"The Christianity of history is not Protestantism. If ever there were a safe truth it is this, and Protestantism has ever felt it so; to be deep in history is to cease to be a Protestant." (-John Henry Newman, An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine).

"Where the bishop is, there let the people gather; just as where ever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church". -St. Ignatius of Antioch (ca 110 AD)a martyr later thrown to the lions, wrote to a church in Asia Minor. Antioch was also where the term "Christian" was first used.

“But if I should be delayed, you should know how to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth.” 1 Timothy 3:15

"This is the sole Church of Christ, which in the Creed we profess to be one, holy, catholic and apostolic." -CCC 811
Showing posts with label Religious Freedom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Religious Freedom. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Pope: Religious freedom attacked by terrorism and marginalisation

Pope Benedict XVI speaks to United Nations staff in the U.N. General Assembly hall after he addressed delegates at the U.N. headquarters in New York April 18, 2008. Source: (daylife)
Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Christians in Iraq, Egypt and Nigeria have been killed in churches, in Pakistan a blasphemy law has become an "excuse to cause injustice and violence”, in China they are experiencing a "moment of difficulty and trial," in the West they are object of a "growing marginalization" which evens demands the rejection of any "reference to religious and moral convictions." The list of violations and attacks on religious freedom delivered today by Benedict XI to the representatives of 180 countries and international organizations that have diplomatic relations with the Holy See, touches hundreds of millions of people around the world.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

In Ethiopia, Christians are given two options: Convert or Die

"لا إكراه في الدين فقد تبين الرشد من الغي" (There is no compulsion in religion...") Quran 18:29

According to a news release from International Christian Concern (ICC) , Christians in the Ethiopian city of Besheno are being harassed and physically abused after Muslims posted notices on the doors of Christian homes warning them to convert, leave the city or face death.

Three Christian leaders were forced to flee while two Christians have been forced to convert to Islam, said the ICC report. In the Muslim majority city, the entire evangelical Christian community consists of about 30 believers.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Your signature to save Asia Bibi and Pakistan

Rome (AsiaNews) – At our reader’s request, AsiaNews has decided to launch an international petition to be sent to President Asif Zardari to save the life of Asia Bibi, who was sentenced to hanging for blasphemy. AsiaNews is also asking President Zardari to cancel or change the unjust blasphemy law, which kills many innocent victims and destroys coexistence in the country. We are asking you o support this initiative by sending a message to the following email:


salviamoasiabibi@asianews.it

Or you can send a message directly to the Pakistani President:

publicmail@president.gov.pk

Monday, November 29, 2010

Violence Against Egyptian Christians Raises Concerns

By Judith Sudilovsky
Source: Catholic News Service
Published: Monday, November 29, 2010

Coptic Patriarch Antonios Naguib of Alexandria,
Egypt, center, arrives for the opening Mass
of the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East.
JERUSALEM (CNS) — Episodes of violence in Egypt that left Christian houses and businesses burned and ransacked have raised concerns among Egypt's Christian community, said a Christian worker.

The Nov. 28 elections have been seen as a possible reason for the increased violence, said the Christian, who asked that his name not be used for his safety.

"The situation is confusing. At the same time, we will (soon) have elections, and many harmful activities are taking place. The government wants to reduce the impact of the Muslim Brotherhood, and that is provoking some people to attack Christians," he told Catholic News Service.

Christians "have started to be worried. People feel something wrong in the air. They are taking more care, being more reserved, and avoiding contacts with Muslims," he said.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Vatican Bishops Ponder Middle East Christians

St. Mark Catholic Church, Alexandria, Egypt [Photo Source: skycrapercity.com ]

VOANew.com - Vatican bishops are going into the second week of a synod to discuss the future of Christians in the Middle East, amid scattered persecution and an ongoing exodus from the region.

The Sunday service at the old Anglican church in Cairo's Garden City was sparsely attended. Sunday is not an official holiday in Egypt and many Christians cannot take time off from their jobs to attend church. Some churches in the Middle East hold worship services on Friday, the Muslim sabbath, instead.

As a Vatican synod enters a second week of deliberations over the thinning ranks of Christians in the Middle East, many Christians say life for them in a Muslim environment is becoming more difficult.

Theologian Paul Haidostian, president of Haigazian University in Beirut, says Christians tend to leave the Middle East, especially in times of political turbulence and war. "Minorities in general, and in this case Christians, always pay a certain price any time there is instability or there are wars - even when the wars are not religious and are not against any Christian. So they look for better ways of living elsewhere, thinking that new countries, other countries will provide safety," he said.

Since the end of Lebanon's civil war two decades ago, large numbers of Christians have emigrated to the West.

A young man who lives in Beirut's largely Muslim Hamra district, Ziyad Hajjar, says being a Christian in the predominantly Muslim Middle East, is not an enviable position.

"[Muslim] people have the power here in the Middle East and we cannot say anything. We cannot talk about our religion because here it is dangerous. Here, [Muslims] can easily make problems for you if they found out you are Christian."

In Cairo, Samir, a Christian refugee from Sudan, says that Christians are persecuted in Egypt and in his homeland.

He said it is difficult for a Christian to find work because many fields are closed to them. Samir complains that people tell him and other Christians that they will not get jobs if they are not Muslim. He adds that the situation is similar in the Sudan and that Christians often are told they have the choice of converting to Islam or dying of starvation.

