Free Republic

Note: Photos included. NOTE: The following text is a quote: Pakistani court acquits Christian girl and her father accused of blasphemy By Dan Wooding Monday, December 21, 2009 FAISALABAD, PAKISTAN (ANS) -- A Pakistani Christian girl and her father who were accused of defiling the Qur’an (Muslim holy book), in October of last year were acquitted on December 14, 2009 after serving thirteen months and fourteen days in prison. Sanda and Gulsher Sandal, 22 and her father, Gulsher Masih, 47, were accused of committing sacrilege of the Qur’an on October 10, 2008. A criminal case was registered against the pair...

INTERNATIONAL "PAKISTANI MUSLIMS GUN DOWN CHRISTIAN FRIEND They order him to convert to Islam or die, after accusing him of murder." By Jawad Mazhar SNIPPET: "MUREEDKAY, Pakistan – A group of Muslims shot their Christian friend dead this month on the outskirts of this town after saying they would spare his life only if he recanted his faith, according to the young man’s father. The friends of Patras Masih, who died from gunshot wounds on Dec. 3 in Karol village, Punjab Province, issued the ultimatum to him after accusing him of the murder of their friend Anees Mahammad. An autopsy...

Someone posted that original link broke, hence this repeat. “In a startling disclosure from an exchange at an East London mosque, Imam Abdul Makin and a leading Muslim lawyer have supported the killing and raping of non-Muslims, declaring all non-Muslims as guilty and subject to lethal abuse.”

NOTE the post's date and then realize that the persecution continues as I type; however, Muslims respond by stating all this is bogus. Some have to read Muslim prayers in order to survive. Others have to proclaim aloud that they have converted from Christianity to Islam in order not to be slain. Still others have to read from the Koran and say they agree with what they read.

A Vermont court ordered a Christian child taken away from her mother and given to a lesbian ex-partner, setting up, according to a lawyer for the Christian family, a dispute that the U.S. Supreme Court likely will have to resolve. Mathew Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, told WND the recent order from the Vermont judge that Lisa Miller turn over her young daughter, Isabella, to the lesbian ex-partner, Janet Jenkins, on New Year's Day is being appealed. In the interim, a separate court hearing on the dispute is scheduled to be heard in a Virginia court during this coming week....

Note: The following text is a quote: Thursday, December 3, 2009 Russia: jihad, terror, tensions and opportunities By Elizabeth Kendal Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) 033 Special to ASSIST News Service AUSTRALIA (ANS) -- Back in December 2001, al-Qaeda deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri identified Afghanistan and Chechnya as key to the jihadist cause. Regarding Chechnya, he noted that control of the North Caucasus would give al-Qaeda's Sunni jihadists a 'mujahid Islamic belt' from the Mediterranean through Turkey and the pan-Turkic regions of the Black and Caspian Seas into Central Asia, Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as Xingjiang in western China. Terrorism...

If Christians do not keep watch over their freedom of religious expression, it could be taken away from them even in a free nation. Then they would be hampered like the Christians are in India.

"Pakistani Christian on Run from Taliban Death Threat Islamic extremist sermonizing leads to altercation at barbershop in South Waziristan." SNIPPET: "LAHORE, Pakistan, November 27 (CDN) — A young Christian man is in hiding in Pakistan from Taliban militants who seek to kill him for “blasphemy” because he defended his faith. In February Jehanzaib Asher, 22, was working in a barbershop his family jointly owns with his cousin in Wana, South Waziristan – a Taliban stronghold in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in Pakistan’s northwest – when the Islamic militants showed up to try to convert him to Islam." SNIPPET: "He...

Photos included. # SNIPPET: "Cairo (AINA) -- In an effort to cover up the Muslim mob violence against the Copts which broke out last week in the town of Farshoot and neighboring villages (AINA 11-22-2009, 11-23-2009), and in view of the complete news blackout imposed by the Egyptian government, Egyptian State Security has intensified its pressure on the Coptic Church in Nag Hammadi and the victims of the violence into accepting extrajudicial reconciliation with the perpetrators, and opening their businesses without any compensation. Similar State Security scenarios have been experienced by Copts in all sectarian incidents in the past, in...

