Friday, August 21, 2009

Bulletin of Christian Persecution August 21, 2009


Bulletin of Christian Persecution, August 21, 2009


Facts without comments-- We
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events that you find.






North America


July 24, 2009

Washington. D.C., USA

Reps. Frank Wolf and Anna Eshoo
expressed concern for the security of Iraq’s Christians in a letter to Prime
Minister Nouri Al-Maliki.


July 27, 2009

Dearborn, MI, USA

A Muslim high school principal fired the
hall-of-fame Christian wrestling coach because a student wrestler converted from
Islam to Christianity.


August 2 2009

Atlanta, Georgia, USA

An airport chapel removed
Christian symbols and installed a large compass facing Mecca on the floor.


August 3, 2009

Fairfax, Virginia, USA

The Islamic Saudi Academy’s
expansion plans were approved. When the Academy was a Christian school such
plans were denied, citing zoning ordinances. Many are concerned that the school’s teaching materials still incite hatred and violence.


August 10, 2009

Washington, D.C., USA

USCIRF issued a letter to
President Obama urging him to raise concerns over religious freedom and human
rights during his visit with Egyptian President Mubarak. The Institute on
Religion and Public Policy issued a similar
letter (8/16).


August 11, 2009

Orlando, FL, USA

A teen girl from Sri Lanka who converted to Christianity ran away from her Ohio
home for fear of being killed by her father for apostasy. Video here .

UPDATE:
The girl's father speaks out.


August 10, 2009

Washington, D.C., USA

Rep. Janice Schakowsky sent a letter to the Secretary of State asking her to
address the "ongoing ethno-religious cleansing of Iraq's Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac
Christian community” in Iraq.


August 13, 2009

Washington, D.C., USA

Coptic Americans announced plans to hold a rally in Washington, D.C. during
Mubarak’s state visit on the 18th.



August 13, 2009

Egypt

The Coalition of Coptic Organizations issued a letter to President Obama, stating
that peace in the Middle East is inseparably linked to peace for the Copts of
Egypt. The Alliance of Egyptian Americans echoed their call to confront Mubarak over human rights issues on 8/17.


August 18, 2009

Washington, D.C., USA

A heated debate broke out at a press
conference between Egyptian Copts and Muslims when a Coptic panelist decried
human right abuses under Sharia.


Africa


July 17, 2009

Minya, Egypt

Police are suspected of collusion in an arson attack on a church. Two Copts
were arrested after the incident and police stood by while the fire raged.


July 20, 2009

Mahadday Weyne, Somalia

Muslims shot to death a
convert to Christianity who had been leading an underground congregation.


July 22, 2009

Somalia

Christians and beheading: an obvious pattern.


July 23, 2009

Beni Suef, Egypt

Three terrorist attacks against
Christians in one province in one month have prompted suspicions of
state-sponsored terror rather than mere vigilantism.


July 25, 2009

Cairo, Egypt

The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights
sent a letter to the Arab League, the Middle East Council of Churches and the
World Council of Churches condemning the latest church bombings in Iraq. Since
2004 58 churches have been bombed in Iraq


July 26, 2009

Minya, Egypt

Hundreds of Muslims tried to set fire to
the home of a Copt after he announced plans to turn it into a church. 20
“protesters” were arrested and two Copts were injured .


July 27, 2009

Eritrea

A third Christian died this year in a military
prison. He had been jailed for his faith and buried in the camp.


July 27, 2009

Borno, Nigeria

Boko Haram staged 3 attacks in Nigeria,
killing 150 in two days, in a campaign of terror against education. Another
attack took place in Wudil.


July 29, 2009

Somalia

It is “open season” for killing converts to Christianity.


July 29, 2009

Potiskum and Maiduguri, Nigeria

Islamic militants
hacked a pastor to death and razed 5 churches. Boko Haram seeks to impose Sharia
over the whole country even though Muslims already live under Sharia. Update 8/6 : 12 Christians were killed in total, including 3
pastors
, and 20 churches were razed. 1000 are
estimated to have been killed in Maiduguri.


July 29, 2009

Bauchi, Nigeria

Police freed 180 abducted women and children from Boko Haram. Video at link.
Update http://www.mnnonline.org/article/13010


August 3, 2009

Tanta, Egypt

An Egyptian father has appealed to Mubarak in
demanding justice for his son, who was brutally murdered. He also created a
Facebook group.


August 6, 2009

Cairo, Egypt

Christian garbage collectors suffer after the pig cull.


August 7, 2009

Kenya

Muslim leaders are calling for Sharia to be inserted into the constitution.
Kenya has drafted a new constitution which expands the powers of Islamic courts.


August 11, 2009

Egypt

Abduction and forced Islamization of Coptic girls continues in Egypt.