Samir says that many families face the stark choice of sending their children to Islamic schools or not sending them to school at all. "Many Christian families," he says, "are thinking of leaving because they do not want to send their children to an Islamic school."

Samir says the worst form of persecution is the killing of converts to Christianity. Some Christians, like himself, have converted to Christianity, but they face an uncertain fate. "Islam forbids conversion," he notes, "and they often kill apostates.

Despite the slow exodus of Christians from the Middle East, Paul Haidostian of Haigazian University says he is optimistic. "As a Christian, I do not want to connect everything with numbers. Human beings are not static; they are dynamic. They have mobility of various sorts and I think we always have to find genuine ways of being effective, positive witnesses of our faith, with whatever numbers we are," he said.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Geert Wilders Victory Will Help Islam

Thanks to Farid Ghadry:
After the political left in Holland exhausted all venues to force Geert Wilders off the stage, it seems that his exoneration from an ill-defined and an ill-advised lawsuit (given his rising popularity in Holland and beyond) won him accolades from all corners of the world. The accolades come from those who view his right for freedom of speech as an essential element to debate civilizational differences when they arise.

Many Muslims criticize other religions when they deem it necessary. We call Judaism a "Blood Sucking" religion. This is not a one-time incident but something that is taught in Syrian schools at a very early age. And when the text books appear too soft on the Jews, not to worry because our teachers will fill the vacuum by adding the necessary insults and lies to the whole discussion. Not every Muslim condemns Judaism, only those who grow in oppressive and violent countries like Syria.

Geert Wilders, in my opinion, represents a new core of principles upon which weak European politicians, unwilling to adjust to certain realities when the threat of terror increases at home, will define a New Europe more adaptable to danger and the frictions we see taking place as borders shrink and cross-country immigration increases. Political correctness will manifest itself in contrarian collective policies rather than the singularity it has managed over the last 30 years or so.

This will only help Islam. Instead of repeated and unproductive whispers to wake a sleeping giant from his destructive slumber, it will be a bucket of cold water. So, thank you Geert Wilders for bringing the world's attention to the dilemma our religion lives. The next step is to call for freedom in oppressive countries to thwart the tide of Muslim immigration who escape to Europe and the US for better economic conditions and future.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Indian Catholics fast for the synod and religious freedom in Saudi Arabia

Update on the Synod here
Fr George Joshua, an Indian priest, leads the activity. He is an important figure in the struggle for the religious freedom of Indian Catholics living in Saudi Arabia. He tells AsiaNews about the suffering and abuses inflicted upon on the million Christians living in the Muslim country, where every religion other than Islam, is banned.
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques visited Pope Benedict XVI  in 2006 at the  Vatican City, a first such visit by a Saudi Monarch.

Mumbai (AsiaNews) – More than 700 Indian Christians from the Christ Army for Saudi Arabia (CASA) are fasting and praying for the success of the Synod of the Churches of the Middle East and for religious freedom in Saudi Arabia. Fr George Joshua, an Indian priest who belongs to the Malankara rite, is their leader; he provides spiritual support to Catholic migrant workers from Indian living in Saudi Arabia.

In 2006, Fr Joshua spent four days in a Saudi prison for celebrating Mass in a private home and was eventually expelled. A year later, he set up CASA in Trivandarum, Kerala. Across the state, the movement holds prayer meetings to focus attention on the fate of Christians in Saudi Arabia.

“There is no religious freedom in Saudi Arabia and no official pastoral care for the over a million who live in the country, of which nearly 3 lakhs are Indian,” he said. One lakh corresponds to 100,000.

Over the past few months, CASA has prayed for the Synod hoping that Catholics living in the desert kingdom can one day be free to worship as they please.

In the kingdom, priests are not allowed to celebrate Mass, he said. Any activity has to be underground, away from the eyes and ears of the Muttawa, the Saudi religious police.

“Recently, a French priest was picked up for celebrating Mass to various groups,” Fr Joshua said. “He was released only after many hours of interrogation.

Christians caught praying together are arrested right away, imprisoned and then thrown out of the country.

“Catholics can only pray in the privacy of their home and alone. They are not allowed to pray with family or friends,” the priest explained.

However, “Starting in 1995, new religious movements have emerged with lay people secretly praying and reading the Bible. In addition, some are even able to teach the catechism to children.”

The only priest of Indian origin in Saudi Arabia is a certain Fr John, who caters to the needs of English- and Malay-speaking Catholics, Fr Joshua said.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Sudan's Christian leaders urge UN: Prepare for humanitarian disaster

Catholic Culture - Speaking at the UN on October 11, Sudanese Christian leaders, including two Catholic bishops, urged the international community to prepare now for the humanitarian emergencies that may take early next year.

Sudanese Christians Celebrates Easter
File Photo 2008 from ABC News
“People in the south see the [January] referendum as their opportunity to choose freedom,” the Church leaders note. “Cancellation or postponement of the referendum, or a perception that the referendum outcome does not match the will of the people, will not be understood by the people and will create a dangerous vacuum which could be filled by violence and even a return to war. The international community must be ready for a disputed referendum result.”