“How does what a person does in the privacy of his home hurt you”? Answer: When what is done in the privacy of one’s home is sanctioned by the government it creates a legitimization for that action or lifestyle that inevitably invades the homes of others through the media – newspapers, TV, movies, the internet – through the schools – requiring students, regardless of religious or moral beliefs, to take classes with the purpose of indoctrinating them with the State’s values – through the law – criminalizing thoughts, words, or actions (Hate Crime Laws) the State deems offensive or intolerant....

A 15-year-old Egyptian girl, Dina el-Gohary, has written an emotional appeal to President Obama asking him to use his influence to save her father, Maher el-Gohary, who is being persecuted for his beliefs. "Mr. President Obama, we are a minority in Egypt," Dina writes, according to a report from the Assyrian International News Agency. "We are treated very badly. ... We are imprisoned in our own home because Muslim clerics called for the murder of my father, and now the Government has set for us a new prison, we are imprisoned in our own country." Dina and her father are...

The New York Times: “I don’t exclude that the murder is connected to the fact that he preached among and baptized those who belong to Muslim culture.”

A Russian Orthodox priest, Fr. Daniel Sysoyev, who carried out missionary work among immigrants from ex-Soviet republics, many of them Muslims, received over a dozen death threats before his murder on Thursday, a Russian paper said. Fr. Daniel of St. Thomas Church in Moscow foresaw his death, writing in his internet diary that he had received telephone threats from Muslims. Fr. Daniel’s evening ‘talks’ for inquirers included several especially designed for Muslims.

Monday, November 16, 2009 Islamic Extremists Kill Somali Church Leader Thirteenth Christian Assassinated This Year By Jeremy Reynalds Correspondent for ASSIST News Service WASHINGTON, D.C. (ANS) -- A human rights group has learned that members of al-Shabab (a Somali Islamic extremist group) have killed yet another leader of an underground church in the Somalia capital of Mogadishu. Washington-based International Christian Concern (ICC), reported that on Oct. 10, Pastor Ali Hussein Weheliye was returning home from a worship service when two masked members of al-Shabab ambushed and shot him. He was later taken to Darful Shifa Hospital where he died of...

Kazakhstan: Christian Fined, Deported Two Christian brothers, Viktor and Didrikh Leven, have been convicted of participating in religious worship without state registration in Akmola Region, Kazakhstan, according to Forum18 News. On Oct. 14, Viktor, who was born in Kazakhstan but holds German citizenship, was found guilty of "carrying out missionary activity without local registration" under Article 375-3 of Kazakhstan’s Administrative Code. The charge is punishable by a fine and/or deportation for individuals who are not citizens. Viktor was fined a total of 6,480 Tenge (US $43) and ordered deported. He successfully appealed his sentence, and his fine and deportation have...

BEIJING - As President Barack Obama prepares for his first visit to China, leaders of the unapproved churches there are condemning his administration for indifference to the increasing persecution they are facing. The latest example of that persecution came Sunday as followers of an unapproved church in Beijing were again forced by the government to find a new place to worship. Worship in China, governed by the officially atheist Communist Party, is allowed only in state-approved churches, but millions of people belong to unregistered churches that often face official harassment.

SNIPPET: ""Moreover, freedom in America is indivisible from the freedom to practice one's religion. That is why there is a mosque in every state in our union, and over 1,200 mosques within our borders. That's why the United States government has gone to court to protect the right of women and girls to wear the hijab and to punish those who would deny it." -- Barack Obama, Cairo, June 4, 2009 But what about the rights of women like this one -- the right not to wear the hijab? Who is standing up for them? "BREAKING NEWS: Somalia Militants Kill...

High school student Chad Farnan, 17, speaks at a campaign fundraiser for Shawn Black, a GOP candidate for the 70th Assembly District, earlier this month. The legal group that represents Farnan, Advocates for Faith & Freedom, has been ordered to pay $19,688 in legal fees. SANTA ANA – In a legal twist that challenges the notion of what a prevailing party is, a federal court clerk on Friday awarded $19,688 in court-related fees to the attorneys who represented high school teacher James Corbett, sued two years ago for making anti-Christian comments in class. Milli Borgarding, the deputy in charge of...

