Accused falsely of blasphemy a young man dies in Pakistani prison

Shaukat Ali, 35, was imprisoned in 2007 under blasphemy charges. His family rejected the claims of jail and police authorities and said the death may have been caused by some other reason.

LAHORE: A blasphemy convict, said to be mentally challenged, died in Lahore Camp Jail after what police said was a brief ailment.

There have been several incidents in jails where those accused of blasphemy have been killed by inmates.

Hameed Ahmed, father of the deceased, told The Express Tribune that they had no information about his poor health and were shocked by the news of his son’s death. He said it is premature to say anything about the death but that the family was sure that he was not unwell. Read more

PAKISTAN CHRISTIAN SEX SLAVES

One may argue that rape is a phenomenon that affects every society, yet the fact that most women raped in Pakistan come from the mere 2% Christian minority speaks for itself. Moreover, if you go to the links of these anecdotes, you will find that in every single case the Pakistani police either did nothing to apprehend the culprits or, more often, actually helped them while turning against the victims. Even though Pakistan is not a full-blown Sharia state and tries to save face in front of the international infidel–Sharia has nonetheless conditioned even the police to see infidel Christian women as little more than objects of pleasure which Muslim men can violate at will. Read more

Boko Haram kills more Christians and creates refugees

The name says it all

At least 25 Nigerians were killed Sunday night when motorcyclists threw bombs into outdoor beer gardens in the northeastern city of Maiduguri. No group has claimed responsibility yet, but local police say the attack bore the hallmark of the Islamist group Boko Haram.

The attack underscores a deterioration of security in Nigeria’s predominantly Muslim north – particularly since President Goodluck Jonathan, who comes from the mainly Christian south, was inaugurated on May 29. Boko Haram is fighting for the implemention of sharia (Islamic law), including a ban on alcohol, and has demanded an Islamic state.

RELATED: Boko Haram attacks show new range, sophistication 

The Islamist group, which came to prominence in 2009 and is now considered the greatest threat to Nigeria’s security, launched coordinated bombings in three towns after Mr. Jonathan’s inauguration. It also claimed responsibility for a June 16 attack on federal police headquarters in Abuja, the capital, and has attacked clerics, politicians, and soldiers, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports. According to Reuters, attacks now occur almost daily in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State.
More at Christian Science Monitor

Egyptian Christians say they are ‘under organized attack’

A priest whose church was at the centre of sectarian riots at the weekend has said Egyptian Christians were ‘under organised attack’ as religious authorities warned the country was at risk of civil war.Armed troops and riot police guarded the streets around St Mena’s church and nearby burned-out shops and apartment blocks in the impoverished, crumbling Cairo suburb of Imbaba.Inside, Father Cherubim Awad said a conspiracy was the only possible explanation for the violence that had engulfed relations between Christians and Muslims in recent weeks.

“Five churches were attacked on the same night,” he said. “From the beginning of this year we have had all these attacks in a short space of time.There is some hidden hand behind this, whether from inside the country or outside it.”

The street battles, which began on Saturday evening outside his church, demonstrated the breakdown in law and order in parts of Egypt that began during the uprising that overthrew President Hosni Mubarak in February. Read more at UK Telegraph

Islamophobia: is it persecution?

Islamic leaders from all over the world and in the United States claim Westerners are blinded by Islamophobia. William J. Murray examines Islamophobia in the light of the latest mass murders of Christians in Iraq and Egypt.

Religioun of peace bombs church in Alexandria, Eqypt

While Coptic Christians were worshiping at a special New Year’s Eve mass, a follower of the religion of peace set off a  a car bomb in front of the church. Egyptian media reports seven dead, however, the Coptic Church reports 45 known dead with some missing in debris. (See Voice of the Copts)

Christmas Day is not celebrated until January 7^th in Egypt by Coptic and other Christian denominations. About 130 Christians, including children, will probably remain imprisoned on January 7^th, nearly two months after 2,000 members of the state security forces attacked their church building arresting them. Several people were killed during that attack in which police chanted Islamic war cries and tried to tear down the three story building that was under reconstruction. The object of the attack was to prevent the building from being used for Christmas services.

About 25 homes surrounding the church in the Christian area of Giza, a Cairo suburb, were burned to the ground by local police and one news agency reported that more than 20 people were blinded deliberately in one or both eyes. Although the St. Mary’s Church had a permit for renovation and additions from the national government, the governor of Giza, Sayyed Abdel-Aziz told a news agency that the permit had been “misused” by the Christians and the acts of the police were justified.

