Islamisation continues

Former Christian Cathedral Hagia Sophia declared a mosque by Turkish court                                                                                                    Source: Wikipedia

Turkish President Erdogan has declared Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia becomes a mosque open to Muslim worship after a top Turkish court ruled that the building’s conversion to a museum by modern Turkey’s founding statesman was illegal, effectively raising their fingers to Christian feelings and concerns expressed by the United States, Greece and the Russian Orthodox Church.

Originally a Christian Cathedral Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) was converted into a mosque when the Ottomans conquered Constantinople in 1453 after besieging the city for 55 days.

Hundreds of people who awaited the court's ruling outside the building chanted 'Allah is great!', the same chant used when murdering Christians in Islamist attacks.

The Times of Israel reports "the decision to reconvert Hagia Sophia - a former cathedral that was turned into a mosque after Istanbul’s conquest by the Ottoman Empire and had served as a museum for 86 years - sparked deep dismay among Orthodox Christians."

Abp Welby                Source: ENA

So far as I know archbishop Justin Welby, leader of the Anglican Communion has not expressed any concern but then he is busy fraternising with Muslim elders in their ‘Emerging Peacemakers Forum’ while his clergy invite Muslims into Christian churches for islamic prayers, effectively changing Christian churches into mosques in the eyes of Muslims.

In May 2019 when Jeremy Hunt was Foreign Secretary, according to a report ordered by him the persecution of Christians in parts of the world was at near "genocide" levels. The review which was led by the Bishop of Truro estimated that one in three people suffered from religious persecution and that Christians were the most persecuted religious group.

Genocide Watch warned in April that "350 Nigerian Christians were massacred in the first two months of 2020. Over 11,500 Christians have been murdered since June 2015. Four to five million Christians are displaced. 2000 churches were destroyed."

"Nigeria has become a killing field of defenseless Christians. Reliable sources show that between 11,500 and 12,000 Christians have been massacred since June 2015 when the Buhari Government of Nigeria came to power.  These statistics are based on careful records kept by church groups that include the names of victims and dates of their murders.

"Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen accounted for 7,400 murders of Christians. Boko Haram committed 4000 killings of Christians. ‘Highway Bandits’ who separated Christians from Muslims on buses and then killed the Christians committed over 200 murders.

Francis   Source: Church Militant

"Fulani Jihadists are now the world’s deadliest terrorist group. Five Nigerian Christians are massacred every day by Fulani and Boko Haram Jihadists. One hundred percent of the 7,400 murders by Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen since June 2015 were Christians. Fulani militias wipe out whole Christian villages, but they leave Muslim villages unharmed."

Despite all the evidence of  jihad over 1400 years, Pope Francis declared "It isn't right to say that Islam is a terrorist faith."

I doubt that the Christians being killed and persecuted in Africa and around rest of the world would agree with him.

With all the resources at the disposal of the papacy one would have thought that His Holiness might have been better advised about the aims of Islam as laid out in the Quran.

He would find all the evidence needed to expose a supremacist ideology that falsely claims to be a religion of peace when that peace arises only after all are Muslims subject to the will of Allah.

The bitter fruits of Islamic appeasement are everywhere but to no avail.

Hagia Sophia interior.                                                   Source: Church Militant

How long will it be before Christian images in Hagia Sophia are covered over to avoid the sensitivities of devout Muslims now that the Christian Cathedral has been declared a mosque?


Postscript [12.07.20]

World Council of Churches appeals to Turkey on mosque decision

A Greek Islamic leader has requested that Hagia Sophia remains a museum and not be converted into a mosque as "the name suggests Hagia Sophia is a Christian church".

Pope 'very pained' by decision to turn Istanbul's Hagia Sophia museum into mosque.


Postscript [13.07.20]

Extremist Islam Threatens Christians Across the Middle East

"It’s time that the purging of Christians and erasing of Christian history that predates Islam needs to be stopped."


Postscript [14.07.20]

Historian warns Islam will target St. Peter's after Hagia Sophia


 "'The goal of Islam is clear — after Saint Sophia, Saint Peter', Professor Roberto de Mattei told Church Militant, following Pope Francis' six word non-condemnation of Turkey's inflammatory decision to turn Hagia Sophia into a mosque."




Postscript [24.07.20]

Hagia Sophia’s Muslim Prayers Evoke Ottoman Treatment of Armenians

Declared a mosque in principle, Hagia Sophia is now a mosque in practice.

As Turkish president Erdoğan joins hundreds in celebration, Christians in the diaspora mourn their lost homeland and cultural heritage.

Christianity in Britain to take more knocks

Fatima Salaria has been put in charge of the BBC's religious programming             Source:Express

The atheist Director of religious programming at the BBC, James Purnell, has indicated that Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Jewish holy days will be marked on popular programmes including The One Show and Chris Evans on Radio 2.

Earlier this year it was reported that the BBC had replaced one Muslim with another, Fatima Salaria, in charge of religious television shows making her responsible for all the BBC’s religious content including Songs of Praise, now a pale reflection of what it used to be. Ms Salaria has previously commissioned Muslims Like Us, a reality style show and produced Britain’s Jihadi Brides. 

It is right that we all should seek to understand faith in the widest context and the practices of others but it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the portrayal of Islam as the religion of peace is at variance with experience.

