Handwashing

Hand washing in the Repair Shop                                         Source: BBC TV

As a long term admirer of the skills demonstrated in the BBC TV series, the Repair Shop, I was taken aback by the first item in last night's episode when a requested repair was made conditional upon the handlers first washing their hands and working in a clean space.

The challenge was for the team to 'fix a 100-year-old handwritten Qur’an passed down four generations of women'. 

A woman of Kashmir descent living in Newport, South Wales, made the handwashing stipulation before leaving the book for repair with those regarded in Islam as infidels.

It is understandable that the book can be regarded as sacred by the family but for others the content of the book however beautifully crafted results in persecution and misery for others.

Aid to the Church in Need is reporting that a mass exodus threatens Christianity in Syria and Lebanon while concerns grow over rising attacks against Christian sites in Israel .

The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel (1948) guarantees freedom of religion for all yet The Jerusalem Post reports that 'Dozens of incidents, ranging from spitting to vandalism to assault, have been committed by extremist Jews against Christians and their sites this year.'

According to Aid to the Church in Need "Christianity is facing an 'existential threat' in parts of the Middle East, where communities have dwindled to mere shadows of their former selves... Nearly 75 years on from the creation of the state of Israel, Christians in the West Bank have declined from 18 per cent to less than one per cent; and, in Syria, the number of Christians has plummeted from ten per cent in 2011 — before the war began — to less than two per cent."

Meanwhile others, including the Church of England and the Church in Wales, affirm Islam as if it were another religion of love and forgiveness.

There is handwashing and there is handwashing.

Postscripts

Archbishop of Canterbury hosts hardline Islamists for tea and cake:

Interfaith event included Iran ayatollah’s former UK envoy and mosque chief who exalted terrorist as a ‘holy warrior’

[23.09.2023] ‘Destruction’ of ethnic Armenians is imminent, experts warn:

"The 'destruction' of an enclave of 120,000 Armenian Christians in the Nagorno-Karabakh region is imminent, warns Siobhan Nash-Marshall, a U.S.-based human rights advocate..."

The Way

I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.

In their coverage of Pope Francis' visit to Iraq, Sky News report that Pope Francis met Grand Ayatollah Ali al Sistani - Iraq's top Shia cleric - at the Islamic scholar's home in the Iraqi city of Najaf.

"The Pope arrived at the cleric's small home in a bullet-proof vehicle. As he entered the house, white doves were released, reflecting the themes of this four-day visit to Iraq - peace, reconciliation and inter-faith dialogue. The meeting - the first of its kind between two such senior leaders in the Christian and Muslim world - was held privately and holds huge symbolism."

Later at an inter-faith prayer service Pope Francis condemned extremism saying, "Hostility, extremism and violence are not born of a religious heart. They are betrayals of religion." 

But Islam is a political ideology diametrically opposed to the faith of Christians and others. Convert to Islam, pay the jizya, leave or die is the message in Islamic countries.

Violence and persecution against Christians in the Middle East has been cited as one of the key reasons for the exodus of Christians from the region. A century ago, Christians in the Middle East comprised 20 percent of the population; today, they constitute no more than 3-4 percent of the region’s population - The Persecution of Christians in the Middle East.

Followers of Islam live a life of complete submission to Allah, relegating Jesus Christ to the role of a  prophet. 

Jesus said "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

How many Christian leaders believe that today as they engage in dialogue with Muslims as though all Abrahamic faiths were basically the same.

 

I do not doubt the sincerity of Christian leaders but to date the result of dialogue has merely led to greater tolerance of Islam, excusing every atrocity as the work of radicalised fanatics while ignoring the Islamic aim of dominance and submission of all to Allah.

In Wales the diocese of Llandaff is currently pushing The Landscapes of Faith Festival: "a community treasure hunt to celebrate our world faith traditions in Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Paganism and the prehistoric sites in South Wales."

Nothing new of course. We have been here before.

