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CHRISTIANS: On the Front Lines of Muslim Violence


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Will Christianity Perish in Its Birthplace? - Patrick J. Buchanan

 

"Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? (My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?)" Those are among Jesus' last words on the Cross that first Good Friday.

 

It was a cry of agony, but not despair. The dying Christ, to rise again in three days, was repeating the first words of the 22nd Psalm.

 

And today, in lands where Christ lived and taught and beyond where the Christian faith was born and nourished, the words echo. For it is in the birthplace of Christianity that Christians face the greatest of persecutions and martyrdoms since the time of Vladimir Lenin and Josef Stalin.

 

President Donald Trump, outraged by pictures of infants and children who had perished in the nerve gas attack in Syria, ordered missile strikes on the air base from which the war crime came.

 

Two days later, Palm Sunday, 44 Coptic Christians celebrating Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem were martyred in terrorist attacks in Egypt. The first bombing was at St. George's Church in Tanta, the second at St. Mark's in Alexandria, where the Coptic Pope Tawadros II was at Mass.

 

The pope was unhurt, but 100 Christians were injured in the attacks. At St. George's, one witness described the scene after the bomb exploded near the altar: "I saw pieces of body parts. ... There was so much blood everywhere. Some people had half of their bodies missing."

 

The Islamic State group claims credit for the murders, and the pictures of dead children from those churches were surely as horrific as the pictures the president saw after the gas attack.Scissors-32x32.png

 

http://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/patrick-j-buchanan/will-christianity-perish-its-birthplace

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Draggingtree

Coptic Christians’ Endless Struggle for Survival in Egypt

by SAMUEL TADROS April 14, 2017 4:00 AM

The Copts have been persecuted for thousands of years. ISIS’s brutal Palm Sunday bombing in Alexandria is just the latest episode.

 

Viewed from the outside, there is nothing remarkable about Saint Mark’s Cathedral in Alexandria, where an Islamic State terrorist blew himself up during the Palm Sunday liturgy last weekend, leaving 17 people dead. The building is new, erected in 1952 and renovated several times since, but the site itself is much older — so old, in fact, that it can tell the story of the Coptic Church itself, in all its triumph and despair.

 

It was his first day in Alexandria and Saint Mark, the Evangelist, walked around the city bedazzled by its wonders. The small village that Alexander the Great had chosen to build into a city bearing his name had grown to equal Rome in its greatness. By night, as the strap of his sandal fell off, Mark stopped at the first shoemaker he found. While repairing the sandal, the shoemaker accidentally pierced his finger. “Heis ho Theos,” Anianus, the shoemaker, screamed. God is one Scissors-32x32.png

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/446735/isis-palm-sunday-bombing-alexandria-coptic-christians-endless-struggle-survival

 

​I'm sorry bout posting not checking -- "But" it is a good article lightningbolt.gif

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Easter 2017, Christians ‘Most Persecuted Group in the World’

 

In many parts of the world, Christians gathering to celebrate Christ’s resurrection do so with the knowledge that any day their faith could cost them their lives as it has for thousands of their brothers and sisters.

 

On Palm Sunday, twin bombings by jihadists at two Egyptian churches killed at least 45 worshippers and wounded more than 100 others in the latest of a long string of deadly attacks targeting Christians throughout the world.

 

The attacks were directed specifically to Christian in their houses of worship to avoid any ambiguity regarding the intent. As has been noted, this was “an attack on Christians simply because they are Christians.”

 

On Saturday, the Pakistan military said it has thwarted a “major terrorist attack” against Christians planned for Easter Sunday after a successful overnight raid just hours after Christians celebrated Good Friday services.Scissors-32x32.png

 

http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2017/04/16/easter-2017-christians-most-persecuted-group-in-the-world/

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Archbishop of Washington: Nearly One Christian Killed Every Hour for Practicing Faith

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Nearly one Christian is killed every hour around the world for practicing their faith, said the Archbishop of the U.S. capital.

Cardinal Donald Wuerl made those comments on Thursday while delivering the keynote address during the one-day symposium at the National Press Club focused on Christian prosecution.

