Monday, December 23, 2013

Geert Wilders 10 points plan to save the West

National American coptic Assembly-USA
Washigton DC 
Mr. Morris SadekESQ President 
Mr  , Nabil Besada Vice  president
watch our website


Photo: ‎بيان الدوله القبطيه بعد هدم كنيسة البربا باسيوط 
ماذا تنظرون ياقباط مصر هل تنتظرون الاباده من المسلمون المحتلون لبلدكم مصر هل الشجب والادانه يفيد واين اخوتكم المعتدلون واين كلب الازهر احمد الشرير 
واين بيت الاشرار العائله سابقا لماذا لايمتنع الاقباط عن الذهاب للكنائس حتى يتم جماية كل اقباط وكنائس مصر وترميم كل الكنائس الحل السلمى بايدكم ياقباط ادعوا معى الى الصلاه فى المنازل فقط وعدم الذهاب الى الكنائس دى خطوه اولى فيه رجاله تسمع الكلام ده وفيه ستات جدعان تنفذ  
المهندس ايليا باسيلى رئيس الدوله القبطيه 
المهندس نبيل بساده نائب رئيس الجمعيه الوطنيه القبطيه الامريكيه والامين العام للدوله القبطيه  
المهندس عادل رياض  المنسق الدولى للعلاقات الخارجيه للدوله القبطيه 
 لمستشار موريس صادق - السكرتير التنفيذى للدوله القبطيه - رئيس الجمعيه الوطنيه القبطيه الامريكيه عضو النقابه العامه لمحامى امريكا 
American Bar Association 
عضو نقابة المحامون بواشطن العاصمه 
DC Bar 
المحامى لدى محكمة النقض المصريه والمحكمه الاداريه العليا 
والمحكمه العسكريه العليا والدستوريه بمصر‎
 
coptic Flag
النشيد الوطنى للدوله القبطيه

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzYeN5m6DhE (Preview) (Preview)               
Play
 Photo: ?الهيئه العليا للدوله القبطيه تعلن الحمايه الدوليه للاقباط فى ظل حرق الكنائس  وذبح الاقباط فى الهجوم المسلح على كنيسة العذراء   وتهجير عائلات دلجا والاقصر وخطف الاقباط مقابل فديه        ورفض دستور  اسلامى فاشى  وتمييز عنصرى للحكام الجدد فى مصر   اعلن المهندس ايليا باسيلى رئيس الدوله القبطيه انالهيئه العليا للدوله   القبطيه تعلن الحمايه الدوليه للاقباط فى ظل حرق الكنائس  وذبح الاقباط فى الهجوم المسلح على كنيسة العذراء   وتهجير عائلات دلجا والاقصر وخطف الاقباط مقابل فديه        ورفض دستور  اسلامى فاشى  وتمييز عنصرى للحكام الجدد فى مصر              وانه معترض على المنتج الذى اخرجته لجنة الصياغة وخاصة فى المادة الأولى والثانية والثالثة فبالنسبة للمادة الأولى فقد قررت لجنة المقومات الأساسية المنبثقة من الخمسين اضافة جملة "مصر دولة مدنية" فى مقدمة المادة، ولكن لجنة الصياغة حذفت الجملة وجعلتها "مصر دولة ديمقراطية".  واضاف سيادته أن   المناقشات فى لجنة المقومات كانت قد استقرت على حذف المادة الثانية وهو "الاسلام دين الدولة واللغة العربية لغتها الرسمية ومبادئ الشريعة الاسلامية المصدر الرئيسى للتشريع" ولكن لجنة الصياغة اضافت جزء الى المادة من نص المادة 219 المفسرة للشريعة الاسلامية لترضية التيار السلفى المتمسك بعودة المادة 219 .  اى كفر الذين قالوا ان المسيح بن الله  واقتلوا الكفار اينما وجدتوهم ولايؤخذ دم مسلم بدم كافر ولاولايه لغير مسلم على مسلم ولاشهاده للكافر المسيحى امام المحاكم وتفرض الجزيه على الاقباط  وستطبق الحدود على الاقباط فقط     كشف البابا   تواضروس الثانى عن أن التكلفة المبدئية لبناء الكنائس المتضررة، بعد فض اعتصامى رابعة العدوية والنهضة، 190 مليون جنيه، قائلا: "تكلفة بناء الكنائس بلغت 190 مليون جنيه    وأوضح بطريرك الكنيسة القبطية أن البلاد غير مستقرة، وحادث القديسين تم فى عهد مبارك، وبعدها ثورة، ودخلت البلاد فى حالة عدم استقرار حتى جاء الحكم العسكرى وجاء بعدها حادث ماسبيرو، لذا مرت مصر بحالة الغليان فى المجتمع وعدم استقراره، وبعدها حكم الرئيس الدكتور مرسى سنة، وبدأت الأحداث الأخيرة،  مين قال ان البابا تواضروس رفض ترميم الكنائس ؟؟؟؟؟ اذا كانت وكالة   الانباء الرسمية قالت انه ارسل الانبا بولا بنفسه لتسليم سلاح المهندسين تراخيص 61 كنيسة تم هدمها من بين ثلاثمئة كنيسة اغلبها غير مرخص و الجيش اصلا كان لن يرمم الا المرخص  و سلاح المهندسين اخد التراخيص و وعده خير و قال له فوت علينا زى دلوقتى السنة الجاية علشان تفكرن  هل جاء الوقت لبدء تفعيل حملة الكوته والتميز الايجابى ؟ وقانون الحقوق المدنيه للافارقه الامريكان وتطبيقه على اقباط مصر فى ظل حمايه دوليه وفقا لميثاق الامم المتحده لحماية الاقليات  وفى ظل الحمايه الدوليه  سيكون للاقباط حرية الحكم الذاتى كالاكراد او دوله قبطيه   مستقله  اسوة بجنوب السودان    المهندس ايليا باسيلى رئيس الدوله القبطيه   المهندس نبيل بساده نائب رئيس الجمعيه الوطنيه القبطيه الامريكيه والامين العام للدوله القبطيه     المهندس عادل رياض  المنسق الدولى للعلاقات الخارجيه للدوله القبطيه    المستشار موريس صادق - السكرتير التنفيذى للدوله القبطيه - رئيس الجمعيه الوطنيه القبطيه الامريكيه عضو النقابه العامه لمحامى امريكا  American Bar Association  عضو نقابة المحامون بواشطن العاصمه  DC Bar  المحامى لدى محكمة النقض المصريه والمحكمه الاداريه العليا  والمحكمه العسكريه   العليا والدستوريه بمصر?  
 