Peace Mala. The Archbishop of Wales with supporters @StDavidsNeath.                         Source: Twitter @WelshMuslims

Postscripts

[16.03.2021]

Mozambique insurgency: Militants beheading children, aid agency reports

While religious leaders talk, "Aid agency Save the Children says Islamist militants are beheading children as young as 11 in Mozambique's northern province of Cabo Delgado...More than 2,500 people have been killed and 700,000 have fled their homes since an Islamist insurgency began in 2017.The militants have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) group."

So sad.

[20.03.2021]

Ethiopian Christian Excluded by Muslim Family

Another example of Islam's inhuman regard for Christians. "Excluded by his Muslim relatives. Forced to leave he was left with no food, shelter or source of income."

For the love of God!

In season of warmth, a look at chilling, global war on Christianity

The aftermath of the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians   Source Telegraph/Universal News

From The Rev. John Armstrong, Pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, Columbus, Indiana writing in The Republic:


Pope Francis acknowledges it.

Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, confirms it.

Foreign leaders recognize it.

Human rights advocates, along with more than 80 members of Congress, insist that it is real.

But will the leader of the free world publicly admit it?

“It” refers to the genocide against Christians, Yazidis and other religious minorities in the Middle East.

Genocide involves the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.

In addition to outright murder, genocide includes preventing births within the group and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Can you say “Boko Haram?”

Recently, Pope Francis said, “Today we are dismayed to see how in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world many of our brothers and sisters are persecuted, tortured and killed for their faith in Jesus.

“In this Third World war, waged piecemeal, which we are now experiencing, a form of genocide is taking place, and it must end.”

Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks of the United Kingdom says, “What is happening to Christians in (the Middle East) is the religious equivalent of ethnic cleansing.”

However, words such as ethnic cleansing and genocide are radioactive to many politicians, because they imply that we have a moral and legal obligation to use whatever means necessary, including military force, to end the atrocities.

Some in the West are slow to acknowledge Christian persecution because they are in the habit of thinking of Christianity as rich, powerful and socially oppressive, and therefore cannot imagine that Christians in many parts of the world are themselves oppressed.

But facts are stubborn things.

From West Africa to Indonesia, from Eritrea to North Korea, Christians are routinely subjected to violence, imprisonment and death, for no other reason than believing in Jesus.

German Prime Minister Angela Merkel declared that Christianity is “the most persecuted religion worldwide.”

According to the International Society for Human Rights, a secular organization based in Frankfurt, Germany, 80 percent of all acts of religious discrimination in the world today are directed against Christians.

Between 2006 and 2010, Christians faced some sort of discrimination in 139 countries, almost three-quarters of all countries on earth, according to the Pew Forum.

The Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Seminary in Massachusetts reports that over the past decade, an average of 100,000 Christians have been killed every year.

John Allen, associate editor of The Boston Globe, writes that the global persecution of churchgoers is the unreported catastrophe of our time.

According to Allen, it is “the greatest story never told of the early 21st century.”

When will the world pay attention?

One church leader in the Middle East put it this way: “Does anybody hear our cry? How many atrocities must we endure before somebody, somewhere, comes to our aid?”

Silence in the face of evil is evil itself.

Pray for our government to use financial and diplomatic pressure against offending countries.

Pray for direct humanitarian assistance by our government and condemnation of these crimes against humanity.

Pray for Christian martyrs to be faithful unto death, and pray for their persecutors to be forgiven and to better understand the faith which they seek to destroy.

Think your friends should see this? Share it with them!

Christianity before Islam

The spread of Christianity by the 7th Century when Islam was being established in Arabia.

On Newsnight Last night Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury spoke about the plight of Christians and Muslims in the Middle East under the IS threat. Link here [advance to 14.47 - sadly not available outside the UK but the message in the picture is clear]. There is a narrative of 'How Christianity's Eastern history has been forgotten' here. An interesting perspective with a follow-up interview by Evan Davies offering a more balanced view of the problem after President Obama's recent reflections.

