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Mob beheads nun in Bagdad
UPI | 8/27/02 | UWE SIEMON-NETTO

Posted on 08/27/2002 7:30:54 PM PDT by kattracks

WASHINGTON, Aug 27, 2002 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- A nun belonging to Iraq's Christian minority that still speaks a dialect of Aramaic, the language of Jesus, was found beheaded in Baghdad, the U.S.-based Chaldean News Agency reported Tuesday.

CNA blamed "Muslim terrorists" for this murder of Sister Cecilia Hanna, 70. According to this wire service of Iraq's Christian exiles, she "was knifed down savagely and her head was severed from the rest of her body by a group of thugs while she was staying in the Chaldean monastery located in Palestine Street in Baghdad."

When asked about this report, a State Department spokeswoman told United Press International Tuesday, "We are not aware of this case."

Shortly after the start of the U.S. war on terrorism, Albert Yelda, a London-based Iraqi opposition leader, had warned that Iraq's ancient Christian community would be made a whipping boy for this conflict.

Yelda told UPI at the time that Iraq's Christians "no longer dare to wear their traditional crosses. They are being called crusaders. They do not receive food rations. They are being told, 'Ask the Americans to feed you. You have no business being here.'"

In an interview, Bishop Ibrahim N. Ibrahim of the Chaldean Church's Eastern diocese in the U.S. referred UPI to the CNA story Tuesday but denied that Christians in Iraq were being singled out for persecution.

However, CNA now ranks Sister Cecilia Hanna among the long line of martyrs in present-day Iraq, whose Christians are the descendants of one of the oldest known civilizations -- Mesopotamia. Collectively, these Christians are known of Assyrians.

Assyians say they were the first nation to adopt Christianity as state religion in 179 AD, more than 100 years before Armenia, which prides itself with being the first Christianized country. The Assyrians also claim were the ones to have built the first Christian churches and to have been the first to translate the New Testament from Greek into their vernacular, which still resembles the language of Christ.

The Chaldean Church, to which the murdered Sacred Heart of Jesus nun belonged, is in union with the Vatican and has approximately one million members, half of whom still live in Iraq, while the rest is spread around the world, Bishop Ibrahim said.

Another 300,000 to 500,000 Assyrian Christians belong to the venerable Church of the East. This denomination was once condemned as heretical because it followed the teachings of Nestorius, the 5th-century bishop of Constantinople, who taught that the Virgin Mary was not the "theodokos," or mother of God, but simply the mother of Jesus Christ.

Nestorian missionaries were the first the reach Mongolia, China and Japan in the 8th century. However, in the 16th century, a segment of the Nestorian Church recognized the Pope and united with Rome, which persecuted the remaining Nestorians for centuries, especially in India.

"Today, our two churches are very close," Bishop Ibrahim said. While not in full communion, they practice Eucharistic hospitality under certain circumstances. In other words, they commune each other's members if they have no church of their own denomination to go to.

"Our liturgies are very similar," Ibrahim explained. "Assyrian services consist of 99 percent liturgy with lots of incense," Yelda said. The difference is that while the Chaldeans allow icons in their churches, the Nestorian sanctuaries are as stark as synagogues. But for a simple cross above the altar, nothing adorns them.

There are other parallels between the Nestorians and the Jews as well. Nestorians call their priest "rabi" (teacher), and like orthodox Jews they eschew mixed marriages. "We want to preserve a Christian people in our country," Yelda explained.

While Bishop Ibrahim allowed that "Christians like all others suffer from the turmoil in Iraq, but are not targeted for persecution," the Chaldean News Service accused Saddam Hussein's government of appeasing "the rising tide of Muslim fanaticism."

This movement, it said, "has at its final goal not only the murder or the complete subjugation of non-Muslims but all those who do not measure up to its doctrine of terror and hatred."

According to Albert Yelda, Saddam Hussein, too, has set out to destroy the venerable Assyrian culture, "not out of any Muslim convictions but because, like every tyrant, he hates minorities."

Yelda described how Saddam had banned the Assyrians' cultural clubs, where their literary language was kept alive. "Saddam had hundreds of Assyrian villages razed, including recently a 2nd-century church."

Yelda also accused Saddam's son, Uday, of raping and killing an Assyrian woman and then making this act public knowledge.

As for the repression of Iraqi Christians in the name of Islam, Yelda said it ran counter the stated wish of the Prophet Mohammed, who was so impressed by the Assyrians' knowledge of medicine and sciences that he issued a Firman, or letter of protection, for them.

The Firman disappeared without trace over 150 years ago.

By UWE SIEMON-NETTO, UPI Religion Correspondent

Copyright 2002 by United Press International.






TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: banglist
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To: GeekDejure
At what point do we consider them to be 'animals' . . . and NOT 'people' ???

One year ago next month.

