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The Martyrs No One Cares About
Townhall.com ^ | August 1, 2007 | Michelle Malkin

Posted on 08/01/2007 10:37:56 AM PDT by alloysteel

The blood of innocent Christian missionaries spills on Afghan sands. The world watches and yawns. The United Nations offers nothing more than a formal expression of "concern." Where is the global uproar over the human rights abuses unfolding before our eyes?

For two weeks, a group of South Korean Christians has been held hostage by Taliban thugs in Afghanistan. This is the largest group of foreign hostages taken in Afghanistan since Operation Enduring Freedom began in 2001. What was their offense? Were they smuggling arms into the country? No. Inciting violence? No. They were peaceful believers in Christ on short-term medical and humanitarian missions. Seventeen of the 23 hostages are females. Most of them are nurses who provide social services and relief.

Over the past few days, the bloodthirsty jihadists have demanded that South Korea immediately withdraw troops from the Middle East, pay ransom and trade the civilian missionaries for imprisoned Taliban fighters. The Taliban leaders have made good on threats to kill the kidnapped Christians while Afghan officials plead fecklessly that their monstrous behavior is "un-Islamic."

Two men, 29-year-old Shim Sung-min and 42-year-old Pastor Bae Hyeong-gyu, have already been shot to death and dumped in the name of Allah. Bae was a married father with a 9-year-old daughter. According to Korean media, he was from a devout Christian family from the island province of Jeju. He helped found the Saemmul Church south of Seoul, which sent the volunteers to Afghanistan.

Across Asia, media coverage is 24/7. Strangers have held nightly prayer vigils. But the human rights crowd in America has been largely AWOL. And so has most of our mainstream media. Among some of the secular elite, no doubt, is a blame-the-victim apathy: The missionaries deserved what they got. What were they thinking bringing their message of faith to a war zone? Didn't they know they were sitting ducks for Muslim head-choppers whose idea of evangelism is "convert or die"?

I noted the media shoulder-shrugging about jihadist targeting of Christian missionaries five years ago during the kidnapping and murder of American Christian missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham in the Philippines. The silence is rooted in viewing committed Christians as alien others. At best, there is a collective callousness. At worst, there is outright contempt -- from Ted Turner's reference to Catholics as "Jesus freaks" to CBS producer Roxanne Russell's casual insult of former GOP presidential candidate Gary Bauer as "the little nut from the Christian group" to the mockery of GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's Mormon faith.

Curiously, those who argue that we need to "understand" Islamic terrorists demonstrate little effort to "understand" the Christian evangelical missionaries who risk their lives to spread the gospel -- not by sword, but through acts of compassion, healing and education. An estimated 16,000 Korean mission workers risk their lives across the globe -- from Africa to the Middle East, China and North Korea.

These are true practitioners of a religion of peace, not the hate-mongers with bombs and AK-47s strapped to their chests who slay instead of pray their way to martyrdom.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: baehyeonggyu; hostages; koreanchristians; michellemalkin; pastor; shimsungmin; southkorea; southkoreanhostages; taliban
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Compare the coverage throughout most of eastern Asia with the virtual silence for the US media.
1 posted on 08/01/2007 10:37:59 AM PDT by alloysteel
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To: alloysteel
Two words expain it all... Christian missionaries
2 posted on 08/01/2007 10:40:45 AM PDT by johnny7 ("But that one on the far left... he had crazy eyes")
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To: johnny7

What about these two:
Wrong place,
wrong time.


3 posted on 08/01/2007 10:42:42 AM PDT by 9422WMR ("This will make parents, students, faculty and visitors FEEL SAFE on our campus")
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To: alloysteel
Where is the global uproar over the human rights abuses unfolding before our eyes?

That only happens if they can blame the Jews, if underwear is placed on their heads or a Koran is found in the toitee.

4 posted on 08/01/2007 10:43:27 AM PDT by BigFinn
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To: 9422WMR
What about these two:
Wrong place,
wrong time.

Since when did those influence the media?

5 posted on 08/01/2007 10:50:19 AM PDT by johnny7 ("But that one on the far left... he had crazy eyes")
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To: alloysteel

**The Martyrs No One Cares About**

Yes, we do. There are numerous threads on the Religion Forum about these.

