdistan are being intimidated and attacked by Muslim refugees. In several refugee centers set up by the local authorities, Sharia law is being imposed and Christians—which are a minority—are the victims of bullying.” Gottfried Martens, pastor of a south Berlin church, said that “very religious Muslims are spreading the following idea throughout the refugee centers: Sharia law rules wherever we are.” Martens expressed especial concern for Muslims who convert to Christianity—apostates who, according to Islamic law, can be killed: “There is a 100% chance that these people will be attacked.”

Lebanon: Christians are being overrun by Muslim refugees from Syria and Iraq and are in danger of losing their place in their country, said Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil: “What is happening in Lebanon is an attempt to replace the people with [Muslim] Syrians and Palestinians.” Because Lebanon's Christian population is, and has historically been, a minority, Bassil said their rights are being threatened because “some are attempting to impose Muslims over Christians” (a situation also occurring in the U.S.) In an earlier interview, Bassil said that the Mideast Christian community as a whole has been eroded “in large chunks”: “In Iraq, it happened over 20 years, and we saw that 90 percent of the Christians have left Iraq. In Syria, we don't have actual numbers because of the chaos. We cannot tell. We know that there has been a lot of internal and external immigration and displacement…. But definitely churches have been destroyed and people have left already.”

United Kingdom: An Iranian, Noureden Mallaky-Soodmand, 41, was supposed to have been deported to Iran after he was arrested for hurling threats and brandishing knives on the streets of London. However, he was not deported, apparently because the Iranian Embassy was closed. He was, instead, re-housed 250 miles away in Stockton-on-Tees. Earlier, on April 2, holding a curved knife, he had run amok, screaming: “I’m a Muslim and I’ll chop your f***ing head, mother f***ers…. I’m Isis and my people will cut off your balls, Christians…. I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you all. I’m going to chop your head off and f*** you up.”

Egyptian Dhimmitude

Muslim attacks on Christians erupted in two separate villages in Samalout, north of the Minya governorate. One attack apparently took place in “revenge” for the construction of a small church. In one village, five Copts were injured. In another village, Muslims packed into a number of cars attacked a Christian wedding ceremony. Three Copts were injured; throughout the area, young Christian girls were sexually harassed.

Separately, a group of Muslims in the village of al-Oula, near Alexandria, attacked Christian homes and a church on September 20, after police attempted to return land stolen by a Muslim to its rightful Christian owner. When the police arrived to implement the order, they were attacked and fled. “After the security forces fled,” said a church leader, “a large crowd surrounded [the] church and hurled stones at it. Then they attacked four homes owned by Christians.” At least two Christians were seriously injured, one had his spine fractured. “The El Houty family [Muslim family that stole Christian land] used microphones in the local mosque and in nearby villages to call out for the Muslims from everywhere around the village saying that the police have come to take the lands and give it to the Christians.”

A Coptic Christian female student, Mariam, who was discriminated against made headlines in major Egyptian media and created a scandal. Known as “Student Zero,” she was described by former teachers as a “brilliant student,” planning on becoming a doctor. She had scored 97% in her first two years and was expecting similar results in her final year—only to find that she had failed: her final grade was zero. She insisted on seeing the results for herself but was denied. When the issue made headlines, the results were shown to her. She and others—including handwriting experts—said that the handwriting on the test shown to her was not hers.

Pakistani Dhimmitude

A Christian family was almost burned alive during a “land grab” attempt of their home by Muslims. Because Boota Masih, 38, and his wife and family refused to abandon their home and property to some Muslims, they were violently beaten. The Muslims next sprayed petrol over the house to set fire to it, and locked Boota and his family in a room. The Masihs managed to escape by breaking through a window. Despite the presence of eyewitnesses, the local police were reluctant to register a formal complaint, and instead, according to the lawyers, arrested Masih on spurious charges.

Most degrading jobs continue to be reserved for Christians and other minorities. The latest example comes from the Punjab Institute of Cardiology Lahore’s announcement of vacancies. In the list, all jobs are open to all applicants—except for “sanitary worker” positions, such as toilet cleaners: only non-Muslim applicants are eligible. According to labor lawyers, “this is a form of direct oppression, racism and bigotry against the nation’s religious minorities,” primarily Christians, Hindus, and non-Sunni Muslims.