201 posted on 08/28/2002 9:59:38 AM PDT by Steve0113
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To: Steve0113; GeekDejure
At what point do we consider them to be 'animals' . . . and NOT 'people' ???

NEVER!!!! Even though they be our mortal enemies, even though we may need to kill them lest they kill us, they are still people. The Master told us to pray for our enemies; I would rather see them converted than killed (however unlikely I think that to be). History is replete with those who have denied the very humanity of their enemies; those times are singularly foul in odor. Stalin and Hitler are among the more notorious examples. Let us not join them. Our enemies, be they communists, or islamists, or common criminals are still Men created in the image and likeness of God. Never forget this, even when they leave you no choice but to put a bullet between their eyes.

AB

202 posted on 08/28/2002 10:08:56 AM PDT by ArrogantBustard
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To: Ramius
My point was only that not all of them are a threat. I'm guessing that most are. There are some who are not a threat to us.

We have plenty of vermin in our own culture who are a threat to our way of life.

203 posted on 08/28/2002 10:09:35 AM PDT by Aliska
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To: ArrogantBustard

Our enemies, be they communists, or islamists, or common criminals are still Men created in the image and likeness of God. Never forget this, even when they leave you no choice but to put a bullet between their eyes.

Good point. Thanks for the reminder.

204 posted on 08/28/2002 10:14:26 AM PDT by Steve0113
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To: kattracks
How low will these savages sink before we, as a culture, wake up?
205 posted on 08/28/2002 10:16:48 AM PDT by Prodigal Son
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To: kattracks
Islam really, really sucks.
206 posted on 08/28/2002 10:19:32 AM PDT by jpl
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To: kattracks
"Muslim terrorists"... knifed (her) down savagely and her head was severed from the rest of her body

Does anybody think the major media like the New Yawk Slimes will stoke up their editorial outrage over this incident like they did over Danny Pearle?

Of course not.

They are too busy promoting "academic freedom" and "religious tolerance" in places like UNC which requires reading of such pro-Islamic boods as Understanding the Q'uran by incoming freshmen.

But, they are just being consistent. After all, they supported the likes of Fidel Castro when he was still a rebel in the Sierra Madre and Robert Mugabe when he was just a gleam in Stalin's eye. No doubt they'll continue their trashing of US attempts to get rid of Saddam and these same murdering scum the likes of which attacked us on 9-11!

207 posted on 08/28/2002 10:20:13 AM PDT by Gritty
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To: onedoug
ping
208 posted on 08/28/2002 11:09:28 AM PDT by windcliff
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To: windcliff
"But we must be SENsetive to their CULture."
209 posted on 08/28/2002 11:39:58 AM PDT by onedoug
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To: Barnacle
No, you are correct: propaganda usually must have some element of truth to be effective.

I HEARD, but cannot verify, that the castration story was fabricated. And if it was not, I am quite sure that any atrocities of a vanquished foe would be paraded for all to see.

I DID quit subscribing to American Spectator about a year later, for other reasons. I am back now. Other than that interlude, I had subscribed continuously since the mid-70s when it was "The Alternative", a pulp magazine about 24" by 18". That story, and the hatchet job on Buchanan in '92 or '96 (cannot remember) makes me question their credibility on a lot of other things, including the Clinton stories (I stand second to no one in despising Clinton). Buchanan is subject to much legitimate criticism, but that job was beyond the pale of reasonable people. Sorry to ramble.

210 posted on 08/28/2002 3:16:17 PM PDT by jammer
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To: Senator Pardek
MadIvan hit the nail on the head for this Catholic as well in post 175.
211 posted on 08/28/2002 5:25:28 PM PDT by Audit_Jesse
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To: Brian Allen
26+6=1.

I'm not condoning the IRA by any stretch, but the British aristocrats were not even remotely humane to the poor catholic's living there bub.
212 posted on 08/28/2002 5:29:31 PM PDT by Audit_Jesse
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To: Senator Pardek
This is merely an observation. As a non-Christian, I find that Protestants at FR are quite aware that Islam exists to wipe out Christianity, yet Catholic Freepers more or less ignore this fact, because it's an ugly one.

What the hell are you talking about? You won't find a bigger islamophobe than myself. My brother, a Fransiscan Priest, has been telling everyone about islam's goal of killing off Christianity for the last ten years. His fellow clergimen are in agreement on this.

The only ugliness here is your lame sport at Catholic bashing.

213 posted on 08/28/2002 5:40:24 PM PDT by Wm Bach
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To: Barnacle; jammer; Askel5; RightWhale; Aliska; Senator Pardek; sinkspur
Barnacle writes: "Propaganda is not necessarily lies. It can be quite factual, as I believe the story about the nun is." True. Although I have a few difficulties about the story of Sister's death, because too many different versions have appeared - even in this forum. It was an individual, it was a group, it was a mob, she had her throat cut, no she was beheaded - in the street, or in the convent, or in the chapel, or in a house she visited etc.