August 11, 2009

Alexandria, Egypt

Religious intolerance erodes a once
multicultural paradise in favor of Islamic uniformity.


August 12, 2009


Somalia

Four Christians were beheaded by al-Shabaab, The were working for an NGO which
aids orphans.


August 16, 2009

Minya, Egypt

The Fawzy brothers were released after a
year’s unjust detention. They were arrested for allegedly killing a Muslim man
while doing construction at the monastery of Abu-Fana when it was attacked.


August 18, 2009

Minia Governate, Egypt

Muslim village elders issued a death fatwa against a Coptic priest for requesting
to convert part of his home into a prayer hall for his congregation of 800 which
has no place to worship.


Asia


July 17, 2009

Sana’a, Yemen

Ethiopian Christians are denied funerals and burials in Yemen.


July 20, 2009

Baghdad, Iraq

The Bishop of Baghdad urges believers to
not be afraid the fear of a new exodus remains, particularly in Mosul, where the
Nineveh Plain is being disputed by various factions.


July 21, 2009

Faridpur, Bangladesh

A Christian convert, a minor who
was subjected to months of rape by her teacher, is being forced to marry him,
and was sentenced to 101 lashes in addition to the 25 beatings she has suffered.
She is pregnant.


July 22, 2009

Lahore, Pakistan

Muslims shot a Christian businessman
eight times in the legs while he was driving because he refused to pay
protection money.


July 22, 2009

Iran

Religious cleansing in Iran continues through
state-imposed discrimination, repression, and imprisonment.


July 22, 2009

Iraq

As US troops withdraw, Islamic militants are
trying to drive out the last of the Christian minority.


July 23, 2009

Gaza

A church official and his wife were beaten and robbed in their home, part of
a patterns of attacks on the small Christian community.


July 23, 2009

Punjab, Pakistan

A minority rights leader has been
jailed by those opposed to his work on behalf of Christians.


July 23, 2009

Lahore, Pakistan

150 Muslims with guns attacked a
Christian apartment building, looted it, then demolished it in a land-grab.
Incidents of Muslims demanding protection money from Christians have
increased.


July 23, 2009

Ankara, Turkey

The State continues to waver regarding
the re-opening of the Halki Theological School, closed since 1971, as
recognition of the Ecumenical Patriachate continues to stall.


July 23, 2009

West Java, Indonesia

Local government demolished a
Protestant church because it had no permit, even though parishioners had tried
several times to obtain one and had gotten the consent of the Muslim
community.


July 23, 2009

Nineveh, Iraq

Security forces are building trenches
and checkpoints to protect Christians.


July 26, 2009

Mosul, Iraq

Gunmen killed a young Christian factory
owner outside of his business after beating the guard.


July 27, 2009

Sikendarabad, Pakistan

Armed men attacked a Christian colony, beat people with sticks, overtook a primary
school building, and demanded protection money, all with the knowledge of the
police.


July 28, 2009

Tashkent City, Uzbekistan

A children’s holiday camp is in
peril as the Baptist Union faces charges for unlawfully teaching children
religion and allegedly misusing their property.


July 29, 2009

Tehran, Iran

A final decision on the apostasy law, which
has so far been practiced arbitrarily, is to be reached this fall. It would
obligate courts to enforce the death penalty.


July 30, 2009

Jakarta, Indonesia

The jihadists behind the Jakarta
bombing were targeting the UK soccer team: “These players are Christians, so
Muslims should not honor and respect these enemies of Allah.”


July 31, 2009

Uzbekistan

A Baptist’s home was raided by police, who
confiscated his library and charged him with "illegally producing, storing,
importing and distributing of materials of a religious nature."


August 1, 2009

Gojra, Pakistan

A Muslim mob attacked a Christian town, gunning
down 9
and burning 75 homes (many using
chemical bombs
) and two churches after an accusation of blasphemy.
Christians fled the town after the violence. Compass reports that 14 were killed and 100 homes burned.


August 2, 2009

Iraq

Christians are forming militias to protect themselves
from a systematic campaign by Muslims to drive them out. (Video.)

August 2, 2009

Gojra, Pakistan

Eight Christians were burned alive and
20 injured by militant Muslims amidst fresh violence in the town. Three later died of
injuries.


August 5, 2009

Dhaka, Bangladesh

The family of a man who converted to
Christianity has been ostracized and threatened with death.


August 5, 2009

Gojra, Pakistan

Muslim leaders threatened to hang
Christians charged with blasphemy and demanded the release of clerics who
incited violence at a press conference to discuss the earlier attacks in
Gojra.


August 5, 2009

Pakistan

Christian leaders agree that burning Christian
women and children alive is damaging to Pakistan and the Muslim faith.


