Posted on 01/17/2002 11:36:04 AM PST by Tailgunner Joe
Read Christianity Under Siege, Part I: The Stones Cry Out.
Christian Persecution Around the World
Julia Duin, an assistant national editor at the Washington Times, tells us in a recent article in National Review:
[In] Sulawesi. In 1999, horrific stories about Christian persecution in that part of the world started to leak out. A radical Islamic group called Laskar Jihad was terrorizing Christians in a group of islands called the Moluccas, just east of Sulawesi. Christians who refused to convert to Islam were killed; those who did convert were then separated from their families, given Muslim names, and forcibly circumcised – without anaesthetic, and with dirty instruments. Scissors were used on the adults. They were then told to wash in the sea to disinfect their wounds. The women underwent female genital circumcision.
Ms. Duin further states:
Joanna Milosz – a member of the London-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide who recently traveled around the Moluccas – sees it: "The whole Moluccas conflict has been fraught with misinformation from the beginning," she says. "The Western press goes overboard in being sensitive to the Muslim community. They do not want to be Islamophobic, so they ignore the realities of the situation. What has been so astounding is how few other Indonesians know what the actual situation is. The Bacan-Seram islands are where people have faced forced conversions and circumcisions. Christians are subject to especially severe circumcisions. I've heard reports of them doing it to girls as young as 2.
Female genital mutilation not only occurs in Africa but also is reported to be happening in the U.S. as well. As a "tolerant" people we are supposed to pretend it does not exist. Yet several physicians tell me they find cases of that practice all the time. In America we tolerate the intolerable – except when it comes to Christians. Western and American Christians are either uncaring or have become so afraid to seem Islamaphobic or, heaven forbid, xenophobic or racist that they turn a blind eye to what is going on in their own country and around the world. Even in the highest levels of government an ignorance-is-bliss attitude prevails.
We hear daily messages, TV ads as well as speeches by our president, that we should be tolerant of Islam. However, there are no calls for Islam to be tolerant of Christianity. It would seem that ostensibly Christian politicians are afraid to be seen as too supportive of their own faith and its survival in the Islamic world.
But more worrisome is the fact that many of our spokesmen and leaders fail to demand tolerance for Christianity in the United States and around the world. It is ironic that American politicians sent our fighting men to Central Europe to protect ethnic Muslim Albanians from attacks by Christian Serbs, yet fail to offer similar help to Christians being attacked and persecuted in areas from Saudi Arabia to Indonesia, from Sudan to Egypt.
Such selective concern may have its origin in politics, but a supposedly Christian nation is endangering Christians when it does nothing to stop the persecution. At times it doesn't even pay lip service to the injustice and cruelty of that persecution. It would seem that at least Islam sticks up for its own.
Meanwhile, persecutions of Christians in Egypt, the Sudan and Saudi Arabia barely raise eyebrows, let alone much journalistic heat. Certainly, politicians wish that aspect of our relations with the Islamic world would go away. But since they fail to defend Christianity in their own country, it should come as no surprise that Christians are being persecuted abroad.
It is estimated that the Sudan is 70 percent Sunni Muslim. Around 10 percent are tribal religions and another 20 percent are Christian. A state of civil war has existed for about 14 years. Factions in the government have been making attempts to Islamicize the country more and more.
The PDF, Popular Defense Force, is the government-sponsored group that is larger and better equipped than the standing army. The group is filled with Islamic fanatics. Their actions have government support. What is happening in the Sudan:
Forced conversions to Islam are government policy.
Churches are closed, destroyed or not allowed to be built.
Christian prayer groups are considered a public disturbance, Bible teachers are considered leaders of disruptive groups and are arrested.
Open preaching is prohibited and can garner a beating or jail time.
The government, the National Islamic Front regime, has declared jihad against religious and ethnic minorities that resist Islamization. Approximately 2 million have died in the conflict since it began in 1983.
Data compiled by humanitarian aid workers in southern Sudan estimate that government forces bombed civilian and humanitarian targets at least 113 times in the year 2000.
The United Nation reports that approximately 14,000 women and children remain abducted and enslaved. Rape against Christian women is as bad as ever it was in Kosovo or Bosnia by Christian Serbs.