“The safety and human rights (including the right to freedom of religion) of southerners living in northern Sudan are in jeopardy before, during and after the referendum,” the Christian leaders add. “Threats and intimidation are already taking place and there is a climate of fear … The international community and the UN must be prepared logistically and financially to deal with the humanitarian consequences of large scale migration, particularly in the case of forced migration.”

Two million lost their lives in the long Sudanese civil war (1983-2005) between the Muslim north and the largely animist and Christian south. The civil war ended when President Omar Hassan Ahmad Al-Bashir, later indicted by the International Criminal Court, granted the south limited autonomy and promised a January 2011 referendum. Since 2005, the nation’s 5.8 million Catholics have fallen under two sets of religion laws. In the north, all schools-- even Christian schools-- must offer instruction in Islam, and converts from Islam to Christianity face not only criminal charges but also death at the hands of their families. In the south, Christians enjoy religious freedom.

15% of Sudan’s 37.2 million people are Catholic, according to Vatican statistics.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Filipinos in Saudi Arabia accused of Proselytizing were Released

Photo Source: islamizationwatch
Saudi Arabia: conditional release for 12 Filipinos accused of proselytizing

The Catholic migrants are currently in the custody of their employers at the disposition of authorities. Saudi religious police (Muttawa) arrested them last October 1 for taking part in a Mass celebrated by a French priest. 150 other foreign Catholics were with them, whose fate remains unknown.

Manila (AsiaNews / Agencies)- Saudi authorities have conditionally released the Catholic Filipino migrant worker arrested on 1 October in Riyadh along with 11 other compatriots - released Oct. 3 -, while attending a Mass along with 150 foreigners celebrated by a French priest. At present, the 12 Filipinos have been entrusted to their employers and representatives of the embassy in Manila in Saudi Arabia are negotiating with the authorities for their repatriation. The fate of the others present at the Catholic mass remains unknown.

According Exxedin H. Tago, charge d'affaires of the Philippines Embassy the 12 are not yet completely out of danger. "It is still unclear - he says - if their case was closed. They were accused of proselytizing and if the authorities deem them guilty they could return to jail”.

Saudi Arabia forbids the construction of churches, and other non-Muslim temples, the wearing of religious symbols, or hanging of images in homes. The religious police (Muttawa) has tightened controls to impose these laws. Only rarely does the government allow the celebration of Mass in private. The availability of work, however, continues to attract migrants who put up with terrible working conditions, the risk of forced conversions and sexual abuse.

In early September, a Filipino nurse employed at the Kharja Hospital died in hospital after being raped and left dying in the desert by her rapists. Two weeks later, again in Riyadh, three nurses in the National Guard Hospital were abducted and raped while returning from work and are now in serious condition.

A total of 8 million foreigners live and work in the kingdom. According to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) from 2007 to 2008, migration to the Middle East has seen an increase of 29.5%.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

"Forbidden Worship" in Saudi Arabia Caused 14 Filipinos (and others) to face Deportation


Umm Isa and Mariam
Photo Source: Dar al-Masih
 THERE is no reciprocity in Islam. While Muslims DEMANDED their rights to worhip in Western and Democratic Countries, non-Muslims in Islamic states face CONTINEOUS persecution. Muslism in the West are silent. Islamophobia or Islamization?

14 OFWs* nabbed for 'forbidden' worship in Saudi

MANILA, Philippines, PhilStar – A total of 14 overseas Filipino workers were among 100 expatriates apprehended by Saudi cultural police during a religious service in an undisclosed place, a migrant rights group based in the Middle East said.

Migrante-Middle East regional coordinator John Leonard Monterona said there were two OFWs who have called him on separate occasions last Saturday morning informing him of the said incident.

Monterona said both OFWs, who have requested not to be named, were asking assistance, specifically in working for the release of their fellow OFWs who were among those apprehended.

Monterona said based on the information given to him by the OFW callers, their fellow OFW friends attended a “Christian religious” service on Friday, when all of a sudden a number of Saudi cultural police went through the place where they are performing a religious worship.

“The OFW callers pleaded for help for their detained companions, particularly to get them released from jail,” Monterona added.

Based on the information provided to him, Monterona said there are about a 100 expatriates of various nationalities, including 14 OFWs, who have attended the “prohibited” religious worship.

Conducting religious activities other than Islam is prohibited in Saudi Arabia and in most of the Middle-Eastern countries.

However, there are Born Again Christian groups and other similar religious groups that are clandestinely performing religious activities even if it is strictly banned by the host government.

“We would like to remind our fellow OFWs to respect the cultural prohibitions imposed by the host country specifically performing religious worship other than Islam; we are ‘foreigners’ of third class category here in Saudi,” Monterona said.

“To avoid getting into trouble like this one, our fellow OFWs must be cautious and must have a ‘sense of extra care’ especially in Saudi Arabia which has been known to be strictly implementing its cultural laws not only to their own nationals but as well as to expatriates or foreign workers including OFWs*,” he added.
--------------------------------
OFW = Overseas Filipino Workers

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Fear Stalks Muslim Apostates in the West

by David J. Rusin
David J. Rusin is a research associate at Islamist Watch and a Philadelphia-based editor for Pajamas Media. He holds a Ph.D. in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Pennsylvania. Please feel free to contact him at rusin@meforum.org.

