Tag: Christians

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Islamists Nearly Wipe Out Christians in Syrian City

 

 

  • (Photo: YouTube via The Christian Post)

    (Photo: YouTube via The Christian Post)

    Violence in the city of Homs.

 

CHURCH & MINISTRIES

TD Jakes: We Are Born Forgiving in Nature; Unforgiveness Is Learned

TD Jakes

Contrary to popular opinion, forgiveness is innate and unforgiveness is learned …

OPINION

Caring for Spiritual Orphans: Elephants in Our Midst

students

Over the past few years the desire and drive to place orphan care and adoption …

COLUMN

‘GCB’ on TV Equals ‘Gaudy Christless Boredom’

Kristin Chenoweth

What do you get when a television network attempts to make a mockery of Jesus …

CHURCH & MINISTRIES

SBC’s ‘Start-a-Church Sunday’ Reminds Christians to Do Just That

There are currently more than 45,000 Southern Baptist churches across the …

By Anugrah Kumar , Christian Post Contributor

March 24, 2012|1:04 pm

While the world is raising concerns over rights abuses by anti-government forces in Syria’s ongoing violent conflict, few would even know that militant Islamists have expelled the majority of Christians from the western city of Homs, according to the country’s largest church.

The Catholic news agency Fides says it has received a note from the Syrian Orthodox Church, which represents 60 percent of the Christians in Syria, about "an ongoing ethnic cleansing of Christians" by members of the a militant Islamist outfit, Brigade Faruq, which has links with al-Qaida.

The militants have expelled 90 percent of Christians in Homs, which has faced the brunt of violence related to the uprising, and grabbed their homes, it said. They went door to door in the neighborhoods of Hamidiya and Bustan al-Diwan forcing Christians to flee without giving them the chance to take their belongings, it added.

Syria has witnessed protests against the government as part of the wider Arab Spring since last January.

About 10 percent of Syria’s 23 million people are estimated to be Christians, who have generally supported President Bashar Assad, a Muslim from a Shiite offshoot who is autocratic but protects religious minorities. On the other hand, the majority of the Muslims in Syria are Sunni.

Homs had a large population of Christians, and Muslims from the Alawite sect to which the president belongs.

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On the local Islamist group’s association with al-Qaida and militants from Libya and Iraq, Giuseppe Nazzaro, the Vicar Apostolic of Syria’s largest city of Aleppo, was quoted as saying, "We have no sources to confirm this information directly, but we can say that these relationships are beginning to break down the wall of silence built up to now by the press worldwide. In this situation Islamist and terrorist movements are making headway."

The Christian minority is being targeted in other cities as well. Last Sunday, the Vicar recalled, a car bomb exploded in the vicinity of the school of the Franciscan fathers in Aleppo. "By a miracle a massacre of children was avoided, at the Center of catechesis of the Church of St. Bonaventure: only because the Franciscan, sensing danger, made the children leave 15 minutes before the usual time."

There were also explosions in Damascus. "These are bad signs for religious minorities," the Vicar said. However, he added, "I am confident that peace can return: for this we Christians count on constant praying."

Some Jesuits who have decided to stay in the city are giving a "heroic witness," promising to bring comfort and humanitarian aid to people in need, the agency said.

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Jewish Extremists Threaten Christians, Muslims at Jerusalem Peace School

 

Vandals Reportedly Write ‘Death to Christians,’ ‘Holocaust for Arabs’ at Two Faith Sites

Jerusalem as seen from the Mount of Olives

 

 

 

 

  • Ramadan in Jerusalem

    (Photo: AP Images / Bernat Armangue)

    The Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest site and known by Jews as Temple Mount, is seen through festive lights for Ramadan in Jerusalem, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2009.

Ed Young on ‘Sexperiment’ and Why His Preaching Style Is Not Gimmicky

Ed Young, pastor of Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas, hosts the 2012 C3 conference.

