Christians: the Muslim World's new martyrs

It's one of today's most compelling news stories, yet it's all but ignored by most of the international media. I'm talking about the growing persecution of Christian minorities in the Islamic world. It briefly made headlines last month when machete-armed Egyptian fanatics attacked worshipers in three Coptic churches in Alexandria and murdered one aged man at prayer. Then of course, there was March - when an Afghan man escaped a death sentence for the "crime" of converting to Christianity. But how many people heard about the recent arrest and jailing in Saudi Arabia of a group of Filipino guest workers for holding Christian prayer services in the privacy of their home? Or who knows about the three Sunday School teachers charged in Indonesia last year with the crime of "Christianization" and summarily sentenced to three years in prison? The story is similar wherever Sharia - orthodox Islamic law - reigns supreme. From Pakistan to Darfur, Christians have become regular targets for Islamic gangs who shoot at worshipers, then torch their houses of worship. Even in Islamic countries not strictly run by Sharia law, pressures mount on local Christians to leave the homes they've known for centuries. Iraq's Christian sects, among the oldest Christian communities anywhere in the world, have been directly targeted by terrorist bombs, and Christians are now high on the list of those fleeing Iraq's sectarian strife. Thirty years ago, Lebanon was 60% Christian. Since then, an estimated 3.5 million Christians have emigrated, reducing the country's Christian population percentage to barely 25%. And in the Palestinian territories, direct and indirect pressures have also led to an increasing Christian exodus. One striking result: Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus and once a predominantly Christian Arab community now has an overwhelming Muslim majority. Few people seem prepared to connect the dots. Some American evangelical groups like the Washington-based International Christian Concern try to raise the alarm. And America's Copts, especially those based in the New York area, actively lobby against the legal and social discrimination that face their Egyptian co-religionists. Yet most mainstream church groups seem to ignore the threat. During certain periods, Islamic countries did allow "the peoples of the book" to live in relative peace among them. But the rise of Islamic extremism is silencing even voices of limited tolerance. More than 800,000 Jews were forced to flee the Islamic world between 1948 and 1955. Unless there is an outcry against the new wave of discrimination now facing Christians, these ancient communities are also doomed to disappear.

Comments

[Jetta]

It would seem that if there was no religion, there would be no war. How many lives do you think have been sacrified as a result of religious crusades. Perhaps all religions bear a mask of holiness in an effort to cloak the serpigenous faces of hate and murder. Perhaps we need to redefine G-d. There is no one with him, beside him, above him, or before him. He is a present G-d. He is all things to all men.

OK, most will agree with this definition, but how many really believe it. Are you Muslim and believe that G-d lives. Then why do you listen to your religious leader when he appoints you to a suicide-bomber mission. Did you ask G-d, whom you claim to serve. If you have only harkened to the voice of a man, then seconds before you detonate your explosive device, cry out with a loud voice and give glory and praise to your religious leader, for it was his voice to whom you harkened and it was his words that you honored in your heart by your actions. Are you Christian and listen only to the voices of priests, pastors, and other religious clergy. In whom do you place your trust. Perhaps you believe that G-d cannot speak. Then, to you there is no G-d, so why are your works being done in his name. If you only listen to the voice of a man, then seek to honor that man and not G-d.

Perhaps when we call upon the name of G-d in faith believing that he is able to do all things, then we will see his works manifested in our midst. Why should G-d do anything for mankind when we seemingly never invoke his name in faith, looking only to him, trusting only him with all our hearts, minds, and spirits.

It is a strange world that fashions idols of religion created with the heart, mind, and spirit, and yet claims all of its works to be done in the name of G-d. And, how many religions are based on events that occurred centuries ago, continually being redefined and reinterpreted by each new generation and their appointed religious leaders disgruntled with their present religious systems. Is G-d dead that mankind needs religions to trust and believe in, and in many instances to murder and die for. Is the name of G-d just a religious icon to validate all the world's idolatrous religions. It would appear that all the peoples of the whole world have forsaken G-d to serve the dark imaginations of their own hearts - what we call religion. Then we wonder why G-d does not move in our midst and perform great wonders on our behalf.

The watchman cries, "Awake, awake."

Perhaps when we forsake our idols and cry out to him alone in our humility, he will heal our nations and teach us how to lay down the heavy burdens of our hateful and murderous hearts.

How will we know if we don't even try.

For all who will understand the words, wisdom is justifed of her children.