RECENT ATTACKS ON CHRISTIANS IN MUSLIM COUNTRIES

thanks, max

Received from Voice of the Martyrs (VOM)

7th of October, 2006

RECENT ATTACKS ON CHRISTIANS IN MUSLIM COUNTRIES

NIGERIA : Muslim Rioters Destroy 18 Churches


Nearly 5,000 Christians were displaced and six were injured on September 20th, when Muslim rioters destroyed at least 18 churches, 20 Christian homes, and 40 Christian shops in Dutse, Jigawa state. After a young Muslim man made several unsuccessful advances on a Christian woman, he angrily reacted by calling her a "fake Christian" who follows a "useless Jesus." She responded by telling the boy he followed "a useless prophet." Furious, the boy raised the alarm throughout the town, proclaiming that a Christian lady blasphemed Mohammed. She was taken to the local police station and kept in custody to diffuse the potentially volatile situation.


INDONESIA : Muslim Mob Reduces Church to Ashes


Infuriated by reports that Christians were scheduling revival meetings at the Indonesia Evangelical Mission Church in Aceh province, a militant Islamic mob set the worship center ablaze on September 1st. Local Muslims from the town of Siompi, which was the first in Indonesia to implement Shariah law, reduced the building to ashes in an attempt to wipe out those in their province not bowing down to Allah. Church members have moved their worship services to a local house, as they refuse to buckle under Muslim attacks.


PAKISTAN : Teenage Christian Jailed on False Charges


A young Pakistani Christian, Shahid Masih age 17, was jailed last week on suspicion of ripping book pages containing Quranic verses. He appealed to Punjabi police because the sole evidence against him was the testimony of a Muslim man already accused of the same crime. If convicted, Masih will serve a life sentence.


SAUDI ARABIA (from compassdirect .org)


Saudi Arabia deported four East African Christians last month after they were detained while leading a prayer service in Jeddah. Arrested on June 9th, the church leaders were beaten and imprisoned for more than a month in torturous conditions.



AND IN A CHRISTIAN COUNTRY


PARIS : A French teacher hiding from Islamist death threats
(by Tom Heneghan, Reuters News Agency, abridged)

Robert Redeker went underground after publishing an attack on Islam on Sept. 19 in which he called the Quran "a book of incredible violence" and Islam's prophet Muhammad "a merciless warlord, a looter, a butcher of Jews and a polytheist. [...] Islam”, Mr. Redeker said, "exalts violence and hate."

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said the threats against Mr. Redeker, who teaches philosophy in a suburban Toulouse highschool, were intolerable and showed that "we live in a dangerous world that is often marked by intolerance."

The threats came amid widespread criticism of Pope Benedict XVI by Muslims who accused him of implying in a speech that Islam was violent. And they coincided with the cancellation of a Mozart opera in Berlin out of fear of Muslim protests.

Speaking from an undisclosed location last week, Mr.Redeker, 52, told Europe 1 Radio he had no regrets and that asking critical questions was his job as a philosophy teacher.

French Muslim Council head Dalil Boubakeur denounced the threats and said, "Nobody can take the law into his own hands." Two large teachers unions issued statements supporting Mr. Redeker and free speech. One stressed it did so "even though we do not share his convictions."

The press-watchdog group, Reporters Without Borders, said Mr. Redeker's article may have been shocking, but added, "If Le Figaro (a major French newspaper) had chosen not to publish this text [...] it would have been a defeat for the freedom of thought."

According to judicial sources, Paris police have undertaken an investigation into a possible terrorist link behind the threats.

Mr. Redeker said his wife was in hiding with him under protection by police and the DST domestic intelligence agency. "My security is assured, but the logistics are not," he said. "I have to find myself a place to sleep at night and live for a day or two [at a time]."

In a separate interview, Mr. Redeker told Le Figaro the threats included "a map showing how to get to my home, with pictures of me and where I work and my telephone numbers."

He said he could not imagine coming out of hiding and resuming his teaching job any time soon. "I will have to move homes and live somewhere else, where I will be forced to remain anonymous in my own country. The Islamists have succeeded in punishing me on French territory as if I were [found] guilty of a crime of opinion."

COMMENT : Radical fundamentalist Muslims, among the millions of Muslims who immigrated to Europe, present an imminent danger to European Democracy. Their number may be small, but their influence is disproportional. Witness the Danish Cartoon riots, the murder in the Netherlands of an anti-terrorist movie producer, and the recent demonstrations against Pope Benedict XVI for exercising his right to Freedom of Speech. There is no evidence of any Imams who, in their weekly Friday sermons, broadcast hatred against “infidels” having been forced to live in hiding.