Red Wednesday 2021

 

#RedWednesday is the time for people of all faiths, and no faith, to come together in solidarity for Christians and others who are oppressed.

Just one of many stories form Aid to the Church in Need:

"A THREE-YEAR-OLD Christian girl in Pakistan, who was raped by the husband of her school principal, is still a long way from recovery several months on from her ordeal.

"According to the national Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP), based in Lahore, Anna was raped at the school she attended in Raiwind, Lahore – which operated out of the house of her abuser, Muhammad Saleem.

"Ms Merab Arif, Communication Coordinator of CCJP  said: 'Girls from religious minorities are at high risk of sexual violence and abuse. And not just that, early and forced marriage deprives them as well of their fundamental right to education, health, and freedom of religion'."

ACN #RedWednesday 2021 Petition

We call on the UK Government and the United Nations to take more effective steps to address the double jeopardy faced by women and girls from religious minorities in certain countries suffering sexual violence and persecution.

SIGN THE PETITION

A slave for her faith

 

Farah Shaheen (©Aid to the Church in Need).

I have regularly looked at the photo of this poor girl gazing through the camera because, stunned into inaction, the email from Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has remained in my in-tray. 

What are her thoughts? What if she were my daughter, or yours?

Farah's story is appalling, best explained by this extract from the ACN email:

"The father of a 12-year-old Christian girl – kidnapped, raped, shackled hand and foot, and forced to work from dusk till dawn – has at last spoken out about her ordeal.

"When police rescued Farah Shaheen from the Faisalabad house of 45-year-old Khizar Ahmed Ali (Hayat) in December 2020, she was too traumatised to speak but, bit by bit, has revealed her harrowing five-month ordeal to her father, Asif Masih.

"In a statement to Aid to the Church in Need, Mr Masih said his daughter was attached to a chain and forced to work all day “as a slave” damaging her shackled hands and feet in the process.

"Mr Masih said: 'Farah has told me she was treated like a slave. She was forced to work all day, cleaning filth in a cattle yard. 24-7 she was attached to a chain.'

"Condemning Mr Ahmed for forcing Farah to marry him and convert to Islam, he said: “She was sexually assaulted by her abductor and raped multiple times by [his] landlords”."

Sadly this is not an isolated case. The email continues:

"Describing the mistreatment of girls from minority faith backgrounds as 'a cancer in our society', he said: “I beg you to demand that the Government stops this evil in its tracks and brings the culprits to justice.”

"Pakistan’s Movement for Solidarity and Peace estimates that up to 1,000 young Christian and Hindu females between 12 and 25 are abducted each year."

Another tragic report describes how 14-year-old Maira Shahbaz was bundled into a car at gunpoint by three men on 28th April 2020, in Medina Town, Pakistan.  She was filmed and photographed being raped, and was then forced to convert to Islam and marry one of her abductors, Mohamad Nakash Tariq, 30 years her senior.

A petition has been presented to Fiona Bruce, MP, the Prime Minister's Special Envoy for Religious Freedom or Belief asking Prime Minister Boris Johnson to grant asylum for Maira Shahbaz and her family. In that regard Maira is luckier than most.

In 2019 the BBC reported Christian persecution 'at near genocide levels'. In 2021 little has changed.

Persecution of Christians Exacerbated by a Year of Covid-19 According to World Watch List 2021:

• Christians in numerous African and Asian nations have been refused coronavirus aid
  
  
• Islamic militants have exploited Covid-19 restrictions, increasing violence against Christians in sub-Saharan Africa by 30 per cent.
  
  
• Covid-19 has legitimised repression through increased surveillance by authoritarian governments such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
  
  
• Women have been especially vulnerable in Covid-imposed lockdowns, with psychological violence as well as kidnapping and forced conversions.

In another email ACN gives details of slaughter in Africa. Another highlights  Religious bias faced by Christians in Pakistan. In Myanmar displaced Christians have formed a village called 'Bethel' outside Yangon.

There are regular reports of attacks on Christians but not on action to curb them. 

In my entry The naivety of Christian leaders I wrote: Christian leaders would do well to heed the warning of bishop Michael Nazir-Ali who explained back in 2011 how Christianity has become almost extinct in the Middle East, the cradle of Christianity, and Islam, the 'religion of peace', has became dominant in the Arab world.

Christianity is on the decline while Muslims are the world’s fastest-growing religious group.