Most Muslims believe it is their religious duty to try to convert others to the Islamic faith. According to the Pew Research Center, in every country where the question was asked, a large majority of Muslims say all or most of their close friends share their faith. The survey found that even in countries with substantial non-Muslim populations, a large majority of Muslims say most, if not all, of their close friends share their faith.

Multiculturalism in Great Britain has resulted in the creation of Islamic areas. Some have been described as no-go areas for non-Muslims. Relatively few Muslims find the idea of inter-marriage acceptable but in Egypt, Muslims abduct Egyptian Christians, forcing them into marriages and conversions to Islam – "a fourfold atrocity" that is reaching "epic proportions". In some countries apostasy is met with a death sentence

This dark side is rarely reported. When it is, it is reported as the actions of people who are mentally disturbed or the acts of extremists who do not represent true Islam.  But "Islamists" take their authority from the same Muslim texts that are used to protest that Islam is a religion of peace despite all the evidence to the contrary for 1400 years with Jewish holy sites and Christian churches converted to mosques as witnessed in Jerusalem, Istanbul and elsewhere.

It has been suggested that Parish churches could host multi-faith worship in their battle to stay open, using them as "social hubs for people of all ages, spaces to offer hospitality and vital services to the vulnerable". Churches are already being used to provide accommodation for the homeless over Christmas and many more are involved providing food banks for the needy but using churches to provide Muslims with more space to pray is a serious error of judgement as explained here. Once a place has been used for Muslim worship it is ipso facto a mosque.

Some Christian leaders are so keen to outdo each other in demonstrating brotherly love that they have effectively proclaimed to the world that Mohammed is greater than Jesus. Prince Charles declared his wish many years ago to be Defender of Faith to reflect Britain's multicultural society. It is a one way traffic. As Christian symbols are removed to avoid upsetting Muslims, non-Muslims are expected to observe Muslim customs by removing shoes while women are expected cover their heads in deference implying that only Islam is worthy of respect.

In my previous entry I referred to the Christmas message from the Archbishop of Wales and his use of the word 'love' which has become a password for progressives. In an interview for Christian Today he was asked "You were a key speaker recently at a Muslim Council of Wales event: how important is inter-faith dialogue?"

The Archbishop replied: "Very important. Again if you look at the caricatures, what a lot of people appear to believe about Islam is profoundly misguided. If you look at Islam, Christianity, Judaism, here you have religions and creeds that seek at the most fundamental level human flourishing and the good of mankind. It is very easy to interpret tiny bits of scriptures as wishing harm on others, when that is not representative."

Churchill was not so misguided. He warned of appeasement. He also warned of the perils of the Mahommedan religion:

  "Indeed it is evident that Christianity, however degraded and distorted by cruelty and intolerance, must always exert a modifying influence on men’s passions, and protect them from the more violent forms of fanatical fever, as we are protected from smallpox by vaccination. But the Mahommedan religion increases, instead of lessening, the fury of intolerance. It was originally propagated by the sword, and ever since its votaries have been subject, above the people of all other creeds, to this form of madness."

Postscript [23.12.2017]

Church can remove pews to attract local Muslims, court rules

St Thomas Werneth in Oldham has been allowed to remove its pews in order to cater for local Muslims. It has been given permission to remove the pews to allow it to hold more events with the wider community which is 88 per cent non-white British and "broadly Muslim". St Thomas C of E Primary School in Werneth was earlier this year reported to have only Muslim pupils.

What [M'lud and] the West needs to know

Sentencing the two terrorists who murdered British soldier Lee Rigby on a south London street, the judge, Mr Justice Sweeney, branded them traitors to their religion. He said their actions were "a betrayal of Islam and of the peaceful Muslim communities who give so much to our country" (story here). Not surprisingly Adebowale shouted at the judge "that is a lie", and later "you know nothing about Islam".

I winced when I heard the judge's comments. They reminded me of an interview with Tony Blair in the above video when he was asked what he knew about Islam. Advance to position 39 mins to hear Mr Blair's blustered defence although I recommend watching the whole video if your perception matches that of Mr Justice Sweeney. Mr Blair said that he had "learnt things about the Quran that he never knew before and that a lot of Christians would be interested". Had he been more interested in the facts he may not have made the false statement at the beginning of the video that "Islam is a peaceful and tolerant religion", making the same mistake as other Western leaders in the video.

Alexander Boot sums up the position admirably in his Blog (here):

 "There are 107 verses in the Koran unequivocally calling for the murder of infidels and apostates, plus another 41 preaching holy war and world conquest. True enough, there are also some other verses preaching peace.

But almost all those came early in the book, before Mohammed moved to Medina and hardened his position. According to Islamic law the later sanguinary verses ‘abrogate’ the earlier ones, invalidating them in case of a conflict.

Thus scriptural support for the judge’s assertion of the peaceful nature of Islam looks rather shaky, not to say nonexistent. Moreover, the blood-soaked history of the last 1,400 years shows that Muslims practise what Mohammed preached – you don’t need me to give you a list of clashes between Christendom and the Islamic world.

Why, 90 percent of armed conflicts currently under way anywhere in the world, from Indonesia and India to Africa and the Middle East, involve Islam. A betrayal of Islam, Your Honour? More likely faithfulness to it."

Last week I blogged on the Prince of Wales dancing to the Saudi tune. He, the judiciary, politicians and religious leaders need to educate themselves, not delude themselves into thinking that appeasement is the solution to Islamic extremism.