The Mass Exodus of Christians
From the Muslim World
By Raymond IbrahimPublished May 07, 2013FoxNews.com
A mass exodus of Christians is currently underway. Millions of Christians are being displaced from one end of the Islamic world to the other. We are reliving the true history of how the Islamic world, much of which prior to the Islamic conquests was almost entirely Christian, came into being. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom recently said: “The flight of Christians out of the region is unprecedented and it’s increasing year by year.” In our lifetime alone “Christians might disappear altogether from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Egypt.” Ongoing reports from the Islamic world certainly support this conclusion: Iraq was the earliest indicator of the fate awaiting Christians once Islamic forces are liberated from the grip of dictators.
The 2010 Baghdad church attack, which saw nearly 60 Christian worshippers slaughtered, is the tip of a decade-long iceberg. In 2003, Iraq’s Christian population was at least one million.Today fewer than 400,000 remain—the result of an anti-Christian campaign that began with the U.S. occupation of Iraq, when countless Christian churches were bombed and countless Christians killed, including by crucifixion and beheading.The 2010 Baghdad church attack, which saw nearly 60 Christian worshippers slaughtered, is the tip of a decade-long iceberg.
Now, as the U.S. supports the jihad on Syria’s secular president Assad, the same pattern has come to Syria: entire regions and towns where Christians lived for centuries before Islam came into being have now been emptied, as the opposition targets Christians for kidnapping, plundering, and beheadings, all in compliance with mosque calls telling the populace that it’s a “sacred duty” to drive Christians away. In October 2012 the last Christian in the city of Homs—which had a Christian population of some 80,000 before jihadis came—was murdered. One teenage Syrian girl said: “We left because they were trying to kill us… because we were Christians…. Those who were our neighbors turned against us. At the end, when we ran away, we went through balconies. We did not even dare go out on the street in front of our house.”
In Egypt, some 100,000 Christian Copts have fled their homeland soon after the “Arab Spring.” In September 2012, the Sinai’s small Christian community was attacked and evicted by Al Qaeda linked Muslims, Reuters reported. But even before that, the Coptic Orthodox Church lamented the “repeated incidents of displacement of Copts from their homes, whether by force or threat. Displacements began in Ameriya [62 Christian families evicted], then they stretched to Dahshur [120 Christian families evicted], and today terror and threats have reached the hearts and souls of our Coptic children in Sinai.”
Iraq, Syria, and Egypt are part of the Arab world. But even in “black” African and “white” European nations with Muslim majorities, Christians are fleeing. In Mali, after a 2012 Islamic coup, as many as 200,000 Christians fled. According to reports, “the church in Mali faces being eradicated,” especially in the north “where rebels want to establish an independent Islamist state and drive Christians out… there have been house to house searches for Christians who might be in hiding, churches and other Christian property have been looted or destroyed, and people tortured into revealing any Christian relatives.” At least one pastor was beheaded. Even in European Bosnia, Christians are leaving en mass “amid mounting discrimination and Islamization.” Only 440,000 Catholics remain in the Balkan nation, half the prewar figure.
Problems cited are typical: “while dozens of mosques were built in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, no building permissions [permits] were given for Christian churches.” “Time is running out as there is a worrisome rise in radicalism,” said one authority, who further added that the people of Bosnia-Herzegovina were “persecuted for centuries” after European powers “failed to support them in their struggle against the Ottoman Empire.” And so history repeats itself.
One can go on and on: In Ethiopia, after a Christian was accused of desecrating a Koran, thousands of Christians were forced to flee their homes when “Muslim extremists set fire to roughly 50 churches and dozens of Christian homes.”
In the Ivory Coast—where Christians have literally been crucified—Islamic rebels “massacred hundreds and displaced tens of thousands” of Christians. In Libya, Islamic rebels forced several Christian religiousorders, serving the sick and needy in the country since 1921, to flee.