Geert Wilders 10 points plan to save the West “… Ladies and gentlemen, I am often asked whether I have any answers to the problem and what those might be. Well, I certainly have some answers. Here are ten things we would have to do to stop the Islamization of the West:1. Stop cultural relativism. We need an article in our constitutions that lays down that we have a Jewish-Christian and humanism culture.
2. Stop pretending that Islam is a religion. Islam is a totalitarian ideology. In other words, the right to religious freedom should not apply to Islam. “Death for Apostasy” 4:89, Sahih Bukhari
3. Stop mass immigration by people from Muslim countries. We have to end Al-Hijra.
4. Encourage voluntary repatriation.
5. Expel criminal foreigners and criminals with dual nationality, after denationalization, and send them back to their Arab countries. Likewise, expel all those who incite to a ‘violent jihad’.
6. We need an European First Amendment to strengthen free speech.
7. Have every member of a non-Western minority sign a legally binding contract of assimilation.
8. We need a binding pledge of allegiance in all Western countries.
9. Stop the building of new mosques. As long as no churches or synagogues are allowed to be build in countries like Saudi-Arabia we will not allow one more new mosque in our western countries. Close all mosques where incitement to violence is taking place. Close all Islamic schools, for they are fascist institutions and young children should not be educated an ideology of hate and violence. ISLAM EVIL IN THE NAME OF GOD: CHAPTER TWENTY ONE “TEACHING ISLAM TO CHILDREN IS CHILD ABUSE”
10. Get rid of the current weak leaders. We have the privilege of living in a democracy. Let’s use that privilege and exchange cowards for heroes. We need more Churchills and less Chamberlains.
In short, we have to go on the offensive and start fighting back. We must no longer allow ourselves to remain seated in our armchairs and get trampled over. If they bombard us with Sharia law, we will bombard them back with our human rights.…”
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The Coptic Christians of Egypt

National American coptic Assembly-USA
Washigton DC 
Mr. Morris SadekESQ President 
Mr  , Nabil Besada Vice  president
watch our website