The event featured the release of a report by the University of Notre Dame’s Under Caesar’s Sword project titled, “In Response to Persecution.”

 

Christian persecution is a worldwide phenomenon, noted the Washington archbishop.

“Reports suggest that about 200 million Christians around the world are at risk of physical violence, arrest, torture, even death simply because they live and practice a faith that is not acceptable to the rulers in that part of the world,” he pointed out.

 

“The journalist John Allen recently estimated that, this is a quote, the number of Christians killed for religious reasons is ‘roughly one every hour, 365 days a year,’” added the cardinal.

That amounts to about 9,000 Christians killed per year, which is consistent with a study by the Turin-based Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR).

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http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2017/04/20/archbishop-wuerl-about-one-christian-killed-every-hour-for-practicing-faith/

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Christian Population of England Dropped from 71.7% to 59.4% in 10 Years

 

(CNSNews.com) - The percentage of people in England who said they were Christian dropped from 71.7 percent to 59.4 percent between the United Kingdom’s 2001 and 2011 censuses, according to the U.K.’s Office for National Statistics.
At the same time, the percentage of people who said they were Muslim increased from 3.1 percent to 5.0 percent.
In Greater Manchester, the Christian population held relatively steady, going from 74.1 percent in 2001 to 73.1 percent in 2011. At the same time, however, the Muslim population of Manchester grew from 5.0 percent in 2001 to 8.7 percent in 2011:snip:

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Attack in Egypt: Gunmen reportedly open fire on bus carrying Coptic Christians in Egypt, killing at least 23

 

Gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying Coptic Christians traveling just south of Cairo Friday, killing 23 and injuring 25, Egyptian state TV reported.
The ministry said there were between eight and 10 attackers dressed in military uniforms, according to witnesses.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. But Egypt’s Coptic Christians have become the preferred target of the Islamic State group.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Embassy in Cairo issued a security message, stating that it was aware of a potential threat posted on a website by the Hassm Group, a known terrorist organization, suggesting some kind of unspecified action that evening.  :snip:

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2 hours ago, Geee said:

Attack in Egypt: Gunmen reportedly open fire on bus carrying Coptic Christians in Egypt, killing at least 23

 

Gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying Coptic Christians traveling just south of Cairo Friday, killing 23 and injuring 25, Egyptian state TV reported.
The ministry said there were between eight and 10 attackers dressed in military uniforms, according to witnesses.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. But Egypt’s Coptic Christians have become the preferred target of the Islamic State group.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Embassy in Cairo issued a security message, stating that it was aware of a potential threat posted on a website by the Hassm Group, a known terrorist organization, suggesting some kind of unspecified action that evening.  :snip:

 

 

 

 

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Egypt forces hit jihadist camp after attack on Copts — Sissi

Jets reportedly carry out six attacks on IS Libya training sites; Trump vows ‘bloodletting of Christians must end’

By AFP and Times of Israel staff

May 26, 2017

 

Egyptian forces hit a jihadist training camp Friday in retaliation for an attack on a bus carrying Coptic Christians that killed at least 28 people, President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said.

 

(Snip)

 

In a televised address to Egypt’s people, the former army chief said: “Before we spoke to you today, we launched a strike against one of the camps” where jihadists train.

“Egypt will not hesitate in striking terror camps anywhere, either inside (the country) or outside it,” Sissi added.

The Egyptian president did not say where his forces struck on Friday. However, state television said that Egypt’s air force launched six air strikes Friday against “terror camps in Libya.

 

(Snip)

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On 5/26/2017 at 6:24 AM, Geee said:

Attack in Egypt: Gunmen reportedly open fire on bus carrying Coptic Christians in Egypt, killing at least 23

 

Gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying Coptic Christians traveling just south of Cairo Friday, killing 23 and injuring 25, Egyptian state TV reported.
The ministry said there were between eight and 10 attackers dressed in military uniforms, according to witnesses.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. But Egypt’s Coptic Christians have become the preferred target of the Islamic State group.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Embassy in Cairo issued a security message, stating that it was aware of a potential threat posted on a website by the Hassm Group, a known terrorist organization, suggesting some kind of unspecified action that evening.  :snip:

 

 

What makes killing Christians appealing?

