Is the Leftist Media ‘Fair and Balanced’ on Christian Persecution?
The leftist media has just provided another blatant example of how they ostracize those who fail to tout their party line. Context: the Washington Post’s On Faith blog posted an article by Elizabeth Tenety dealing with Muslim-Christian relations, in light of recent attacks on Christians in the Muslim world. Regular contributors were invited to respond. The response of one of these, Willis E. Elliott, a retired dean of exploratory programs, New York Seminary, was rejected (PJ Media published it here). Up till then, for over three years, Elliott had been publishing almost weekly on that blog; this is his first contribution to be rejected in all that time.
So what was so terrible about it to compel the Washington Post to jettison it? You see, the nonagenarian Elliott called it as he saw it, making black and white — as opposed to postmodern, “there-are-no-truths” — observations. Consider some of his comments on the differences between Christianity and Islam:
Jesus said, “Love your enemies.” Islam, to the contrary, is essentially hostile to “the infidels.”… Jesus was anti-violent, Muhammad was violent. … Muslims become violent, or threaten violence, when they feel offended: when we Christians feel offended, almost never do we become violent, and almost always we suffer the disrespect in silence.
Inasmuch as Elliott’s assertions are empirically demonstrative — scripturally, historically, and in current affairs (a la Koran-waving jihadists and persecuted Christians) — so too do they go against the one unwavering dogma clung to by the leftist media: cultural relativism. Hence, the need to suppress them.
No doubt the blog’s editors were expecting the usual boilerplate responses when discussing attacks on Christians in the Muslim world: acknowledge their existence, yes, but be quick to point out that, “in their own way,” Christians are equally responsible. That is essentially how most other contributors responded: one found Christian fundamentalism as troubling as Muslim fundamentalism; another bemoaned how scriptures can incite violence, while not mentioning any particular religion; yet another counseled suffering Christians to “turn the other cheek” and forgive their persecutors, cloyingly adding that all violence “can be overcome with our radical love” — easy sentiments to preach living in distant America.
Consider the leftist media’s approach to Egypt’s Copts, the Middle East’s largest Christian minority: whenever they are attacked by Islamists, the media refers to it as “sectarian strife,” eschewing the more accurate, if old-fashioned, term, “Christian persecution.” (What else does one call it when a vastly outnumbered Christian minority suffers at the hands of a Muslim majority — including its government — for nothing less than being Christian?) “Sectarian strife” suggests two comparable forces fighting one another — hardly an accurate way to depict the situation.
Is the Leftist Media ‘Fair and Balanced’ on Christian Persecution?…..well,of course it is….it persecutes Christians without regard to race,color,national origin,or the facts…who could ask for more?
Exactly…The only “Protest” noted by the media about the ants crawling on Jesus at Christmas was the leftie arts crowd protesting its REMOVAL as a “censorship” issue…
Denegrating someones religion, like say, a Cruifix in a jar of urine as an art exhibit = Government Funding for the project.
Denegrating someone religion, like, say, burning a Koran (your own koran, with your own lighter) = the intervention of the PRESIDENT HIMSELF to condenm the event.
The persecution of Christians ought to trigger a crusade against Pakistan, Egypt and other lads of Islam. We ought to wipe them out – to do it to them before they can do it to us. (What is wrong with us?)
It will never happen, naturally, due to our leftist medias love of Christian bashing and political correctness, in addition to our impotent leaders. F the State Department.
The churches are also to be blamed. They’re losing people like ships rats for a reason.
The Muslims are coming and getting away with murder. The backlash will be bloody and unpleasant.
The, otherwise excellent, article states “when we Christians feel offended, almost never do we become violent, and almost always we suffer the disrespect in silence”n this neglects the Inquisition and Crusades. They may not be violent lately, but Christians sure used to be!
you are confusing the Christian ethic (it’s not important if you agree with it or not) tenet of “offer the other cheek” which is, I find it so, very alive as principle. Christians use to do that when somebody offend them.
Inquisition and Crusades were political phenomenons not related to a personal offense being suffered for some one. I am not saying Christians were never violent, the persecution against protestants, the Inquisition, the Crusades, the forced conversions, and a long “etc” is enough as proof. What I am saying is that no one of those violent things were result of a Christian feeling offended.
Most of those conflicts were the result of Governments/States messing with the religion of the people.
The Inquisition and the Crusades were related, but most people today don’t understand how. Nor do they understand why they began.
The Crusades (from 1096 to 1279 AD) were motivated by a very simple fact. Namely, that for four centuries, beginning in 622 AD, the Islamic armies had rampaged across the Mediterranean region, conquering the states along the North African coast (until then, Christian kingdoms), and on into Spain and even France.
On 10 October 732, the Battle of Tours (Poitiers’) was fought by the Franks under Charles Martel, to defeat an invading Muslim army in west central France. The reason they were that far north was that the Muslims controlled Spain, and would do so for another seven centuries. If Charles had lost, the Muslims would have ruled Europe.
By the 12th Century AD, the Catholic Church thought it had a “deal” with the Islamic Caliphate of Cairo and the Mosul Empire (who between them controlled the area we call the MidEast today) regarding free access of Christian pilgrims to the holy places in Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Except that the Muslim definition of “free access” was defined by them as “kill and/or enslave any infidel daring to enter the Dar-al-Islam, and continue the conquest of the Dar-al-Harb”- meaning Western Europe. By this time, not only did the Muslim states control Spain, they were moving into the Eastern Roman Empire, and threatening its capital, Constantinople.
With all this in mind, and after several peace delegations had either returned empty-handed, or hadn’t returned at all (although some heads came back- minus the bodies), Pope Urban II (1042-1099) declared the First Crusade in 1096 for the official reason of securing access to the holy places for Christian pilgrims. But there was another, even more important reason; the survival of the Christian West.
The Crusades gave the Islamic armies a choice; continue attacking the West, or defend their home turf. The military term for this is a “spoiling attack”- attacking a target your enemy must defend to force him to divert forces from his own offensive operations.
In this context, Mecca or Medina would have been even better targets, but Urban II and his advisors concluded that investing them, in the heart of the Arabian Peninsula, would be impossible to sustain. Jerusalem, by comparison, was much nearer the coast, and could be reinforced and resupplied much more easily. As a military objective, it made sense. (For a similar case a few centuries later, Google “Verdun”, “Hutier”, and “Bruchmuller”.)
And it worked; for the duration of the Crusades, (1096-1270), Islamic offensive operations in Europe were sharply curtailed, as much of their military strength was being bled off trying to reduce the “Crusader States”. Even after the last Crusaders had withdrawn, in 1291 (the Knights Templar, BTW), it would take almost half a century for the Islamic armies to be able to resume sustained offensive operations against the West. And by that time, they were largely restricted to attacking through the former Eastern Roman Empire; the best they could accomplish in Spain was to hold onto what they had for another three centuries (see below).
Far from the unprovoked attack on a peaceful culture that modern “revisionists” portray the Crusades as, they were about as “unprovoked” as the U.S. response to Pearl Harbor, and the Islamic states in the 12th Century were about as “peaceful” as the Berlin-Rome-Tokyo Axis was in December 1941. Both lots were hell-bent on world conquest, and didn’t care who they had to kill to achieve it.