August 5, 2009

Lahore, Pakistan

Three Christians were killed after a rumor spread that they desecrated a Koran.


August 6, 2009

Pakistan

A concise history of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws since 1990.


August 6, 2009

Istanbul, Turkey

A Christian was held hostage and
threatened at knife point in “a bizarre show of Turkish nationalism.”


August 6, 2009

Sargodha, Pakistan

A Christian man was tortured to death by police after being picked up for “bootlegging.”


August 7, 2009

Faisalabad, Pakistan

A young Christian shopkeeper was
beaten and arrested on a spurious blasphemy charge.


August 7, 2009

Ankara, Turkey

The Turkish government denied the Pope’s
request for a church in Tarsus. Tarsus’ only church was confiscated in 1943 and
is now a museum.


August 9, 2009

Zamboanga City, Philippines

Residents of Zamboanga City live in constant terror.


August 10, 2009

Tehran, Iran

Iranian authorities told two Christian
converts who have been detained since March to recant their faith during a
hearing on 8/9.


August 10, 2009

Gojra, Pakistan

80 Muslims were arrested for attacking Christians.



Agust 10, 2009

India/Pakistan

A Muslim scholar says the sharia blasphemy laws should be scrapped and expresses
full solidarity with Christian communities who have been victimized by violence.


August 11, 2009

Middle East

Muslims chase the remaining Christians from
the Middle East while blaming Jews for their exodus.


August 11, 2009

Islamabad, Lahore, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Multan, Hyderabad,
Karachi, and Lahore Pakistan


Pakistani Christians observed “Black Day”
instead of Independence Day on August 14, with solidarity protests in the UK,
USA, Canada, and Holland.


August 11, 2009

Rasht, Iran

More than 30 Christians were arrested in a
two-week period in the town of Rasht and 8 remain in prison. Two women have been
imprisoned since March.


August 13, 2009

Kyrgyzstan

Unregistered communities of believers are forbidden from worshipping, but cannot
get registered. One Protestant church has been trying for two years.


August 14, 2009

Jakarta, Indonesia

A congregation finds it hard to worship and pray in peace “as medieval-style
pitchfork-wielding mobs give vent to the insecurity of their ‘majority religion.’”


August 16, 2009

Pakistan

A Muslim TV evangelist claimed that the
violence against the Christian community in Gojra was a Western conspiracy to
make Pakistanis question their blasphemy laws.


August 17, 2009

Gujrat, Pakistan

A pregnant Christian woman was beaten and dragged naked through a police station.
She later miscarried.


August 19, 2009

Kirkuk, Iraq

“A climate of concern and fear” grips the
Christian community as a man was killed in front of his home and a doctor was
abducted while returning home. A Christian passerby was also killed in the
latter incident.


Europe


July 18, 2009

London, UK

A teacher claims that he was fired for
reprimanding students who made “racist” remarks about his being Christian.


July 24, 2009

Cyprus

Turkey has illegally occupied northern Cyprus
for 35 years and has forcibly expelled 142,000 Greek Cypriots, converted 55
churches into mosques and 50 churches into other buildings.


July 24, 2009

UK

70 or so Muslims
unfurled a huge banner which read “Jesus was a Muslim” in a shopping center. A
row ensued and police were called.


July 25, 2009

Glasgow, Scotland

A publicly funded exhibit by a group
representing gay Christians and Muslims encouraged a Bible to be defaced. Update 7/28 : The Pope condemned the actions.


July 31, 2009

UK

Britain’s war on Christianity: a blogger describes being the victim of the UK’s
equivalent of blasphemy laws. (Video.)


August 9, 2009

Cologne, Germany

Germans are wary as a mega-mosque is
being built which rivals the city’s cathedral, the world’s biggest.


August 10, 2009

Sweden

Assyrian asylum seekers are frequently deported
back to Iraq and most of them end up on the run in neighboring countries. Criticism mounts against Sweden’s deportation policy toward Iraqis.


August 14, 2009

UK

Muslim students outnumber Christians in 24 Roman Catholic schools.


August 17, 2009

Sarajevo, Bosnia

Bosnia’s spiritual leader called for Sharia to be incorporated into the Bosnian
constitution. Christian leaders protest.


August 17, 2009

Manchester, UK

A street preacher faces arrest for
“inciting hatred with homophobic and racial comments” because he was reading the
Bible in public.


August 18, 2009

Amsterdam, Holland

Orthodox Islamic schools are being
accused of instituting an apartheid system whereby non-Muslim teachers are
treated as “inferior beings” and forced to teach that Christianity “would be
abolished.”


Australia


August 13, 2009

New South Wales, Australia

A large conference was held to call attention to the endangered Assyrians of Iraq.





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