Prince Charles has expressed his alarm at young people being radicalised yet he still suggests that as King he should defend all faiths: "He believed an important part of the role was to be a 'protector of faiths', defending every religion in multicultural Britain". Why anyone would want to protect a faith which seeks to do away with all others is a mystery, especially coming from the heir to the throne and future Defender of the Faith given The Great Commission.

"All of our people are suffering.They lost everything but they didn't loose their faith in Christ. Christ is in their hearts." - Archbishop Athanasias speaking of Christians in the Syrian Orthodox Church.

Mosul

The Islamic State militias set fire to a 1,800 year-old church in Mosul

From Al-Ahram (published in Egypt 24 July, 2014): 

"The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which has seized Mosul along with other parts of northern Iraq and over 30 per cent of the territories of adjacent Syria, last Friday decided to evict the few remaining Christian families from the town after giving them the choice of forced conversion or the payment of a special tax, the jizyah, which was paid by non-Muslims during the Ottoman period in return for protection and exemption from military service...

...these Nazi-style terrorists had imprinted the Arabic letter n, standing for nassara [Christians] on houses to indicate that the residents should be forced to leave and that the houses should be confiscated as the property of the Islamic State."  Read 'here'.

"All are invited to take part in a day of prayer on Friday 1 August, 2014 for our most neglected brethren in Iraq, Syria, and throughout the Middle East". Details here. 

There is only One Lord

 Readers who have clicked on this icon in the right hand column will have seen a short video clip (here) with the quotation: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." As Greg Koukl says, there is never a suggestion in Jesus' teaching that all religions are basically the same and it doesn't matter which one you follow; quite the contrary.

Why then are other religions held in such respect and Christianity so ridiculed? As Cranmer puts it (here), "It is unfortunate that the Prime Minister should find himself incapable of referring to the Bishop of Bath and Wells without referencing satire", having compared the Bishop of Bath and Wells with a character from Blackadder.

More seriously I was struck by this comment from "The end of Christianity in the Middle East?":  The first paragraph of the chapter quotes from a report by the charity Aid to the Church in Need, in which it soberly and chillingly asks whether “future historians [will] say of us that we were first-hand witnesses to the extinguishing of Christianity in the very countries where the light of our faith first took hold?” 

What a devastating indictment yet Islam continues to be treated with the utmost respect by Anglican leaders. Why? There is only one way to the Father - through Our Lord Jesus Christ. I sometimes wonder if they really believe it. 

Atrocities against Christians

As the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, draws attention to atrocities against Christians in the Middle East, closer to home we have yet more cases of white girls being groomed for sex by predominately Asian gangs who display Islamic rather than Christian values.

Those who regard the perfect man as one who had sex with a nine-year old girl and encouraged the beheading of prisoners may see this as normal but to complain that they are victims of Islamophobia because civilised people do not approve of such barbaric behaviour would be laughable were it not so serious.

Immigration gone mad

Though deprived of media links during my half-term retreat, much sad news reached me via another's mobile phone. Amongst stories of the tragic loss of life and destruction in the New Zealand earthquake and in the turmoil in the Middle East was a report that 3.2 million foreign migrants were added to the UK population during the Labour party’s 13 years in power (enough foreign nationals to fill Birmingham three times over) and that the level of net migration into the UK rose by 36 per cent last year. Regardless of party politics, this is a staggering figure which is devastating the lives of thousands of young people in the UK. Three-quarters of all new jobs have gone to foreigners according to a report in The Sun. Meanwhile employers complain about skill shortages!

It is hardly surprising therefore that a new poll found that almost half of those questioned were open to supporting a new non-violent, far-right anti-immigration party provided it eschewed 'fascist imagery'. Enoch Powell's prophetic 1968 speech angered many but in general what he had to say was spot on. Despite all the rubbish talked about Islamophobia, over half of respondents (52%) agreed with the proposition that "Muslims create problems in the UK". Meanwhile, lawyers continue to peddle their trade joining with big business adding to the Immigration figures while lining their pockets at our expense. As Mr Powell said, "we must be mad, literally mad". 

