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.