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Observers Decry Muslim Silence Over Murder of Christian Couple in Pakistan

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Photo Credit: AFP

Photo Credit: AFP

Rufin Anthony, the bishop of Islamabad, has denounced the culpable silence of Muslim leaders who have failed to forcefully condemn what is being called “the worst religiously motivated hate crime in Pakistan’s history”—the recent murder of a Christian couple in Pakistan.

Summary executions of religious minorities accused of blasphemy in Pakistan has met with complacency and even approval, says Anthony. “In the past,” he said, when vigilantes have taken the law into their own hands, “religious leaders have carefully refrained from expressing words of condemnation. In fact, they have practically encouraged personal vendettas.”

Anthony said that the blame for current problems falls to those who have countenanced it earlier. “If appropriate measures had been taken in the past,” he said, “this barbarism could have been averted.”

On November 4, Shahzad Masih and his pregnant wife Shama Bibia, the parents of four children, were stoned and then burned alive at a brick kiln in Pakistan. The two victims were killed by an angry mob of hundreds of people stirred up by a local religious leader for allegedly burning pages of the Qur’an.

Many have begun asking how a blasphemy law that justifies killing in the name of religion can exist in today’s world.

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This Is Not a One-Eyed Smiley Face, It’s a Symbol of Frightening Things Happening to Middle East Christians

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Photo Credit: TwitterTheir community has suffered murder, crucifixion, rape, kidnapping, theft, special taxation and intimidation under the fierce hand of the Islamic State group.

Now, Iraqi and Syrian Christians are getting a flood of moral support from around the world from those who are taking the symbol of their oppression in order to express solidarity.

One way to say Christian in Arabic is “Nasrani,” that is, one who believes in Jesus of Nazareth. Reports emerging from the towns populated for generations by Christians suggest that Islamic State jihadists have spray painted some homes to mark them as once inhabited by Christians using the Arabic letter ن, which sounds like “noon,” and is the first letter of the word “Nasrani” in Arabic.

Supporters of Middle East Christians say the branding of the homes with red paint is reminiscent of Jews being forced to wear yellow stars under Nazi Germany and are now adopting the symbol of persecution to support Middle East Christians.

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Eric Metaxas: Christians Who Remain Silent About Persecution in the Mideast Enable Evil, Like in Nazi Germany

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Photo Credit: THE CHRISTIAN POST / SONNY HONGEric Metaxas compared the silence of Christians about persecution in the Middle East and religious freedom restrictions domestically to the silence of Christians in Nazi Germany.

“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil,” Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said, Metaxas reminded the audience at the In Defense of Christians Inaugural Summit on Sept. 11.

Metaxas is the author of a biography of Bonhoeffer, a German theologian who spoke up about the persecution of the Jews and was put to death by the Third Reich.

The evil acts of Nazi Germany were partly enabled by the conflation of national identity with the Church, Metaxas said. He compared it to his own experience of growing up in a Greek family where he was led to believe that being Greek meant that you belong to the Greek Orthodox Church, which meant that you are a Christian. Similarly, Germans believed that being German meant being Lutheran, which meant that you are a Christian.

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Iraqi TV Host Weeps Over Plight of Christians

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Photo Credit: Hussein Malla/AP

Photo Credit: Hussein Malla/AP

Nahi Mahdi, an Iraqi TV host, broke down in tears while discussing the desperate plight of Christian refugees in Iraq.

“They are our own flesh and blood,” Mahdi said after regaining his composure. “Some of them have left for Sweden or Germany. Who does (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) think it is to drive out our fellow countrymen?”

The Asia TV program was aired in Iraq in late July, according to a video and translation provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

“This is one genuine Iraqi we have here,” another panelist commented at the sight of Mahdi in tears.

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The Spreading Scourge of Anti-Christian Persecution

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Photo Credit: TownHall

Photo Credit: TownHall

Intolerance that fosters pogroms abroad is taking root in U.S. communities. Sobering and unforgettable images are projected across our television and computer screens. They should elicit the most basic instincts of both fear and compassion.

I’m referring to images of showing the persecution of hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions, of our fellow brothers and sisters by incomprehensible religious zealots. Their intolerance of Christianity is beyond horrible. People are beheaded for their faith. Women and young girls are sexually violated, and whole families are wantonly slaughtered in cold blood. Perhaps just as abhorrent is the profound silence of the current administration. Even though President Obama has declared that we are not a Judeo-Christian nation, we are still compassionate people who should not ignore humanitarian atrocities, much less ones where the victims are only guilty of maintaining a belief in the principles espoused by Jesus Christ.

We have an obligation as Americans to denounce these acts of persecution. Even those who do not worship a higher deity should be concerned. For when we stand up to such intolerance, we are defending the root of freedom. We are defending choice — the ability to worship and call on the name of a heavenly being without fear of torture and abandonment.