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Persuading Western Muslim leaders to repudiate Shari'a-sanctioned violence against apostates can be a frustrating exercise, as Prince Charles discovered in 2004. Troubled by the treatment of Muslims who convert to Christianity in Islamic nations, the prince convened a summit of senior figures from both religious communities. It ended in disappointment. The Islamic representatives failed to issue a declaration condemning the practice, which the Christians had requested; they also cautioned non-Muslims not to discuss such matters in public, arguing that moderates would be more likely to make progress if the debate were kept internal.

Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, the outspoken Anglican prelate of Rochester, attended the meeting but rejected their advice. While continuing to highlight the perils faced by those who leave Islam in countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran, he now has turned his focus to the harassment of apostates in the West. Last year the bishop warned that a convert could die in Britain unless prominent Muslims affirm the right of all people to change their faith. There have been few takers, despite the dire need for this message: a poll indicates that 36% of younger British Muslims believe death to be an appropriate punishment for renouncing Islam.

Their views are grounded in Shari'a law. All major schools of Islamic jurisprudence stipulate that a sane adult male must be put to death for abandoning Islam, though varying interpretations persist on whether females should be killed or merely imprisoned. Many Islamic states outlaw apostasy and seven list it as a capital offense. However, freelancers such as angry relatives present the greatest danger to ex-Muslims, as Sunni and Shiite scholars largely agree that Shari'a empowers individuals to punish converts. This tradition has followed Muslims to the Western world.

Salman Rushdie, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and other high-profile apostates have brought needed attention to the risks that ex-Muslims encounter, even in liberal democracies. Pope Benedict XVI recently underscored the plight of this vulnerable population by baptizing the Italian journalist and former Muslim Magdi Allam on the most public of stages: Easter Vigil mass at the Vatican. Having suffered threats for opposing Islamic fundamentalism, Allam now speculates that he will endure "another death sentence for apostasy."

Ordinary Muslim apostates face similar fears, which were palpable when Christian converts from Islam met in Virginia four years ago at the first Muslim Background Believers Convention. One woman admitted that she had not yet told her family about embracing a new faith. "I know they're going to disown me," she said, "if they don't kill me." Another relayed that her brothers were not speaking to her because she had married an American. "Can you imagine what they would do if they found out I was a Christian?"

For other ex-Muslims, the intimidation is far more concrete. Khaled emigrated from Iraq to the Netherlands, hoping to freely practice his new religion; instead he receives death threats from Islamists. Sofia was beaten and told by her father that she deserves to die; she ultimately was thrown out of their London house. Hannah, the daughter of a British imam, has changed residences forty-plus times since converting to Christianity; she went underground in 1994 when her home was attacked by a horde of men that included her father, whom she describes as "shouting through the letter box, 'I'm going to kill you.'" In April Dutch politician Ehsan Jami announced that he is closing down his Central Committee for Ex-Muslims after less than a year of operation because people are too scared to join.

Aiding apostates begins with acknowledging what endangers them: the prescription of death under Shari'a law. Yet Islamist lobby groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations labor to obscure the facts. During the diplomatic crisis that centered on Abdul Rahman, a convert to Christianity who faced capital punishment in "liberated" Afghanistan two years ago, CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper initially shrugged, "We haven't dealt with that issue." Once media interest in the story had made silence untenable, CAIR released a statement claiming that "Islamic scholars say the original rulings on apostasy were similar to those for treasonous acts in legal systems worldwide and do not apply to an individual's choice of religion."

Other leading Western Muslims justify, or even promote, the punishment of apostates. For example, Syed Mumtaz Ali, president of the Canadian Society of Muslims, argues that freedom of religion implies the ability to be governed by one's religious laws. From this he concludes that, in the spirit of "tolerance," Canada must allow Muslims to discipline people who abandon the faith. He does grant that these penalties would not necessarily include death, but one may wonder whether his position is just a matter of expediency. After all, he surely recognizes that multiculturalism has its limits.

Given the prevailing climate, Bishop Nazir-Ali has called for governments to do more to protect former Muslims. However, it is clear that many officials are too swayed by political correctness to comprehend the dangers associated with leaving Islam. This sad reality is demonstrated by the case of Nissar Hussein, a British citizen and Christian convert. When he reported to police that locals had threatened to burn down his home, he says he was told to "stop being a crusader and move to another place."

Intimidation of ex-Muslims has not succeeded in dissuading Christian missionaries from going about their usual business, even when they themselves face bullying in Islamist-heavy neighborhoods. Nazir-Ali recently stirred controversy by chiding the Church of England for its oversensitivity toward Muslims. He recommends more proselytization instead. At the Global Anglican Future Conference in Jerusalem on June 24, he observed that "just as Muslims have a right to invite others to join Islam, Christians have a right to invite others to Jesus."

His statement reflects the thriving marketplace of religious ideas that has characterized the West for several centuries. Yet the perils suffered by Muslim apostates offer a powerful reminder that upholding such freedoms demands vigilance. How our societies respond to this challenge will help set the parameters of freedom in the twenty-first century by determining whether fundamental rights truly are guaranteed for all.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Algerian Christians Acquitted of Eating During Ramadan

ISTANBUL (Compass Direct News) – An Algerian court on Tuesday acquitted two Christian men of eating during Ramadan in spite of a prosecutor’s demand that they be punished for “insulting Islam.”