As for the Inquisition, it began in Spain in the early 16th Century, when the Catholic rulers decided to run all the Jews out. Those rulers were King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Christopher Columbus fame, who had previously been the rulers of Castile before becoming monarchs of the entire country- by finally defeating the last Islamic Caliph of Al-Andalus (the Islamic term for Spain, from which the name “Andalusia” is derived) in battle at Malaga in 1485- just seven years before Columbus’ voyage. Their enmity toward Jews was largely due to Islamic propaganda; simply put, the Muslims hated Jews then, just as their religious leaders teach them to now, and they infected the Catholic Spanish with their hatred.
As for the Inquisition’s methods, and equipment (which you can see in any good book or bad movie on the subject), they inherited both from the Caliphate, which had used such methods as the rack, etc., with alacrity and religious fervor for over three centuries in Spain. Except that they used them on Christians as well as Jews. As Ian Hogg has said of weapon systems, there is nothing that will give you a healthy respect for a method of interrogation (like the rack) faster than having someone else use it- on you.
Before anyone starts throwing stones at Christianity for past sins, it might be a good idea to study up on what caused the “sinful” activity to begin with. And who was really responsible.
clear ether
eon
Well said! Thank you!!!
Well said? This fabrication of a synopsis is almost as science fictional as the “clear ether” remark from E.E. “Doc” Smith’s “Lensmen” series ironically indicates.
Great summation and historically accurate. Anyone who does not know this by now (post 9/11) is willfully ignorant. Or a leftist.
Or a historian.
artcohn
I’ll bite, what did we ‘Christians’ do now (then)? I’m a Protestant.
The”leftist media” is redundant…to complain about their bias at this point is is futile. They will never be objective about any topic du jour…the pathetic truth is that they don’t have the cajones to be honest and upfront about their over-riding philosophy about the general “intelligence” of the typical citizen and how the “truly wise among us” believe people “ought” to behave.
Hence their enlightened regulatory fiats for the “rest of us”. The pathetic bastards have to resort to backdoor methods to impose their enlightened ideas upon us “unwashed”. Christianity…well that’s simple-minded nonsense — just another flea to be flicked from the more “enlightened” discussion based on scientific method-limited proofs.
This is so true! Outstanding article. We need to pray for our persecuted brothers & sisters as the MSM won’t give us a clue of what really happens.
There are several reasons…
Yes it’s true, they don’t care for Christians because it is a “Western” religion.
Secondly, they don’t care for the truth if it doesn’t fit the narrative, plain and simple.
However, one of the main reasons is that they are cowards.
They are scared that they will be sued by CAIR or another muslim organisation.
Or worse, the paper and staff might be threatened with violence.
It has happened in Europe for the last 10-20 years and now it is happening in the US.
Remember Molly Norris and South Park?
They cannot be bothered to defend the freedom of speech.
And….
They know the government (Obama) will not stand up for them. In fact, Obama will probably side with the violent mobs as he did with Terry Jones who wanted to burn a Koran. A stupid thing to do BUT it was his own property and the act was covered by the constitution.
Now, if the President of the United States will not defend the constitution why should the media?
And,they are in Obama’s pocket anyway.
I wish these people would seriously think a few years ahead, when they, according to their self-evident agenda, have successfully destroyed western civilisation.
What are they going to do then?
Some folk can perhaps be excused for simply being thick.
But what about the intelligent? What sort of future do they really think they are creating for their children?
And if they are not stupid, then what is their game?
Muslim victims of corporate genocide lash out at Christians because that is all they can do. After the genocidal slaughter of their brothers in Iraq at the behest of Texaco and Haliburton Muslims the world over have grown increasingly despondent as the possibility of their liberation from corporate servitude has become increasingly remote. In rage and frustration, they lash out at Christians because Jesus was the name the corporate droog Bush invoked to justify the genocide. Yes, their behavior is wrong and counterproductive, but let us examine its root causes, shall we?
Examining this nonsensical paragraph won’t lead to any examination of root causes. Are you one of the Kids from the Kos?
gee,your really full of it aren’t you.
And Bush and Haliburton went back and time and caused the Muslims to conquer the Holy Land, over-run the Byzantine Empire, and capture Spain.
What mush. That doesn’t explain the 1400 years of rabid expansionism the arabs have been engaged in. Just call it what it is – arab imperialism.
I am almost tempted to write out a litany of Christian atrocities like the Crusades like Christopher Hitchens or Richard Dawkins. However, to blame Christian atrocities is to miss the point as to blame Muslim ones. All medieval peoples were deeply spiritual and atrocities were not a big part of their way of life.
The rise of corporate greed is the root cause of human suffering in today’s world. The racist, genocidal colonialism of post-Renaissance Europe was not about religion but about money. Greed fueled the dispossession, enslavement and genocide of thrid world peoples everywhere.
However, while the genocidal racism of Europe has been mitigated by the compassionate ideology of socialism, the third world is now menaced by the most racist, genocidal corparchy in history–the United States. Muslims have been forced to live as oil-pumping slaves in their own lands under the jack boots of the American military, which will slaughter without mercy all those who dare defy the wishes of the American plutocrats. Under these conditions, it is not surprising ordinary Muslims often lash out at the first thing that reminds them of their oppression, and this thing is often a Christian church.
Yobbin said:
“Yes, their behavior is wrong and counterproductive, but let us examine its root causes, shall we?”
Yes, we shall…I read the Koran and the Hadith…by far the clearest evidence that the root cause of their , as YOU put, it “wrong and counterproductive” behavior stems from….
None other than the Prophet Mohammed’s obviously diseased mind…manifested through his incredibly vile rantings of murder, torture pedophilia, rape and conquest….since Day One of the Muslim Cult he and he alone created.
The slaughtering of Christians anywhere in the world doesn’t seem to make many headlines here in the United States. What makes this strange is that the vast majority of the population in this country claim to be Christians. So you would think that the Christians in this country would be outraged at over what’s going on in places like Egypt, Iraq, and Nigeria, where many more Christians have been slaughtered. Seems shameful that Obama and Clinton, who “claim” to be Christians, have not even mentioned this, let alone forced the nations involved to do something about it. But, if some obscure tribes are getting killed in places like Rwanda or Sudan, you get people like Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson speaking out for them, you get celebrities like George Clooney making documentaries about them, and you will get people like Brad Pitt adopting their babies.
What’s is it going to take for the people to start noticing that the religious war has already started in the Middle East and that now it’s the radical Islamists going after ALL of the “infidels,” not just the Jews? It will only be a matter of months before this starts spreading into other Muslim countries, like Lebanon or Morocco. Lebanon will be especially dangerous since the Christians there are smart enough to have their own militias. This is a stupid holy war that should have been left in the 16th century, but the Muslims are determined to bring it back in the 21st. Pathetic, really.
Islamic fundamentalist have run out of Jews and are going after next best. It would be ironic if Christians all left the middle east and North Africa and set up a Christian state right in the West Bank. Then there’d be 2 countries who can get along.
I must defend WaPo on this one. Although the article may be as true as anything, it is a question of it’s appropriateness in that venue.