Several parents - named as victims in the indictment against three Baptist Union leaders now on trial in Tashkent - have told the court that statements that their children were taught the Baptist faith against their wishes were fabricated or dictated by Investigator Anatoli Tadjibayev, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. The head of Uzbekistan’s Baptist Union Pavel Peichev and two colleagues went on trial on 24 September accused of teaching religion illegally to children at church-run summer camps and evading tax on profits from the camp. They deny all the charges - which carry punishment of up to three...

Washington -- SNIPPET: "Rev. Zaheer Khan, pastor of Maghoo Memorial Church, Rev. Aamir Azeem, pastor of United Christians Church and Rev. Zafar Akhter, pastor of United Presbyterian Church each received a copy of threatening letter. The Islamists sent the letters to the following Christian institutions: St Peter's Middle School, Sargodha Institute of Technology, Sargodha Catholic High School, St John's Primary School and Fatima Hospital. Besides the Christian institutions, the letter was also sent to the main Immam-Bar-Gha (Shiite Muslim's gathering hall). Shiites are a minority Muslim group in Pakistan where the majority of the population is Sunni Muslim. ICC's Jonathan...

DHAREMA, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- A Christian schoolgirl in Pakistan's Punjab province was recovering Sunday, October 11, after she was allegedly "ruthlessly beaten" with a bamboo stick by a Muslim headteacher for saying she is "a Pakistani" citizen. The bedridden Nadia Iftikhar, 11, told BosNewsLife she was seriously injured when the teacher of the local evening coaching school 'Bright Future Academy' in the town of Dharema got angry because she challenged her views on Islam. “Our teacher was teaching us about the culture of Pakistan and Pakistani people and quoted a sentence from the text book saying 'We are Pakistani and all...

Note: Photos included. Note: The following text is a quote: Friday, October 16, 2009 Nationalists target Calvary Chapel Kaharlyk in Ukraine with firebomb attack By Peter Wooding Special to ASSIST News Service KAHARLYK, UKRAINE (ANS) -- The pastor of Calvary Chapel Kaharlyk, just south of Kiev in Ukraine, is thanking God for His protection, after their church building, where his family lives, was hit by a firebomb attack by suspected nationalists. In the early hours of Wednesday October 14th the attackers sprayed painted on the church wall: “Out with Sects” “ОУ�” an abbreviated name for a Ukrainian Nationalist movement. Pastor...

As I read online, I notice that there are plenty of people who believe that Egypt is some kind of "moderate" Islamic country where non-Muslims are treated fairly. The reality is that Muslims of Egypt, preach hatred towards Jews, and have been persecuting the Coptic Christians there for centuries. Yet the US government has poured billions of dollars into Egypt. Unfortunately we ask for little in return.

Al Shabaab extremists shoot 69-year-old after finding Bibles on him at checkpoint. NAIROBI, Kenya, September 18 (CDN) - The faith journey of a long-time underground Christian in Somalia ended in tragedy this week when Islamic militants controlling a security checkpoint killed him after finding Bibles in his possession. Militants from the Muslim extremist al Shabaab killed 69-year-old Omar Khalafe on Tuesday (Sept. 15) at a checkpoint they controlled 10 kilometers from Merca, a Christian source told Compass. A port city on the Indian Ocean 70 kilometers (45 miles) from Mogadishu, Merca is the main city of the Lower Shabele region....

Alexandria, Egypt (AINA) -- At dawn on Saturday, October 3, 2009, Egyptian State Security forces arrested a group of Christian Copts in different parts of the city in Alexandria, after severely assaulting them in front of their neighbors. Their wives were also arrested, but because of intense objection protests by neighbors at the way they were handled and of the screams of their terrified children, they were released. The men who were arrested are relatives of Rafaat Girges Habib, a man who helped a Coptic father free his kidnapped daughter from her Muslim husband's home. The arrests continued until Habib...