Ed Young, founding and senior pastor of Fellowship Church, has drawn …

OPINION

Obamacare and the Catholic Church: It Isn’t About Birth Control!

bishops

This has nothing to do with the Catholic Church’s doctrinal stand on …

WOMEN

Women Should Stop Sleeping With George Clooney Types, Says Author

George Clooney

Nationally syndicated columnist Betsy Hart is being blunt with women: stop …

OPINION

‘We Try to Respect Religious Beliefs’ – Mr. Kristof Rewrites the Constitution

lone wolf

Nicholas Kristof writes movingly and urgently of human rights violations all …

By Stoyan Zaimov , Christian Post Reporter

February 13, 2012|6:20 pm

Both a Christian monastery and a peace school in Jerusalem set up to improve ties between Arab and Jewish children were targets of extremists who wrote hate speech on the facilities’ walls in separate incidents last week, calling for the death of Christians and a "holocaust" for Arabs.

"Death to Christians" was written at a Jerusalem Christian monastery, an 11th-century holy site situated in a valley overlooking the Israeli parliament, while "Death to Arabs" and "Shoah [Holocaust] for the Arabs" was spray painted at a bilingual children’s school. Police are still investigating to determine whether the attacks were carried out by the same group of people, but all evidence points to Jewish extremists.

"Kahane was right" was another inscription found on the walls at the school, U.K. publication the Independent reported. The inscription is reportedly a reference to an ultra-right wing rabbi whose movement, Kach, was barred from contesting Israeli elections in 1988 and listed by the US State Department as a terrorist organization in 2002.

Max Rayne Hand in Hand Jerusalem School, which is the only one of its kind in the city, was opened in 2007 with a vision of bringing together two divided communities by helping Muslim and Jewish children learn together in the same classrooms. The vandalism incidents are being called a "price tag" attack, or retribution against the Israeli government for trying to curb Jewish settlements in the area.

"It (the school) has been a huge success and these radicals don’t know how to handle this reality. It is very hurtful to see this graffiti, it is not just against Muslims but against Jews, against everyone. It puts a strain on democracy but it will make our group bigger and stronger," said Paz Cohen, the Jewish joint chairman of Max Rayne Hand in Hand.

"It wasn’t just written here, where young children from the ages 3 to 18 study together in coexistence, for no reason. We are trying to digest these horrifying inscriptions," added Nadia Knani, the school’s principal.

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"I am a priest and I forgive," was the only thing Father Claudio of the Orthodox Christian monastery could say, Haaretz.com reported.

David Nekrutman, Executive Director at the Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding and Cooperation in Efrat, Israel, spoke with The Christian Post about the incident, offering an overview of bipartisan relations in Israel.

"There are other schools with Jews and Arabs learning together in Israel, though you will find them more in the northern parts, where communities are integrated better," Nekrutman said. "There are over one million Arabs, mostly Muslims, living in Israel, who are residents or full citizens. The other six million people are Jews."

The CJCUC executive director said that schools like Max Rayne Hand in Hand are unique because they are also developing inter-faith programs and the students learn both in Hebrew and Arabic.

"There are extremists in every country – but to do an act like this needs to be condemned by religious figures. The Christian (or Muslim) community should not be targeted in this way – if this were to happen in America with the Jewish community being targeted, it would be called anti-Semitism," he said of the vandal attack.

He continued, "Incidents like this do not happen very often – but when they do happen, you have to make sure they are nipped in the bud.

"For Israel to remain a strong Jewish and democratic country, these attacks born only out of bigotry and extremism must be stopped. We call on Jews everywhere – both religious and non-religious–to fight extremism and hatred, which desecrate God’s Holy Name."

"The God of Israel is the God of life and love, not a God of violence and hatred," a statement by the CJCUC added.

Jerusalem continues to be radically divided on certain other issues, such as the Biblical Temple Mount, which is said by some Christian Bible scholars to be the site where all the nations will gather to worship when the Messiah returns.