Ayman S. Ibrahim

May 26, 2017

 

(RNS) I was born in Egypt, and my heart is broken by this latest massacre of Coptic Christians who were headed to a monastery in the southern Minya province.

I could not bear exploring horrific photos of innocent young girls and boys butchered. They were supposed to be worshipping and praying in the monastery. For many of these children, visiting a monastery is one of the most anticipated trips. Most of these boys and girls are underprivileged with not enough means to travel and enjoy vacations. Going to pray in a holy place is considered their best option in the summertime.

There has been a reoccurring scene of targeting Christians in Egypt in recent months. Last month, in what was later identified as coordinated suicide attacks, a bomb went off at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Cairo, followed by another in a church in Tanta. More than 100 Copts were wounded or massacred. ISIS claimed responsibility.

 

Copts are victims of the dreadful mix of political instability and religious intolerance.

And their resilience is stunning. They still identify first and foremost as Egyptians, and say that nothing will drive them out of their homeland, whose Christian heritage goes back to the early years of Christianity. Their favorite motto is a quote by the late Coptic Pope Shenouda III: “Egypt is not a country we live in but a country that lives within us.”

But, what makes killing such loyal Christians so appealing? 

 

(Snip)

 

Attacking Copts reflects the continued desire of militant Muslims to divide Egypt by killing Christians. For militant Muslims, including ISIS members, killing Christians is not ugly anymore. It is supported by religious texts, which appear to them to make massacring Copts possible and, in a sense, praiseworthy.

(Ayman S. Ibrahim is an assistant professor of Islamic studies and director of the Jenkins Center for the Christian Understanding of Islam at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary)

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Pope Says Copts Were Killed After Refusing to Renounce Their Christian Faith

(CNSNews.com) – The death toll in the latest terrorist atrocity targeting Egyptian Christians rose to 30 on Monday, after a victim succumbed to his wounds three days after Islamist gunmen opened fire on a group of travelers whom they had identified as Christians.
The number of dead, who included children, makes it one of the deadliest single attacks against members of Egypt’s beleaguered Coptic minority in decades. More than 20 people were injured in the eve-of-Ramadan attack, according to the Interior Ministry.
Gunmen in three pick-up trucks opened fire at a bus and other vehicles carrying Christians heading for a monastery in Minya province south of Cairo.  Unconfirmed reports said the gunmen were dressed in military-type uniforms and that male victims were asked their religion before being gunned down.:snip:

 

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Why do so many Iraqi-Americans support President Trump?

Sept. 12 2017

 

 

Iraqi Christians are waiting for President Trump to deliver on a campaign pledge to help their families in their homeland. “I really hope he does not let us down,” said Nahren Anweya, an Assyrian-Christian activist in Macomb County, Mich.

Anweya believes the Obama administration didn’t do enough to help persecuted Christians living in the Middle East, which prompted her to become an outspoken supporter of Donald Trump, who pledged to take up the Iraqi Christian cause.

Many Iraqi Christians voted for Trump with the expectation that he would champion the creation of a safe haven for their loved ones in Iraq. Trump “won the hearts of the Middle Eastern community [in the United States because] they looked at him as their defender, as someone who will carry out what President Obama didn’t do.”

 

(snip)

 

 

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48 Christians Massacred, Jihadis Break Through Doors, Burn Houses, Destroy Churches in Nigeria

 
Via Cousin John
 
christians-nigeria-400x267.jpeg

The international community is silent too busy, obsessed with trying to annihilate the tiny Jewish state of Israel. The UN, the EU are just as culpable as the jihad savages. It’s in the Quran. Respect it!

48 Christians Massacred in Nigeria; Terrorists Break Through Doors, Burn Houses, Destroy Churches


By Stoyan Zaimov, Christian Post, October 27, 2017:

Forty-eight Christians were massacred in nine days of violent attacks in Nigeria, with some of the survivors describing the terror they felt at the hands of Islamic Fulani herdsmen who broke through their doors and destroyed houses and churches.

 
More @ Pamela Geller
 
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Nigerian Mother And Children Killed By Radical Muslims

A family brutally gunned down.