Bantu woman shot after wife of militant confirmed she had Bibles. NAIROBI, Kenya, October 1 (CDN) — Islamic militants in Somalia this week killed a woman who led an underground Christian movement in the war-torn country. Sources told Compass that a leader of Islamic extremist al Shabaab militia in Lower Juba identified only as Sheikh Arbow shot to death 46-year-old Mariam Muhina Hussein at 2 p.m. on Monday (Sept. 28) in Marerey village after discovering she had six Bibles. Marerey is eight kilometers (five miles) from Jilib, part of the neighboring Middle Juba region. Local sources said that on Sunday...

09/30/2009 10:46 BANGLADESH SNIPPET: "Christian convert from Islam and family threatened with death After Friday prayers a group of zealots attacked the house of William Gomes, a young Muslim who converted to Christianity and human rights activist. The police takes no steps to ensure his protection." SNIPPET: "Dhaka (AsiaNews) - William Gomes, a Catholic convert from Islam, is in mortal danger. For the past several days he has been the target of Muslim extremists who want to kill him because of his new faith."

Forget Lions and Tigers The Latest in Big Game thelastcrusade.org Somalia (MNN) ― Somalia's Muslim militants are hunting down converts to Christianity. According to Voice of the Martyrs Canada, Al-Shabaab members have murdered 14 believers since July 15. Compass Direct News reports the September 15 shooting death of 69-year-old Omar Khalafe, an underground Christian who had Bibles in his possession.On the day of his death, Khalafe was carrying 25 Somali Bibles he hoped to deliver to an underground fellowship in Somalia. At a checkpoint controlled by al Shabaab--a rebel group linked with al Qaeda which has taken over large...

Marauding bands of guerrillas have "crucified" seven Christians during a series of raids on villages in Sudan, with one man tied to a tree and mutilated while six other victims were nailed to pieces of wood and killed. Villagers who found their bodies near the town of Nzara said it was like a "grotesque crucifixion scene", the Catholic Herald reports. Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala of Tombura-Yambio is appealing for international help to stop the cycle of violence and attacks by members of the Lord's Resistance Army, saying the government at home appeared powerless against it. In one instance guerrillas stormed...

widespread human rights violations, including mutilation, torture, rape, the abduction of civilians, the use of child soldiers, and a number of massacres. In recent months there has been an increase in violent incidents across provinces of southern Sudan, especially near the Ugandan border. "Everywhere, people are being killed" including at least one church leader, said Bishop Daniel Deng Bul Yak in remarks aired by Radio France International (RFI), monitored by BosNewsLife. "This is why we are appealing to the United Nations and governments in the world like the U.S. Germany and Norway. They should come in now, so that peace...

Flagstaff, AZ – Just a week after Jim Pouillon was shot and killed for his public stand against abortion, 69-year old Johnny Wallace was attacked by two women as he held two non-graphic, text-only signs protesting abortion in Flagstaff, Arizona, on Saturday. Wallace was alone in front of City Hall on the busiest street in town at the time of the attack with signs that read, “Abortion kills more black Americans in four days than the Klan killed in 150 years,” and “Life begins at conception and ends at Planned Parenthood.” Wallace was known to protest at that location every...

Cairo - SNIPPET: "He said that a man repeatedly stabbed local shopkeeper George Abdu, 63, in the abdomen and the neck, killing him, then fled on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. The archbishop said that the killer drove 4 kilometres to the village of Bamahai and repeatedly stabbed a cobbler, who suffered wounds to the head and lung. The suspect then drove to another nearby village, Mit Afifi, and stabbed a third Christian man, Hani Barsum, in the neck. Barsum and the cobbler were hospitalized, Stefanos said.... Wednesday's attacks resembled a string of attacks in April 2006 in Alexandria that led to...

Christian held for blasphemy ‘commits suicide’ LAHORE: Fanish Masih, a Christian youth who was imprisoned in Sialkot for allegedly desecrating the holy Quran last Saturday, committed suicide on Tuesday, police said. However, rights activists and the victim’s family believe he was tortured to death.