As far as the New Year’s Eve bombing at the Two Sisters Church, no one knows for a FACT who did it. We all suppose and probably rightly, that it was muslims who did it; no one has claimed responsibility. However, do we want to go off half cocked like was done with the Oklahoma City bombing and the Loughner shooting? No, we don’t.
As for the train shooting, I have read newspapers here in Cairo that say the man was targeting Christians and the people shot in Giza over the closing down of construction of a church by the gov’t was done in the context of a riot with people throwing rocks.
Again, I’m not saying it’s right but that is the proper context; they were not simply gunned down. Many Americans did not pillory the U.S. border guard who shot and killed a boy who was throwing rocks at him last year. One does not take a rock to the head simply to show how unbigoted they are. Let’s not take a page from the U.S. Constitution as suicide pact on this one.
There is absolutely no doubt that there is a double standard in the Left leaning media on this issue and there are plenty of examples without having the need to blur journalistic boundaries.
Islam, like black Americans who are also the “oppressed” darlings of the media eye, are given a hypocritical pass in what can only be described as perceptual blindness. If you are the right color and religion then you are simply not held to the same standard as others while bewildering and emphatic claims are made that the barbaric crimes by those darlings are done by people who are just as civilized and competent as anyone else. Cultural relativism is a religious faith and not based on empirical observation. Read Van Jones and he’ll tell you blacks are perceived to commit more crimes in the U.S. simply because they are caught and prosecuted more often and more harshly than whites if you want to buy into that joke. Nice try and one to go alongside Jones’ dancing Mossad agents on 9/11.
Empirical observation and statistics themselves equals racism in this scenario and the gist of this article is correct in that reality is thrown right out the door. Empirical observation would seem to side with a point of view that all muslim immigration to the West should be banned as they simply do not measure up in terms of civilized behavior demanded from the cultures which let them in; I don’t care if it’s 2% of the population – that’s 2% more than regular folks. The idea that America is a de facto airport and that European Americans have no right to claim any kind of hegemony and are racists for doing so is just more liberal “profiling” word play designed to shut us down and still leaves us with the U.S. Constitution as suicide pact.
If there is such a thing as hell then CAIR and The National Council of La Raza have half interest in the next dozen or so loads to the nether regions as they are people who are utterly debauched and without even lip service to the idea of the greater good except when they are filing law suits when the greater good magically appears, only to be shut into a briefcase until the next time it’s useful. Even when they trouble themselves to enter the U.S. legally, there are simply too many politically selfish and radicalized muslims and criminal and system playing Latinos to make it worth it.
It does no demonstrable harm to the middle east or Latin America to ban immigration from that quarter as they have no moral or legal rights in this regard. We are simply taking rocks to the head to prove what bigots “we ain’t”; it’s “Minnesota Nice” extended to all 57 states with a stupid lopsided grin that says “kick me”. I say to hell with Islam; if they had civilization’s that made them worthy of immigration then they wouldn’t be doing so in the first place.
Empiricism means the vast majority of people coming to the U.S. from the Third World simply shouldn’t be allowed in. Enough with the “wretched refuse of your teeming shore”. This is “wretched” 2.0 and with a vengeance. Police your own countries and leave mine the hell alone cuz it’s Christian and already spoken for despite some of my fellow countrymen already deeply committed to a suicide pact in a mental case reworking of “Death before dishonor” and that motto’s unwitting reference in this case to some kind of a siege.
We are under siege from the Third World because they won’t stop having kids and can’t clean up their act. Let cultural relativism be worked out in a truly empirical sense by making the Third World step up to the plate, stop bitching about colonialism that is in the past and make their countries a place they want to stay in and others want to emigrate to.
Let’s be very clear about one thing, people in the Third World consider being inside the U.S. like winning a lottery ticket and if you think it is because they are addicted to “The Federalist Papers” then you have the political acumen of Paul Krugman, the Darth Vader of stupid who strangles common sense from his keyboard but with no Peter Cushing to say “enough”. I say enough with mosques and Mexican flags in the lower 55 states.
Note that it took over a decade to get the MSM to even notice Islamist persecution of non-Muslims in Darfur. And those non-Muslims are a mixed bag of Coptic Christians, Ethiopian Jews (NB; yes, I know Dar-Fur is part of Sudan, folks), and animists. Predictably, the MSM only really got agitated when they found out about the animists being persecuted- and even then, it took a while for them to acknowledge that it was Islamists who were responsible, not the local Christians or Jews.
Simply put, “progressives” regard religion as superstition, and dislike it intensely- except if it’s the “right” kind of religion. Animism is OK because they regard it as a subcategory of “Gaia worship”, which is a cult they support because it is anti-Western and anti-technology.
However, they regard any form of Judeo-Christian belief as the “root of all evil”- precisely because its end result was modern Western civilization, which they see as the source of all evil on Earth (excuse me, “Holy Mother Gaia”).
Seen in this context, their behavior makes perfect sense. Destroy Christianity and Judaism, destroy the West. Thereby creating Utopia.
As for the Islamists, the progressives still believe, as an article of faith, that the “homicidal Utopians” of that stripe will, in the end, bow down to them. Because while the Islamists, being primitivists (at least the progressives figured that out), are too stupid to run the Brave New World, they will somehow simultaneously be smart enough to recognize the progressives’ inherent superiority, wisdom, and general wonderfulness, and will beg- beg!- the progressives to rule over them. (As per Bernie Sanders’ dictum, “Anyone who truly understood Communism would beg to live under it.”)
The belief that any group can be “co-opted” to achieve socialist ends, and will thereafter be loyal to the socialists, is one of the more peculiar mental aberrations of the modern “enlightened elite’”. The fact that history strongly indicates that this belief is inaccurate makes no difference to people who believe that history does not apply to them.
As the Doctor might say, I’d be willing to let them find out how wrong they are the hard way, except that it’s very likely that the rest of us would get diced in the crossfire.
clear ether
eon
Which is why you never try to co-opt a true believer, because his loyalty is to the cause, not to any leader. If the leadership tries to co-opt them for different ends, the true believers brand said leadership the enemy and turn on them.
Even here, the response is: “Yeah, so?” when it comes to Christian persecution. Just because people are conservative doesn’t mean they are Christian, or for that matter, even Christian friendly. Any other topic might be filled with responses already. God is watching. As it is written, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God.” Those who hide behind conservatism and its values, but hate Christ and Christians in their heart are no better off than the leftist-humanist-Magogist crowd, their fate will be the same. You see, God IS fair and balanced. Gehenna will be filled with equal opportunity sinners of all stripes.
And by the way, such persecution is coming here. Don’t expect that it will be met with pious platitudes. We will not start any violence, but we will resist it.
The Democrat Party and the Media Party are synonymous with the Socialist Party in Germany that aided Hitler to power. The only problem is; These American institutions are more firmly entrenched and accepted.
And the similarities between Obama and Hitler are striking.
There are no similarities between any American President and Adolph Hitler.
Oh yes there is except Hitler was smarter!
Yes it’s incredibly smart to arrange for the wholesale deportation and slaughter of parts of your own and neighboring countries populations in their millions.
It’s smart to invade the Soviet Union with no plan other than to hope it would collapse as in WW I.