Authorities arrested Salem Fellak and Hocine Hocini on Aug. 12 for eating lunch on a private construction site where they were working. Ramadan, Islam’s month of fasting during daylight hours, started this year on Aug. 11.

The incident took place in Ain El-Hammam, a town in the province of Tizi Ouzou about 150 kilometers (93 miles) east of the Algerian capital. Tizi Ouzou is part of Kabylie, an area of Algeria where the country’s Protestant church has grown with relative freedom in recent years.

Officers at a nearby police station saw the two men eating and confronted them for not fasting. When police realized the two men were Christians, they accused them of insulting Islam, according to local French-language press reports.

“I do not apologize for anything, and I regret nothing,” Fellak said before the verdict, according to Dernieres Nouvelles d’Algerie. “I have the right to not fast. I am a Christian, and until found guilty, the Algerian constitution guarantees respect for individual freedoms.”

The Algerian Constitution gives the right to all citizens to practice their faith, although it declares Islam the state religion and prohibits institutions from behavior incompatible with Islamic morality. Proposing other faiths to Muslims is also forbidden.

After police arrested Hocini and Fellak, authorities interrogated them for two hours and “admonished” them, according to a French-language news site. Authorities took them to court, where a state prosecutor questioned them. When the men explained to her that they were Christians, she said that Algeria was a Muslim country with no room for Christians and that they should leave the country, according to a local news site.

On Tuesday, however, the judge at the court in Ain El Hamman dismissed the case since “no article [of law] provided for a legal pursuit” against the two Christians, according to the BBC.

A small group of Christians standing on the steps of the courthouse reportedly shouted “Hallelujah!” when they heard the outcome of the case. After the verdict, Fellak said he was happy and that he had done nothing wrong, according to Reuters.

Local media also reported cases of Muslim Algerians arrested for eating during Ramadan.

Worshiping without Permit

The charges against the two Christians and a case of four Christians on trial for worshiping without a permit in Tizi Ouzou Province have some wondering what has caused authorities to turn their attention to this small community.

This Sunday, the four men will appear in court for holding Christian meetings at a residence without permission. One of the men, Mahmoud Yahou, has told a local newspaper, “This story concerns all Christians in our country. We are a community intimidated around the country.”

Yahou cited other recent cases of persecution, including that of Habiba Kouider, who in 2008 was tried for practicing Christianity “without a license.” Her case is still pending. Another Christian, Rachid Muhammad Essaghir, has three court cases against him, all in appeals process since 2008.

In most cases, Christians have been charged under a presidential decree from February 2006 that restricts religious worship to government approved buildings. The decree, known as Ordinance 06-03, also outlaws any attempt to convert Muslims to another faith.

“This law of 2006 is contradictory to the constitution,” said a regional researcher who requested anonymity. “It creates a gray zone in which the government and police have room to act against the church. This law gives permission to the government to condemn believers for their faith or illegal worship even if the constitution guarantees religious freedom.”

Also in Tizi Ouzou city, church leaders who were expanding their building to fit their growing congregation received a letter in August from the governor of the province ordering them to stop all construction and demolish the extension.

Algerian Christians and observers say that the two court cases, along with the order to the Tizi Ouzou church to cease expansion of their building, are unusual because they happened in such a short span of time and because the region is regarded as more tolerant of Christianity.

“Perhaps a new wave of persecution is coming,” said the regional researcher. “It’s difficult to know, but in a few weeks we encountered a few problems.”

An Algerian church leader told Compass the government is finding more subtle ways to pressure Christians.

“I think they don’t want to do anything openly,” said the leader, who requested anonymity. “So they are using opportunities they can find, like not giving authorization to build the church in Tizi Ouzou, [and the men] not fasting during Ramadan.”

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Young Muslims offer flowers to Christian clergymen in goodwill gesture

AMMAN (The Jordan Times) - A group of young Muslims on Monday offered flowers to Christian clergymen in Amman as a gesture of “peace and coexistence” against the backdrop of a Florida pastor’s recent threat to burn copies of the Koran.

“Shall we burn a copy of the Bible as a response to that? No, this is not what should be done,” Zeid Oweidi told reporters at the Greek Orthodox Church in Abdali yesterday.

Following Al Asr (afternoon) prayers at the King Abdullah I Mosque, Oweidi and a group of 10 people walked to the nearby church, where they greeted the clergymen and other congregation members with bouquets of flowers.

The gesture sought to reaffirm the state of interfaith coexistence in Jordan, he said, adding that Pastor Terry Jones’ plans to burn 20 copies of Islam’s holy book will not affect the “strong” relations between followers of the two religions in the Kingdom, where Christians constitute around 5 per cent of the population.

Oweidi said some Muslim clerics opposed his initiative, but he insisted on going through with it, because “we believe in the positive effect and the peaceful message behind what we are doing”.

Several churches in the country have issued statements over the past week condemning plans by Jones, head of the Florida-based Dove World Outreach Centre, to burn copies of the Koran on Saturday, the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in the US.

Last week, the extremist preacher announced the plan was suspended following conflicting reports about him reaching a deal with New York’s Muslim community not to construct an Islamic centre near Ground Zero.

Jones’ plan was met with protests across the Muslim world, with thousands of people in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries staging demonstrations.