About this Series

The persecution of Christians in the Islamic world has become endemic. Accordingly, “Muslim Persecution of Christians” was developed to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of persecution that surface each month. It serves two purposes:

1) To document that which the mainstream media does not: the habitual, if not chronic, persecution of Christians.

2) To show that such persecution is not “random,” but systematic and interrelated—that it is rooted in a worldview inspired by Islamic Sharia.

Accordingly, whatever the anecdote of persecution, it typically fits under a specific theme, including hatred for churches and other Christian symbols; apostasy, blasphemy, and proselytism laws that criminalize and sometimes punish with death those who “offend” Islam; sexual abuse of Christian women; forced conversions to Islam; theft and plunder in lieu of jizya (financial tribute expected from non-Muslims); overall expectations for Christians to behave like cowed dhimmis, or third-class, “tolerated” citizens; and simple violence and murder. Sometimes it is a combination thereof.

Because these accounts of persecution span different ethnicities, languages, and locales—from Morocco in the West, to Indonesia in the East—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.

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School Confronted for Erasing 'Christmas' From Tree Lighting

By Bob Unruh

A New Hampshire school district is being asked to amend its politics and practices after the superintendent demanded that the word “Christmas” in an announcement about a Christmas tree lighting be changed to “holiday.”

It’s unnecessary, inaccurate and even unconstitutional, according to a letter to the district from lawyers with the Alliance Defending Freedom.

“Simply put, using the word Christmas in a flyer advertising a Christmas tree lighting and the appearance of Santa Claus is only sensible and plainly not unconstitutional,” they wrote to officials in New Hampshire School Administrative Unit 29 in Keene, New Hampshire.

The situation developed when in the course of events for the approaching Christmas holiday, there was a flyer to be distributed through the school’s procedure for information about private events.

That forum was created by the district especially for “non-school programs offered by non-profit organizations” that are deemed “to have educational, recreational or social value to students.”

It requires a disclaimer that it is not a school event, and also demands that flyers are “secular.”

Nevertheless, for many years, “John Fletcher has been distributing flyers at Marlborough School to announce a beloved community Christmas tree lighting, complete with hot chocolate, donuts, gifts, and time with Santa and Mrs. Claus. Each year, the flyers he has distributed have been identical (except for the date of the event). This year, however, when Mr. Fletcher tried to distribute the flyers announcing the community event sponsored by the American Legion Family and the Monadnock Lions Club, he encountered resistance.”

The letter to the school board and Supt. Robert H. Malay noted that Malay insisted that the title “Annual Christmas Tree Lighting” must be changed to “Annual Holiday Tree Lightning.”

The district then issued a statement that the decision was prompted by concerns about the Establishment Clause.

“But the Establishment Clause requires no such thing,” the ADF letter said. “Courts have long recognized that ‘the vigilant protection of constitutional freedoms is nowhere more vital than in the community of American schools.’ As one federal court stated, ‘No arm of government may discriminate against religious speech when speech on other subjects is permitted in the same place at the same time,’” the letter said.

Article continues:  http://www.wnd.com/2015/12/

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Survival of Christianity in Middle East at Critical Point due to Ongoing Persecution

BY JUNNO AROCHO ESTEVES
Catholic News Service

ROME (CNS) — The survival of Christianity in the Middle East has reached such a critical point that the chances of dialogue and reconciliation in the region are being threatened, said Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Sako of Baghdad.

“The situation is very bad, very critical and always violent,” Patriarch Sako told Catholic News Service Dec. 10. “Last year in August, 120,000 Christian people were expelled from their homes, their villages and now they are living in some camps with nothing, but the church is helping them.”

Patriarch Sako was among the keynote speakers at a Dec. 10-12 international conference on Christian persecution in the world. He told CNS that the mass exodus of Christians in the region will only worsen the situation due to growing tensions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims who “are killing each other.”

“We Christians, we always bridged the groups and we promoted dialogue, reconciliation and forgiveness,” he said.

Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, stressed the need for Catholics in the West to “speak up for the persecuted Christian minorities in the Middle East” who are often “omitted” and “not mentioned.”

“We must not allow them to be forgotten. We must not engage in an unholy silence,” he told CNS.

article continues at http://catholicphilly.com

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ISIS HACKS CHURCH TO POST BEHEADING VIDEOS AND THREATENS WAR AGAINST CHRISTIANS UNTIL ROME CONQUERED

Militants from the Islamic State terrorist organization have hacked the website of an Australian-Syriac Catholic Church, posting sickening execution videos and threatening to wage war against non-believers until Rome is conquered.

The website for Our Lady of Mercy Syriac Catholic Church in Sydney was hacked last week by IS jihadists who posted footage of IS fighters beheading, shooting and burning victims alive.

The congregation took to its Facebook page last Thursday to announce that the website was hacked by the infamous terror group. Additionally, the church believes that it was targeted by the militant group because it consists of mostly people from Iraq and Syria and has been actively involved in helping to provide shelter for Iraqi and Syrian refugees who have fled because of the heinous violence being perpetrated by IS.

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/isis-breaks-into-australian-church-website-post-beheading-vidoes-war-conquest-151857/#SJgFboYzqw1hByYy.99

By Samuel Smith, CP Reporter

(CHRISTIANPOST) — Militants from the Islamic State terrorist organization have hacked the website of an Australian-Syriac Catholic Church, posting sickening execution videos and threatening to wage war against non-believers until Rome is conquered.

The website for Our Lady of Mercy Syriac Catholic Church in Sydney was hacked last week by IS jihadists who posted footage of IS fighters beheading, shooting and burning victims alive.
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The congregation took to its Facebook page last Thursday to announce that the website was hacked by the infamous terror group. Additionally, the church believes that it was targeted by the militant group because it consists of mostly people from Iraq and Syria and has been actively involved in helping to provide shelter for Iraqi and Syrian refugees who have fled because of the heinous violence being perpetrated by IS.

Read full story: http://www.wnd.com/2015/12/

"We have our families still under the threat of ISIS and the majority has been hurt, displaced or raped. I don't think at this stage we have any fear, we have lost everything," Dergham declared. "They [the church members] feel a big loss has happened. We're always hoping that at one stage ISIS would be defeated and we would be back to our towns and churches and monasteries and villages and properties, and business as usual. [But] people have lost hope."

On Facebook, the church has asked for prayers to help keep the persecuted community strong.

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Despite ISIS, American Church Still Ignorant About Christian Persecution, Expert Says

"The Islamic State is not happy enough to kill and send the Christians out of their countries but now they want to deny them the help needed to survive once they arrive to this beautiful place we all call home," the Facebook post reads. "This attack seems to carry with a threat to the Church here in Sydney."

"We do not retaliate with guns or unkind words, but through the power of Christ in prayer, faith, hope, love and knowledge," a Facebook post added on Thursday states. "We ask everyone to keep vigilant and pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters."

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/isis-breaks-into-australian-church-website-post-beheading-vidoes-war-conquest-151857/#SJgFboYzqw1hByYy.99

FRIEND OF VICTIM: FAROOK THREATENED TO KILL JEWS

Info Wars: Paul Joseph Watson 
A close friend of Nicholas Thalasinos, one of the victims of the San Bernardino shooting, said that gunman Sayed Farook had threatened to kill Thalasinos because he was Jewish and asserted that “Islam will rule the world.”

CV Claverie posted the following Facebook message on Thursday evening;

“The islamic terrorist who took the Life of my friend & bro in Christ, Nicholas Thalasinos, on yesterday in San Bernadino, CA, had been threatening him, telling him that islam will rule the world, Christians and Jews deserve to die; and that he (Nicholas) was going to die.”

“But, they aren’t reporting that in the “news” …I wonder why …”



The fact that no mainstream media outlet has reported on Claverie’s statement will fuel charges that the press is downplaying the role that Farook’s devotion to Islam played in the massacre.

Claverie’s claim correlates with a CNN report that explains how Farook had argued with Thalasinos over the latter’s fierce criticism of ISIS.