This bombing of the Church of the Saints in Alexandria shows that the Egyptian government not only ignores but condones attacks on Christians

Demonstration for Iraqi Christians in Washington, DC

On Saturday, December 4th, 2010 a number of organizations held a demonstration in Lafayette Park across the street from the White House to call attention to the continued persecution of Christians and other religious minorities in Iraq. William J. Murray, the chairman of the Religious Freedom Coalition, was one of the speakers at the event. Murray's comments are at Youtube.com/ChristianRefuguees

MORE CHRISTIANS MURDERED IN IRAQ -

On Sunday, November 1st, terrorists from a group called the Islamic State of Iraq stormed Our Lady of Salvation Syriac Catholic Church in Baghdad . Their first act was to murder two Catholic priests with shots to the head. The few American media outlets reporting on the attack, including Fox News, said it was part of a major attack on the Iraqi stock exchange, but that was not true. A car bomb was exploded at dusk near the exchange when it was already closed; this was only a diversion to lure guards away from the church. The real target was the church.

The attackers had explosives and wore suicide vests. The attack came during the traditional time of Catholic mass when 120 worshipers were in the church. Most media in the U.S. didn't report the full extent of the bloodbath; however, some European news outlets did report in detail how 58 died and 78 others were injured. Many of those who survived the bombs lost limbs, were paralyzed or suffered other very serious injuries.

The White House issued a sort of generic statement on the attack that never mentioned that the victims were Christians, or that the attack was on a church. In part the statement read, "The United States strongly condemns this senseless act of hostage taking and violence by terrorists linked to al Qaeda in Iraq that occurred Sunday in Baghdad killing so many innocent Iraqis." No wonder so many Americans think President Obama is a Muslim.  

THREE THINGS ABOUT ISLAM - We are now streaming the English version of "Three Things About Islam" which was originally produced in the Netherlands. This is a must see for anyone who has questions about the core of Islamic beliefs. View here!

School buses bombed in Iraq

The bombing of school buses near Mosul on May 2nd has caused the Catholic Archbishop of Mossul to call for UN intervention to protect Christians in Iraq. “It is urgently necessary to have a United Nations intervention to protect Christians in Iraq” Bishop George Casmoussa, Syrian Catholic Archbishop of Mossul. The Bishop spoke after a bomb attack on Sunday that killed four Christian students and injured 170.

The Bishop said, "The Christian community lives in fear. We are exhausted from continual violence, terror and insecurity. If this situation continues we can no longer live in this land, our beloved homeland.”

Earlier in the day more than 2,500 Christians from Hamdaniyah protested in the streets against the continuing attacks on innocent Christian civilians. Official the United States says that attacks on Christians in Iraq are "criminal" in nature and have nothing to do with persecution.

IS UTOPIA ON EARTH POSSIBLE?

I have been out of the country and have not really been able to continue to post materials at our Iraqi Christian cause site. Currently the Religious Freedom Coalition is working to fund a new water system at a camp for Christian youth in Jordan. We hope to have the work done before the camp opens in June. I cannot post the exact location or information on the Internet for obvious security reasons. The camp is open to all Christian youth including Iraqi Christian refugee children. Online donations to the RFC made during May will assist the camp.

What is the mind set that allows many on the left, sometimes called liberals, to turn from God and believe that a Utopian state can be created on earth? Every three weeks I author a Chairman's Report and in April I featured this Utopian philosophy that is destroying the United States and the rest of the West? Drawing on my own past experience growing up in a Marxist home, and exploring the literary example of Thomas More's Of the republic's best state and the island of Utopia, I seek to explain why liberals are in such denial of reality. I urge you to print out copies of this edition of the Chairman's Report and to share it with others. The PDF version is located at: http://rfcnet.org.

RESOLUTION SUPPORTS IRAQI CHRISTIANS -

On Wednesday, February 4, 2010 the U.S. House passed by a vote of 415-3, Congressman Frank Wolf's H.Res. 944. The Resolution supports religious minorities in Iraq and its language details how Christians and other religious minorities have been brutalized in Iraq since 2003. Read more at Congressman Wolf's site!

MORE CHRISTIANS KILLED IN IRAQ

"We don't want elections, we don't want representatives, we don't want our rights, we just want to be alive," said Father Baasil Abdul Noor, a priest at Mar Behnam Church in Northern Iraq. This week four Christians have been murdered in the Mosul area. The latest was a 20-year-old student, Wissam George, an Assyrian Christian who was studying to be a teacher. Many of the Christians in Northern Iraq fled Baghdad and other southern areas seeking the simple right to live. Pray for the Christians of Iraq. Read more 

SWEDEN DEPORTS IRAQI CHRISTIANS

The Swedish government appears to have no problem allowing the construction of mosques financed by Saudi Arabia, but has kicked Iraqi Christians out of the country illegally. An Assyrian news agency reports that "25 Assyrian persons and families were forcibly returned to Iraq. Upon their arrival at Baghdad airport, no arrangements were made to safely transport them to their final destinations. With the threat of kidnapping very high, nearly all stayed at the airport, only to be helped by Assyrians working at the airport, who realized the returnees were Assyrian. Of the 25 who were returned, 24 fled the country again, and one was given refugee status by UNHCR in Ankara, which has acknowledged that it is not safe for Assyrians and other Christians in Iraq." An investigation of the reports in Sweden by a radio station has created political problems for the leftist government. Read more

Abbreviating Christmas in Iraq for Christians

The New York Times this week printed an article on the plight of those Christians who remain in Iraq who have not fled. Please distribute links to the article which includes photos. The article appeared shortly before a bombing on Wednesday, December 23rd that killed more Christians in Iraq. Click here for NYT article.