Israel's response to Vatican pleas

Pope Benedict XVI has held a mass at Saint Peter's Basilica to mark the close of the two-week special synod of bishops on the Middle East. In his homily he said that conflicts, wars, violence and terrorism have gone on for too long in the Middle East and one must never resign oneself to the lack of peace. Peace is possible, it is urgent and it is the indispensable condition for a life worthy of the human person and of society. Israel's initial response to pleas to "put an end to the occupation of Palestinian territories" have not been encouraging.

Pope Benedict called on Islamic countries in the Middle East to guarantee freedom of worship to non-Muslims and said peace in the region was the best remedy for a worrying exodus of Christians.

Postscript

Now read this.

Christian - Muslim dialogue

Jerusalem, Jerusalem

Two reports today from the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East. The first from the Catholic News Service in which two bishops at synod question the effectiveness of dialogue with Muslims. The second from the Catholic News Agency which focuses on political Islam with its "increasing pressure throughout the region from extremist groups who want to “to impose an Islamic way of life on all citizens, sometimes by violence".”

Encouraging sounds

From a Rome Reports video: "Middle East patriarchs fight for peace".

Is Christianity its own worst enemy?

“The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12: 30-31

Even lapsed Christians tend to think in these terms and assume that others think likewise. The Equality and Human Rights Commission Triennial Review 2010 says that “Democracy is predicated on the idea that every individual, no matter what their background or personal circumstances, should have an equal opportunity to have a say in decisions about the country’s future.” The problem facing Christians and other religions is that Islam does not believe in democracy and denies people their basic human rights. Under Article 18 “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.” The penalty for converting from Islam is death. How do ‘honour killings’ square with Article 16 on the freedom to marry? There have been calls to allow Sharia law to operate in this country yet it is alien to our culture putting power into the hands of people who would deny others their human rights.

To question such anomalies is met with cries of Islamophobia, racism and bigotry. Political correctness based on Christian values of tolerance (love thy neighbour) encourages well meaning people of other faiths and of no faith to question the motives of those simply seeking the truth by asking questions. The English Defence League is getting a bad press with the usual PC labels attached to them. Most ‘causes’ become infiltrated causing negative effects but one thing is clear, most non-Muslims don’t have the faintest idea of what Islam is about. We tend to think of the Koran as their version of the Bible and we are led to believe that like Christianity it is a religion of peace but that peace is under Islam, not as we know it.

The vast majority of Muslims go about their daily lives peacefully and deplore extremism. The problem for Christians and those of other religions arises when they become the minority. Then the ‘infidels’ are treated as the second class citizens Muslims believe them to be unless they convert. Hence the Christian exodus from the Middle East which is the subject of the Vatican Synod now in progress. Immigration and high birth rates have seen Islamic communities growing in Non-Muslim countries. This leads to demands for Muslim schools and mosques which build communities within communities instead of integration. The proposed ‘Ground Zero’ mosque development has highlighted the issue causing much controversy. If people have legitimate concerns they should be allowed to express their fears without being accused of racism and bigotry. To understand what is happening we need to educate ourselves to take a balanced view of what our greatest war-time leader Churchill, warned us of, that "the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome".

The documentary What the West Needs to Know, explains "everything you've always wanted to know about Islam but were afraid to ask. The feature documentary discovers the basis of Muslim violence in the Koran and the life of Muhammad: jihad terror Muhammad Koran Quran Fitna." If you are not willing to devote an hour and a half to the fuller explanation you can get a shorter but incomplete message here.

These videos raise legitimate concerns for Christians putting documented events of discrimination and killings into context which raises the question, Who is my neighbour? or, more pertinently, What is my neighbour's attitude to me? That must be a legitimate question in a (currently) free society.