Oklahoma police found the naked, mutilated body of a murdered pastor stretched out in a "crucifix position" behind her church altar last Sunday, sources close to the investigation told The Oklahoman. The bloodied corpse of 61-year-old Carol Daniels appeared to have been left in the form of a cross with both arms outstretched at her sides. Her head was nearly decapitated by the force of deep stabs to her neck and throat, according to forensic pathologist Dr. William Manion, who reviewed her autopsy report. Daniels' clothing had been removed, possibly to hide evidence or as a kind of trophy from...

TASHKENT CITY, Uzbekistan (ABP) -- Authorities in Uzbekistan cracked down on Baptists after a government-sponsored news agency ran articles alleging illegal religious activity at a summer camp for children. Forum 18, a Norway-based news service that monitors alleged violations of religious freedom, reported July 28 that Pavel Peichev, head of the Union of Evangelical Christian Baptists of Middle Asia, faces criminal charges of unlawfully teaching children religion and misusing resort facilities. Local Baptists fear huge fines, confiscation of the property, imprisonment or some combination of penalties if Peichev is convicted

Iran: Women: We Love Christ! UPDATE: On Aug. 8, Marzieh and Maryam were summoned to an Iranian court and ordered to deny their faith verbally and in a written statement, according to The Voice of the Martyrs contacts. Marzieh and Maryam were pressured to recant their faith after the chief interrogator recommended they be charged with apostasy. Praise God, they stood firm and replied, “We love Jesus. We will not deny our faith.” VOM contacts reported the deputy prosecutor, Mr. Haddad, aggressively questioned the women during the court proceedings. Haddad asked them if they regretted becoming Christians. They replied they...

LAOS - "LAO SOLDIERS DECAPITATE TWO-MONTH-OLD GIRL AHEAD OF SENATOR WEBB'S VISIT Infant used as target practice during military attacks that leave 26 civilians dead." August 20, 2009

This story is tragic and really leaves me speechless when I consider the extent of what happened to this woman. The Assyrian International News Agency and International Christian Concern are reporting on the story of a pregnant Christian woman who was beaten and dragged naked through the Pakistan police station. The police knew she was pregnant and still treated her this way. Her crime? She was accused of theft, along with a Muslim woman, by their employer. However, the Muslim woman was not treated harshly in the same manner as the Christian woman, despite there being nothing proven to convict...

August 16, 2009 SNIPPET: "MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (BP)--Twelve Christians, including three pastors, were killed and 20 churches were demolished in Nigeria amid escalating religiously motivated violence, prompting a call for government intervention." SNIPPET: "In a report Aug. 6, ICC said the attacks that occurred July 26 in Maiduguri were instigated by Boko Haram, a group that opposes Western education and fights to impose sharia law throughout Nigeria, including areas that are largely Christian. Sabo Yakubu, a husband, father of seven and pastor of a Church of Christ congregation, was hacked to death by a machete, ICC said. Also killed were Sylvester...

Note: The following text is a quote: Friday, August 14, 2009 International Attorneys Urge Pakistan to End the Violence and Religious Persecution Caused by its Blasphemy and so-called ’Defamation of Religion Laws’ By Michael Ireland Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service WASHINGTON, DC (ANS) -- An international organization of staff and volunteer attorneys this week joined many in the international community urging Pakistan to end the mob violence and religious persecution caused by its blasphemy and other so-called 'defamation of religion laws.' Advocates International is an international organization of staff and volunteer attorneys in over 150 nations, including Pakistan, who seek...

The Muslim girl that converted to Christianity is in Florida. Turned out her daddy threatened to kill her and she fled here. link to article

MUSLIM POLICE TORTURE PASTOR, TWO OTHERS Muslim leaders prompt officers to arrest, abuse evangelistic team. thelastcrusade.org DHAKA, Bangladesh, August 4 (Compass Direct News) – At the urging of local Muslim leaders, police in western Bangladesh have tortured a pastor and two other Christians for legally proclaiming Christ. Habibur Rahman, 45, pastor of Boalia Spiritual Church (Boalia Ruhani Jamat) in Boalia in Cuadanga district, 220 kilometers (136 miles) west of Dhaka, said he was about to meet with 11 others for a monthly meeting on evangelism at 8 p.m. on June 8 when local police stormed in and seized him...

