I’m pleasantly surprised. Major media outlets remain blissfully unaware of much of the anti-Christian violence in Gaza and the West Bank, although when they do notice they of course rush to unblinkingly blame Israel. This despite the fact that Christian groups are about to disappear from land that they’ve occupied continuously for two thousand years.
But I suppose a year of murdered archbishops and murdererd music store owners – well – you have to say something:
In opposing the invasion of Iraq, the late Pope John Paul II was motivated primarily by a concern about the carnage on all sides that a war would produce; but he also had reason to worry about the fate of Iraqi Christians once Saddam Hussein was deposed. Despite his crimes, Hussein offered protection for Christians against militant Muslims. The religious cleansing of Christians in Iraq is part of a larger pattern in which a faith with origins in the Middle East is being driven out of its native region. From Iraq to Lebanon, which once claimed a Christian majority, to Bethlehem, the West Bank town revered as the birthplace of Jesus, intra-Muslim violence and the Arab-Israeli struggle have combined to persuade (and in some cases force) Christians to relocate to Europe or North America.
You’d think that the acknowledgement of anti-Christian violence throughout the Muslim world – where Catholic girls’ high schools are blown up in Pakistan and converts are executed in Iran and anti-Christian incitement is pervasive – you’d think that this acknowledgement would make them stop and think “hey, maybe this isn’t the Bush Administration’s fault.” Not so much, it turns out.
References:
* AP: Gaza Christians Have Been Living Peacefully, Now Under Attack By Unknown Extremists [MR]
* Reuters Anti-Israel Demonization Now Just Silly: Israeli Jews Persecuting Palestinian Christians. Muslim Palestinians, On the Other Hand, Have Persecuted Nobody and Burned No Churches [MR]
* Expert: ‘Christian groups in PA to disappear’ [JPost]
* Savages Murder Iraqi Archbishop [Jawa]
* Jihadists murder Christian music store owner in Mosul [Spencer]
* A Christian exodus [LAT]
* Pakistan: Taliban bombs Catholic girls’ high school [Spencer]
* Underwhelming Global Outrage As Iran Enforces New “You Convert From Islam, You Die” Law [MR]
* Fifteen Minutes Of Unmitigated Muslim Hatred Toward Jews, Christians, Americans, Westerners, Etc. [Video] [MR]
Previously:
* UN Open For Anti-Semitism On Yom Kippur, Closed For Business On Ramadan
* Iran: Of Course Sunnis And Shiites Cooperate, Iran Will Never Abandon Hamas
* I’m Going To Miss Westminster Abbey – London Olympic Bathrooms Built Facing Away From Mecca (Plus: British Muslims Seemingly Unmoved By Multicultural Gestures Of Friendship)