Many in the US also protested against the plan, while President Barack Obama and other officials warned it would place American soldiers and diplomats abroad at risk.

The Vatican has also described the plan as an “outrageous and grave gesture”.

In the Amman ceremony yesterday, Economos Constantine Karmash slammed Jones’ “out of tune” behaviour.

“A [Christian] clergyman should believe God’s stricture to ‘love thy neighbour as thyself’,” he said

Monday, September 13, 2010

Burn the Koran or the Constitution

[Source: Sultan Knish Blog] - The media's coverage of the 9th anniversary of the Muslim murder of 3,000 people was overshadowed by their panicked coverage of the possibility that Terry Jones, the pastor of a tiny Florida church, might actually burn the Koran. Last week Newsweek ran Fareed Zakaria's piece insisting that Americans overreacted to 9/11. So instead the media showed us where their priorities lie, by shortchanging the dead, ignoring their killers and instead turning the pastor of a small Florida church into a villain for even talking about the possibility of torching a book, whose contents helped inspire 9/11. It's as if on Holocaust Memorial Day, the key topic of discussion was not the murder of 6,000,000 Jews, but a protester who wanted to get his Bic lighter close to Mein Kampf.

In the weeks leading up to the anniversary, the media had been sanctimoniously lecturing Americans that their sensitivities regarding Ground Zero were irrelevant in the face of a Muslim desire to put up a massive and completely unnecessary Islamic complex in the area. Constitutional freedoms, real or imagined, trumped any sensitivities. But when a Gainesville pastor proposed returning a couple of copies of the Koran back to the environment by way of lighter fluid, suddenly freedom of speech and freedom of religion, and all that other stuff created by dead white men before the age of Walter Kronkite and CNN, were irrelevant in face of Muslim sensitivities.

Time Magazine and USA Today both ran polls asking whether burning the Koran should be criminalized as a hate crime. CNN gave a forum to a Dr. Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri to argue that burning a Koran would have been worse than 9/11 and warned that such actions "should be stopped by the U.S. government at any cost". Now Dr. Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri shows in his article that while he may not know the difference between "principal" and "principle", or "ensure" and "insure", he understands exactly how to push for the imposition of the horrifying barbarity of Islamic Sharia law in America.

In Dr. Qadri's own words: "any act of an individual or group which... hurts the feelings of 1.5 billion Muslim should be stopped at any cost." There are no details of just what "any cost" would imply, but certainly Dr. Qadri argues that Freedom of Speech cannot be used to protect anything that offends Muslims. And since just about everything from eating on Ramadan to liquor in taxi cabs to ice cream cones that look like Allah, has been known to offend Muslims, that means for September 11 you can kiss freedom goodbye. Or risk offending 1.5 billion Muslims. And we know what happens every time you offend the peaceful worshipers of the Religion of Peace. Riots, murder, terrorism and of course burning the American flag.

The same media which has consistently opposed a Constitutional amendment that bans flag burning (generally because they tend to agree with the flag burners), has now decided that burning the Koran should be a crime. Because burning the flag or killing thousands of Americans is no big deal-- but burning a Koran, someone should make a law about that.

Given a choice between burning the US Constitution or burning the Koran-- the media happily raises a lighter to the First Amendment. To them nothing American is sacred, but everything Islamic is.

Their defense of the Ground Zero Mosque was never about the Constitution. It was about kowtowing to the morally superior victims of American imperialism, starving in Dubai or Islamabad. If it helps them make their case to the people they think of as "The Great Unwashed", still clinging to their guns and religion, they will invoke the Constitution or the Magna Carta or an instruction manual from IKEA. From Obama on down, centuries of ideas about self-government are nothing but toys that they keep in the attic and bring out whenever particularly dull company comes over. They don't believe in self-government themselves. That is something they have in common with their brethren ruling with an iron fist beneath the sickle and hammer, or the crescent and star. Ideas, not the referendum or a national legacy of rights and responsibilities, are their source of political power. What the people and the law have to say about it, doesn't matter.

And so we come down to the ugly choice. Burning the Koran or burning the Constitution. The left has already made its choice. You can walk down the streets of Europe's greatest cities and see what remains of centuries of national struggle, republican ambitions and millions dying so that their language and their culture might have the shelter of a nation of their own. Now America is being presented with the same option. Touch your head to the floor or risk offending 1.5 billion Muslims. And what is the value of freedom compared to the feelings of a bunch of followers of Mohammed, with a long string of zeroes trailing after them around the globe.

It isn't about whether burning someone else's sacred book is right or wrong. To appease Muslim sensitivities, the US military burned a large number of Christian bibles last year. The same media which is panting breathlessly at the notion that anybody would dare use a holy book for kindling, smiled approvingly then. Because the issue isn't about burning anyone's holy books, but offending Muslims. That is the one law we are left with, after all the others have been tossed into the fire. Thou Shalt Not Enrage the Mohammedan.

What offends Muslims is anyone who disobeys their laws. And if our laws are to always defer to their sensitivities, then that means we have replaced the United States Constitution... with the Koran.