The Chaldean church reported that the Iraqi police had already arrested her killer. Does anyone want to contemplate the possibility that he was some thug or robber who may have broken into the church buildings? Such deaths are all too common, especially if the killer is a drug user.

Or he may have been someone in her own community - a violent feud. In the Maronite community in Lebanon, families such as the Franjeihs and the Gemayels settled their differences with slaughters in churches. Suleiman Franjeih had the tactic of hiding behind the curtain of the sanctuary, then popping out with a machine gun when everyone stood up for the Readings. A Muslim wouldn't have the inside knowledge for that tactic!

About Sinkspur's comment that Iraq is surely not a secular state, on the basis of this murder. I do think you need to argue that. Iraq is quite secular. Thousands of clergy have been slaughtered in Iraq - but they are Muslim clergy. This is part of Sadaam Hussein's war against the Shia in the south of that country. One of the Ayatollahs in Najaf was so certain of his impending death that he went to the mosque to give his last sermon dressed in a shroud. According to the US State Dept's human rights reports, the persecutions have been so extensive that there is a lack of Shia clergy to take over the jobs of the old ones - huge numbers are dead or have fled. Women, also, in the Shia clerical community have been killed - officially executed by the Baathist regime.

And I agree with Aliska's point, rushing in to slaughter a whole lot of people will solve nothing, and is not justified.
214 posted on 08/28/2002 6:10:52 PM PDT by BlackVeil
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To: Senator Pardek
Just another friendly reminder.
215 posted on 08/28/2002 6:12:10 PM PDT by Barnacle
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To: BlackVeil
And I agree with Aliska's point, rushing in to slaughter a whole lot of people will solve nothing, and is not justified.

Uh, nobody's suggesting we rush in to slaughter a lot of people.

We only need to slaughter one person, and his sycophants.

216 posted on 08/28/2002 6:16:39 PM PDT by sinkspur
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To: sinkspur
"nobody's suggesting we rush in to slaughter a lot of people". That is suggested in many posts right through the thread - that this is the only possible response to the Islamic world. I also note the level of hatred towards the schismatic Christians of East, and their heretic beliefs. Not for nothing do the Christians of the Western world idealise the Crusades - that was exactly the Crusaders priorities, except they had it in for the Jews as well. So many people to kill, so little time ...
217 posted on 08/28/2002 6:25:58 PM PDT by BlackVeil
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To: BlackVeil
I also note the level of hatred towards the schismatic Christians of East, and their heretic beliefs.

What on earth are you talking about?

Not for nothing do the Christians of the Western world idealise the Crusades - that was exactly the Crusaders priorities, except they had it in for the Jews as well. So many people to kill, so little time ...

You're fabricating strawmen in an effort to bash Medieval Christianity.

All the posts on this thread want to kill terrorists. If you're not a terrorist you've got nothing to worry about.

218 posted on 08/28/2002 6:33:51 PM PDT by sinkspur
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To: sinkspur; Bobby777
What am I talking about? Read the posts debating Nestorian beliefs, and the furious replies to Bobby777 because he doesn't believe in the canonical position of the Virgin Mary as the Mother of God (rather than the Mother of Jesus.) I tell you, that Bobby is pretty lucky that the Holy Office has lost its powers.

Post 99, completely characteristic, says: "Savages. I'll revel in their total destruction." Remember, many of these to be destroyed, will be the Christian communities of Iraq, handed over to our Turkish, Kurdish, and Islamic fundamentalist allies. The Christian community of Iraq is IDENTIFIED with Sadaam Hussein's regime, members hold high office in it. The picture in Iraq is not what you have been sold.

As for the Crusaders, you do them great wrong if you deny their anti-Semitism. They gloried in it. They also killed off the Orthodox Christians at an amazing rate. (And the Orthodox in the East have not forgotten this, not for a moment. Many of them seem to enjoy brooding over their hatred.) The Crusades were directed equally against herectics as against Muslims and Jews. I direct your attention to the Albigensian crusade in the south of France.
219 posted on 08/28/2002 6:47:19 PM PDT by BlackVeil
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To: sinkspur
I'm coming late to this thread, but as a Christian, I think a Catholic nun's violent murder (however it occurred and whoever did it) is a sin that God Himself will avenge one way or another, because it is a strike at God Himself. I think anybody who murders the religious, be it a priest, nun, rabbi, Buddhist monk, imam, or lay missionary or otherwise devout person, where the person was never violent or advocated violence and was murdered clearly because of the person's religion, is in an even more unenviable position in relation to divine judgement than other murderers.
220 posted on 08/28/2002 6:52:25 PM PDT by wimpycat
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