Steel On Steel Persecution Update
October 13, 2010
Edited by: Donald McElvaney, www.missionbarnabas.org
Top Stories:
1. Christians in Middle East Fear Violence from Anti-Quran Protests
2. Somali Family Laments Kidnapping of Christian Girl
3. Christian Jailed in Ethiopia Accused of Desecrating Quran
4. Muslim Mob Targets Christian, Family in Murder Case
5. Muslims in Bekasi, Indonesia Oppose Another Church Building
6. Christian in India Suffers Miscarriage in Hindu Extremist Attack
1. Christians in Middle East Fear Violence from Anti-Quran Protests
Those in the West who provoke Muslim extremists are not the ones who will suffer, they say.
By Wayne King
ISTANBUL, October 5 (Compass Direct News) – Christians across the Middle East said they will be the ones to suffer if a group of anti-Islamic protestors in the United States goes through with its plans to publicly tear up or otherwise desecrate the Quran on Wednesday and Thursday (Oct. 6 and 7). They roundly condemned the proposed actions as political stunts that are unwise, unnecessary and unchristian. Atef Samy, assistant pastor of a large congregation in Egypt, said U.S. citizens who are protesting Islam need to think about how the results of their “irrational actions” will incite people to commit anti-Christian violence. “Has anybody thought how we will pay for their actions or even their words?” he said. Political activist Randall Terry plans to lead a series of demonstrations across the United States in which protestors will tear out pages from the Quran and encourage others to do the same. “This message of hate antagonizes Muslims and promotes hatred,” said Samia Sidhom, a Christian and managing editor of the Cairo-based newspaper Watani. Martin Accad, a Lebanese Christian and director of the Institute of Middle East Studies at Arab Baptist Theological Seminary in Beirut, said, “We are held guilty by association by extremist Muslims, even though the vast majority of Muslims will be able to dissociate between crazy American right-wingers and true followers of Jesus.” The element of the protests that most baffled Christians living in the Muslim world was that burning or tearing another religion’s book seemed so unchristian, they said. “These are not acts committed by followers of a Jesus ethic,” Accad said. “They will affect the image of Christianity as badly as the destruction of the World Trade Center affected the image of Islam.” At press time Compass was unable to reach Terry for a reply to the complaints about the planned protests, but after he staged a Quran-tearing event on Sept. 11 he released a statement expressing “great sadness” over the deaths that followed while denying that it was right for Muslims to react violently to such protests.
2. Somali Family Laments Kidnapping of Christian Girl
Islamic extremist insurgents abducted 15-year-old nearly eight months ago.
By Shahid Mohammed
MOGADISHU, Somalia, October 6 (Compass Direct News) – An underground Christian family from central Somalia is agonizing over the kidnapping of their daughter nearly eight months ago by Islamic militants bent on punishing those who leave Islam. Ghelle Hassan Aded told Compass that he has not seen his 15-year-old daughter, Anab Ghelle Hassan, since Islamic extremists from the al Shabaab (“the Youth”) insurgency kidnapped her on Feb. 15. The family formed part of a growing movement of underground Christians in Dhusa Mareb, said other sources in Somalia who confirmed the kidnapping. The al Shabaab insurgents fighting the Transitional Federal Government began monitoring the family’s activities in 2008, Aded said, and often questioned him about their lack of attendance at the local mosque. On Feb. 15 relatives told him they saw al Shabaab insurgents kidnap his daughter at 10 a.m. at the local market. Knowing that the insurgents would soon come after the rest of his family, Aded said, he fled immediately with his wife, 11-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son to Puntland. At their undisclosed location in Puntland, the family appeared devastated by the kidnapping, with Aded’s wife often weeping over the loss, but they said they maintain hope of seeing Anab again. Al Shabaab insurgents control much of southern and central Somalia and have embarked on a campaign to rid the country of its hidden Christian population. With estimates of al Shabaab’s size ranging from 3,000 to 7,000, the insurgents seek to impose a strict version of sharia (Islamic law).
3. Christian Jailed in Ethiopia Accused of Desecrating Quran
Constitution flouted as he is jailed for two months in Muslim area without court appearance.
By Simba Tian
NAIROBI, Kenya, October 7 (Compass Direct News) – A Christian in Ethiopia’s southern town of Moyale has been languishing in jail for two months after his Muslim business partner accused him of writing “Jesus is Lord” in a copy of the Quran, local church leaders said. Tamirat Woldegorgis, a member of the Full Gospel Church in his early 30s, was arrested in early August after the Muslim co-worker in the clothes-making business the two operated out of a rented home discovered Woldegorgis had inscribed “Jesus is Lord” on some cloth, area Christians said. The Muslim associate, whose name has not been established, went to a nearby mosque with the accusation that Woldegorgis had written “Jesus is Lord” in the Quran itself, sources said. Angry sheikhs at the mosque subsequently had Woldegorgis arrested for desecrating the book sacred to Islam, they said. Other sources said, however, that Muslims accused Woldegorgis of writing “Jesus is Lord” on a piece of wood, on a minibus and then on the wall of a house. A church leader who requested anonymity told Compass that two days after Woldegorgis was arrested, two friends inquired about him at the Moyale police station; authorities responded by jailing them for two weeks. In Ethiopia’s federal state system, each state is autonomous in its administration, and most of those holding government positions in Somali Region Zone Five are Muslims. “We fear that our brother might be taken to Islamic court in Jijiga for trial, which will further threaten his life,” the church leader said. Sources also said that authorities are offering to release Woldegorgis if he will convert to Islam. Woldegorgis is physically weak but strong in his faith, the church leader said, adding that he needs food and other material assistance, as well as an attorney.