Photo: ‎بيان الدوله القبطيه بعد هدم كنيسة البربا باسيوط 
ماذا تنظرون ياقباط مصر هل تنتظرون الاباده من المسلمون المحتلون لبلدكم مصر هل الشجب والادانه يفيد واين اخوتكم المعتدلون واين كلب الازهر احمد الشرير 
واين بيت الاشرار العائله سابقا لماذا لايمتنع الاقباط عن الذهاب للكنائس حتى يتم جماية كل اقباط وكنائس مصر وترميم كل الكنائس الحل السلمى بايدكم ياقباط ادعوا معى الى الصلاه فى المنازل فقط وعدم الذهاب الى الكنائس دى خطوه اولى فيه رجاله تسمع الكلام ده وفيه ستات جدعان تنفذ  
المهندس ايليا باسيلى رئيس الدوله القبطيه 
المهندس نبيل بساده نائب رئيس الجمعيه الوطنيه القبطيه الامريكيه والامين العام للدوله القبطيه  
المهندس عادل رياض  المنسق الدولى للعلاقات الخارجيه للدوله القبطيه 
 لمستشار موريس صادق - السكرتير التنفيذى للدوله القبطيه - رئيس الجمعيه الوطنيه القبطيه الامريكيه عضو النقابه العامه لمحامى امريكا 
American Bar Association 
عضو نقابة المحامون بواشطن العاصمه 
DC Bar 
المحامى لدى محكمة النقض المصريه والمحكمه الاداريه العليا 
والمحكمه العسكريه العليا والدستوريه بمصر‎
 
coptic Flag
النشيد الوطنى للدوله القبطيه

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzYeN5m6DhE (Preview) (Preview)               
Play
 Photo: ?الهيئه العليا للدوله القبطيه تعلن الحمايه الدوليه للاقباط فى ظل حرق الكنائس  وذبح الاقباط فى الهجوم المسلح على كنيسة العذراء   وتهجير عائلات دلجا والاقصر وخطف الاقباط مقابل فديه        ورفض دستور  اسلامى فاشى  وتمييز عنصرى للحكام الجدد فى مصر   اعلن المهندس ايليا باسيلى رئيس الدوله القبطيه انالهيئه العليا للدوله   القبطيه تعلن الحمايه الدوليه للاقباط فى ظل حرق الكنائس  وذبح الاقباط فى الهجوم المسلح على كنيسة العذراء   وتهجير عائلات دلجا والاقصر وخطف الاقباط مقابل فديه        ورفض دستور  اسلامى فاشى  وتمييز عنصرى للحكام الجدد فى مصر              وانه معترض على المنتج الذى اخرجته لجنة الصياغة وخاصة فى المادة الأولى والثانية والثالثة فبالنسبة للمادة الأولى فقد قررت لجنة المقومات الأساسية المنبثقة من الخمسين اضافة جملة "مصر دولة مدنية" فى مقدمة المادة، ولكن لجنة الصياغة حذفت الجملة وجعلتها "مصر دولة ديمقراطية".  واضاف سيادته أن   المناقشات فى لجنة المقومات كانت قد استقرت على حذف المادة الثانية وهو "الاسلام دين الدولة واللغة العربية لغتها الرسمية ومبادئ الشريعة الاسلامية المصدر الرئيسى للتشريع" ولكن لجنة الصياغة اضافت جزء الى المادة من نص المادة 219 المفسرة للشريعة الاسلامية لترضية التيار السلفى المتمسك بعودة المادة 219 .  اى كفر الذين قالوا ان المسيح بن الله  واقتلوا الكفار اينما وجدتوهم ولايؤخذ دم مسلم بدم كافر ولاولايه لغير مسلم على مسلم ولاشهاده للكافر المسيحى امام المحاكم وتفرض الجزيه على الاقباط  وستطبق الحدود على الاقباط فقط     كشف البابا   تواضروس الثانى عن أن التكلفة المبدئية لبناء الكنائس المتضررة، بعد فض اعتصامى رابعة العدوية والنهضة، 190 مليون جنيه، قائلا: "تكلفة بناء الكنائس بلغت 190 مليون جنيه    وأوضح بطريرك الكنيسة القبطية أن البلاد غير مستقرة، وحادث القديسين تم فى عهد مبارك، وبعدها ثورة، ودخلت البلاد فى حالة عدم استقرار حتى جاء الحكم العسكرى وجاء بعدها حادث ماسبيرو، لذا مرت مصر بحالة الغليان فى المجتمع وعدم استقراره، وبعدها حكم الرئيس الدكتور مرسى سنة، وبدأت الأحداث الأخيرة،  مين قال ان البابا تواضروس رفض ترميم الكنائس ؟؟؟؟؟ اذا كانت وكالة   الانباء الرسمية قالت انه ارسل الانبا بولا بنفسه لتسليم سلاح المهندسين تراخيص 61 كنيسة تم هدمها من بين ثلاثمئة كنيسة اغلبها غير مرخص و الجيش اصلا كان لن يرمم الا المرخص  و سلاح المهندسين اخد التراخيص و وعده خير و قال له فوت علينا زى دلوقتى السنة الجاية علشان تفكرن  هل جاء الوقت لبدء تفعيل حملة الكوته والتميز الايجابى ؟ وقانون الحقوق المدنيه للافارقه الامريكان وتطبيقه على اقباط مصر فى ظل حمايه دوليه وفقا لميثاق الامم المتحده لحماية الاقليات  وفى ظل الحمايه الدوليه  سيكون للاقباط حرية الحكم الذاتى كالاكراد او دوله قبطيه   مستقله  اسوة بجنوب السودان    المهندس ايليا باسيلى رئيس الدوله القبطيه   المهندس نبيل بساده نائب رئيس الجمعيه الوطنيه القبطيه الامريكيه والامين العام للدوله القبطيه     المهندس عادل رياض  المنسق الدولى للعلاقات الخارجيه للدوله القبطيه    المستشار موريس صادق - السكرتير التنفيذى للدوله القبطيه - رئيس الجمعيه الوطنيه القبطيه الامريكيه عضو النقابه العامه لمحامى امريكا  American Bar Association  عضو نقابة المحامون بواشطن العاصمه  DC Bar  المحامى لدى محكمة النقض المصريه والمحكمه الاداريه العليا  والمحكمه العسكريه   العليا والدستوريه بمصر?  
The Coptic Christians of Egypt   
Turmoil in Egypt has led to one of the worst persecutions of the country's Coptic Christians in their nearly 2,000-year history
The following is a script from "The Copts" which aired on Dec. 15, 2013. Bob Simon is the correspondent. Harry Radliffe, producer.