It doesn't take much imagination to realise the fate of Christians when looking at counties in which they are already a minority. 

Imagine if she were your daughter!

Christian girl, 14, is being threatened by Islamist death squads in Pakistan for fleeing forced marriage to Muslim man, 45 - as thousands sign petition to give her asylum

Maira Shahbaz fears for her life. The 14-year-old is in
 hiding after being accused of apostasy for breaking off
the  marriage - an offence punishable by death in Islam

Catholic altar server Maira Shahbaz is hiding after being accused of apostasy

Over 9,000 have signed petition asking PM to grant her and family asylum in UK

As a backbench Tory MP, Boris Johnson led calls for Mrs Bibi to be given asylum

Maira has now appealed directly to PM, saying in statement: 'Please protect me'

Mail Online   

This is not an isolated report. 

On Armistice Day, International Christian Concern reported that two Christians, a mother and son, were killed in an incident of religious hatred in a village located in the Gujranwala district of Pakistan. They were shot dead by their Muslim neighbour because as a Muslim family they did not like waste water flowing by their home from the house of an ‘untouchable’.

In Pakistan the term chura or churi is used to denote Christians as low caste and untouchable. It is widely held among Pakistan’s Muslim population that Christians are dirty and as a result must be relegated to the lowest rungs of society

Christians are relegated to the sectors of cleaning and sweeping in Pakistan. While Christians make up around 4% of the population, nearly 80% of them are involved in sanitary department and cleaning jobs that are considered impure for Muslims.

On Wednesday, 25th November, Set Your Captives Free – A Report on Christians unjustly detained for their Faith will be launched in the UK parliament by Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). 

The Report is intended as a springboard for ACN supporters to advocate for the release of those unjustly detained and demand perpetrators be brought to justice. It profiles individuals – young and old – both those kidnapped by extremist groups and others arrested by the state and held without charge.

As part of its advocacy campaign, ACN has so far collected more than 8,500 signatures calling on the Prime Minister to grant asylum to Pakistani 14-year-old Maira Shahbaz, profiled in the report, who is in hiding from her former abductor who has threatened to kill her, saying she is an apostate.  

Across the world, people will mark #RedWednesday by wearing red (e.g. putting on a red scarf), using social media to promote the campaign and lighting up public buildings in red.

You can sign the #RedWednesday petition HERE.

Persecuted and Forgotten? - Christian wipe out

Please do not skip this heart-rending video

"Islamic State's daily abductions, murders and beheadings on Christians have come close to wiping out the faith completely in Syria" warns Jean-Clement Jeanbart, the Greek Melkite Catholic Archbishop of Aleppo who has been in London to call for action in Syria. Christianity has been almost completely destroyed by ISIS fanatics in Syria, he said. At least 1,000 Christians had been abducted and murdered in Aleppo. Report here. 

This is no exaggeration. The vast exodus of Christians from Syria, Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East highlights the very real possibility that Christianity could soon all but disappear from much of its ancient homeland. Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has published a report 'Persecuted and Forgotten?' which assesses the deepening plight of Christians in 22 countries of concern. Drawing on testimony from witnesses of persecution, the report shows why Christians are the world’s most persecuted faith group. Executive Summary here.

There is no escape from this brutality. According to this report an Iranian man was severely beaten in a German refugee camp for converting to Christianity. The man is thought to have told some Afghan migrants that he had embraced Christianity. A few days later one Afghan beat him unconscious with a baton, declaring that his conversion was a "sin".

This is not an isolated incident. In August, riots broke out in an overcrowded German refugee camp after an Afghan resident tore pages out of a Koran and threw them in the toilet. At least 17 people were left injured when 20 Syrian refugees chased the man after he ruined the Islamic holy book. The crowd even turned their anger towards the camp's security guards who tried to protect the alleged offender. The migrants smashed car windows and ransacked buildings in a rampage which lasted several hours.

The 'holier than thou' Church of England  bishops who wrote to the Prime Minister demanding that tens of thousands of migrants be admitted to Great Britain should pay more attention to people who understand these matters such as the Archbishop of Aleppo and ACN. Migrants are not leaving Islam behind. It is being exported.

Postscript [25.10.2015]

Doubters read "Christians Persecuted by Muslims Even in the West" here.

Postscript [26.10.2015]

Christian refuges targeted by Muslim migrants. Mass slaughter of Christians in the Middle East should be recognised as “genocide” here.