Christian Extermination in the Middle East

ISIS-Burns-Down-ChurchThe purge of ancient Christian communities throughout Iraq that started in June culminated in a show of great intolerance in July.

Among other things, a Christian church that had stood on the ground of Iraq for 1,800 years—a church that was erected less than 200 year after Christ—was reportedly torched by the Islamic State, according to numerous news agencies, including Al Arabiya.

Islamic State jihadis also stormed and took over an ancient monastery in northern Iraq and expelled its few monks, telling them “You have no place here anymore, you have to leave immediately.”  The monks plead to be allowed to save some of the monastery’s ancient relics but the jihadis refused and ordered them to walk many miles along a deserted road with nothing but their clothes.  (St. Behnam monastery had stood since the fourth century and was one of Iraq’s best-known Christian landmarks.  It was built by an Assyrian king as a penance for executing his children Behnam and Sarah for converting to Christianity.)

The Islamic State issued a July 19 deadline for Mosul’s remaining Christians either to convert to Islam or face execution.  Islamic State members also singled out Christian homes by placing the Arabic letter for “N”—based on the Arabic word Nasara, or “Nazarenes,” the Koran’s pejorative for Christians—on the sides of their homes.   The result, in the words of Patriarch Louis Sako, is that “For the first time in the history of Iraq, Mosul is now empty of Christians.”

In response to the Islamic State’s latest atrocities against Iraq’s Christian minorities, the Syriac Orthodox bishop of Mount Lebanon and Tripoli, George Salibadenounced not just the Islamic State but Muslims in general for their long “history of violence and oppression against Christians”:

What is happening in Iraq is a strange thing, but it is normal for Muslims, because they have never treated Christians well, and they have always held an offensive and defaming stand against Christians….  We used to live and coexist with Muslims, but then they revealed their canines [teeth]….  [They don’t] have the right to storm houses, steal and attack the honor of Christians.  Most Muslims do this, the Ottomans killed us and after that the ruling nation-states understood the circumstances but always gave advantage to the Muslims.  Islam has never changed…

Islamic organizations responded by denouncing the Syriac bishop’s words as “hateful” and Islamophobic, demanding an apology.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also made some telling remarks concerning the plight of Christians, especially in those Mideast countries the U.S. is involved in.  When asked if he was “troubled” by the Presbyterian Church USA’s decision to withdraw $21 million worth in investments from Israel on behalf of the Palestinian people, the prime minister said:

You know I would suggest to these Presbyterian organizations to fly to the Middle East, come and see Israel for the embattled democracy that it is, and then take a bus tour, go to Libya, go to Syria, go to Iraq, and see the difference. And I would give them two pieces of advice, one is, make sure it’s an armor plated bus, and second, don’t say that you’re Christians. 

The rest of July’s roundup of Muslim persecution of Christians around the world includes (but is not limited to) the following accounts, listed by theme and country alphabetical order, not necessarily according to severity.

Muslim Attacks on Churches and Carnage

Afghanistan: according to BosNewsLife, the central Asian nation’s “tiny Christian community was left in shock Friday,  July 25, after two Finnish Christian aid workers were shot dead.”  The attack “underscored the dangers faced by Christian aid workers.”  The two women were slain by motorcycle riding gunmen in the western city of Herat, “the latest in a series of attacks targeting Westerners, including Christian believers.  The Christians, who represented International Assistance Mission (IAM), had been working in Afghanistan since the 1990s…  They both spoke Dari well and knew and respected the culture of Afghanistan.”  Among those the aid workers were helping were people with mental disabilities and illiterate women.

Central African Republic:  At least 27 Christians were slaughtered during a July 7 attack on the St. Joseph’s Cathedral compound in Bambari, where thousands of people, mostly Christian, were receiving sanctuary.  The attackers were fighters from the Islamic Seleka rebel movement and Muslim civilians. The armed attackers entered the grounds at around 3pm and began shooting indiscriminately. Women and children were among those killed; over 20 people were injured.  The Islamic attackers burnt down 20 buildings within the church compound, set fire to three cars, and stole two others as well as a number of motorbikes.  Weeks earlier, on May 28, another attack on a church compound in Bangui, the capital, left around 20 people dead.