Think of Egypt and the first thing that comes to mind is not Christianity. But Egypt is home to the Copts, one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, with roots dating back to the time of Christ himself. Back then, the word “Copt” meant, simply, “Egypt”. But after the advent of Islam, it came to mean “the Christians of Egypt” and the name has stuck.
 
 Copts have never had it easy there. They’ve been persecuted and discriminated against by the Muslim majority for centuries. They’d hoped the Egyptian revolution would change that. But it hasn’t. Instead, the last year has been one of their worst ever. Copts have been murdered by Islamic extremists.  Dozens of their churches have been gutted.  But we’re going to begin our story before the onset of these horrors -- with a Coptic rite we witnessed, one of the most unusual events in all Christianity. 
Like the Greeks and the Russians, Copts are Orthodox Christians, but they have one thing in common with the Roman Catholics: they elect a pope.
And in Egypt, it’s a public ceremony. It all happens in Cairo’s grand cathedral. This was the first papal election in 41 years and Copts from all over Egypt had come for what was likely to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
It’s the last step in a process that has narrowed the candidates for pope down to three. But the final choice is made by a boy who is blindfolded and led to a crystal chalice containing the three names. The name on the piece of paper the boy picks becomes the next pope of Coptic Christians. They believe his choice is not a roll of the dice, but is inspired by the divine.

Copticgrab.jpg
Coptic Christians elect pope
CBS News
 When the name is read out, pandemonium reigns. The new pope – called Tawadros II - is a 61-year-old pharmacist turned monk - and the 118th pope in a line stretching back to the 1st century.
Bob Simon: Now in the Roman Catholic Church a pope is elected as you know by secret ballot behind closed doors. And you are selected by a boy –
Pope Tawadros II: Yes.
Bob Simon: -- putting his hand in a box. How did that come to pass?
Pope Tawadros II: This is a tradition in the Coptic Church, choosing the Pope through a boy because the boy is the symbol of purity.
Purity and a young child. The association is as old as Christianity itself. Copts believe that the baby Jesus came to Cairo – that his life was saved here

"This is a tradition in the Coptic Church, choosing the Pope through a boy because the boy is the symbol of purity."