4. Muslim Mob Targets Christian, Family in Murder Case
Villagers beat young man and his relatives, as well as burn their crops and press charges.
By Walter Smith
SHEIKHUPURA, Pakistan, October 11 (Compass Direct News) – A young Christian has been jailed for nearly eight months and his family was attacked after a Muslim friend framed him for murder, he said. Yassir Masih, 18, has been locked up at Sheikhupura District Jail since his arrest in late February. Masih told Compass that on Feb. 17 his Muslim friend Muhammad Mubashir came to his house late at night and asked him to accompany him on “an urgent piece of work” – which turned out to be accompanying Mubashir to the Pandori village home of Muhammad Imran, who was in love with the same girl as Mubashir. When Imran came to the door, Mubashir shot him dead. A mob formed, and Masih, not wanting to endanger his family, fled; he and Mubashir agreed to leave the village, but Mubashir instead melted back into the mob looking for the killer. As Masih was missing the next day, the village assumed he was the killer, and Mubashir’s father filed murder charges – as well as arms possession charges against Masih’s father and brothers Villagers on Feb. 18 also ransacked and plundered Masih’s home, crops and the home of his late grandfather, beating women and children there. Khalid Gill, chief organizer for Punjab Province of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, said that on Feb. 19 Yassir Masih’s mother, Shamshad Bibi, went to the Narang Mandi police station to file a complaint against the Muslim villagers, to no avail. Narang Mandi police have arrested not only Yassir Masih but his brothers Ashir Masih and Asif Masih, 15 and 23 years old respectively, Gill said. The brothers were interrogated by Criminal Investigation Agency officers and have been kept at an undisclosed location since Feb. 18; Masih’s father is in hiding.
5. Muslims in Bekasi, Indonesia Oppose Another Church Building
Islamists decry ‘center of Christianization’ in West Java, where anti-Christian hostilities fester.
By Samuel Rionaldo
JAKARTA, Indonesia, October 13 (Compass Direct News) – Islamic organizations have mounted a campaign against the planned construction of Mother Teresa Catholic Church in West Java Province, where Christian leaders report 20 other churches have faced Muslim hostility since 2009. Muslim leaders said plans for the Mother Teresa church in the Cikarang area will make it the largest church building in Bekasi City. Adang Permana, general chairman of the Bekasi Islamic Youth Movement, said area Muslims oppose the church building because they fear it will become “a center of Christianization,” according to the Islamic website Hidayatullah.com. H.M. Dahlan, coordinator of United Muslim Action of Bekasi, said at a recent press conference that his group, along with “all Muslims, mosque congregations, leaders of women’s study groups, Quranic schools, and Islamic education foundations have firmly decided to reject the construction of Mother Teresa Catholic Church in Cikarang and request that the Bekasi Regency cancel all plans.” The Islamic groups also called on Bekasi officials to clamp down on “illegal churches” meeting in homes and shops and to block “all forms of Christianization” in the area. The Mother Teresa church applied for a building permit in 2006 and has met all legal requirements, but the Bekasi government has not yet acted on the application, said a clergyman from the church identified only as Pangestu. The parish now worships at the Trinity School auditorium. “There are no problems between the church and the local people,” Pangestu said.
6. Christian in India Suffers Miscarriage in Hindu Extremist Attack
Four pastors also injured in Karnataka, hub of anti-Christian persecution.
By Vishal Arora
NEW DELHI, October 13 (Compass Direct News) – Police in a south Indian state known for turning hostile to minority Christians in recent years have arrested two suspected Hindu nationalists for beating four pastors and striking the wife of one of them in the stomach, killing her unborn child. The attack took place at a Christian gathering in a private Christian school to celebrate the birth of Mahatma Gandhi on Oct. 2 in Chintamani, in Karnataka state’s Kolar district, reported the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC). About 40 people barged into New Public School during the concluding prayer that morning and began selectively beating the pastors and Kejiya Fernandes, wife of one identified only as Pastor Fernandes. Chintamani police arrived but the attack went on, and when it ended at noon officers took the Christians to the station instead of arresting the attackers. Denied medical attention, the injured Christians were released at 7:30 p.m. only after Kejiya Fernandes began to bleed profusely, GCIC reported. She and her husband later received hospital treatment, where she lost the baby she had been carrying for four months. Pastor Fernandes received an injury to his ear. The three other victims, identified only as pastors Robert, Muthu and Kenny, all ministered in a local independent church. Of the 12 suspects named in the police complaint, two were arrested the same day, and the rest are absconding, said attorney Jeeva Prakash, who is associated with the Evangelical Fellowship of India’s advocacy department. The attack was carried out to avenge an alleged insult to Hindu gods during the Christian gathering, with the accused also having filed a police complaint, added Prakash, who visited the area and the Christian victims this week. The Christians were not arrested, as a court granted them anticipatory bail.
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