To anyone following the plight of Christians under Islamic persecution, none of this is surprising. As I document in my new book, “Crucified Again: Exposing Islam’s New War on Christians,” all around the Islamic world—in nations that do not share the same race, language, culture, or economics, in nations that share only Islam—Christians are being persecuted into extinction. Such is the true face of extremist Islamic resurgence.
Raymond Ibrahim is author of the new book "Crucified Again: Exposing Islam’s New War on Christians" (Regnery Publishing 2013). A Middle East and Islam specialist, he is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and an associate fellow at the Middle East Forum.
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Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/05/07/mass-exodus-christians-from-muslim-world/#ixzz2SiseziwZ
AFRICA/NIGERIA (Fides 16/05/2013)
Abuja - The Secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN, an association that brings together the leading Nigerian Christian denominations including the Catholic Church) in Borno State (in the north-eastern Nigeria), Pentecostal Rev. Faye Pama Musa, was killed in the capital, in Maiduguri, by members of the Islamist sect Boko Haram, shortly after President Goodluck Jonathan had declared a state of emergency in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa (Fides 15/05/2013). According to a first reconstruction of the facts, killers entered the home of the religious leader and killed him in front of his family members. Fighter planes are also heading towards the north-east, which suggests that the Nigerian Air Force is about to hit targets on its own territory. In Maiduguri the influx of new military reinforcements was welcomed in an atmosphere of tension, with schools and many businesses closed. According to the National President of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP, the ruling party), Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, the decision to impose a state of emergency was taken to prevent "terrorists" from proclaiming the secession of the north-east and the creation of their own State.
ASIA/SYRIA (Fides 16/05/2013)
Hassaké - "The militias of the Free Syrian Army and jahidist groups make all vehicles coming from the areas of Damascus and Aleppo carrying goods pay heavy tolls. They say that the money is used to buy weapons, they are like 'bribes for the revolution'. This is why now the prices of food in our cities and in our villages are almost tenfold." This is what was reported to Fides Agency by Archbishop Jacques Behnan Hindo, titular of the Syriac Catholic archeparchy in Hassaké-Nisibis, in the Mesopotamian province of Jazeera. In the region - which includes the towns of Hassaké and Kamishly - military confrontation between the government army and anti-Assad militias has reached a deadlock. But the surrounding areas are controlled by opposition groups, and the roads leading to Aleppo and Damascus are interrupted. "At the moment, even here the scourge of kidnapping is what causes major suffering for many families. In recent months between Hassaké and Kamishly there have been more than one hundred kidnappings. At one point I myself stopped keeping count. Many of the hostages are still in the hands of the kidnappers," says to Fides Mgr. Hindo. Despite all this, the Archbishop keeps some hope alive in the recent international initiatives put in place to attempt a political solution to the Syrian conflict: "Now – he reports to Fides – everybody lays exaggerated claims on the table. I hope that with time the path of compromise will be found. A solution can only come if international agents, starting from the United States and Russia, will be able to put in brackets the respective interests and take account of the expectations and real suffering experienced by our people."
ASIA/SYRIA(Fides 06/05/2013)
Aleppo - "They sang 'Christ is risen', and while repeating those words of joy and victory, they all had tears in their eyes. All their prayers mingled with their tears." With this image the Chaldean Bishop of Aleppo Antoine Audo summarizes to Fides Agency the just celebrated Easter in Syria by the Eastern Christian communities who follow the Julian calendar. Not only do the Christian Aleppine communities have to deal with the suffering which the civil war inflicts on all the people, but there is also apprehension for the pastors who are in the hands of unidentified kidnappers. Two priests have been kidnapped for three months now, and two weeks have passed since the kidnapping of Mar Gregorios Yohannna Ibrahim and Boulos al-Yazigi, the Syrian Orthodox and Greek Orthodox bishops of Aleppo. "All the people" refers to Fides Mgr. Audo "continue to talk about them. Everyone is wondering what will become of the bishops and priests. The time that goes by is not a good sign." The daily struggle for survival also prevents one from having a clear overall perception with regard to the ongoing conflict, the consequences of Israeli air raids and the dangers of contagion at a regional scale. "We are often with no electricity, no water, it is hard to watch TV or find the time to be informed. As president of Caritas I spend all the time receiving people who are looking for help. And I also had to cancel every transfer from Aleppo, because every movement has become dangerous."