The Government of Sudan continues to commit atrocities even in the face of the 'war on terrorism'. As of Oct. 9, 2001, the U.N. World Food Program evacuated humanitarian personnel trying to aid the Christian population in southern Sudan.
The following is a partial list of what an Islamist majority is doing to Christians in the Sudan.
The list was compiled by International Christian Concern (www.persecution.org). A more complete list of atrocities in the Sudan may be found there.
Oct. 9, 2001. Forty-eight leading Sudanese clerics issued a jihad-fatwa stating: "America is the greatest enemy of Islam and it embraces blasphemy, guards the Jews and protects their terrorism." (AP) Many radical Muslims believe America to be the new Christian Kingdom.
Oct. 7, 2001. The Government of Sudan dropped six bombs over each village of Gukic and Mayom Deng Akol in the Mangok district of Aweil East County, northern Bahr El Ghazal, murdering 15 non-Muslim children and one elderly woman, and injuring eight more children. (CSI)
Sept. 22, 2001. At the instigation of his family, security police in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, tortured Christian convert Mohammed Saeed Mohammed Omer Omer and forced him to sign papers swearing he will not attend any church or Christian gatherings in the future, but he refused to renounce his faith in Christ. A local source said, "He was tortured and beaten, and he lost three fingernails pulled out with pliers." His family has threatened to disown him and is keeping him under house arrest. (Compass)
Aug. 26, 2001. A 13-year-old girl was critically injured after the Government of Sudan dropped six bombs from a high altitude Antonov bomber over a camp for the displaced coordinated by the Catholic Relief Services in Ngaluma. Four minutes later over the town of Ikotos, four bombs destroyed four homes, and then the bomber continued to Hiyala, where it dropped four additional bombs.
July 26, 2001. Sudanese Defense Minister Bakri Saleh and Saudi Minister Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz discussed the possibility of military links between Sudan and Saudi Arabia. Arab diplomatic sources said the Saudi kingdom intends to help Sudan enter the Arab and international community after years of isolation. Sudan also wants to receive support from Saudi Arabia to bolster Khartoum's security services. Khartoum, Sudan's capital, remains on the U.S. State Department list of terrorist sponsors.
May 28, 2001. SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) rebels claimed the GOS had burned 14 villages in the Nuba mountains, destroying 5,000 homes.
May 3, 2001. President George W. Bush appointed Andrew Natsios special humanitarian coordinator for Sudan and promised to take more steps to help the starving people of southern Sudan and speak out against the atrocities taking place in the war-torn country.
April 22, 2001. A government bomber dropped 16 bombs on the town of Narus, critically injuring a child and destroying part of a Catholic school.
April 19, 2001. People being held in connection with the canceled Easter celebration (see April 11 below) were freed after eight days in prison by the order of President Bashir. A day prior to their release the first vice president of the republic reportedly stated that "the world now knows and should know that Sudan is an Islamic country and we will not allow any prayers except Islamic prayers in our country." A BBC reporter remains in detention.
April 11, 2001. Riot police surrounded the Episcopal All-Saints cathedral in Khartoum as people gathered outside the church to pray and church leaders inside the building were holding a press conference regarding the cancellation of their Easter celebration. Clashes between the Christian worshippers and police broke out, resulting in the arrest of 54 more Christians and the injury of at least seven people. Four women and two children were given 15 lashes, and 47 men were sentenced to 20-day jail terms as well as receiving 20 lashes each. In addition to the arrests, police also destroyed church property with hand grenades.
Top radio personality and NewsMax columnist Michael Savage reminded us in a column about Christian troubles in the Holy Land which included widespread persecution of Christians:
The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee heard expert testimony that "vandalism of Christian graves" in the PA-controlled areas has been on the rise of late. From one town of Beit Sahour (Bethlehem-area) 50 Christian families tried to emigrate in just one month. Christians have fled from Bethlehem, Nazareth and other cities out of fear, coercion and duress. In January 2000, the Palestinian Authority forcefully took over the Russian Orthodox church in Jericho. In July 1997, PA paramilitary police burst into a monastery in Hebron, beat and dragged out the monks and nuns, injuring five monks and three nuns.
In 1999 the Boston Globe reported that in Egypt two Christian men were killed by militants and their bodies dumped in a Christian neighborhood. Local Christian leaders presented evidence to the authorities that five Muslims were involved in the killings. But rather than deal with the harsh reality of Muslim crimes committed against Christians, local authorities rounded up 1,000 Christians, including women and small children. These innocents were often beaten or forced to make statements implicating a Christian in the crime. The man chosen faces the death penalty.
