Daphne Anson: Why Do Christians Remain Silent About the Persecution of Christians in Muslim-Majority Societies?

Eretz Israel is our unforgettable historic homeland...The Jews who will it shall achieve their State...And whatever we attempt there for our own benefit will redound mightily and beneficially to the good of all mankind. (Theodor Herzl, DerJudenstaat, 1896)

We offer peace and amity to all the neighbouring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all. The State of Israel is ready to contribute its full share to the peaceful progress and development of the Middle East. (From Proclamation of the State of Israel, 5 Iyar 5708; 14 May 1948)

With a liberal democratic political system operating under the rule of law, a flourishing market economy producing technological innovation to the benefit of the wider world, and a population as educated and cultured as anywhere in Europe or North America, Israel is a normal Western country with a right to be treated as such in the community of nations.... For the global jihad, Israel may be the first objective. But it will not be the last. (Friends of Israel Initiative)

Thursday, 11 November 2010

Why Do Christians Remain Silent About the Persecution of Christians in Muslim-Majority Societies?

This very pertinent question – which is crying out for an answer – is posed by Professor Barry Rubin, director of the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA) Journal:

Christians in Iraq have been, and not for the first time, deliberately targeted in a major terrorist attack. Indeed, from Indonesia to Pakistan to Iraq, from the Gaza Strip to Egypt to Sudan to Nigeria, Christians are being assaulted, intimidated, and murdered by militant Muslims.

Yet virtually never do Christians in any of these countries – perhaps with some occasional exceptions in India – attack Muslims. In the West, there have been no armed terrorist attacks on Muslims or the deliberate killing of Muslims. There does not exist a single group advocating such behavior.

Have you seen any of this in the Western mass media? Have any Christian church groups – some of which find ample time to criticize Israel – even mentioned this systematic assault? Indeed, on the rare occasions that the emigration of Christians is mentioned, somehow it is blamed on Israel, as one American network news show did recently.

I'm not writing this to complain about double standards, since one takes this problem for granted, but out of sheer puzzlement. Presumably, much of the Western media and intelligentsia – along with a lot of the church leadership, assumes that it is impossible for a non-Western, "non-white" group to ever be prejudiced. There is also a belief that if one dares report the news about pogroms carried about by Muslims against Christians it will trigger pogroms by Christians against Muslims.

To read the rest of Barry Rubin’s blogpost go here: http://www.gloria-center.org/gloria/2010/11/why-do-christians-remain-silent-about-the-persecution-of-christians-in-the-middle-east

I also heartily recommend Robin Shepherd's recent blogpost on this very sad subject, in which he which he highlights the utter hypocrisy of the BBC's reportage:

http://www.robinshepherdonline.com/islamist-threat-to-exterminate-christians-again%20-shows-that-their-plans-are-jews-first-the-rest-of-the-west-next/

7 comments:

Juniper in the Desert11 November 2010 at 03:11
My mother, who is a complete leftist blinkered fool, calls it: "the empire strikes back".

And this is how I think many, but not all, Christians see it, as revenge for them going into the third world to proselytise Christianity. Christianity had become mixed and muddied and MUDDLED with communism. and so now they must not fight back in order for the savages to get their rightful revenge!

Except the revenge is on the wrong people. But that does not bother either the Pope or the Imam of Canterbury!!
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Daphne Anson11 November 2010 at 03:36
Hi, Juniper!
Any practising Christians who are so heartless as to see their fellow-Christians sacrificed in the interests of "empire strikes back" aren't worthy of their religion!
I love Robin Shepherd's blog to which I provide the link - he really has a kick at Al Beeb, who only report the slaughter of the Iraqi Christians because anything that happens in Iraq post-Saddam serves Al Beeb's propagandistic spin that it's all America's fault.
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Felonious Monk11 November 2010 at 11:17
An extract from a previous Connexion blog and reply.

Two points to note.

1/ History 'muddies' the waters!!! 'Don't confuse me with the facts!'.

2/ Pointing out that silence over the death of Christians and cheering over the death of Jews is contemptible.

But no facts to refute this, just opinion.

Felonious Monk 10.04.10 at 1:17 am

What are we to do when what passes for the Church (arguably) breaks its own rules? What are we to do when children to young to remember Egypt and Jordan stealing land that the League of Nations and the UN and the British Mandate(Empire) had returned to the Jews think that the Jews are occupying land that is legally theirs? Even the UN, dominated by Arab Oil, has forgotten these salient facts.

‘Palestinian’ Arab Christians have been driven out of Bethlehem and Nazareth etc. Shechem (look it up) /Nablus is repeatedly desecrated even though they ( the Arabs) claim to be Abraham’s Children.
Around the world, Christians are regularly martyred by Islamic zealots and we are SILENT!!!!!; but when the victims are Jews HOORAY!!!!!

Of couse, Israel isn’t perfect, but then neither are we.
10

Richard 10.04.10 at 7:15 am

These waters are murky enough already, Felonious. Let’s not muddy them further by getting into recent Israeli history (the thread will get hopelessly confused.

The issue here is… Well, the truth is that I’m confused. The issue is either
1. that the Methodist Conference acted in a racist way, or
2. that the Methodist Conference exceeded its powers by making the resolutions it did

Both charges are pretty obvious nonsense in my eyes.

Your penultimate sentence is contemptible.
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Daphne Anson11 November 2010 at 19:49
Thanks, Felonious! I've read some rather eyebrow-raising (and mouth-drooping) opinions on the Connexions thread ...
Shall definitely be popping over there from time to time.
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robert16 November 2010 at 04:19
The silence of the conservative Christian broadcast media is what perplexes me the most. The secular media burying this story is just the secular media being the secular media. For the Christian right to ignore anti-Christian persecution in Iraq is indefensible, but I think that I can offer a reason why. The anti-Christian violence actually started around 2003, the same year that Bush ordered the troops into Iraq. No, this IS NOT a coincidence. Even Iraqi Christians have been quoted as having said that the invasion of U.S. troops "helped to create an environment" in which anti-Christian violence could flourish. And yet, the conservative Christian broadcast media with few exceptions, was virtually lockstep in its support for sending the troops in. To acknowledge the indisputable fact that Iraqi Christians are worse off now than they were even under Saddam Hussein would have the effect of calling into question the wisdom of the Iraq War. Right-wing evangelicals by and large, just won't do this. Effectively, they are throwing fellow believers in Iraq under the bus in order to support their "God is a pro-American flag waver" agenda....an agenda that never apears in scripture.

BTW- the so-called "democratic governments" that we have helped to install in Iraq and Afganistan have both incorporated Sharia Law into their constitutions. Sharia Law and democracy can not co-exist. You have one, or you have the other, but they can't both exist together in the same time and place. Am I saying the Iraq and Afganistan are both dictatorships and that democracy in either of these countries is nothing other than a pipe dream? You betcha!!
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Daphne Anson16 November 2010 at 04:43
Thanks, Robert - that explanation is the other side of the coin of the reason that (as Robin Shepherd argues) the BBC has highlighted the plight of the Christians in Iraq (i.e. to draw attention to the consequences of Allied actions).
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