“One of Farook’s colleagues killed in the attack, Nicholas Thalasinos, liked to discuss religion and politics. Farook and Thalasinos, reportedly a devout Messianic Jew, had a “heated, passionate” discussion about politics and religion a few days earlier, said Kuuleme Stephens, a friend of Thalasinos, who called him at work while Thalasinos was in the middle of the conversation,” states the report.

Thalasinos’ widow, Jennifer, also said that he was “very upset about what ISIS has been doing and the radicalized Muslims.”

According to the pastor of one of the victims of the attack, Farook also told Thalasinos, “You will never see Israel.”

Article continues at: http://www.infowars.com/

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Persecution of Christians in Pakistan Needs to be Recognized

Christians in Pakistan: Posted by Madeeha Bakhsh 

In the wake of rising persecution of Christians in Pakistan, a need to recognize the substantial fact that Christians are being persecuted urged in the British Parliament.

A UK based NGO namely Global Minorities Alliance, GMA as been endeavouring to raise the issues of persecuted Christians in Pakistan. It is necessary to identify the persecution of religious minorities in Pakistan, Global Minorities Alliance said in an appeal note sent to Fides.

About 20 various organizations joined in an effort, to monitor the situation of religious minorities in Pakistan. In a recent hearing of this cause, Global Minorities Alliance presented various cases of persecution of Christians, Hindus, Sikhs and Ahmadis in Pakistan. This hearing was held in British Parliament which was attended by various British leaders also.

Also Read: Pakistani Christians seeking asylum are hopeful of better asylum policy from UK

In the appeal note which Global Minorities Alliance, sent to Fides, it mentioned two terms “discrimination” and “persecution” related to current situation of Christians in Pakistan. The note also mentioned the stance maintained by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2014, in which the Apex Court issued directives to the government of Pakistan to take effective steps to protect the religious minorities in Pakistan.

Story continues at: http://www.christiansinpakistan.com/

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Over 600 join rally urging City of Toronto to ‘stop bullying Christians’

Life Site News: Lianne Laurence

TORONTO, November 24, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) – An estimated 600 to 700 participants at the “Stop bullying Christians” rally prayed, listened, waved signs, danced and sang hymns in Toronto’s Dundas Square on a cold, overcast Saturday afternoon before marching to City Hall to protest what they say is the city’s blatant discrimination against Christians.

Rally organizer David Lynn urged the crowd, which gathered on one side of Yonge Street to face an Eaton’s Centre teeming with Christmas shoppers, to stand up for their Christian faith whatever the cost.

“Stop being afraid!” said the charismatic street preacher and pastor-founder of the non-denominational Christ’s Forgiveness Ministries. “I am a Christian! You are a Christian! And being a Christian is the greatest thing that you could ever be!”

The rally was the latest pushback against the City of Toronto and the management board of Yonge-Dundas Square’s October decision to ban the Christian group, Voices of the Nations (VON), from using the square for its annual August music event.

Voices of the Nations was denied a permit to use the square for the first time in six years because it allegedly violated a law against proselytizing in the public square.

“If you’re praising Jesus, ‘praise the Lord,’ and ‘there’s no God like Jehovah,’ that type of thing, that’s proselytizing,” Natalie Belman, manager of events for Yonge-Dundas Square, told VON’s Leye Oyelami, as verified in an audio recording obtained by LifeSiteNews.

LifeSiteNews subsequently launched a petition urging the city to repeal its decision, drawing about 30,000 signatures. VON director Peter Ruparelia has delivered it, along with a 10,000-name petition from TheRebel.media, to Mayor John Tory’s office.

(The LifeSiteNews petition is still active and has reached 34,153 signatures, and VON now has its own petition as well.)

Calgary-based Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, acting on VON’s behalf, threatened to sue the City of Toronto for violating VON’s religious and freedom of expression rights if it did not repeal the decision by November 10.

Article continues at: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/

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KIDS SEIZED OVER FAMILY'S 'CHRISTIAN INDOCTRINATION'

WND: Bob Unruh December 3, 2015

A social media campaign is surging around the globe – tens of thousands already have signed a petition – in defense of a family whose five children were seized by the Norwegian government because of “Christian indoctrination.”