Febe Armanios, an expert on Copts from Middlebury College, took us down to the underground chapel of the Abu Serga Church, where the pastor, Father Angelos Shenouda, showed us where the Holy Family sought refuge from King Herod after their flight into Egypt.
Febe Armanios: Local traditions say that they lived here, that the Virgin Mary may have even bathed the baby Jesus in that spot there. That you can hear His voice in this room-- that he breathed in this room. All of this is part of that memory.
That’s why Christians from all over Egypt come to Coptic Cairo to pray. To them, the Abu Serga church is as sacred as the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem or the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. But while foreigners used to flock to Egypt to see what the pharaohs left behind -- very few came here -- or even knew about Egypt’s Christian past.
Febe Armanios: I don't think there's a lot of awareness of Egypt's role in the Christian story. It’s a forgotten community as many people have called it.
Bob Simon: Are Coptics a little bit upset about that?
Febe Armanios: I think they would be eager -- to share their stories. They want to share this story with the world.
They want people to know that Christianity has deep roots in Egypt – in places like the Eastern Desert next to the Red Sea. We visited St. Anthony’s, the first Christian monastery in the world. Father Maximous el-Antony has been a monk here for 35 years.
Bob Simon: Now I think most people think that the monastic tradition began in what we call the Holy Land, Israel, Palestine?
Father Maximous: Yeah.
Bob Simon: But it began here?
Father Maximous: Yes, it began here of course in Egypt.
It began in these mountains, 450 feet above the sands. The monks believe it was in that tiny cave that St. Anthony, the first Christian monk, followed God’s instructions to seclude himself in the desert. Every night around midnight, monks and novices climb through the darkness to pray here and honor his memory. It was very crowded and very cold.
The monks believe that St. Anthony’s remains are buried near here and they’ve been searching for them for centuries. Ten years ago, when they probed beneath the monastery’s floor they made an amazing discovery…what are believed to be the oldest monk cells in Christianity – dating from the fourth century. 
Bob Simon: They lived here.
Father Maximous: They lived here.
Bob Simon: And there was no church?
Father Maximous: No church, no cells, no walls, nothing.
From nothing - the Copts developed a religious culture that’s distinctly Egyptian – everything from music to art to some of the most magnificent churches of the early Christian era. Scholars have called the Red Monastery “the Coptic Sistine chapel.” Its walls are covered with paintings of the church’s prophets, saints and martyrs.
Today, the traditions that were planted in the desert 16 hundred years ago have hardly changed. The estimated eight and a half million Copts form the largest Christian community in the Middle East -- but in Egypt they are a distinct minority -- 10 percent of the population.
When we first met Pope Tawadros, Egypt’s first Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi, was still in power. Christians were terrified Islamic rule was coming their way.
By late June, the economy was a shambles. Millions of Egyptians took to the streets demanding that Morsi leave. On July 3rd, Egypt’s army leader, General el-Sissi, announced a military coup on national TV. Lending him their support -- civil, military, and religious leaders, including Pope Tawadros II.
Bob Simon: Wasn't the mere fact that the Pope's picture was taken next to General Sissi—
Heba Morayef: Dangerous.
Bob Simon: --wasn't that enough --
Heba Morayef: Yes.
Bob Simon: -- to incite the Brotherhood?
Heba Morayef, who heads Human Rights Watch in Egypt, says the pope’s support of the military was denounced at Muslim Brotherhood rallies which often blamed Christians for conspiring to overthrow Morsi.
Bob Simon: When you talk about anti-Christian dialogue, what are you referring to specifically?
Heba Morayef: Accusations that Christians were responsible for the coup. Chants that would call Christians the Pope's dogs.
It all came to an abrupt end on August 14th – when the army crushed two huge Muslim Brotherhood encampments. Close to a thousand protestors were killed.
Heba Morayef: The dispersal of the two sit-ins on August 14th were the most bloody incidents of police violence we've ever seen in Egypt.
As word of the killings spread all across Egypt, Muslim mobs began attacking Christian churches. This cell phone video shows one surrounding the Coptic church in Sohag -- 245 miles south of Cairo -- battering their way in, setting it on fire. It took a while to destroy the cross but when it finally came down, the crowd began shouting “God is great.” Over the next two days, devastation like this was visited on more than 40 churches.
Youssef Sidhom: We never expected that they will turn so fierce and vicious in their attacks.
Youssef Sidhom is the editor of Egypt’s most important Coptic newspaper.
Bob Simon: Well, how did you explain it? I mean, why was there such violence?
Youssef Sidhom: They were furious about the Copts and they wanted really to punish them for that.
And right outside Cairo in a town called Kerdasa, a mob broke down the gate of another Coptic church complex. Redha Girgis, a caretaker, was there. 