It’s smart to overextend one’s armies so they can be written down and destroyed in detail rather than taking full advantage of interior lines of communication.
It’s smart to give over control of your air force to a fat moron who wrecked it to no purpose over Britain and who never had the brains to call for a 4-engine bomber.
In terms of time and space, Hitler was the worst mass murderer in history of innocent civilians, Russian POWs and soldiers in battle – pick only 1 of the 3 and he is still the worst. Comparing any American President to him is about as stupid as it comes.
The comparison is in his coming to power, not just the war. A couple other things though: Hitler may have made some bad decisions, but it would be a mistake to say that he was not intelligent. Morons don’t bumble their way into leadership positions and intelligence does not equal integrity. Second: Germany did not need to build its air force around four engine bombers as it was a tactical – not strategic – air force. This means they were intended to support the ground forces, which they were superb in doing, but this doesn’t mean that Goering was a decent commander. Finally, Hitler is not the biggest mass murderer in history nor is Stalin, that horrible title goes to Mao Tse-tung.
I said “time and space”. Hitler was a thug and sure, he had that type of intelligence to fight to the top and reportedly a great memory for details. That don’t equal smart. Smart people don’t wreck the country they are the leader of or oversee the purposeful murder of civilians in cold blood. Hitler was Louis Farrakhan with an army.
If the suckling Socialist Media in the United States can postulate and theorize, rather than report facts and news, I can do the same. The Obama Regime is proceeding with many similarities to the rise of the Third Reich, named third because there were two before it. There may be many similarities to the Second Reich.
But, the important similarities remain; The rhetoric, power struggle, and the management of the nation.
If you do not believe we are in a war with the Democrat/Socialist Party and their suckling media, then you are part of the problem. Apparently, what you read here you don’t have any faith in.
I’ll happily be part of the problem if it means comparing the Democratic Party to the Third Reich. This is bordering on “truther” territory as far as I am concerned. Get a grip and have some faith in your fellow Americans.
Any stories about Roswell or dancing Mossad agents you’d like to relate? Maybe let’s hear one about how Hitler was just misunderstood.
Maybe the 2012 nova that exploded over 600 or 6,000 yrs ago whose light has yet to reach us? If it waits too much longer it’ll pre-date the Mayan themselves – bit of a sticky wicket that.
And another item Mr. May;
Chairman Obama has appointed at least 39 czars, that are NOT ACCOUNTABLE to any one but Chairman Obama.
I guess I was under the false impression that the media’s job is to report news as factually as possible, but then I’ve been wrong before. It seems that in todays market all we get are opinions and lies. It’s always been said that in war truth is the first casualty, if that’s the case the media must be at war with all mankind.
“Jesus said, “Love your enemies.” Islam, to the contrary, is essentially hostile to “the infidels.”… Jesus was anti-violent, Muhammad was violent. … Muslims become violent, or threaten violence, when they feel offended: when we Christians feel offended, almost never do we become violent, and almost always we suffer the disrespect in silence.”
I think this is the heart of the issue. Whenever “Christians” have acted violently or aggressively or immorally, they’ve done so in complete contradiction with the basic message of their scriptures. When Muslims act violently, they do so at the direct instigation of their scriptures (I’m generalising of course, but you get the idea).
The reason we can talk of Christian hypocrisy (and I know there’s a lot of it) is precisely because they have a standard by which comparison and judgement can be made; things like the Sermon on the Mount, or Paul’s admonitions to live peaceably and to submit to the governing authorities. As such, for all the shortcomings of individual Christians (or “Christians”, so-called), and abuses of the institutionalised church(s) throughout history, the basic tenets of Christianity aren’t impugned.
By contrast, the teachings of Islam in the Quran and by the various respected expositors…well, the less said the better. If you’re really interested though:
http: //www. islam -watch . org/AyeshaAhmed/MedinaSuras.htm
(remove spaces)
Hogwash! The acts of individuals is entirely different that acts of nation states. Nations are allowed to defend themselves.
All media are biased. All of them.
To me, claiming to be “fair and balanced” means considering philosophical or evidential alternatives. However, to assume that the writer is completely dispassionate about the subject is to assume that the writer does not care.
Well, if they didn’t care about the story, why are they writing about it?
Everyone cares. Everyone brings a point of view to a story. An honest person states this point of view up front, so that we all know where the writer is coming from.
While it’s true that no reporter is capable of being truly fair and balanced about an issue he or she cares about, it is the duty of a journalist to present all the facts of which he is aware, even if he finds them contrary to his personal beliefs. To do otherwise is not reporting, it is editorializing.
A superb article, please do your best to keep refuge of the leftist dominated media educated.
it seems to me that the “unbiased” left wing media, much like militant atheists, pick on Christianity because its an easy target.
Its like a bully beating up a kid on crutches. he can’t fight back. but he does it to make himself feel tuff!
If they attack Muslims….they fight back. So really its just the media acting like a bully.
In the quest of the Catholic Church to covey favor with the Hitlerite Islam it abandoned its own. Allowing the PLO to take over Bethlehem without firing a shot and forcing a community that had lived there for a thousand years to flee for their lives.
In my younger days I would jog from my home on Talpiot to Bethlehem 3 days a week. I never had a problem and was invited for coffee in many shops despite the fact they knew I was without any money ( no pockets in gi pants ). It was beautiful town and the Christian community enjoyed friendly relations , warm in fact, with the wider Jewish world they lived in.
The Hitlerites learned that if the church would turn its back on the very heart of christianity they could attack where ever and when ever they way wanted with impunity.
That is where it all started. The leftist media is just along for the ride. Why? Access to terrorists makes good press. Returning with your head attached requires a degree of cow-towing that trumps honest reportage.
“Is the Leftist Media ‘Fair and Balanced’ on Christian Persecution?”
Does the sun rise in the West?
Is the Pope Buddhist?
Does a bear s**t in the city?
Raymond, you silly goose, we, Christians ARE the enemy. Islamists, apart from being the religion of peace, are allies to American liberals[?], I think that’s what the animals still call themselves.
Thanks for pointing out the progressive liberals and their media tools disdain for Christianity in general. It’s no secret that Christians worldwide are under attack including USA where our children cannot pray or hold bible studies at school anymore. Our children may face real persecution at the rate we’re going as Obama’s hidden socialist agenda unfolds.
BTW – is Obama Christian? He is the only president not to have a “home” church in DC and attends once in a blue moon for show.
Progressives want Christians to accept that islam trumps Christianity.
They want jesus to be just a muslim profit…
Progressive Revelation is the Left’s core belief.. You thought it was Atheism, but there aren’t that many Atheists who throw out Reason to accept islam..
Universalism that includes islam is the stealth jihad nobody noticed..
Is Baha’u'allah the Mahdi? If the world becomes islamicized, the universalism espoused by baha’i will be the reason Christians who believe Jesus is God lose in the end..
Another point to make is that the existence of Israel prevents acceptance of the lie that jesus was just a muslim profit.. If Jews are dispersed again, where will they go that muslims have not set up shop?
