Concepts create idols; only wonder grasps anything. - St Gregory of Nyssa

Thursday, August 18, 2011

The Persecution of Christians in the Middle East

The terrible violence in Oslo last month has brought the world's attention to the ravings of a madman and a murderer -- someone who was motivated to kill fellow Christians because he feels they had acquiesced to a takeover by Islam.

Our revulsion is appropriate -- this was the killing of innocent people in the name of religious and political hatred.   However, when the roles are reversed, and Christians are in the minority and Muslims in the majority, are we equally upset by murder, intimidation and religious hatred?

Sadly, we don't appear to be.  The world is standing silent as Christians living in Muslim-majority lands are killed, and their killers are venerated.

Today, Christians, regardless of affiliation, are being systematically harassed, persecuted, and murdered throughout the Middle East, the region of the globe from which Christianity first emerged.  Churches have been bombed and those attending Christian services have been killed.  Christian homes have been ransacked and cemeteries have been destroyed.  Converts from Islam to Christianity are considered apostates and subject to severe punishment.  In Iran, a man named Youcef Nadarkhani has been sentenced to hang for the state crime of converting from Islam to Christianity.  His appeals for clemency to Iran's highest courts have been rejected.

The former President of Lebanon, Amin Gemayel has declared, "Massacres are taking place for no reason and without any justification against Christians.  It is only because they are Christians."  This can only be called religious cleansing on a vast scale.

The rest of the article and the worthy comments are here.

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