"We never expected that they will turn so fierce and vicious in their attacks."

Redha Girgis: They looted everything from chairs to pews. They stole anything that could be carried, what they couldn’t carry, they destroyed.
Bob Simon: How did they set the church on fire?
Redha Girgis: They set the whole place on fire, with Molotov cocktails and gasoline. 
And, on their way out, the attackers left behind a calling card:  graffiti saying that Egypt is Islamic.

BOB GRAFFITI WALK-BY.jpg
Graffiti in Kerdasa
CBS News
 The whole complex was gutted. Everything was incinerated: pews, paintings, Bibles.
The Copts had supported the overthrow of Muslim Brotherhood rule, were overjoyed when the army took over. But when they saw their churches in flames, they realized they were paying a price for siding with the military and that they were on their own. No one was going to help them.
But martyrdom has always been at the core of the Coptic religion.  Suffering, Copts believe, deepens their faith. The day we were in Kerdasa – they held a service in the only place that hadn’t been destroyed. But we were surprised there was no anger, no call for revenge.
Bishop Thomas, one of the church’s senior clerics, says whatever pain Copts are suffering, they must turn the other cheek, at least for now.
Bishop Thomas: Forgiveness is a very important principle in the Christian life. When you are able to present forgiveness and love, you are able as well to ask for justice. One day in this life, justice has to be fulfilled.
One day, perhaps. But it’s not happening now. Four Copts, including two children, were killed recently when masked gunmen shot them as they arrived for a wedding. Thousands attended the funeral for the church’s latest martyrs. 
Pope Tawadros II: In every period, we must present some martyrs.
Bob Simon: So you think that Christianity in Egypt requires martyrs today as it has in the past?
Pope Tawadros II: Yeah. Every day. Every day.
Febe Armanios believes the violence is one reason people are flocking to charismatic Coptic services. She took us to one at St. Simon in Muquattam in Cairo – one of the largest churches in the Middle East. Two thousand people attended the night we went and the service was broadcast all over the country. It went on for three hours and ended like no other we had ever seen -- with public exorcisms.
Bob Simon: Have you ever seen anything like this?
Febe Armanios: I've attended some of these ceremonies in this church before.
Bob Simon: And it always ends like this?
Febe Armanios: Yeah, there's just a sense in the community of helplessness, of people in need of the priest's blessing, people in need of healing from God, people in need of support.
They find support in their own history. In a rite of passage unique among Christian churches, the cross is tattooed on children’s wrists. It hurts a little but the pain doesn’t last. It’s a tradition that dates back to the Middle Ages - when Muslims forced Copts to wear the cross as a sign of identity. Today they wear it as a sign of pride.


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    Bob Simon is among a handful of elite journalists who have covered most major overseas conflicts and news stories from the late sixties to the present. He has contributed to 60 Minutes since 1996.


Sunday, November 17, 2013

A Global Slaughter of Christians, but America’s Churches Stay Silent

 

A Global Slaughter of Christians, but Amhttp://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/09/27/a-global-slaughter-of-christians-but-america-s-churches-stay-silent.htmlerica’s Churches Stay SilAmerica’s Churches Stay Silent
Christians are being singled out and massacred from Pakistan to Syria to the Nairobi shopping mall. Kirsten Powers on the deafening silence from U.S. pews and pulpits.
Christians in the Middle East and Africa are being slaughtered, tortured, raped, kidnapped, beheaded, and forced to flee the birthplace of Christianity. One would think this horror might be consuming the pulpits and pews of American churches. Not so. The silence has been nearly deafening.
As Egypt’s Copts have battled the worst attacks on the Christian minority since the 14th century, the bad news for Christians in the region keeps coming. On Sunday, Taliban suicide bombers killed at least 85 worshippers at All Saints’ church, which has stood since 1883 in the city of Peshawar, Pakistan. Christians were also the target of Islamic fanatics in the attack on a shopping center in Nairobi, Kenya, this week that killed more than 70 people. The Associated Press reported that the Somali Islamic militant group al-Shabab “confirmed witness accounts that gunmen separated Muslims from other people and let the Muslims go free.” The captives were asked questions about Islam. If they couldn’t answer, they were shot.
In Syria, Christians are under attack by Islamist rebels and fear extinction if Bashar al-Assad falls. This month, rebels overran the historic Christian town of Maalula, where many of its inhabitants speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus. The AFP reported that a resident of Maalula called her fiancé’s cell and was told by member of the Free Syrian Army that they gave him a chance to convert to Islam and he refused. So they slit his throat.
Nina Shea, an international human-rights lawyer and expert on religious persecution, testified in 2011 before Congress regarding the fate of Iraqi Christians, two-thirds of whom have vanished from the country. They have either been murdered or fled in fear for their lives. Said Shea: “[I]n August 2004 … five churches were bombed in Baghdad and Mosul. On a single day in July 2009, seven churches were bombed in Baghdad … The archbishop of Mosul, was kidnapped and killed in early 2008. A bus convoy of Christian students were violently assaulted. Christians … have been raped, tortured, kidnapped, beheaded, and evicted from their homes …”