Kenya: On July 5, Muslims attacked the Covenant Church, three kilometers north of Hindi, just as Bible study was closing.  As the Bible study participants fled, two men opted to hide inside the church building—and were burned alive after the Islamic attackers set the building on fire.  On the same night, a Catholic church building in the village of Gamba, in neighboring Tana River County, was also destroyed by attackers.   Two days earlier, 15-20 assailants armed with guns and knives attacked Gamba and the village of Hindi, killing at least 13 people, including a 12-year-old student and a 30-year-old man “who was found in a pool of blood with a Bible on his back,” reports Morning Star News. One survivor of the attacks said the invaders were heard “saying non-Muslims should get out, and if not they should convert to Islam.”  Another survivor said, “I was removed with my daughter from the house while the attackers tied my husband to the bedside before setting the house on fire.  The attackers, who spoke mainly in Somali, targeted non-Muslims, whom they tied with ropes before slitting their throats.” (Gamba is about 28 miles from Mpeketoni, another Christian town where gunmen killed at least 57 people in a June 15 attack.)

Lebanon: A shadowy group known as the Free Sunnis of Baalbek Brigade, which had only recently pledged its allegiance to the Islamic State, announced on its twitter account that a “specialized group of free jihadists were tasked with cleansing the Islamic state of Bekaa in particular and in Lebanon in general from the churches.  We will target crusaders in the state and in Lebanon to silence the ringing of the bells.”  (According to Islamic Sharia, churches under Islamic authority are forbidden from ringing their bells.)  The Brigade has claimed responsibility for several rocket and bomb attacks inside Lebanon, the last of which were the suicide blasts in Dahr al-Baydar and Raouche’s Duroy Hotel.

Nigeria: A bomb blast inside the Saint Charles Catholic Church left five people dead and eight injured.  The attack came shortly after Sunday mass ended, when an improvised explosive device was thrown inside the city of Kano, which has a strong presence of Boko Haram, the local Islamic terrorist organization.  On the same Sunday and also in Kano, a woman suicide bomber blew herself up outside a university after police prevented her from carrying out an attack.  Five officers were injured.  According to a police spokesman, “A female suicide bomber was isolated (by police) as she was walking towards the gate of the university.”  She had hidden the bomb under her “long black hijab” and was singled out for behaving strangely, said the spokesman.  Police were about to ask a female colleague to frisk the woman when she detonated the bomb, killing herself and injuring the police officers.  Also in July, Nicholas Okoh, primate of the Church of Nigeria, said in an interview that, despite Boko Haram’s nonstop attacks on Christians and their churches, for long “the United States did not come out to say anything about Boko Haram.  They kept talking about economic problems, [saying] that Boko Haram is fighting because of economic problems. That is not true … The United States deliberately ignored the fundamental issues of religious ideology.”

Sudan:  In adherence to Islamic law, the east African nation formally announced a ban on the construction of any new Christian churches in the country.  This move came after several churches, some of which have been in existence for decades, were bulldozed to the ground by authorities, the most recent one, the Sudanese Christ Church at El Izba residential area in Khartoum North, on July 1. According to Pravoslavie, “The Sudanese Minister of Guidance and Religious Endowments Shalil Abdullah announced that the government will henceforth not issue permits for the building of churches in the country.  Minister Shalil Abdullah told the press on Saturday [July 12] that the existing churches are enough for the Christian population remaining in Sudan after the secession of South Sudan in 2011.”  Since 1989, Sudan has been governed by a Sharia enforcing Islamic regime. Reverend Kori El Ramli, the Secretary-General of Sudan Council of Churches, criticized this move as contradicting the nation’s Constitution, adding “Yes, we are a minority, but we have freedom of worship and belief just like the rest of the Sudanese as long as we are Sudanese nationals like them.”

Turkey:  A band of Muslims attacked the Saint Stephanos Church in Istanbul during a baptismal service held on July 15. Among other things, the Muslim intruders pushed their way into the baptismal service, yelling obscenities, with one waving a knife and threatening to stab a parishioner.  The attack occurred during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which often sees a concomitant rise of intolerance in Muslim majority areas.   Speaking about the attack, one parishioner said on condition of anonymity that “It’s not the first, and it won’t be the last.”  In fact, two months earlier, men in their late teens and 20s entered the church building at night, ripped out most of its audio equipment and destroyed what they couldn’t carry away. They also took some of the ceremonial candles, lit them and started setting items in the rear of the building on fire. They stacked all remaining candles into a pile, lit them and left.