Jacob Airey

October 31, 2017

 

A Christian mother and her two children were shot and killed by radical Muslim Fulani herdsmen last Tuesday in Jol village, Riyom Local Government Area (LGA) in Nigeria's Plateau state. This is only the latest in a series of attacks by Islamic extremists, who are persecuting local Christians and other non-Muslims near the city of Jos.

Morning Star News reports that Rebecca Daniel Choji was traveling with her sixteen-year-old daughter Suzanna Daniel Choji and twenty-nine-year old son Joel Choji to a medical center in Vwak village. They were driving with a relative, Dachung Yakubu, to receive treatment for illness when they were brutally gunned down en route.

Joel and Suzanna were killed instantly. Rebecca died two days later from her wounds. Yakubu was wounded by the gunfire and remains in critical condition.

Choji and her children were members of the Church of Christ In Nations in Jol village. It is one of many churches that have experienced attacks from radical Muslims.

 

(Snip)

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Islamic Extremists Continue Slaughter Of Nigerian Christians

Five murdered, five kidnapped by Islamic jihadists

Jacob Airey

November 20, 2017

 

Radical Muslim Fulani herdsmen are continuing their assault on Christians living in the African nation of Nigeria’s Plateau and Benue states. For the past two weeks, Islamic jihadists have led systematic attacks on Christians living in rural villages, killing five and kidnapping five more.

Morning Star News reports that two Christians from the Church of Christ in Nations were traveling through the village of Wereng, Riyom Local Government Area, in the Plateau state when they were attacked by the extremists on Sunday, November 12th. The two men were shot to death and their bodies mutilated with machetes.

A Plateau State Police Command spokesman said in a press statement, “The dead bodies were recovered on the scene at about 8:15 in the morning by miners who were on their way to mining camp.” He added, “The police recovered two sticks belonging to the gunmen, and a motorcycle belonging to the deceased persons in the scene.”

Istifanus Gyang, a member of Nigeria’s National Assembly parliament said that the Muslim Fulani herdsmen are trying to scare the Christians out of their homes in order to seize the land.

 

(Snip)

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Suicide bombers attack church in Pakistan, killing 9

abdul sattar, associated press

QUETTA, Pakistan — Dec 17, 2017

 

WireAP_54255ef281e64f10959f075e705acc2b_

A Pakistani walks in the main hall of a church following a suicide attack in Quetta, Pakistan, Sunday, Dec. 17, 2017. Two suicide bombers attacked the church when hundreds of worshippers were attending services at the church ahead of Christmas. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)

 

Two suicide bombers struck a church in Pakistan on Sunday, killing nine people and wounding more than 50 others, authorities said, in the first attack on a church claimed by the country's Islamic State group affiliate.

Hundreds of worshippers were attending services ahead of Christmas when the bombers appeared in the city of Quetta and clashed with security forces. One assailant was killed at the church entrance. The other made it inside, said Sarfaraz Bugti, home minister for the southwestern Baluchistan province.

Baluchistan Police Chief Moazzam Ansari praised the response of security forces guarding the church, saying the attacker who made it inside was wounded and unable to reach the main building.

"Otherwise the loss of lives could have been much higher," he told reporters.

 

(Snip)

 

 

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Draggingtree

 

Reprinted from Gatestone Institute.

                                                                          Muslim Slaughter of Christians

Pakistan:  Sharoon, a Christian boy who achieved academic excellence despite years of entrenched discrimination and bullying—and whose poverty-stricken parents had worked hard to put him in MC Model Boys Government High School—was beaten to death by Muslim pupils.   On his first day at the school, the teacher slapped him across the face while blurting an anti-Christian slur.  Having set a precedent, the rest of the classroom of Muslim boys continued harassing him throughout that same first day: they too hurled out derogatory terms against Christians, denied him access to drinking water, and told him, “You’re a Christian don’t dare sit with us if you want to live.” According to one report: “His academic prowess … only added to the disdain for him felt by other pupils.” Another report says “there were repeated attempts to convert him to Islam.  Sharoon however, never quit his faith to the chagrin of the Muslim children around him, exacerbating his pariah status.”  Then, on August 27—his fourth day at the prestigious Model school—Muslim students attacked him in the classroom (the teacher supposedly did not notice as he was reading his paper). “The violence,” continues the report, “was of such sickening ferocity that poor Sharoon died where he was in the classroom.”  A cacophony of insults accompanied the beating; he was called a “filthy Christian” and a “demon.”  According to the murdered teen’s mother, “My son was a kind-hearted, hard-working and affable boy.  He has always been loved by teachers and pupils alike and shared great sorrow that he was being targeted by students at his new school because of his faith.  Sharoon and I cried every night as he described the daily torture he was subjected to….  The evil boys that hated my child are now refusing to reveal who else was involved in his murder.  Nevertheless one day God will have His judgement.”