The case was profiled just hours ago by the Christian Institute in the United Kingdom, which advocates for religious rights.

Norway’s child welfare services, the Barnevernet, seized Marius and Ruth Bodnariu’s two daughters, two sons and subsequently their baby, Ezekiel, the report said.

Social services agents and police took the family’s two oldest children out of their school without their parents’ knowledge and hid them in an undisclosed location.

Then the agents and officers went to the family’s home, “where, apparently without any documentation, they seized their two sons and arrested Ruth – who they took to the police station along with baby Ezekiel. Marius was arrested while he was at work and also taken into custody.”

The parents were interrogated but later allowed to return home with their baby but no other children. Then the next day the baby also was seized, the report said.

Weeks passed while the parents were denied contact with their children. They just were told that the children “had integrated well into their separate foster homes and didn’t miss their parents,” the institute reported.

Finally, a lawyer obtained by the parents accessed some of the case documents and discovered the parents were accused of being “radical Christians who were indoctrinating their children.”

An online petition created on the family’s behalf already has collected nearly 27,000 signatures.

It says: “Please support this family reunite with their children! On charges of ‘Christian radicalism and indoctrination’, their five children were abusively taken away by the Norwegian government! The parents were interrogated and asked not to publicly reveal the situation so they wouldn’t aggravate their case! They are just a normal Christian family trying to raise their children in the knowledge of God! There is no documented or otherwise abuse of any kind in this family!”

Commenters voiced their outrage in various languages. One, Jana Holomkova of Portugal, wrote, “The Kingdom of Norway should consider to alter the name to ‘The Kingdom of Norway – Nazi.

Story continues at: http://www.wnd.com/2015/12/

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No Christians: All 132 Syrian Refugees Admitted to U.S. Since Paris Attacks Are Sunni Muslims

The sun rises as refugees and migrants walk from the northern Greek village of Idomeni towards southern Macedonia on Sept. 11, 2015. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)

By Patrick Goodenough

(CNSNews.com) – Since the Paris terror attacks on November 13, the State Department has admitted 132 Syrian refugees into the United States, and all 132 are Sunni Muslims.

No Christian, Druze, Shi’ite, Alawite, or member of any other religious minority in Syria has been admitted over that period, according to data from the State Department Refugee Processing Center.

The majority of the 132 Syrian refugees permitted to resettle in the U.S. since November 13 (72) are male, the minority female (60). Of the 132 total, 39 (29.5 percent) have been men between the ages of 14 and 50.

Another 53 (40 percent) are children aged under 14, of whom 30 are males and 23 females.

The Paris terror attacks, which killed 130 people and were claimed by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS/ISIL), brought fresh scrutiny onto the issue of refugees from the Syrian conflict, amid concerns the terrorist group was seeking to infiltrate Western countries through refugee settlement programs.

The Refugee Processing Center admission figures since the attacks in Paris continue a trend evident since the start of the current fiscal year, on October 1. President Obama plans to resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees in the U.S. during fiscal year 2016.

Article continues at: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/

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YOUTUBE UNPLUGS CHRISTIAN CHANNEL, THEN REVERSES DECISION

WND Inquiry Prompts Sudden Action for Olive Tree Videos

WND: Bob Unruh

A Christian ministry’s YouTube channel, which was suspended permanently on Saturday through an unsigned notice from the division of Google, was reinstated on Monday when WND inquired about the action, specifically questioning what was offensive in the interview by Jan Markell of Olive Tree Ministries with Tom Doyle about his book, “Killing Christians: Living the Faith Where it’s Not Safe to Believe.”

A YouTube spokesperson told WND, “When it’s brought to our attention that a video or channel has been removed mistakenly, we act quickly to reinstate it.”

Markell told WND she was shocked and stunned when contacted by WND with word of the restoration, but very glad that her ministry’s work once again was available to supporters through YouTube. She confirmed to WND all material that had been blocked on Saturday once again was available on Monday.

But she did express some concerns about how the situation developed.

Read more:  http://www.wnd.com/2015/11/

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