ASIA/INDIA (Fides 15/05/2013)
Dhenkanal - Persecuted because converted. Mohan Soren of the village of Dengabahali and Rabi Narayan Marandi, from the village of Bhalu Tanggaro, both in the district of Dhenkanal in the state of Orissa, two Indian citizens converted to Christianity freely, along with their respective families, in February 2013 . As local sources reported to Fides, both families therefore stopped participating in the "puja" rites of their village (traditional Hindu rites of homage and offering to the gods, ed) and stopped giving their contribution to the temple. For this reason the angry villagers started to marginalize them. In recent days, an angry mob entered Monah Soren’s house, robbing him and looting the house. Rabi Narayan Marandi was instead beaten and the crowd told both families to immediately leave the villages. Frightened, the Christians escaped and found temporary accommodation thanks to some families in neighboring villages. In the following days, Christians informed the local police, but the police took no action. The two families fear further attacks. The local Christian communities are showing their solidarity with practical help and prayer.
ASIA/INDIA (Fides 14/05/2013)
Kochi - The Hindu radicals also commit violence against Christians in the state of Kerala, in South India. In Kerala Christians make up 20% of the population and are a part of society very much appreciated for the great effort in the field of education. The raids of Hindu extremist groups are rare, but some episodes begin to arouse bewilderment. As reported to Fides Agency by local sources, about a month ago a large gathering of Christian communities at the "New Hope Bible College" in Palunda, in Kerala, was abruptly interrupted by the irruption of over 150 Hindu beloging to the group "Aikyavedi" an organization of fundamentalist trait. The militants began to beat the believers and organizers, accusing them of "converting with force poor and marginalized people to Christianity ", who were present at the meeting. Christians immediately called the police who reached the spot, had talks with the inbà militants and Christian leaders. To calm things down, the organizers decided to dismiss all non-Christians who had been invited to the meeting and were participating as observers. The Hindu radicals decided to vent their anger on a photographer of the local newspaper "Swantham", who is hospitalized. At the end of the Convention, while the faithful were leaving the college, their cars and coaches were hit by stones. Fides sources recall that Kerala has always given to the whole country "an example of harmony among faiths", reiterating the commitment of Christians to build a peaceful coexistence, in the respect for freedom of religion, guaranteed by the Constitution of India.
AFRICA/NIGERIA (Fides 15/05/2013)
Abuja - "I do not know if this measure will lead to a reduction in criminal activities and achieve greater security," says to Fides Agency His Exc. Mgr. Ignatius Ayau Kaigama, Archbishop of Jos and President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria, commenting on the decision taken by President Goodluck Jonathan to impose a State of emergency in three States in the north-east of Nigeria (Borno, Yobe and Adamawa), where the Islamist sect Boko Haram is more active. "I am in retreat with the other Bishops of Nigeria in Abuja and last night we took the imposition of the State of emergency and we still need to know all the details of this initiative," says Mgr. Kaigama, but does not hide his skepticism. "I am skeptical - says the Archbishop - because already in the past in some States of our Federation, including the state of Plateau (of which Jos is the capital, ed.) a State of emergency had been declared, but did not obtain the expected results. On the contrary, during the imposition of a State of emergency, violence has increased." President Jonathan’s declaration argues that the imposition of a State of emergency is necessary to deal with "terrorist activities and the ongoing security challenges in several States." In addition to the three states where a State of emergency has been imposed, the declaration cites those of Gombe, Bauchi, Kano, Plateau, Bayelsa, Taraba, Benue and Nasarawa. In this last State (in central Nigeria), according to the Nigerian Tribune, 270 people have died in clashes between security forces and members of the sect Ombatse, which presents itself as a movement whose mission is to cleanse the society of some bad habits, and in particular alcoholism and adultery.