Lela Gilbert is the author of Saturday People, Sunday People, which details the expulsion of 850,000 Jews who fled or were forced to leave Muslim countries in the mid-20th century. The title of her book comes from an Islamist slogan, “First the Saturday People, then the Sunday People,” which means “first we kill the Jews, then we kill the Christians.” Gilbert wrote recently that her Jewish friends and neighbors in Israel “are shocked but not entirely surprised” by the attacks on Christians in the Middle East. “They are rather puzzled, however, by what appears to be a lack of anxiety, action, or advocacy on the part of Western Christians.”
As they should be. It is inexplicable. American Christians are quite able to organize around issues that concern them. Yet religious persecution appears not to have grabbed their attention, despite worldwide media coverage of the atrocities against Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East.
It’s no surprise that Jews seem to understand the gravity of the situation the best. In December 2011, Britain’s chief rabbi, Lord Jonathan Sacks, addressed Parliament saying, “I have followed the fate of Christians in the Middle East for years, appalled at what is happening, surprised and distressed … that it is not more widely known.” “It was Martin Luther King who said, ‘In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.’ That is why I felt I could not be silent today.”
Wolf has complained loudly of the State Department’s lack of attention to religious persecution, but is anybody listening?
Yet so many Western Christians are silent. In January, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) penned a letter to 300 Catholic and Protestant leaders complaining about their lack of engagement. “Can you, as a leader in the church, help?” he wrote. “Are you pained by these accounts of persecution? Will you use your sphere of influence to raise the profile of this issue—be it through a sermon, writing or media interview?”
There have been far too few takers.
Wolf and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) sponsored legislation last year to create a special envoy at the State Department to advocate for religious minorities in the Middle East and South-Central Asia. It passed in the House overwhelmingly, but died in the Senate. Imagine the difference an outcry from constituents might have made. The legislation was reintroduced in January and again passed the House easily. It now sits in the Senate. According to the office of Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), the sponsor of the bill there, there is no date set for it to be taken up.
Wolf has complained loudly of the State Department’s lack of attention to religious persecution, but is anybody listening? When American leaders meet with the Saudi government, where is the public outcry demanding they confront the Saudis for fomenting hatred of Christians, Jews, and even Muslim minorities through their propagandistic tracts and textbooks? In the debate on Syria, why has the fate of Christians and other religious minorities been almost completely ignored?
In his letter challenging U.S. religious leaders, Wolf quoted Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was executed for his efforts in the Nazi resistance:  “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
That pretty well sums it up.ent 

 
 

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Egyptian Christian Leader: 'Enemy' at Work Again in Wedding Party Attack