Anyone else notice that the UN (bahai institution) has facilitated the migration of muslims to every corner of the earth… It’s oh so Progressive don’t cha know…
The Jews will not be scattered again, and though the Enemy will take over the world, he won’t be able to hold it. They will win, but their victory will be short lived, and seven years later, they will all perish, while the believers in Christ shall stand in the presence of the God who gave them victory.
NPR led a story about this with the statement “Christian Copts have had a place in Muslim Egypt for centuries”, as if Egypt was naturally Muslim by default and Christians were more recent arrivals. When in fact the Copts have been in Egypt for millenia, not centuries, and were there for 600 years before Muslims arrived and took over.
You`ll get yelled at for telling the truth sshhhQ!
The Copts were overrun by Christians too, and Greeks before that. The NPR statement is accurate as far as it goes. Trying to parse it as “doublethink” is worthless.
Strictly speaking, I should have said “Coptic Christians”, not “Copts”, have been in Egypt for millenia, but my point still stands.
From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coptic_Christians
According to tradition the Coptic Orthodox Church is the Church of Alexandria which was established by Saint Mark the apostle and evangelist in the middle of the 1st century (approximately AD 42).
And the Copts weren’t “overrun” by the Christians. Unlike Mo-man, Saint Mark didn’t spread his religion by the sword.
Oh yeah? Read about how Christians in Alexandria under the Greeks were forbidden to even look at an idols.
You think the Byzantine Empire came peacefully to Egypt?
Who are some of you people?
Nicely put. I’d like to see this approach expanded as it is certainly not discussed enough.
What else can we conclude other than the left wing main stream media, and their left leaning anti-Christian minions, if not fully complicit in Muslim atrocities all across the globe, provide ample cover for these atrocities. Accessories after the fact… so to speak. Their loathing for those who follow the Christian faith is so deep it’s difficult to fathom. Not so much that it’s difficult to see…. it’s plain to see…. but that there is no apparent or sufficient reason for it.
Brilliant analysis. The irony is that the media appears to think its role is anti-establishment and does not see itself as the establishment.
This is a settled argument, the world has move beyond this issue. Yes the WaPO, NYT, LAT, and the major networks are anti Judeo-Christian religions. Yes they do not report on any event in which these religions are persecuted by others. This means, from the western shore of Africa to North Korea, they ignore any news about the dominant social movement.
Any thinking person realizes that the vacuum would be filled; it is the driving force behind the growth of the imperfect Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and the global blog world. The oligopoly of the US elite universities, in our coastal megatropolises’ publishing centers has been shattered. The MSM is going broke. In Europe, their more brittle social hierarchy is even more exposed; they hate the Catholic Church, Jews, and are impotent contending with millions of migrating Muslims. A similar conflict exists in the power structure of China.
The US has a unique problem. An educated population is necessary for good governance. We lack good governance, for two reasons: demagogues, and an ill informed population. Thus we have a divided nation, with each side holding to two universes of truth (an impossibility) particularly on foreign policy issues, and other issues, e.g abortion. Example: How can a center of excellence, like Harvard, once a school of religion, effectively reduce religious strife in nuclear armed Pakistan when they will not even allow ROTC on campus because of DADT issues? All Americans, all Christians, all Jews and all homosexuals are summarily murdered in Pakistan. Harvard sends trainloads of people to Washington who never accomplish anything, except publish articles in the WaPo, their echo chamber.
This article is backward looking, the question is what is coming? My guess: an epiphany in our elite, perhaps a suicide bomb in Harvard yard. Hopefully it will not be a nuclear detonation.
Well I’m just a “fly-over country” housewife but it seems to me that the media is going to go where the money is. Someone must be funding these failing media institutions unless they are just hell-bent on self-destruction.
“Someone must be funding these failing media institutions unless they are just hell-bent on self-destruction.”
Follow the money and you’ll find petrodollars, buying up large interests in western media companies. Fox News is no exception.
Is the Leftist Media ‘Fair and Balanced’ on Christian Persecution?
Well, even Fox News hasn’t done that great of a job covering religious persecution of any kind.
They have covered some, but I bet most of their viewer don’t know that there is a Christian women in Pakistan under a death sentence for blasphemy or that a governor was assassinated by one of his body guards for speaking out in her defense.
Charles,
I’m aware of it, but I didn’t hear it on FOX News. I watch FOX a lot and it does seem they are backing away from Muslim issues since the Saudi’s bought a big chunk of their stock.
I could not agree more that Fox News has been backing off islamic stories about how the muslims are causing a lot more trouble than they are willing to talk about. You are right after the saudia`s bought a nice chunk off Fox News stock they started backing away fro muslim stories. I thought it was just my imagination, glad you noticed too!
I am NOT a racist ,BUT,I know the Muslim world are not as smart(worldly) as the White Christian world. I also know that the black Americans are not as smart as the white Americans.
Neither the blacks or Muslims have been told the truth about the world.
If you treat a person like an animal,he just might act like one.wherein ,if you just tell them what they need to know,to hate something,then they will.
You lost me, mate.
Yesterday, I just started reading “THE 5000 YEAR LEAP”, and I think it will be really good. It is all about our founders in the 1770s, and their thoughts about our constitution. I have only read a few pages, but I feel that we all should read it, and it should be reading material in high school and college.
Check it out.
identifying Christians by the small tattooed cross on their wrists
Just as a note, the Copts tattoo this cross on their children’s wrists to keep them (particularly girls) from being abducted and forcibly converted by the Muslims. The Muslims can’t remove the tattoo (which is over the artery) without killing the child.
Oh, and check out
http://www.getreligion.org
“The Press Just Doesn’t Get Religion”
I really believe that the terms “anti-Christian rhetoric”, “anti-Christian bigotry”, “anti-Christian hate speech” and –dare I say it?– “Christophobia” need to come into vogue and be used consistently whenever appropriate, i.e. in exactly the same type of situations in which “anti-Islamic bigotry”, “Islamophobia” and the like are used: anytime something not completely positive is said about it or its adherents. Liberal blogger ragging on the “fundies”? Anti-Christian bigotry. Mocking my faith? “Anti-Christian hate speech.”
I really believe that the terms “anti-Christian rhetoric”, “anti-Christian bigotry”, “anti-Christian hate speech” and –dare I say it?– “Christophobia” need to come into vogue and be used consistently whenever appropriate, i.e. in exactly the same type of situations in which “anti-Islamic bigotry”, “Islamophobia” and the like are used: anytime something not completely positive is said about it or its adherents. Liberal blogger ragging on the “fundies”? Anti-Christian bigotry. Mocking my faith or prayer habits? Anti-Christian hate speech. Call it as it is, as defined by them.
The reason the media never reports on Christian persecution, is because they view it as a good thing They’d actually like to join with the Muslims.
“They have covered some, but I bet most of their viewer don’t know that there is a Christian women in Pakistan under a death sentence for blasphemy or that a governor was assassinated by one of his body guards for speaking out in her defense.”
Most Americans don’t now squat of what is going on abroad. I try to avoid FOX as much as possible [CNN, MSNBC, etc. I never watch), but they at least try to cover some of the news both domestic or foreign. Naturally they’re mostly several days late.