To top it all off, they arrested the Coptic Christian bishop for speaking out against injustices and human rights violations. He faced charges of "fomenting sectarian strife." Included in the five-count indictment were charges of threatening national security.
On the October night the frail, 60-year-old Coptic cleric, Bishop Wissa, was arrested, he stated: "We have traditionally got along with our Muslim neighbors. But the situation is deteriorating from bad to worse. We have spoken out and now I may face the death penalty for doing so. How can I say nothing when this is happening to our people?"
Add the many killings of Christians in Pakistan recently, the persecution and killing of thousands in East Timor, and a little ridicule of Christians by America's elite culture can be endured. But ridicule is how the persecution of Jews began in Nazi Germany. Unless we speak up now, very possibly Christian views will be totally silenced or condemned as "hate crimes" or "hate speech" in the not-too-distant future.
Bonhoeffer's Costly Grace
One of my heroes is Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In July of 1933 a Nazi sympathizer was elected as the national bishop of the state church in Germany. Within two months the state church denied the pulpit to ordained ministers who happened to have Jewish blood.
Bonhoeffer saw the direction that the church was taking. He spoke about it in a speech called "The Church and the Jewish Question." He urged the churches to boldly challenge the government to justify its blatantly immoral laws.
Then he demanded that the church come to the aid of victims – baptized or not. Finally, he declared that the church should "jam the spokes of the wheel" of state should the persecution of Jews continue.
Many of those who listened were incensed and they even quoted Bible passages about obeying authority and whispered that Bonhoeffer was speaking sedition.
But Bonhoeffer would not be intimidated by the Nazis or by the spineless clergy in his church. As a leading member of what became the "German Confessing Church," he found that even many of the dissidents opted out in the face of growing pressure and name-calling and persecution by the German authorities. Many quit speaking up for the Jews.
Bonhoeffer cried out, "Where is Abel, your brother?" Bonhoeffer's writings after that betrayal by the stronger members of the church are reflected in a phrase from the Bible he often used during that period. He would frequently quote Proverbs 31:8: "Who will speak up for those who are voiceless?" That was how he explained why he had to be the voice defending the Jews in Nazi Germany.
But Bonhoeffer did more than just talk about it – he acted. Many Jews were saved because of his efforts as well as those of others who belonged to the Christian underground. Bonhoeffer paid with his life. Only two week before the Allies took Berlin, he was hung in the courtyard of Flossenberg prison.
As a professing Catholic, I often catch heck from all sides. Secularists, libertarians, Randians, Democrats, non-believers, and what is worse – fellow Christians.
Some do not consider that Catholicism is part of Christianity. There are those who consider Catholics to be well on the road to hell, and they come from the fundamentalist branch of Christianity. I do not let that bother me. Basically, we share the same beliefs. If they choose to think that I and my fellow Catholics are going to hell – so be it.
Nonetheless, I will defend their right not to be harassed or condemned or persecuted by others. Just as I will defend anyone's right to believe or not believe as they choose.
Having said that, Christians have a right not to be pounded into silence by the secular society, by the media, by political or governmental groups, by the entertainment industry, by militant Islam or any other militant belief system or non-belief system.
If the Democrats try to demonize Christians before the upcoming elections, I will warn them that it will be turned on them. They will eventually not only pay by being thrown out of office but it will take their party decades of rehabilitation to reclaim what was once a decent and great political party.
Bonhoeffer once said, "The only fight which is lost is that which we give up." Christians have been around a long, long time. They will be around long after the political fads and trends of this generation have passed away.
Christianity is not going anywhere. Long ago Christians learned that for every cross there is a resurrection. For every Marx there is a Bonhoeffer. For every "ism" there is a footnote in the dustbin of history. For every mistake and error made there is a time to make it right. For every persecution there is a retribution.
While it may take a costly grace to maintain it, in the end Christianity blossoms wherever the seeds are planted. What grows out of that seed has roots that are thousands of years old and branches that reach toward the heavens.
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Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
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PS. Not only christians, but Orthodox, Jews, Hindus, Bhuddists and all others who have been butchered by Islam over the millenia.
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