Churches Destroyed in Iraq - November 29th, 2009

Shame on you George W. Bush ... Double shame on you Barack Obama ... Triple shame on the Main Stream Media for ignoring the mass murders of Christians while having so much concern for the well being of Nidar Hasan. Read about the latest attacks on Christians in Iraq at:

http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=16972&size=A

NEW UPDATE ON RFC's IRAQI CHRISTIAN REFUGEE PROJECT

Our ministry partner in Amman, Jordan visited us in November here in Washington, DC. I can’t mention his name or the ministry in anything that is placed on the Internet because of security issues. While he was here I arranged a lunch for him with the regional leaders of Aglow International. Several congressional meetings were arranged. We also packed up tens of thousands of dollars of medical supplies for him to take back to Jordan.

It may seem a long time away, but I have already begun to plan for my next mission trip to the Middle East. The Christian children’s summer camp which we support in Jordan opens in June. I want to be there for the first week of the camp. I will also travel to Israel and visit the missionary ministry of David and Leah Ortiz, which RFC also helps support as well. I have visited the Ortiz family once visited once since their apartment was bombed and this time I hope to be able to take my wife Nancy with me as well. More on the bombing of their apartment can be read at: http://rfcnet.org/pdfs/pdf2009/0...

Donations given at our Facebook site are directly only to our Iraqi Christian refugee project. At this time of Thanksgiving please think about a small gift to help our brothers and sisters in Christ who are in desperate need.

MORE CHURCHES BOMBED IN BAGHDAD -

Since July 11th, at least seven churches have been bombed in Baghdad and at least 4 Christians killed and more than 30 injured. CNN reports six churches and my sources report as many as twelve. Congressman Frank Wolf of Virginia has written a strong letter to Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki concerning the lack of protection of Christians in Iraq. See Rep. Wolf letter

CHRISTIAN YOUTH CAMP IN JORDAN NEEDS WATER

There is a Christian camp for youth in Jordan, which is one of the few Middle Eastern nations that still has a sizable Christian population. I cannot name the camp on the Internet, or tell about its location. I can tell you that because of the nature of the geography of Jordan, water must be trucked in each day to the camp. Every week there is a new group of about 200 youths who come to the camp from various churches. During the course of the summer thousands of young
people from kindergarten through high school will attend Vacation Bible School at the camp. This summer the water will cost $5,000 to purchase and truck into the camp. All contributions
received at our Facebook site until July 10th will be directed to the purchase of water for the camp.

FINALLY THE MEDIA TELLS THE TRUTH -

For the last eight years the mass media, particularly in the United States, has refused to face the reality of the persecution of Christians in the Middle East. The media's failure to report the Christian exodus from Iraq has allowed American administrations to do nothing in the face of the persecution. Finally that is changing. Last week the Associated Press (AP) issued a long story to its member newspapers on the exodus of Christians from Iraq. See story. Network TV news is also beginning to report the persecution. However, the situation is even worse than what is now being reported. A five year old Christian boy was kidnapped and murdered just last week and Christians are fearful to talk to media about their persecution for fear of reprisals. Read more

ARCHBISHOP OF BAGHDAD SPEAKS OUT

This week I attended a small group round table discussion at the Hudson Institute with the Archbishop of Baghdad, Father Jean Benjamin Sleiman. The archbishop discussed the grim situation that exists for Christians in Iraq and made it clear that there was no true security to entice Christian families who had fled, to now return. He reaffirmed what we all already knew, that "...the laws of Sharia are not the same as the laws of democracy." He said that the government, not the church, must provide security for Christians. He explained that, "You can't eliminate the fear after your neighbors are killed". The United States provides no funds for religious minorities (that means Christians) in Iraq.

IRAQI CHRISTIANS NEED HELP - The Religious Freedom Coalition is receiving virtually no funds for our Iraqi Christian Refugee Project from Internet sources. Just a few hundred dollars have been generated at our Facebook page. Although thousands of people read the Internet version and Facebook verions of our update virtually all funding is coming from direct mail. Iraqi Christian refugees really do need our help!