Free Republic

Millions of people around the world were horrified by the recent display of abject barbarism when ISIS doused Jordanian pilot Maaz al-Kassasbeh with accelerant, put him in a cage, and burned him alive. And horrified we should be. Some say, as I have read in comments on blogs, that perhaps this act of terror will be the catalyst that will wake people up to the ruthless and relentless savagery sweeping across the Middle East under the banner of the Islamic State. And the awakened masses will finally understand what we are up against and who the enemy is. But I’m...

Egypt’s Coptic Christians frequently accuse State Security and police of overlooking Muslim attacks on Christians and their places of worship, especially monasteries and churches. The Western mainstream media often ignores these accusations, or mentions them in passing as “unsubstantiated reports.” Last weekend’s assault on the St. Mark Cathedral — unprecedented in significance — was no different, except for the fact that there are many pictures demonstrating State complicity. To recap: After last Sunday’s St. Mark Cathedral funeral service for Egypt’s most recent Christian victims of jihad — including one man set aflame — gangs of Muslims attacked the Christian mourners,...

An American pastor who has been jailed in Iran since September has been sentenced to eight years in prison, the U.S. State Department said Sunday. Spokesman Darby Holladay said the department is calling on Iran to respect Saeed Abedini’s human rights and release him. Earlier this month, Iran’s semi-official news agency, ISNA, quoted Abedini’s attorney, Nasser Sarbazi, as saying his client stood trial in the Revolutionary Court on charges of attempting to undermine state security by creating a network of Christian churches in private homes. The pastor, who is of Iranian origin but lives in Boise, Idaho, has rejected the...

A British think tank has released a lengthy report claiming that militant Islam is the greatest existential threat to Middle Eastern Christianity, bringing Christian communities in the region "close to extinction." The London-based Civitas, also known as the Institute for the Study of Civil Society, published the report in December. "Christianity is in serious danger of being wiped out in its biblical heartlands because of Islamic oppression," reads a statement from the group issued Sunday. "But Western politicians and media largely ignore the widespread persecution of Christians in the Middle East and the wider world because they are afraid they...

Islamists on the attack in AfricaThe Christmas season’s become a time to reflect on the fate of Christians around the world, from the besieged ancient communities of the Middle East to the tyrannized worshippers in China. But let us not ignore the violent threats to Christians in Africa. Men belonging to Boko Haram murdered at least 10 people in the Nigerian village of Chibok earlier this month. Armed with guns and knives, they slit the throats of victims before burning their houses down. Eleven others were killed the month before in the town of Jaji when a car loaded with...

Men look at the wreckage of a car following a bomb blast at St. Theresa Catholic Church outside the Nigerian capital Abuja on Christmas Day. LAGOS, Nigeria—Attacks across Nigeria by a radical Muslim sect killed at least 39 people Sunday, with the majority dying on the steps of a Catholic church in a massive explosion after Christmas Mass. Elsewhere, a bomb exploded amid gunfire in the central Nigeria city of Jos and a suicide car bomber attacked the military in the nation's northeast as part of an apparently coordinated assault by the sect known as Boko Haram. The Christmas Day...

Another Christmas, another slaughter of Christians by members of the so-called "religion of peace." The Boko Haram, a "radical Muslim sect" as the Associated Press puts it, claimed credit for bombing a Nigerian Catholic church on Christmas, killing 35 and wounding 52. What do the Boko Haram want? A sect spokesman calling himself Abul-Qaqa offered this in an interview with The Daily Trust, the newspaper of record across Nigeria's Muslim north. "There will never be peace until our demands are met," he said. "We want all our brothers who have been incarcerated to be released, we want full implementation of...