Uganda: A gang of Muslims brandishing machetes stormed a church during service, hacking one 18-year-old woman to death and leaving three others, including a one-year-old baby, injured.  A group of around 20 Christians had gathered at Chali Born Victory Church in Kyegegwa district for their regular Friday night prayer session when armed Muslims burst into the building around 2 am.  Pastor Jackson Turyamureba was preaching when he saw somebody peeping through a window.  According to the pastor, “I thought he was a drunkard and told him to either enter or go away. Shortly after that I heard doors being banged and men shouting ‘Allahu Akhbar’ (Allah is great) as they stormed the church brandishing pangas (machetes) and beating worshippers….  One of the attackers followed me and threw a panga which went over my head. I ran through a garden and the man who was pursuing me fell down and gave up the chase.”  The Muslim attackers then fled to a nearby mosque; police surrounded the mosque and one officer was killed when attackers opened fire.  Two suspects were arrested.   According to the pastor, the church has had problems with a group of Muslims in the area who had unsuccessfully tried to convert them to Islam. Church member Polly Tashobya added that the group said they wanted to transform Uganda into an Islamic nation and would kill anyone who refused to convert.

Muslim Attacks on Christian Freedom and ‘Dhimmitude’

Iran: Authorities detained a pastor and two other members of the Church of Iran, one of the country’s largest house church movements.  Pastor Matthias Haghnejad, Mohammad Roghangir, and Suroush Saraie were arrested July 5 by security forces at the pastor’s home in the city of Bandar-Anzali.  According to BosNewsLife, “Their detention comes amid an ongoing government campaign to halt the spread of Christianity in the Islamic country. Especially converts from Islam, many of whom visit the Church of Iran, have been targeted.”  Security forces reportedly confiscated the pastor’s belongings, including his Bible, and several other books.  This would be the latest setback for Pastor Matthias, who was jailed for his faith on three other occasions between 2006 and 2011.  Separately, a judge sentenced a Christian man to have his lips burnt with a cigarette for eating during the day in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims are required to abstain from food and drink during daylight.  The punishment was carried out in public in a square in the city of Kermanshah.  Five other Muslim men were also flogged in public with 70 lashes for not fasting during Ramadan.  A spokesperson from The National Council of Resistance of Iran, a political coalition which opposes the government, denounced the treatment as ‘savage’ and called on Western countries to respond:  “The silence of the world community, especially of western countries, vis-à-vis these medieval punishments under the excuse of having nuclear talks with Iran has intensified the brutal and systematic violation of human rights in Iran.”

Somalia: Muslim converts to Christianity who fled Somalia and reside in Kenyan refugee camps remain in mortal danger.  One convert, known only as “Abubakr,” and his wife reportedly held each other under their bed in their refugee camp as suspected gunmen from the Islamic terrorist organization Al Shabaab pounded on their door. They ordered the man to come out and called him an “infidel” (in both the Arabic and Somali languages), saying, “We need your head.”  When the apostate refused, they opened fire through the spaces of the poles of the couple’s hut, striking their legs.  Then they heard the attackers say, “We have killed the infidels” as they shot into the air while leaving.  The Christian couple was found two days later lying in their own pool of blood.   According to Abubakr, far from providing security for the hiding apostates, Muslim guards at the refugee camp actually help Al Shabaab militants locate them.  Another Somali convert from Islam, Abdikadir, saw Muslim relatives and other Somalis burn down his home in one of the undisclosed Dadaab refugee camps in April. They took away his wife and four children in the course of destroying his home.  He fled the camp and is now living elsewhere.

United Kingdom: According to the Telegraph, “Children were taught that all Christians are liars and attempts were made to introduce Sharia law in classrooms as part of an alleged ‘Trojan Horse’ takeover plot of Birmingham schools, an inquiry has found.”  Commissioned by Birmingham City Council, the inquiry found “evidence of religious extremism in 13 schools as school governors and teachers tried to promote and enforce radical Islamic values.”  Among other things, schools canceled Christmas, put up posters warning children that they would “go to hell” if they did not pray, and girls were taught that women who refused to have sex with their husbands would be “punished” by angels “from dusk to dawn.”  The report found that the extremism went unchecked because the council “disastrously” prioritized community cohesion over “doing what is right.”

About this Series

The persecution of Christians in the Islamic world has become endemic.  Accordingly, “Muslim Persecution of Christians” was developed to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of persecution that surface each month. It serves two purposes:

1) To document that which the mainstream media does not: the habitual, if not chronic, persecution of Christians.

2) To show that such persecution is not “random,” but systematic and interrelated—that it is rooted in a worldview inspired by Islamic Sharia.

Accordingly, whatever the anecdote of persecution, it typically fits under a specific theme, including hatred for churches and other Christian symbols; apostasy, blasphemy, and proselytism laws that criminalize and sometimes punish with death those who “offend” Islam; sexual abuse of Christian women; forced conversions to Islam;  theft and plunder in lieu of jizya (financial tribute expected from non-Muslims); overall expectations for Christians to behave like cowed dhimmis, or third-class, “tolerated” citizens; and simple violence and murder. Sometimes it is a combination thereof.