I’d love to have the possibility to watch real news – you know news without any spin, just news. Now I’ve to read numerous foreign online papers to get any idea what is going on in the world. The FOX ain’t much better than the CNN … IMHO
But, you’re correct regarding Christians, abuse, and coverage. When I posted about the persecution of Christians in Pakistan, Malaysia, India, Indonesia and Egypt, plenty of my readers could not believe it was happening. Christians from Indonesia and Malaysia wrote and thanked me for the news. It’s not fun to be a Christian in those countries.
The mainstream American media, U.S. leaders and other Western leaders refuse to speak out against horrific Muslim acts or even to protect innocent children:
British Schoolgirl’s Testimony – Muslims Threaten Children With Violence & Rape Outside School
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVkyG7XSVtI&feature=player_embedded
A nation’s leadership that refuses to protect its own children is a nation that cannot survive.
Horrifying and Evil. The utter horror of kidnapped Christian children. Their lives forever destroyed by cruel Islamo Fascists who are determined to make the children exactly like they are: Quran School:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Jwii8QihT0&feature=player_embedded
Who will rescue the children?
Who will rescue the children?
It is war. A war that has been going on for 1,400 years. Founder of Islam, huge slave trader, Mohammad, murdered/beheaded 700 Jewish men because of the Jews’ love for, and allegiance to G-D. The Jews refused to follow another god and the new religion of Mohammad. The Jews’ wives and children were seized for slaves to lives of living hell.
Egypt KIDNAPS Christian Children. Coming to a town, city, or country near you?
The world is silent over the Egyptian government and Saudi Arabia involvement in the kidnapping of Christian Egyptian girls in Egypt. Kidnapped Christian female children are violently converted to Islam and forcibly married/raped to adult Muslim males.
Assyrian International News Agency
8-11-2009
Abduction and Forced Islamization of Christian Coptic Girls Continues in Egypt
(AINA) — The systematic abduction and forced Islamization of Coptic minor girls in Egypt is a frequent, dangerous and a rapidly escalating phenomenon. Coptic Pope Shenouda III, December 17th, 1976: “there is pressure being practiced to convert Coptic girls to embrace Islam and marry them under terror to Muslim husbands” and demanded that the abducted girls be brought back to their families.
Abductions are done in cooperation between Saudi-funded associations and the Egyptian State Security.
…in the majority of cases, the State Security is the one who masterminds the kidnapping plans.”
http://www.aina.org/news/20090811125748.htm
In the Bible, G-D gives the death sentence for kidnapping. The U.S. gifts Egypt with 2.2 billion dollars every year.
In Pakistan and Bangladesh, Hindu, Christian and Sikh girls are kidnapped and violently converted to Islam.
New Documentary on Muslim Kidnapping and Humiliation of Christian Copts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5TJ962yi7w&feature=player_embedded
Council on American-Islamic Relations: “Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faiths, but to become dominant. The Koran, the Muslim book of scripture, should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth.” – Omar Ahmad (CAIR co-founder).
The cruel and barbaric Muslim terrorist organization, the Palestinian Authority, is financed by America and the nations and given arms and constant advanced military training by the U.S. All of the American training is used against Israel. The Palestinian Authority ‘peace’ partner glorify and greatly honor savage Muslim terrorist killers of Jewish innocents. The Palestinian Authority hailed as heroes the terrorists who brutally murdered defenseless 8 months pregnant Jewish mother, Tali Hatuel, and 4 little daughters in Gush Katif in May 2004.
Muslim killers of Jewish children are adored-Palestinian Authority newspaper al-Hayat al-Jadida called savage child-killer Kuntar “a beacon of light” and an “authentic role model.” PA leader, Abbas, called Kuntar a hero. Syria’s Assad said Kuntar was chief among honorable men and awarded Kuntar Syria’s highest medal, the Syrian Order of Merit.
One day, millions of men will leave the Southern Hemisphere to go to the Northern Hemisphere. And they will not go there as friends. Because they will go there to conquer it. And they will conquer it with their sons. The wombs of our women will give us victory.”
—Former Algerian President Houari Boumedienne’s prophetic warning to Europe in a speech at the U.N. In 1974.
Who will save the children?
Perspectives have to be maintained at all costs, otherwise banishment to cultural Siberia is the result.
Those who say, “It seemed to be a good idea at the time” and “It’s right for me” are branded to be the worst specimens of life when they deviate from those attributes.
Projection results in prisons being built, and those within regard those outside as being in prison.
Islam Christians Warn Against Double Standard in Wake of Quran Burning Row
Christians Warn Against Double Standard in Wake of Quran Burning Row
By Eric Young Christian Post Reporter
The head of the world’s largest evangelical body said Friday that he welcomed the unanimous condemnation of one church’s plan to burn copies of the Quran but challenged world leaders and the media to do the same for radical actions committed against Christians.
“Speaking out strongly against the proposed burning of Korans was the right thing to do and we warmly welcome the unanimous condemnation from politicians, religious leaders and the global media in this case,” expressed Dr. Geoff Tunnicliffe, international director of the World Evangelical Alliance.
“As we consider the outcry against this one small, obscure group, we now plead that the world’s leaders and media demonstrate the same kind of outspoken condemnation when radical actions on an equal or larger scale are committed against Christians.”
Over the past several weeks, media and leaders around the world have brought attention to the 50-member Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla., which had scheduled a “Burn a Quran Day” for Saturday’s anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
President Obama exhorted the church’s pastor to “listen to those better angels” and call off his plan. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the plan as “disrespectful, disgraceful.” And the United Nations said such an act would be “abhorrent.”
“On behalf of the United Nations and the whole international community present in Afghanistan, I would like to express in the strongest possible terms our concern and indeed outrage at the announcement by a small religious group abroad of their intention to burn copies of the holy book of the Quran,” Staffan de Mistura, head of the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan, said in a statement issued in Kabul.
“If such an abhorrent act were to be implemented, it would only contribute to fueling the arguments of those who are indeed against peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan,” he added.
Notably, however, while the Gainesville church has called of Saturday’s burning (without ruling out future burnings), the violent onslaught by anti-West, anti-Christian Muslims is not expected to abate.
As Christian leaders have noted, some radicals and ill-informed individuals overseas don’t need such an act to provoke them.
“Every day, Christians in Indonesia, Pakistan, Sudan, and elsewhere in the Islamic world face oppression and persecution brought about without the assistance of Quran-burning clergymen,” noted Faith McDonnell, religious liberty director at the Institute on Religion and Democracy.
“The list of violent acts committed against Christians in recent years goes on and on,” added Tunnicliffe, noting that attacks on Christians are not perpetrated by Muslims alone.
In India, for example, radical Hindus waged a campaign of sustained violence against Christians in 2008 that left at least 70 people dead, more than 4,000 homes burnt down, at least 149 churches destroyed, and some 54,000 Christians homeless.
That same year, the deputy mayor of the central Israeli town of Or Yehuda incited hundreds of people to burn hundreds of copies of the New Testament.
And in recent years, churches in Sri Lanka have been burned to the ground, pastors have been assassinated, and radical Buddhist politicians have called for a new law that would significantly restrict the activities of local churches.