Note: The following text is a quote: Saturday, August 1, 2009 Eight Pakistani Christians burned to death as Muslims torched 50 houses -- Local Christians have refused to bury dead until Punjab Chief Minister visits them -- Pakistan Provincial Law Minister blames violence and killings on Police apathy By Dan Wooding and Sheraz Khurram Khan Special to ASSIST News Service GOJRA, PAKISTAN (ANS) -- In a fresh incident of violence by hardline Muslims against Pakistani Christians at least eight Christians have been burned alive and many others injured as a Muslim mob estimated to be over 1500 in number set...

"ISLAMABAD — Days of rioting between Christians and Muslims in eastern Pakistan following allegations that a Quran was defiled escalated Saturday, leaving six Christians dead, including a child, authorities said. Members of a banned Muslim organization began torching Christian homes in the Punjabi city of Gorja on Thursday after accusing them of desecrating pages from Islam's holy book, Federal Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti said. "There is no truth in the allegation," he told The Associated Press, adding that he had himself visited Gojra on Friday and asked police to provide protection to Christians who were facing threats. He accused...

. FREE Mennonite Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh of Pleiku, Vietnam .

Washington, D.C. (July 29, 2009) – International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that Islamic extremists killed a pastor and razed five churches in the city of Maiduguri, Nigeria, on July 27. The extremists also attacked two churches in the Nigerian city of Potiskum. Yakubu Sabo, a husband and father of seven, was hacked to death with a machete by members of a violent Islamic militant group know as Boko Haram (which means “education is prohibited”). Sabo pastored a Church of Christ congregation in Maiduguri. Deeper Life Church, Evangelical Mission, and Church of the Brethren are three of five other churches...

SNIPPET: "In some parts of the world it can be very dangerous to convert from Islam to Christianity, or any other faith. Sometimes Christians are killed by radical Muslims or sometimes by the state which sanctions death or prison. Somalia, like some other Muslim majority nations, clearly does not believe in religious freedom and the small Christian population faces an uphill struggle to survive. Therefore, it is essential to remember these martyrs because organizations like Al Qaeda would like to spread this tyranny to every nation." SNIPPET: "Turning back to Somalia it is now "open season" to kill Christian converts...

DETROIT, MI - A coach who's in the Michigan Wrestling Association Hall of Fame has filed a federal lawsuit against Dearborn Public Schools and the principal of Fordson High School. Gerald Marszalek claims he was fired after 35 years because of his Christian beliefs. Marszalek says his troubles began in 2005 when a minister lost his job as a volunteer assistant coach after introducing Muslim students to Christianity during a private off-campus wrestling camp. Marszalek, who also is Christian, said his contract wasn't renewed in 2008 because of his religious beliefs and his association with the minister. Dearborn has a...

The interior of the Cathedral of the Assumption in Kathmandu Rome, Italy, Jul 16, 2009 / 12:37 pm (CNA).- Following the recent bomb attack on the Cathedral of the Assumption, which was attributed to the Hindu group Nepal Defense Army, extremists are now threatening priests and religious in Nepal with death if they do not leave the country “within one month.” The Apostolic Vicar of Nepal, Bishop Anthony Francis Sharma, said the threats were made to the associate vicar, Father Pius Perumana.  L’Osservatore Romano reported that the police have beefed up security at the diocesan chancery in Godavari, where Father...

I have continually spoken out about Christians being persecuted across the Islamic world, in countries such as Egypt and Iraq. All the while it seems that most Christians are silent on the issue, willing to ignore the plight of their fellow Christians. Some getting angry at me for even bringing up the subject. Well now that the left leaning Huffington Post has even spoken up, I think that it is time for Christians to take a look in the mirror and find the strength to stand up for their own people. I don't think that's too much to ask.