Because these accounts of persecution span different ethnicities, languages, and locales—from Morocco in the West, to Indonesia in the East—it should be clear that one thing alone binds them: Islam—whether the strict application of Islamic Sharia law, or the supremacist culture born of it.

Previous Reports:

June, 2014

May, 2014

April, 2014

March, 2014

February, 2014

January, 2014

December, 2013

November, 2013

October, 2013

September, 2013

August, 2013

July, 2013

June, 2013

May, 2013

April, 2013

March, 2013

February, 2013

January, 2013

December, 2012

November, 2012

October, 2012

September, 2012 

August, 2012

July, 2012

June, 2012

May, 2012

April, 2012

March, 2012

February, 2012

January, 2012

December, 2011

November, 2011

October, 2011

September, 2011

August, 2011

July, 2011

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  • BMS

    …and the world remains silent while Christians are slaughtered and removed from the Middle East. The same goes for the Jews, outside of Israel. The silence starts with the head of the free world, America’s Muslim President Obama and continues into that corrupt world body the Muslim controlled United Nations. Civilized people MUST speak up or only Radical Islamic societies with zero tolerance will exist in the Middle East.

  • Rosasolis

    It should be obvious to everyone that the Islam Take-over is now the greatest
    Threat to our Western Civiliation. Everyday they are gaining more territory
    throughout the Middle-east and Africa, and the problems are increasing
    throughout Europe — attacks on innocent people, riots in the large cities,
    teeners from Islamic communitied dropping out of school to become recruits
    for the Jihad, young girls being forced to quit their jobs or to leave school
    to be married off to some older man…Our maximal security prisons are now full of Islamists, some of them have been recently given life sentences, while others will be in prison for years. Our police forces in cities and villages, have joined together
    to cope with Islamic aggression (Netherlands), which we see as a national problem. Our military aid to the Middle-east and Africa has been increased.
    Most Europeans are becoming very worried, because of the increasing attacks,
    riots, and threats from the Islam. Years ago we provided work, care, housing and other benefits for simple, uneducated men from
    Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey. Since then, the problems having been only
    increasing. They have never shown any gratitude any of us. They refuse to
    integrate, and they form their own Islamic communities, including Mosques and
    Islamic schools. Last week a small fresh fruit and vegetable shop owned by
    Greek Christians in a nearby city, was broken into. The police arrived just in time
    to prevent the frightened owners from being severly attacked!
    Europe was forced to organize 3 Crusades throughout past centuries , to stop
    the Take-over of the very aggresive, cruel, and primitive islamic barbarians.
    Perhaps the time is drawing near to organize a new Crusade….
    if our Western Civilization is to survive and have a future!

  • Demo P. Seal; PouponMarks

    It is very interesting to me that such concern and alarm is constantly being raised on FrontPage, a heavily weighted Conservative Jewish site. Christians need to take note and remind themselves of the universe of difference between Marxist/Atheist/OneWorld Fascist Jews versus the Conservative, Traditional, Patriotic and Free Market Jews.

  • muchiboy

    As a critic of Zionist Israel,I welcome the opportunity to point out your failure to include Israel as a colonial state responsible for the occupation of the Palestinian (Christian) Homeland as well as the displacement and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian (Christian) People.Your failure is a moral failure,made worse by denial and rationalizations. Your history of the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian Christians make you no better than those you condemn.You are no better than those you accuse.

  • punditwannabe

    The sad thing is that the Libs will say, so what? You Christians did the same thing back in the day, now it’s your turn to burn. That’s why they’re silent, they do not care, in fact they wish it upon us, the Jeremiah Wright roosters coming home to roost bull stuff. They won’t realize, of course, that what is coming by the way of destroying “Christianity” will be worse than what happened to the world because of Christianity.

    • Scar

      And the non-Christian left will also be targets of Islam, because they’re stiff INFIDELS. Not being a Christian won’t mean a thing to the jihadis if the libs don’t convert to Islam.

      • punditwannabe

        Yes but somehow they think they will win that conflict and usher in their new and improved form of secular civilization complete with new and improved American-style socialism. We can do it!!

        • Scar

          You’re probably right. One of these days dummies like you and me will have to accept the fact that progressives are smarter than all of us. That’s why their policies work so well, as history has proven time and time again.

  • herb benty

    The U.S.A. Presbyterian Church “leaders” have just lost their Salvation. “…wanting the approval of men, instead of the approval of God”.