The Temple Mount has been one of the most hotly disputed religious sites for the past few centuries and has been one of the main points of tension between Israel and Palestine, as both Jewish and Muslim authorities have been locked in a stalemate over what to do with what is believed to be a temple visited by the presence of God. It is currently under the authority of Islam officials, and remains closed off to members of all others faiths, despite protests by Jews.

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Boko Haram Using Terror to Drive Christians From Nigeria

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President Goodluck Jonathan Called on to Do More to Protect Vulnerable Communities

By Luiza Oleszczuk | Christian Post Reporter

The president of the Christian Association of Nigeria has suggested that Muslim extremists, specifically al-Qaida-linked Boko Haram, are not simply trying to push Christians out of the mostly-Muslim northern areas, but are actually using violence in an effort to expel believers from the country altogether.

  • A member of the clergy guides security forces through the scene of a car bomb explosion at St. Theresa Catholic Church at Madalla, Suleja, just outside Nigeria's capital Abuja, December 25, 2011.

    (Reuters/Afolabi Sotunde)

    A member of the clergy guides security forces through the scene of a car bomb explosion at St. Theresa Catholic Church at Madalla, Suleja, just outside Nigeria’s capital Abuja, December 25, 2011.

Nigeria has been suffering from religious violence for years, with attacks often occurring during the Christmasseason. At least three dozen people were killed in a string of bombings last month. Since December, more than 80 Christians have been killed by radical Muslims, according to the International Christian Concern (ICC), an advocacy group. In addition, the violence has also spread to southern Nigeria, where Muslims and their places of worship have been attacked in apparent retaliation for the killing of Christians in the north.

Jerry Dykstra, Media Relations Director at Open Doors USA, told CP Tuesday that Christians have been feeling increased pressure to take revenge. His organization fights Christian persecution worldwide.

"The pastors there have tried to quiet that especially among the young people. Unfortunately, Christians have retaliated. I guess it’s a matter of what would you do if your church was attacked and your family was murdered?" he said.

Most recently, a mosque and an Islamic school were burned down in the southern Nigerian city of Benin on Jan. 10. Five people were reportedly killed and six were injured in violence in the city, but reports have not specified the identities of the victims.

Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, CAN’s president, decried the Nigerian government’s failure to protect Christians from attacks and accused some security agents of taking sides.

"The security agencies are polarized along religious lines," he said. "Even when the security agents have information (concerning security measures to be taken against Boko Haram), some of them pass the information to these criminals. This is because some of the security agents are more loyal to their religion (Islam) than to Nigeria as a nation."

It also emerged Wednesday that the man believed to be behind the deadly Christmas bombings managed to escape authorities after being captured.

"I think some people are trying to change the demographics on [the] ground; to do everything to move them out of the North," the church leader said, insisting that politics were at play. Oritsejafor claimed that Muslim politicians were sponsoring young people – members of Boko Haram – to do the killings.

That concern was confirmed by ICC’s religious manager, Jonathan Racho, who told CP that even President Goodluck Jonathan suspects his government has been infiltrated by Muslim extremists.

Jonathan has been facing mounting criticism for not providing adequate protection for the nation’s Christian community. Oritsejafor addressed his president in the interview: "You must muster the political will to make strong decisions. Any of the heads of the security agencies that are not performing, you should remove."

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has also found evidence to support the charge that President Jonathan could do more to protect vulnerable Christians and other citizens that have found themselves under attack.

"The United States must vigorously press the Nigerians to address the violence through law enforcement and prosecutions, such as during meetings of the U.S.-Nigeria Bi-National Commission," the organization’s chair, Leonard Leo said recently.

Open Doors listed Nigeria 13th on its list of nations in which Christians are most persecuted. A solution to the problem may start with Muslim-Christian cooperation, Dykstra said, but the terror sect will not be stomped out until Jonathan’s government takes greater control of the situation.

"I think Goodluck Jonathan is feeling the pressure and the heat and [Christians should] pray for him to make decisions so that this doesn’t turn into a major civil war," Dykstra said.