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Christians Assaulted By Radical Hindus At Bus Stop In India

"No one came to their rescue."

Jacob Airey

March 9, 2018

Christians found themselves surrounded by a group of Hindu extremists at a bus stop en route to Bettiah, Bihar state in eastern India. They were harassed and two members of the group were assaulted leading to the victims being hospitalized.

On February 26, a group of Christians working with Gospel Echoing Missionary Society (GEMS) were traveling by bus from Bagaha to a campground for prayer. During the bus ride, they began to engage with their fellow passengers in conversation and stated the purpose of their trip. A radical Hindu began to shout obscenities at the Christians and allegedly called a Hindu nationalist group near the next stop.

When the bus stopped in Bettiah, the Christians were swarmed by more than 60 Hindu extremists, who began to shout obscenities and accusations at the passengers, many of whom were women and children.

Pastor Mariosh Joseph told Morning Star News, “It was evident from the mob that it was a pre-planned attack. ... There was a media person present to record and publish the entire episode in the media, along with the Hindu extremist mob.”

 

(Snip)

 

___________________________________________________________________________________

 

Not Just Muslims

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Report: Pakistan Hospital Staff Attack On Christian Family Ends In Tragedy

One family member beaten to death.

Jacob Airey

March 30, 2018

Medical staff at a hospital in Lahore, Pakistan, allegedly assaulted a Christian family seeking help for a pregnant relative. During the attack, Sunil Saleem, brother to the women seeking aid, was severely beaten and later died as a result of his injuries.

On Monday, brothers Anil and Sunil Saleem, along with other relatives, brought their pregnant sister Kiran Kashif to the emergency maternity ward of Government Services Institute of Medical Sciences seeking help for her labor pains, according to the Morning Star News.

They went to see the doctor on duty, who refused to see Kashif. When the family protested against the rude behavior, the doctor physically assaulted Kashif, slapping her and trying to throw her on the floor, calling her a Chuhri, a derogatory term for Christian.

When other family members came to her aid, the doctor called for security and other medical staff to “teach these Christians a lesson.”

(Snip)

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Draggingtree
1 hour ago, Valin said:

Report: Pakistan Hospital Staff Attack On Christian Family Ends In Tragedy

One family member beaten to death.

Jacob Airey

March 30, 2018

Medical staff at a hospital in Lahore, Pakistan, allegedly assaulted a Christian family seeking help for a pregnant relative. During the attack, Sunil Saleem, brother to the women seeking aid, was severely beaten and later died as a result of his injuries.

On Monday, brothers Anil and Sunil Saleem, along with other relatives, brought their pregnant sister Kiran Kashif to the emergency maternity ward of Government Services Institute of Medical Sciences seeking help for her labor pains, according to the Morning Star News.

They went to see the doctor on duty, who refused to see Kashif. When the family protested against the rude behavior, the doctor physically assaulted Kashif, slapping her and trying to throw her on the floor, calling her a Chuhri, a derogatory term for Christian.

When other family members came to her aid, the doctor called for security and other medical staff to “teach these Christians a lesson.”

(Snip)

dam

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Draggingtree

Why President Trump Should Recognize The Armenian Genocide

Despite the passage of a century, the Turkish government seems to have grown more resistant to hearing that its Ottoman forebears had anything to do with the mass killings of Armenians.