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Lebanese TV Station Adds Arabic 'N' to Name to Protest Iraqi Christian Persecution (+video)

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Photo Credit: Twitter

Photo Credit: Twitter

Lebanese TV station LBCI is adding the Arabic letter “N” to its name in solidarity with Iraqi Christians, who are being persecuted for their faith by the jihadist terror group Islamic State. Supporters of Christians on social media adopted the Arabic “N” as a symbol after Islamic State terrorists used it to mark the homes of Christians in Mosul.

According to Lebanon’s Daily Star, the campaign began this week with anchor Dima Sadeq appearing on television wearing a shirt with the Arabic N on it and giving a monologue explaining the network’s support for Iraqi Christians (below, the only version of the remarks uploaded to YouTube, unfortunately without subtitles):

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Iraqi Christians' Nightmare

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Photo Credit: Ahmad al-Rubaye, AFP / Getty

Photo Credit: Ahmad al-Rubaye, AFP / Getty

Iraq’s Christians are begging the world for help. Is anybody listening?

Since capturing the country’s second largest city of Mosul in early June, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has ordered Christians to convert to Islam, pay jizya taxes levied on non-Muslims, or die. The extremist Sunni group is also persecuting and murdering Turkmen and Shabaks, both Muslim religious minorities.

Human rights lawyer Nina Shea described the horror in Mosul to me: “(ISIS) took the Christians’ houses, took the cars they were driving to leave. They took all their money. One old woman had her life savings of $40,000, and she said, ‘Can I please have 100 dollars?’, and they said no. They took wedding rings off fingers, chopping off fingers if they couldn’t get the ring off.”

“We now have 5,000 destitute, homeless people with no future,” Shea said. “This is a crime against humanity.”

For the first time in 2,000 years, Mosul is devoid of Christians. “This is ancient Nineveh we are talking about,” Shea explained. “They took down all the crosses. They blew up the tomb of the prophet Jonah. An orthodox Cathedral has been turned into a mosque. … They are uprooting every vestige of Christianity.” University of Mosul professor Mahmoud Al ‘Asali, a Muslim, bravely spoke out against ISIS’ purging of Christians and was executed.

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Iraq Crisis: End 'Very Near' for Christianity after Isis Takeover, Says Bishop

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Photo Credit: REUTERS / Ahmad Mousa

Photo Credit: REUTERS / Ahmad Mousa

The vicar of the only Anglican church in Iraq has warned the end for Christians in the country appears “very near” as he appealed for help after a deadline set by Islamic militants to convert or be killed expired.

Canon Andrew White, dubbed “the bishop of Baghdad” for his work at St George’s church in the capital, spoke after the ultimatum handed to Christians in the northern city of Mosul by the Islamic State of Iraq Levant (Isis) to convert, pay a tax or be put to death passed last week.

For those Christians who did not comply with the decree by 19 July, Isis warned that “there is nothing to give them but the sword.” Many have since fled their homes and Rev. Andrew-White told BBC Radio 4 Today desperate Christians were trapped in the desert or on the streets with nowhere to go.

“Things are so desperate, our people are disappearing,” he said. “We have had people massacred, their heads chopped off.

Read more from this story HERE.

Finally Free: Persecuted Sudanese Christian Meriam Ibrahim Welcomed to Safety in Italy by the Pope

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Meriam Ibrahim, the Sudanese Christian who faced death for not renouncing her faith within Sudan, is finally free. After a failed attempt to leave the country a month ago, the Italian government stepped in and used its historic ties with the region to organize her safe passage out of Sudan.

Yesterday, Ibrahim, her husband, and two children were flown to Italy on an Italian government jet. On the journey back to Italy, Italian politician Lapo Pistelli posted the picture below on his Facebook page.

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Convert, Pay Tax, or Die, Islamic State Warns Christians

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Photo Credit: Beth Rankin

Photo Credit: Beth Rankin

Islamist insurgents have issued an ultimatum to northern Iraq’s dwindling Christian population to either convert to Islam, pay a religious levy or face death, according to a statement distributed in the militant-controlled city of Mosul.

The statement issued by the Islamic State, the al Qaeda offshoot which led last month’s lightning assault to capture swathes of north Iraq, and seen by Reuters, said the ruling would come into effect on Saturday.

It said Christians who wanted to remain in the “caliphate” that the Islamic State declared this month in parts of Iraq and Syria must agree to abide by terms of a “dhimma” contract – a historic practice under which non-Muslims were protected in Muslim lands in return for a special levy known as “jizya”.

“We offer them three choices: Islam; the dhimma contract – involving payment of jizya; if they refuse this they will have nothing but the sword,” the announcement said.

A resident of Mosul said the statement, issued in the name of the Islamic State in Iraq’s northern province of Nineveh, had been distributed on Thursday and read out in mosques.

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