Could all of this be the beginning of World War III?
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Is all the unrest we are witnessing in Islamic countries the beginning of WWIII? After all, it isn't just happening in one little country. Perhaps I come off rather alarmist, but it is very disturbing considering how Christians are inevitably attacked after every Middle Eastern regime falls. It actually began in Iraq after Saddam. This onslaught against Christians reminds me of the Nazi harrassment of Jews before the WWII. Yet so many contemporary religious and political leaders in the West appear to be in some sort of denial, constantly trying to persuade us that Islam is a religion of peace. They claim it is only Islamic extremists and terrorists causing all of the problems. Oddly enough - that is exactly what Gadhafi has been telling his people, hoping to explain away the rebellion happening in Lybia.
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What follows are a few recent news stories otherwise ignored by mainstream media:
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Ethiopia: Muslims shouting "Allahu akbar" burn five churches...
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International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that in the past two days, thousands of Muslims have razed five churches and the homes of two evangelists in Asendabo, Ethiopia. Christian leaders are asking for protection after the Muslim attackers continued burning churches even after the federal police were sent to the town.
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The Muslims started the attacks yesterday after falsely accusing the Christians of desecrating the Qur’an. More than ten thousand Muslims shouted “Allah Akbar” (Allah is great) as they burned down five evangelical churches. The government sent the federal police force to protect the Christians after the Muslims burned down the first three churches. The Muslims overwhelmed the police force and burned down two more churches today. - Source
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Muslims attack Coptic community, a priest and three deacons missing.
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Cairo (AsiaNews/Agencies) – A priest and three deacons are missing following an attack last night by about 4,000 Muslims in the town of Soul (30 kilometres south of Cairo) against the local Coptic community. The mob attacked Christian homes and set fire to the Saints Mina and George Coptic Church, ostensibly because of a relationship between a Christian man and a Muslim woman.
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Witnesses report the mob prevented the fire brigade from entering the village. Father Yosha, the priest of the small parish, and three deacons have been reported missing with different accounts of their fate. Some believe they died in the fire that devastated the church building. Others say they are still held by Muslims in one of the parish buildings.
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When the Muslim mob attacked the church, they exploded five or six gas cylinders inside the church, desecrated the cross and pulled down the domes. - Asia News
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Pakistan Christians bury murdered leader Shahbaz Bhatti..
Mr Bhatti, a Christian, was shot dead on Wednesday by the Taliban after he urged reform to blasphemy laws.
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The law has been in the spotlight since a Christian, Asia Bibi, was sentenced to hang in Punjab last November. She denies insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
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The BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan in Karachi says Mr Bhatti has become a martyr for the local Christian community because of his outspoken stance on the blasphemy laws. - BBC News
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Perhaps a little off topic - but...
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Real, bloody persecution has been sweeping Asia and Africa, and yet the USCCB is so preoccupied with Global Warming the Bishops' Catholic Coalition on Climate Change is recommending fasting from styrofoam cups, plastic bags, paper towels, and incandescent light bulbs for a 'green' Lent. Do people really get paid for making up that stuff? - CNS
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Hello? Is anybody there?
Yet so many contemporary religious and political leaders in the West appear to be in some sort of denial, constantly trying to persuade us that Islam is a religion of peace. They claim it is only Islamic extremists and terrorists causing all of the problems.
ReplyDeleteI guess we can conclude that 10,000 Muslim extremists live in Ethiopia then.
It's shameful and inexcusable that these things aren't talked about in the church - from the pulpit, in the diocesan papers. Even Archbishop Rowan has condemned the assassination of Bhatti in Pakistan. And yet around where I live, I bet fewer than 1 out of 10 Catholics even know that it happened.
I read that in England that some Councils are refusing to have those curly-cue bulbs picked up in the trash because they're too dangerous for the garbage collectors. They should do what I do - bury them in the neighbor's backyard.
What?
I replaced all our incandescent lightbulbs w/ curly-cue bulbs in the church & the rectory. I was able to save money in electric bills. I don't care what people tell me, I told them we are eking out.
ReplyDeleteThis is a complex issue, but I believe that the Church generally handles this about right. There are few options. The Church is not at war with Islam. Nor are most of the western countries, though that may be about to change. Perhaps this is more of a case of the chickens coming home to roost. Western countries like the U.S. and Britain have propped up dictators for decades. Mubarack in Egypt, to the tune of 50 billion a year for more than 30 years. Back-room deals with Ghadafi, for oil. On and on it goes. It's as if we learned nothing in Iran with the fall of the Shah. The U.S. invaded Iraq causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands. Chaldean Catholics were left in an impossible situation. We have created resentment all over the middle east, and elsewhere, and opened many more opportunities for radical Islamic clerics to be listened to. More of these countries will become breeding grounds for terrorists. And now we have the U.S. Congress wanting to investigate Islam? Insane!
ReplyDeleteI've pretty much converted to CFL - a couple of years ago in fact - and my electric bill stayed pretty much the same. Isn't that odd?
ReplyDeleteYou know what I do for sure? I cut all plastic rings from bottles and stuff, so they don't strangle wild animals.
BTW - Larry - that was funny - burying stuff in your neighbors yard.
Michael - very good points. Thanks.
ReplyDelete"Do people really get paid for making up that stuff?" Yes Terry, and we are the ones paying them.
ReplyDeleteIn Canada, AFAIK anyway, there hasn't been a peep from the bishops, neither have I heard anything other than "Remember God loves you" from our pastor. Business as usual ... sigh ... prayers going up from me for all our suffering brothers and sisters. Mary, help of Christians, pray for them, and St. Michael, protect them!
ReplyDeletemichael - I won't dispute you on the political aspects of what's going on, but Bhatti in Pakistan wasn't assassinated because of the War on Terror - he was assassinated because he was Catholic and he opposed the anti-blasphemy laws.
ReplyDeleteAnd the Copts in Egypt were attacked not because we propped up Mubarak, but because the mob was riled up by a cleric over the relationship between a Christian man and Muslim woman, as the story said.
Islam has been at odds with Christianity and Judaism for centuries, long before oil was discovered there. Current political wranglings, while real and important, to me seem to serve as fuel to keep the fires of extremism and violence burning, rather than the initial source of the flames.
I think it's naive to believe that the violence and extremism will subside if the West were to retire quietly - and I'm afraid some, or perhaps many, in the US foolishly hope that is the case.
There's nothing wrong about tacitly saying that a significant percentage of Muslims are specifically targeting Christians in their nations - not Christian Westerners, but those of their own nationality. It would be good for the bishops to speak out against those acts of terror and murder - not just the ones in whose countries these events are occurring - so that the entire body of Christ can pray for those being persecuted, rather than express disdain towards Western elected officials, both past and present.
I share your frustration over how the twisted the political nature of things have become.