 By Stella Morabito

APRIL 23, 2018

If President Trump recognizes the Armenian genocide by specifically using the word “genocide” in his April 24 proclamation, he would send a strong signal to the world that America is unequivocally on the side of historical truth and the protection of innocent life. He would be only the second president, after Ronald Reagan, to do so boldly and officially.

 Every year on April 24 there are memorial services, marches, and media reminders of the genocide of 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. The beginning of the massacres is marked on that date in 1915, when hundreds of Armenian community leaders, merchants, and intellectuals were rounded up and killed in Constantinople.

That horrific incident was followed by the sorts of activities you’d expect of a government intent on mass slaughter of an ethnic group: propaganda campaigns intended to vilify Armenians in the eyes of their Turkish neighbors; conscription of all Armenian men ages 20-45 to deprive their families of their protection; gun confiscation programs;      :snip:   http://thefederalist.com/2018/04/23/president-trump-recognize-armenian-genocide/

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Draggingtree

A MUSLIM GENOCIDE OF CHRISTIANS IN NIGERIA

 

Around 30 Muslim herdsmen stormed a church during early morning mass and massacrednearly 20 parishioners and two clergymen on April 24 in Nigeria.

Rev. Fathers Joseph Gor and Felix Tyolaha were slaughtered while officiating at the altar of St. Ignatius Catholic Church in Mbalom village, Benue. Worshippers were gathered in the church for the daily 5:30 a.m. service when they heard gunshots.

"People started scampering and wailing," said Terhemen Angor, a local resident. Several people were "gunned

down in cold blood while many sustained injuries in

cluding bullet wounds... After attacking the church, the invaders descended on the community and razed over 60 houses. The community is on fire and deserted, people are fleeing to neighbouring villages hoping to find a safe haven for their families."

 As in similar occurrences, "concerted efforts to get [a] reaction from the Benue Police Command failed," according to Vanguard News. As far back as January 3, and further indicative of the authorities' indifference, one of the slain reverends, Fr. Gor had written on Facebook, "Living in fear. The fulani herdsmen are still around us in Mbalom. They refuse to go. They still go grazing around us. No weapons to depend on ourselves."    :snip:    http://ninetymilesfromtyranny.blogspot.com/2018/05/a-muslim-genocide-of-christians-in.html

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The Trappist Martyrs of Atlas are executed. May 21 1996

The Monks Of Tibhirine

The Monks of Tibhirine is the true story of Christians willing to die serving a Muslim flock during the political nightmare that unfolds in Algeria during the 1990s. The decapitation of seven French Trappists kidnapped from their monastery in the village of Tibhirine provides the thread for this real life drama of sacrificial love-of Christians who put their lives at risk for their Muslim friends, and Muslims who risk death for Christians.

The village of Tibhirine had sprung up around the monastery because it was a holy place protected by the Virgin Mary, revered by Christians and Muslims alike. But napalm, helicopters, and gunfire had become regular accompaniments to the monastic routine as the violence engulfing Algeria drew closer to the isolated cloister high in the Atlas Mountains.

(Snip)

___________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

 

 

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Several Iranian Christians to Serve Time in Prison

Jeffrey Cimmino
June 6, 2018

Four Iranian Christians will soon begin serving ten-year prison sentences after a court ruled the Church of Iran members were "promoting Zionist Christianity" and running house churches.

A court recently upheld the convictions sending the four men to prison for longer than was expected, and they could receive a call within the next day to report at the prison gate in their home city of Rasht, according to World Watch Monitor.

Among the group is Youcef Nadarkhani, a pastor who has been arrested several times by the Iranian government. In 2010 he was sentenced to death on charges of apostasy. He was acquitted two years later but arrested again and detained briefly in 2013.

Nadarkhani and fellow church members – Mohammad Reza Omidi, Mohammad Ali Mosibzadeh, and Zaman Fadaei – were arrested in 2016 " while performing Christian rituals at the house of a friend."

The most recent annual report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) lists Iran as a "country of particular concern" for engaging in "particularly severe religious freedom violations." The report estimates there are approximately 300,000 Christians in Iran. Christians suffer various forms of persecution, including surveillance, restrictions on church construction, and arrests.

(Snip)

 

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