The media has put on a show of being concerned about US troops as outraged murderous members of the Religion of Peace might try to kill US soldiers in the full fury of their peacefulness, but if the media hadn't focused attention on the story, how would all those peaceful bearded types in Pakistan have even known about the Koran burning? In 2005, Newsweek falsely reported that American personnel in Gitmo had flushed a Koran. There was no actual truth to the report, but still 15 people died in the rioting. Yet the smug blond talking head on CNN who berated Terry Jones for "having blood on his hands", did not accuse Newsweek of having blood on their hands, even though they actually did. Just as there are no "blood on their hands" accusations for the media outlets who broadcast the heavily edited Wikileaks tape, or any of the Bin Laden videos, or leaked sensitive information about US military operation.

Dead US soldiers, like the Constitution, are only of interest when they're a handy talking point. If dead US soldiers were of interest to the media or General Petraeus, perhaps there might be some interest in just how many US soldiers have died in Afghanistan because they were denied proper aerial support or the right to fire on their assailants under McChrystal and Petraeus's Rules of Engagement, which put the focus on appeasing Muslims, over the lives of American boys on the front line.

But like the Constitution, the bodies of American soldiers must burn, in the name of Muslim sensitivities.

In 1987, the National Endowment for the Arts partially funded Piss Christ, an image of a crucifix in urine. Two decades later in 2007, a Koran in a Pace University toilet triggered a 10 month investigation (in New York City, few murder cases are investigated half that long) and finally led to the arrest of one Stanislav Shmulevich on Hate Crime charges. Piss Christ, you see is a work of art. But Piss Koran is a hate crime. Similarly burning the Christian Bible soothes Muslim sensitivities. Burning the Koran inflames them. Killing US soldiers makes Muslims feel good. Killing Muslim terrorists inflames their sensitivities.

The Pace University case, in which a Muslim NYPD detective was assigned to pursue a student for a violation of Muslim law, served as a warning that the media chatter at Time, USA Today and CNN about making burning the Koran into a hate crime should not be taken lightly. Under the Constitution, burning the Koran is completely legal. But the Islamists and their Leftist allies have no regard for the Constitution. No more than they do for the lives of US soldiers or the dead at Ground Zero. They prefer Islamic law, with all its concomitant tyranny and brutality, over the freedoms and values of Americans.

Why do the hate the Constitution of ours so much? Because it is premised on legal equality and self-government, two sets of values anathema to the left and Islam. Under Islamic law, Christians, Jews, Hindus and all others are inferior to Muslims. Women are inferior to men. Koranic experts are superior to ordinary Muslims. First wives are superior to second wives. And so on it goes, a pyramid of discrimination and segregation, sanctioned and approved by Allah, Mohammed and Islam.

Under Islamic law, the sensitivities of Muslims trump the rights of non-Muslims. That is why in the Muslim world, no church or synagogue was allowed to be taller than a mosque. The Twin Towers which dared to be one of the world's tallest buildings, had to be knocked down to make way for Muslim skyscrapers in Dubai and Malaysia. Such is the arrogance and brutality of the Islamic worldview. And such are the horrors that it gives birth to.

Today at Ground Zero, a man did burn the Koran. He gave no interviews, only to say; "Americans should never be afraid to give their opinion". Such a view is not favored by Islam and the Liberal media, which is very determined that people should be afraid to give their opinions. And this last week has been a tremendous exercise in just that. In intimidating Americans. In intimidating America itself, with the threat of 1.5 billion Muslim sensitivities inflamed into a killing rage. Yet again.

But these handful of pages from the Koran were not the first thing burned at Ground Zero. Nine years ago, thousands of human beings were burned alive in the name of the Koran at this place. Pages from their books, their Rolodexes, their memos and their family photographs flew burning into the air, taking wing over the city and drifting down to the place where Imam Rauf and his gang of grinning henchmen would like to erect their symbol of contempt for the dead. The Muslim world did not tremble at the sensitivities of 300 million Americans when they burned 3,000 people at this spot. Like Fareed Zakaria, they either did not care, or they grinned in triumph, and danced in the streets.

Now when the moderate Muslims crawl out of their sewers to warn us that burning the Koran will lead to murder-- all they manage to do is show off their sick and hateful values. A value system that places a higher priority on printed pages than on the lives of non-Muslims. Such a value system cannot and must not be allowed to impose its will on the people of a free nation. Not on this sacred day, and not on any day. Ever.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Saint Joseph Abbey, et al. v. Castille, et al.


Challenging Louisiana's Casket Cartel (Source: Institute for Justice)

Can the government restrict economic liberty just to enrich a group of politically favored insiders?

That’s the question the Institute for Justice and its client, Saint Joseph Abbey of St. Benedict, La., have taken to federal court in challenging the constitutionality of Louisiana’s outrageous requirement that the monks of the Abbey must be licensed as funeral directors and convert their monastery into a licensed funeral home in order to sell their handmade wooden casket.

Under Louisiana law, it is a crime for anyone but a licensed funeral director to sell “funeral merchandise,” which includes caskets. To sell caskets legally, the monks would have to abandon their calling for one full year to apprentice at a licensed funeral home, learn unnecessary skills and take a funeral industry test. They would also have to convert their monastery into a “funeral establishment” by, among other things, installing equipment for embalming human remains.

Abbot Brown (Photo Credit: Institute for Justice)
On August 12, 2010, the Institute for Justice teamed up with the monks of Saint Joseph Abbey to file a federal constitutional lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana to vindicate their right to earn an honest living. In a time of 10 percent unemployment and widespread economic pessimism, this case raises one of today’s most important constitutional questions: May the government restrict economic liberty just to enrich a group of politically favored insiders such as licensed funeral directors?