I havenpt started collecting them yet, but this may just be the prompt I needed.


6 posted on 08/01/2007 10:56:43 AM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: alloysteel; nickcarraway; sandyeggo; Lady In Blue; NYer; american colleen; ELS; Pyro7480; livius; ..
Catholic Discussion Ping!

Please notify me via FReepmail if you would like to be added to or taken off the Catholic Discussion Ping List.

Catholics, please send me (Freepmail) the urls for these threads and I will compile them. Thanks.

7 posted on 08/01/2007 10:59:25 AM PDT by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: Salvation

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed. Rev 6:9-11
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We do care but more importantly their blood avenger cares.


8 posted on 08/01/2007 11:01:55 AM PDT by ThisLittleLightofMine
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To: 9422WMR

What part of:

medical
&
humanitarian

didn’t you get?


9 posted on 08/01/2007 11:03:47 AM PDT by papertyger
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To: johnny7
"Two words expain it all... Christian missionaries"

Where's our Christian president?

Bush did proclaim his Christianity, didn't he?

Or am I thinking of somebody else?

10 posted on 08/01/2007 11:05:38 AM PDT by trickyricky
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To: trickyricky

And that’s relevant exactly how?


11 posted on 08/01/2007 11:12:56 AM PDT by papertyger
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To: papertyger; trickyricky; Salvation; johnny7; alloysteel

Is that a rehash of “Bush’s fault?” Why don’t we ever hear “UN’s fault?”


12 posted on 08/01/2007 11:17:14 AM PDT by Froufrou
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“Two words expain it all... Christian missionaries.”
_________________________

Pretty well sums it up........it is a sign of the “times”.


13 posted on 08/01/2007 11:23:23 AM PDT by cowdog77 (" Are there any brave men left in Washington, or are they all cowards?")
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To: alloysteel

This is truly disturbing. Anyone who is paying attention cannot help but be horrified by the swelling tide of antisemism and anti-Christianity in the world. Where’s the ACLU? Where are all the human rights activists?


14 posted on 08/01/2007 11:24:57 AM PDT by tennteacher (Duncan Hunter '08)
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To: alloysteel

I’m finding it hard to even hear the words Christian or missionaries out of the couple reports I see or hear. Their hearts are breaking in Asia and the world could give a damn. Malkin and others have been on the case

Jawa has followed this from the beginning, for those who want to catch up (you have to go into the archives back further after last link):

Afghan Police find body of 2nd slain hostage
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/188892.php

Video: Korean Hostages in Afghanistan
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/188890.php

Second Korean Hostage Murdered! (with roundup)
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/188888.php

Korean Hostage Pleads for Help (Video)
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/188880.php

Taliban Issues New Deadline to Murder 22 Innocent Christians
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/188874.php

Korean Hostages Still Alive as Deadline Passes
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/188857.php

A Korean Hostage’s Plea for Help
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/188848.php

Another Korean Hostage Deadline
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/188846.php

Martyr
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/188831.php


15 posted on 08/01/2007 11:29:40 AM PDT by AliVeritas
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To: Froufrou
Is that a rehash of “Bush’s fault?”

I'm commenting on the DBM... not Bush or his administration.

16 posted on 08/01/2007 11:30:22 AM PDT by johnny7 ("But that one on the far left... he had crazy eyes")
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To: johnny7

DBM = Drive By Media? Apparently, Paris Hilton means more to them.


17 posted on 08/01/2007 11:35:54 AM PDT by Froufrou
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To: tennteacher
Where’s the ACLU? Where are all the human rights activists?

Since when do communists care about Christians?!

18 posted on 08/01/2007 11:49:17 AM PDT by johnny7 ("But that one on the far left... he had crazy eyes")
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To: tennteacher

I think the Afghan Army is chasing these folks, which is scarier than the ACLU any day.


19 posted on 08/01/2007 11:58:24 AM PDT by ObadiahLynch
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To: Salvation

“Yes, we do. There are numerous threads on the Religion Forum about these.”

It’s all over the newspaper too.


20 posted on 08/01/2007 11:59:43 AM PDT by ObadiahLynch
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