“Christians have reacted to these attacks with an attitude of non-violence but should their peaceful response mean that the rest of the world feels no need to cry out,” posed Tunnicliffe. “Are actions only deemed wrong when there is a good chance that the victims, or those connected to them, will react in violence?”
For IRD’s McDonnell, the “greatest tragedy” in the Quran burning frenzy is greater risk it posed Christians in Muslim-dominated areas.
While American Christian leaders this week flocked to defend American Muslims from physical threats, persecuted Christians find themselves precariously at risk due to the offenses of one tiny church, she noted.
“Just as we do not hold all Muslims responsible for the September 11 attacks, Muslims should not hold Christian minorities responsible for the actions of one tiny Florida church,” McDonnell pointed out.
With the controversy over Dove World Outreach expected to subside in the coming days, Tunnicliffe said it will be interesting to see how the world responds to the violent acts committed against Christians in the future.
“Will leaders react with the same kind of justifiable outrage as they have against the proposed burning of the Qur’an? If so, will they have the courage to speak up, not only out of some concern for reciprocity or a fear of repercussions, but simply because it is the right thing to do?” WEA’s leader posed.
Notably, while much attention was placed on Dove World Outreach in the months leading up to Saturday’s 9/11 anniversary, a similar stunt in 2008 went largely unnoticed. But organizing that burning was the Westboro Baptist Church from Topeka, Kan., an almost universally condemned group of fundamentalists who also protest at military funerals.
Though Dove World Outreach is non-denominational, it could be considered by some to be on the “fringe” of the evangelical church. For this reason, among others, the WEA felt it had a responsibility to intervene.
Aside from the possible ties to evangelicalism, Tunncliffe said the WEA spoke out clearly against the proposed burning because “it was simply the right thing to do.”
It also wanted to prevent the almost-certain violence by radicals that would result from such an act as was witnessed during the Danish cartoon crisis in 2005. At least 150 people were killed around the world and thousands injured over the publication of cartoons depicting the Islamic prophet Muhammad by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.
Muslims condemn the depiction of any of its prophets, from Adam to Moses to Jesus to Muhammad.
Islam Muslims Resume Building on Christian Graveyard in Pakistan
Muslims Resume Building on Christian Graveyard in Pakistan
By Compass Direct News Walter Smith
SARGODHA, Pakistan (Compass Direct News) – Muslims led by a hard-line cleric on Friday resumed building on a Christian cemetery in Mandi Bhawaldin, desecrating more graves in spite of a local government order to halt construction, according to the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA).
Radical Muslim cleric Mirza Abdul Ghani had built a mosque on the Christian graveyard off New Rasool Road in Mandi Bhawaldin after allegedly occupying the land 16 years ago, when area Christians were too intimidated to object, said Salamat Zia of APMA.
“No one could object to the construction of the mosque, as it is in the constitution of Pakistan that no religious worship place could be demolished,” said Zia. “Therefore all the Christians remained silent then.”
The cleric’s alleged desecration of more of the graveyard land around the Masjid Ahle-Sunnat-Wal-Jamaat mosque began three months ago, Zia said.
“This Christian graveyard was earmarked before the Indo-Pakistan partition on Aug. 14, 1947,” Zia added, “and their forefathers were buried there.”
Zia, a local journalist and resident of the Muhalla Ghorra area in Mandi Bhawaldin, said it initially appeared that Ghani’s workers were building an addition to the mosque, as only pillars had been erected. Now Ghani’s builders have completed a basement as well as possibly some shops, with cement plaster now being applied to the new units.
On Aug. 6 Zia led a seven-member Christian delegation intending to meet with District Coordination Officer (DCO) Muhammad Amin Chaudhary, another district officer named Syed Shahbaz Hussain Naqvi and District Police Officer Dar Ali Khatak of Mandi Bhawaldin about the encroachments on the Christian graveyard and to discuss how the graves of their loved ones were being demolished and desecrated.
As DCO Chaudhary was on leave, Acting DCO Shahid Rana took their application and forwarded it to the District Officer of Revenue and Tehsil Officer of Regulations with directives to visit the site and demolish all encroachments except the Masjid Ahle-Sunnat-Wal-Jamaat mosque, Zia said.
After inspecting the site, the administrative officers issued directives to stop the illegal encroachments, and for a few days the construction was halted, he said.
“But despite the stay orders of stopping construction, the Muslim men restarted construction over the Christian graves on August 27,” Zia said.
Khalid Gill, chief organizer of APMA in Punjab Province, said that Muslim leaders threatened Christians who objected to the construction.
“They threatened that in case Christians protested against the resumption of construction they would also carry out a protest rally against Christians, and Muslim clerics said Christians would be responsible for the consequences,” Gill said.
APMA has demanded that the government allocate land for a Christian graveyard equivalent to the area allegedly occupied by the Muslims.
Local Urdu-language dailies in Mandi Bhawaldin have publicized the alleged encroachment on the Christian graveyard.
Speaker Pelosi: Stand Up for Muslim Women, Not Islamists Like Rauf!
An open letter from the founder and president of the Alliance of Iranian Women.
September 5, 2010 – by Manda Zand Ervin
Honorable Speaker Pelosi:
I heard you say that the people who oppose the construction of the Ground Zero mosque should be investigated.
Investigate me. I oppose the construction of that mosque.
This mosque, built in such close proximity to Ground Zero, is intended to send a message to America and another message to the Muslims who are gravitating toward human rights laws and secularism. We are sure that this mosque will cause nothing but division and justified ill will towards Muslims in this country.
I came to America as a political refugee, fleeing from the Islamic rule in Iran that subsumed a secular, woman-respecting government. As a human, woman, and a mother, I could not live under nor subject my daughter to such brutal, barbarian tyranny. What I see now occurring in my new home, America, is Islamists forcing their policies in bits and pieces, here and there. It is terribly disconcerting, not only to me but to all Iranian Americans and the large majority of Muslims who came to America to live in peace, freedom, and prosperity.
Madam Speaker: The Islamists are using the laws of this greatest of democracies to implement their ideology in any way they can — whether by propaganda, intimidation, the misuse of political correctness or anti-discrimination policies, or the minority status that this society puts at their disposal. Plus the most powerful of all tools, the money — the limitless petrodollars coming from foreign Islamist dictators with anti-democratic agendas.
Because the American Constitution calls for the separation of religion and government, the Justice Department, the ACLU, and others constantly minimize the influence Christianity and Judaism have on American secular society. What we, American Muslims, wonder: why is there an exception for Islam from the rules applied to others, even though the Islamic human rights record is deeply problematic and contrary to all the civil rights and individual rights laws of this great republic?
Why is Islam given a pass that is not given to Christianity or Judaism?
Madam Speaker: You are a powerful woman in the world, but you don’t care much about the human rights of hundreds of millions of women and children who need the support of the people like you to gain their individual freedom. You claim to be for the women’s right to choose, but then you ignore the right of women and children to have human dignity!
A large majority of America’s Muslims, women and girls, are living under sharia laws. Stripped of their human dignity.
You support the construction of the mosque but you don’t support the women and girls who are forced to wear hijabs against their will. Muslim women and girls live in seclusion, on the fringes of society, without recourse because of their families’ religion. In the name of religious freedom, political correctness in America only pleases the patriarchal hierarchy of the Muslim world. In the name of religious freedom, America permits Muslim communities to run a state within a state, perpetuating the patriarchal crimes against helpless women and children who should have their constitutional rights defended.