Egyptian Christian Leader: 'Enemy' at Work Again in Wedding Party Attack

Coptic Christians
Coptic Christians pray during a Coptic Orthodox Easter mass at the main cathedral in Cairo May 4. (Reuters/Asmaa Waguih)
Editor's Note: The following is the reaction of an Egyptian Christian leader to the attack and killing of several Christians attending a wedding at a Coptic church in Cairo on Sunday.
The "enemy" is shooting at us; Egyptian Christians are facing what seems to be painful and exhausting spiritual warfare. The tactics of the devil vary in nature and shape, but the outcome is the same; to break down the church and steal her testimony and peace granted by the loving Father. An awful incident took place Sunday that manifests this fact.
Last night there was a happy wedding of a young couple who had waited for the day to come when they could finally stand together, facing the altar of the Orthodox church of Virgin Mary, to exchange vows and rings for a lifelong happy marriage. Friends, neighbors and family attended in their best clothes and biggest smiles. Hugs and kisses were exchanged between family members who had not seen each other for a long time. The Church of Virgin Mary where the wedding service took place is located northwest of the capital in one of Cairo's problematic and overpopulated districts.
The wedding was over and the couple was announced as husband and wife. They walked down the aisle to the outside entrance of the church, where bouquets of flowers were set outside the church entrance for guests to greet the happily married couple before they went home.
As soon as the bride and groom were outside the church, two masked attackers drove fast by the church and opened fire on the crowd. At least three women were instantly killed and 17 other guests where severely injured and rushed to nearby hospitals; some of them are lying in critical conditions. Fortunately, the newlyweds survived the attack. They were left alone, standing among shattered flower bouquets, pieces of broken window glass and the hysterical wedding guests.
Egypt's large Christian population, estimated at 10 million, was shocked with the news; a happy wedding was converted into sad and devastating funerals in just a few seconds.
http://www.charismanews.com/opinion/41446-egyptian-christian-leader-enemy-at-work-again-in-wedding-party-attack

Egypt: gunmen open fire at Coptic Christian wedding in Cairo

Egypt: gunmen open fire at Coptic Christian wedding in Cairo
Four people, including an eight-year-old girl, killed in suspected sectarian attack on minority which makes up 10% of population
Egyptian security forces stand guard outside the Coptic Christian church attacked by gunmen
Egyptian security forces stand guard outside the Coptic Christian church attacked by gunmen on Sunday, killing at least four people including an eight-year-old girl. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
Gunmen shot dead at least four Egyptians outside a Coptic Christian church on the edge of Cairo on Sunday evening as worshippers left the building after a wedding, state media reported. Two adults and two girls aged eight and 12 were killed, and at least 12 others injured, after the gunmen sprayed bullets seemingly at random.
The perpetrators, and their motives, are unknown as they left the area quickly on motorcycles, according to witnesses. But there are strong concerns that the shootings mark the latest sectarian attack on Egypt's Coptic Christian minority, which makes up around 10% of Egypt's population of 85 million.
Copts were scapegoated by some Islamist hardliners for the July overthrow of ex-president Mohamed Morsi – over 40 churches were attacked following the brutal army-led clearance of two pro-Morsi protest camps in August. State officials have done little to prevent the attacks, or bring their instigators to justice, although Egypt's prime minister called Sunday's attack a "callous and criminal act" and pledged to prosecute those responsible.
The Muslim Brotherhood – the Islamist group to which Morsi belongs – also strongly condemned the most recent attack in an English-language statement released overnight, while their allies have frequently blamed assaults on Christians on unaffiliated criminals, or even the state itself. But their opponents argue that some Islamists at the very least incited the violence with sectarian speeches made during pro-Morsi protests this summer, and in their Arabic-language websites.
This weekend's killings constitute the latest outburst of the widespread violence that has characterised Egypt's summer. Over a thousand Morsi supporters have been killed by security officials since his removal in July, while dozens of soldiers and policemen have been killed in a series of revenge attacks by Islamist extremists, largely in the northern Sinai peninsula. Earlier on Sunday the campus of al-Azhar, Egypt's oldest university, was the site of skirmishes between pro-Morsi students and riot police.
Egypt is currently polarised between a sizable minority of Islamists furious at Morsi's overthrow and the crackdown on his supporters – and a larger group of Egyptians who have given wholesale backing to the army that ousted him. A small minority refuse the authoritarianism of both groups; they are glad to see Morsi leave but fearful that the army-backed government heralds the return of counter-revolutionary, Mubarak-era governance.
The latter group is currently alarmed about new legislation that may severely stifle street protest, after Egypt's interim cabinet drafted a new law that would significantly curtail demonstrators' rights to free assembly.
"Why are these people deciding what's best for us?" asked Mohamed Hashem, a publisher and leading light of Egypt's revolutionaries who has threatened to leave the country in despair at recent events. "Did all the martyrs sacrifice their souls for nothing?"
But other Egyptians may not be so upset, with many yearning for a return to stability following nearly three years of turmoil, and hoping for an end to the almost daily pro-Morsi protests.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/21/egypt-gunmen-fire-coptic-christian-wedding-cairo