I don’t really expect radical jihadists to not murder Christian converts. I mean, it’d be nice if there wasn’t a wave of beheadings in Somalia or if fathers and teenage girls weren’t being killed in Britain. But I understand that you can’t really go around giving people freedom of religion – what if they exercise it? But is it really too much to ask people not to ethnically cleanse Iraq?
Several months ago I reported that Iraq was turning into the Islamic Republic of Iraq , as Christianity is clearly under attack there. Today a new report comes out showing that the situation for Iraqi Christians has gotten even worse…. Christians flee Iraqi city after killings, threats, officials say… At least 900 Christian families have fled Mosul in the past week, terrified by a series of killings and threats by Muslim extremists ordering them to convert to Islam or face possible death, officials said Saturday.
And the fate of Christians who don’t get out is exactly what you think it is:
One grey-haired woman understands more than most the fear that has gripped Iraq’s beleaguered Christian community over the past month. Her brother, Bashar al-Hazim, was among the first to be murdered in a wave of targeted killings that has forced more than 2,000 Christian families to flee the northern city of Mosul. Masked gunmen walked up to Mr Hashim as he stood with his two children outside their house in the east-side of Mosul in late September. They demanded to see his identity card, confirmed he was Christian and executed the 41-year-old on the spot… “We’re peaceful people. When my brother was executed he had no enemies. Why was he killed? He was not a member of a party. There was no reason except for being Christian,” the woman, dressed in a black gown, said.
If this “convert or die” thing seems familiar, it’s because the exact same thing is happening in the Punjab province of Pakistan right now. In Kabul, on the other hand, they’re not even going through the motions of coercing conversions. They’re just outright massacring Christians. Why? Probably because of something Israel did.
References:
* Muslims behead Christian convert from Islam in Somalia [Spencer]
* Islamists killed my husband because he had converted to Christianity – widow [Scotsman]
* Imam’s daughter in hiding after her conversion to Christianity sparked death threats [Mail Online]
* Iraqi Christians Told to Convert, pay Jizyah or Die [IsraPundit]
* Pakistani Christians told to convert or die [Spero]
* ‘We are killed because we are Christians’ [Times Online]
* Taliban Agents Stalking Christians In Kabul [MR]
Previously:
* Underwhelming Global Outrage As Iran Enforces New "You Convert From Islam, You Die" Law
* Bush’s Pilgrimage To Bethlehem Presents Ripe Opportunity For Irony, Frustration
* Another Day, Another Blisteringly Stupid Article About Evangelical Christianity From A Sophisticated Liberal (Plus: Messianic Christianity Got Jews The Balfour Declaration)