When “Muslim men” are given extra privileges that are definitely not granted to those of other religions, my Muslim sisters and I see this as the gravest discrimination committed in America.
Madam Speaker: We came to America to live in peace and harmony with Americans. We don’t want to be identified by our religion. We want to be identified by our cultures and the content of our characters. We want to be Americans, not Muslim-Americans.
We don’t want our girls forced by their fathers to wear hijabs, and to be embarrassed among their peers in American schools. We want to be free to practice — or not practice — our religion. We also want to be free to “choose.”
Unfortunately, politicians like you have chosen to cater to the worst among us — the Muslim dictators and the so-called community leaders. Ignoring the rest of us, Muslim women and children, as if we don’t exist.
The Islamists will not stop until Islam rules the world. Ayatollah Khomeini declared that Iran was a platform toward a Muslim world.
All of us American Muslims know that this is the most democratic country on Earth, and we are well aware of the Constitution and the meaning of freedom of religion in America. We luxuriate in that freedom, and we celebrate it, and we defend it.
You know well that the question here is not freedom of religion, or respect for Muslims! This is nothing but pure politics — sacrificing humanity in the name of religion for the sake of ideological politics.
We want America to treat Islam like it treats Christianity and Judaism, and to stop exempting Muslims from requirements imposed on others. We want Islam to be challenged by the same questioning, criticism, and control that is applied to other religions. Please stop pampering Islam to appease the terrorists and dictators.
Madam Speaker: The Age of Enlightenment changed the face of Judaism and Christianity, but Islam remains trapped in the 6th century. Here we have the Constitution and law. Apply it evenly to all — no exceptions for Islam. Support freedom from religion for the women and children suffering under Islamic law in America.
Manda Zand Ervin is the founder and the president of the Alliance of Iranian women. She was the U.S. delegate to the UN Commission on the Status of Women in 2008.
Islam’s treatment of Christians in Somalia
Somalia’s Christians Plead for Prayers during Ramadan
By Ethan Cole | Christian Post Reporter
Somalia’s underground Christian community is asking fellow believers worldwide to pray for their safety during Islam’s holy month of Ramadan.
Related
Somalia Lawless Like Wild West, Says Ministry
4 Christian Orphanage Workers Beheaded in Somalia
Islamic Militants in Somalia Murder Christian Leader
Family of 17-Year-Old Somali Girl Abuses Her for Leaving Islam
Somalian Militant Group Expels World Vision
The tiny Christian population is regularly persecuted by Islamic extremists. They are requesting that fellow Christians pray they can live in peace with their Muslim neighbors. Ramadan began Aug. 11 and ends on Sept. 9.
“We are called criminal and apostate. What is our crime? We are Christians! We suffer because of what we believe,” said a Somali Christian, whose name is withheld for security reasons, to Open Doors USA.
“Please pray for all Somali Christians who suffer persecution to not seek revenge but commit their case unto God.”
Religious zeal and extremist activity generally increase in Somalia during Ramadan, noted Open Doors, a Christian persecution watchdog. Many Christians in Somalia must pretend to be practicing Muslims in order to remain safe.
A Somali Christian shared that after the suicide bombing last month in Uganda, the believer had to attend a Friday prayer meeting at the local mosque.
“I was there because I need to blend in with the crowd. That saves my life, my family and my colleagues,” the Somali Christian said.
When the prayer leader praised those behind the suicide bombing, people at the mosque shouted “Allahu Akubar,” which means “God is great.” The Christian joined with them even though the believer did not agree with the action of the suicide bombers.
“But this is the normal way things are for the Christian community in Somalia,” the Christian noted.
Somalia is ranked No. 4 on the Open Doors World Watch List of the worst persecutors of Christians.
In June, Compass Direct News reported that a 17-year-old girl who converted to Christianity was severely beaten for leaving Islam and was chained to a tree by her family.
An Islamic extremist group, called al Shabaab, which is linked to al Qaeda, is reported to be responsible for the murders of several Christians in Somalia.
Al Shabaab militants killed Mohammed Ahmed Ali, a convert to Christianity who led an underground church, in January. And in 2009, its members were behind the beheading of four Christians who worked for a local non-governmental organization that helps orphans in Southern Somalia. The Christians were converts from Islam and were beheaded for apostasy. News of their deaths was relayed to their families by an al Shabaab militant.
Somalia, which is located on the Horn of Africa, is one of the most lawless countries in the world. Chaos and tribal conflicts have plagued the country for the past two decades. The country also suffers from a humanitarian crisis in which 35 to 40 percent of the population depends on external assistance, according to the United Nations. Also, about 1.2 million Somalis are displaced because of fighting and droughts.
The U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia said recently that assistance for Somalia this year is predicted to be between $300 to $400 million worth, down from $650 million last year.
“[W]e have critical gaps in assistance in some of the key areas where people need help,” said U.N. official Mark Bowden to China’s Xinhua news agency.
Despite the critical need, al Shabaad in August expelled three Christian humanitarian agencies. The Islamic insurgency group accused World Vision, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, and Diakonia of using humanitarian work as a guise for spreading the Gospel.
The Christian organizations all denied the allegations and have temporarily suspended their operations.
Al Shabaad has also reportedly declared war on the United Nations and other Western non-governmental organizations that distribute aid in Somalia.
An estimated 4 million Somalis depend on humanitarian assistance to survive, according to the United Nations.
Somalia’s population is nearly all Sunni Muslim.
Raymond Ibrahim has written an excellent article exposing the truth. What I fail to understand is, why is the liberal media (MSM) so scared to print the truth? That is something I have not understood.
Surely they are aware of everything Raymond has said in this article. Even if they are anti-Christian and anti-Israel, surely they can print the truth about what is happening to Christians in Moslem lands?
If NATO sent warplanes to bomb Milosevic’s forces to save Moslems, why does NATO not send warplanes to bomb those who are slaughtering Christians?
They might hit the Pyramids which everyone likes quite a bit – me too.
Since the US is essentially a Christian nation, why don’t we stop taking trips to the Middle East, such as tours of Egypt? We could show our displeasure by not spending our money there.
Of course, someone may claim we are having a crusade against them and blow someone up.
No, the forced conversion and expulsion of the Jews from Spain by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella was in 1492.
Seriously? Christians in America are now whining about being bullied?
You guys are getting worse than the fat kid now.
What do you want, to be coddled and receive shiny plaques that reaffirm your self-esteem as Christians?
Maybe some comfort food?
You have GOT to be kidding me.
Response to #49
Read the article first, fool, then you won’t be so shocked. It has nothing to do with Christians in America but the very real sufferings of Christians in the Muslim World.
#50.
Well, idiot, I got you to bring out the reason no one should care about the content of this article.
Then, again, those same people who yell American exceptionalism then tend to spend inordinate amounts of time involved in the affairs of non-American countries.
I’ll make your response simpler even “It has nothing to do with America.”
All anyone needs to know about how this website is moving. Way too Euro-centric if you ask me.
Raymond Ibrahim rules!