  • Dan Knight

    Christians have no words with which to respond to this stuff. Hacking an 18 year old to death – over religion? Bombing people going to mass? Comparing this crap to anything Christians have done? … The question is: How can one not believe in evil? No excuse justifies this. Christians have spent 2000 years getting us to the point where ‘civilized’ men find this unacceptable. To not respond to it: Is to condone it. And it’s unacceptable.

    What’s funny is that today I was speaking to a young fellow about the hypocrisy of the Left-wing today! Historical preservation: We plow nineteenth and twentieth century history into the ground, but we crap our pants if an arrowhead is found. … Meanwhile, the world is silent while historic churches burn. The Left would eat our balls for neglecting the preservation of a cannery in Carmel, but they’re dead silent about the destruction of our common heritage in the Middle East. … par for the course: They really don’t care.

    • cree

      We’re all frustrated. Most of us have only words to respond. I’m sitting here thinking, I’m almost totally helpless to do anything about what is happening.

      I honestly fear a real clash, as in war between civilizations in our future. Literally, a world wide good vs. evil confrontation is coming. It will have to for good to survive. The menace of evil Raymond is proclaiming is working.

      I’m a grandfather trying to get my kids and grandkids to realize the world beyond an indifference (Islam and the leftists). Their lives don’t permit the time. They know things are screwy but they don’t realize how much. Bad makes people aware. All I know to do is persevere. Glad you are here too.

      • Rosasolis

        I also think that we will have to face a confrontation with the Islam in the near future. I can understand the frustration that
        Americans are going through. The Obama administration has done nothing to protect you folks from Islamic terrorism, threats, and many other problems which are increasing. But since the Republicans have shown their strength, and now have control in both government houses, there is hope! Americans should no longer be forced to live in “isolation”, because the Obama administration
        has been controling the Media and the information they provide to you. I have written before
        that we in Europe, miss the friendship and close contact we used
        to have with America during the years of pres. Reagan and his
        colleagues. I hope the your new government will restore the bond
        we used to have. Your government could learn a lot from us,
        over how we are coping with the growing problems with the
        Jihad terrorists. Although Europe is closer to the Middle-east,
        the problems we are now facing will soon spread to North-America!

        • cree

          An international friend of America is most welcome. And your tribute to the Reagan era and conservative common sense, too.
          Of which country are you, friend?

          • Rosasolis

            Thank you for welcoming me as an International friend.
            I am living in Netherlands. And I have been a conservative for most of my life. Although I have no
            children of my own, I am very concerned about the
            welfare of our planet, and I am especially worried
            about the future of our Western Civilization This is why
            I believe that America and Europe should restore the
            excellent relations we used to have, not so long ago.
            If our civilization is to survive.

    • Rosasolis

      What will it take to awaken more people in North-America to the
      increasing threat of the Islam. In Europe the problems with Islamic
      communities are growing everyday. And now we are having to deal with the greatest threat:
      the increase of mosques, and Islamic famililies and
      organizations which are promoting and supporting the recruiting of
      young men (and also girls) for the Jihad. Our government is doing
      everything possible to prevent the recruits to leave this country or to
      re-enter Europe as crazed jihadists to attack innocent people and cause
      chaos everywhere throughout cities and villages. All our police forces
      have joined together and are on constant allert — they have their hands full of problems everyday! You now have a very strong Republican
      government in both houses. Although they are dealing with problems in
      America, they must realize that plans for the future must include
      keeping the Islam under control. Your Republican representatives
      should be having close contact with Netherlands, the UK, France,
      and Germany. Now is the time to PREPARE for more and worse
      Jihad problems….before its too late!.

  • Hi there

    I’m no Christian, but I think that the fact that all Christian countries are really secular and disassociated with any religiously mandated caring, can explain the world’s silence.
    One tiny, underarmed Jewish State was able to aid the escape of thousands of Jews from dangerous places such as Iraq and Yemen in the early 1950s. With no money, and only piles of debt from costly wars, Israel paid off the Communist Romanians to rescue Jews behind the Iron Wall. Absorption was hard, culturally and economically, but was eventually accomplished.
    If anyone really wanted to do anything about Christians in the ME, they could. The major Arab countries could be taught a lesson in sanctions or at the very least, a stop in military aid from the U.S. They could be punished or threatened or drone attacked, but the world just yawns.
    The UN couldn’t care less. And whatever group of Christians who do care, do not have the kind of power to pull off military or refugee aid that would be necessary.

  • René Martin

    Blow back from the invasions by Christian armies in Muslim countries where Christians have lived in peace for millennia

  • Katrina Stetson

    If I hear one more person say Islam is a religion of peace I will puke! I hope someone gets these pig Muslim killers and do away with them. They are out and out disgusting. They do the work of satan.