One of the freedoms we enjoy as Americans is the right to earn an honest living in the occupation of our choice without arbitrary government interference. Louisiana’s casket licensing law violates that right.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Catholic Church in Malaysia grows, despite Islamic pressure

by Jeremy Lim
In the Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu, Catholics are nearly 10% of the population. Many churches increase the number of Masses to cope with the influx of the faithful. Islam is spreading at a faster speed, especially due to social pressure: non-Muslims are considered inferior.

Kota Kinabalu (AsiaNews) - Catholic community in the Archdiocese of Kota Kinabalu, capital of Sabah, is growing where the faithful are now more than 180 thousand, nearly 10% of the population. Sabah is one of 13 states of Malaysia and is situated in the northern part of Borneo.

Many churches have increased the number of Sunday Masses, to cope with the influx of the faithful. The church of Stella Maris, for example, decided to celebrate on Sunday a third function in Bahasa Melayu, the local language, along with two others in English.

Leonard Chin, faithful of the parish, told AsiaNews that "the Catholic population is growing steadily, albeit slowly. We have built new churches and at Easter 80 people were baptized in a parish that has 5 thousand faithful”.

Alongside the Catholic community, Islam is also spreading: "There are two reasons - Chin continues - for which Muslims are growing more rapidly. On one side they have more children, one the other many members the Kazadan ethnic group, who have been Catholic since the arrival of missionaries in the 19th century, converted for political reasons”.

In Malaysia, the state religion is Islam, religious freedom is guaranteed by the Constitution, although there are several violations of this right. In fact, says Chin, "many people are inclined to convert to Islam" because of social pressure that is brought to bear on non-Muslims, who are considered inferior.

Out of a population of 23 million inhabitants, 60.4% in Malaysia are Muslims and only 9.1% are Christians, mostly Catholics. The vast majority of those living on the island of Borneo where the State of Sabah is located.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

A Common Friend to Both: Visit with Melkite Archbishop Chacour in the Holy Land

(Thanks to CatholicOnline)

By Deal W. Hudson, Ph.D
8/10/2010

Archbishop Elias Chacour of
the Melkite Catholic Church in Israel.

JERUSALEM (Inside Catholic) - Archbishop Elias Chacour of the Melkite Catholic Church in Israel is a remarkable man. Nominated several times for the Nobel Peace Prize, the author of three books on religion, and now in his early 70s, he's an internationally recognized leader in the effort to find a peaceful solution to the hostilities between Jews and Arabs.

"We don't need anyone else to become the enemy of the Jews or the Arabs," he told us. "We need people to become the common friend of both."

He kindly received our small group at his residence in Haifa and spoke with us for well over an hour. "Why are you here?" he asked with a smile. By the time we'd left, we all had a better idea of how to answer that question.

Chacour was eight years old when the Israeli soldiers entered his Palestinian village in 1948, the year of Israel's founding. The village of Biram is in the region of Galilee near Nazareth. His father had prepared a banquet for the soldiers -- he fed them and they slept in the family's beds. After enjoying the hospitality, the soldiers ordered everyone to leave the village; their land and homes were being "annexed."

The residents fled up into the adjacent hills and lived for several weeks until a group of the village fathers ventured back to ask if they could return. The men wouldn't return for months. Eventually the fathers, including Chacour's, found their way back to the families living in the hills near their confiscated village. The men had been put into trucks and taken to the other side of the West Bank, dropped off, and told never to return. They walked through Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon to rejoin their families.

The Palestinians took their case to the Israeli Supreme Court, which ruled three times in their favor . . . only to have the military continue to block their homecoming. Finally, in 1952, they descended the hills to return to their houses, only to watch Israeli bombers level the town in front of their eyes.

"My father told all his children never to hate, never to seek retribution," the archbishop said, choking back the strong emotions he obviously still felt from that experience so many years ago.

Chacour was the only one of the four sons to become a priest, thus fulfilling his father's fervent wish. He studied in Paris for six years, returned to Galilee, and became a parish priest in a small village much like the one he was born in. His book Blood Brothers, first published in 1984, brought Chacour into the public eye leading to his appointment as archbishop (archimandrite) in 2001.

Before we left, I asked "Abuna," as he is also called, if he had a personal message I could record for Catholics in the United States. You can find it here: YouTube.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Swedish Muslims Attacked a Cartoonist

It's Religious sensitivities vs. Freedom of Speech.

This is just a few example of clash between Democracy and Intolerance. In Sweden, a cartoonist was attacked by Muslims.

But who's overly sensitive to such issues? Christians do not have to fear about those who insult Jesus Christ. Two thousand years ago, he was not only disrespected but humiliated, falsely accused, condemned and put to death but after three days, he rose again.

And because of that humiliation he received, he was esteemed by more than 2/3 of the entire population on earth and has changed the entire history of mankind. God is God. His power alone can humiliate those who humiliate him, he can cause death to anyone, NOT US!

Thanks to JihadWatch.org. We can determine how much freedom is left in Europe for such insult to Islam's prophet could provoke violence. If no one steps up, soon Europe's freedom will be gone.

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