Very well said

Source: Twitter Screen shot

From Piers Morgan Uncensored:

"Some of us are simply a bit bored of hearing people ripping at closed wounds and then crying about their presumed hurt.

"Douglas Murray says it's time to move on from what happened hundreds of years ago instead of demanding reparations."

Very well said indeed.

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. 

Take-a-knee tyranny

Liverpool players take a knee in memory of George Floyd.                                                                                                                                          Source: CNN

Soccer players are doing it. Bishops are doing it. Senior police officers are doing it. All following the latest import from the US, taking a knee.

Even the Holy See has endorsed it with dire consequences.

Black lives matter. White lives matter. The sanctity of life matters. The manner in which George Floyd lost his life was deplorable but he was no saint. Watch this video by US commentator Candace Owens to learn what it means to be 'going with popular opinion'. 

The BLM mission is to 'eradicate white supremacy'. 

They "affirm the lives of Black queer and trans folks, disabled folks, undocumented folks, folks with records, women, and all Black lives along the gender spectrum. Our network centers those who have been marginalized within Black liberation movements" but it is difficult to take the BLM slogan seriously when hoards of people congregate in breach of coronavirus lockdown rules designed to save lives.

With 'Black Lives Matter' on the back of their shirts, social distancing was quickly forgotten in the Brighton - Arsenal soccer game having taken a knee before kicking off.

The problem with special interest groups nowadays is that if you do not affirm them you are deemed to be against, harbouring some sort of phobia. Holding another opinion is simply not tolerated.

Full marks, then, to Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab who refused to be intimidated for holding an opinion of his own about taking a knee.

As statues are toppled and apologies for past associations with slavery increase, modern slavery continues but strangely it does not attract the same level of criticism.

Some lives do not appear to matter so long as you take a knee.

Fashionable minorities

Source: Church in Wales

Not to be left behind, the trendy Church in Wales has published their support for the #BlackLivesMatter campaign with an International Group statement released by their Chairperson, Joanna Penberthy, 129th bishop of St Davids, in which the Church in Wales' commitment to combating racism is affirmed in its response to the murder of George Floyd in the USA:

"Current events in the USA have brought to the attention of the world the extreme injustice of white supremacy and racism. In challenging racism the Church has much to learn and to repent of."

What has escaped the Church in Wales is that Islam is a supremacist ideology which uses the Quran as its authority for subjugating non-Muslims who they regard as infidels yet the Church in Wales is happy to fraternise with Muslims bringing into sharp focus the double standards of the bench of bishops.

Islam is not a race but the all-party parliamentary group on British Muslims claimed that "Islamophobia is a type of racism", thus offering further protection to an ideology that has problems with the truth and denies the basic tenets of Christianity.

In its reign of terror against infidels and the wrong sort of Muslims ISIS damaged and destroyed many ancient sites in their war on cultural heritage, attacking archaeological sites with bulldozers and explosives.

Less severe, a similar attempt to blot out history has been mounted by the 'Topple The Racists' website which has named 78 statues and monuments that 'celebrate slavery and racism' it wants torn down in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests. It will not stop there.

With more foresight they would recognise that these statues are reminders of the past when standards were very different. If 'black history' is to be taught as demanded by protestors they have ready made examples to point to, for now.

Slavery is abhorrent but rather than trying to erase history, symbols of the evils of the past should be used to inform society. The past cannot be changed. The future can.

Voices need to be raised to stop modern slavery in the UK but few are.

Previous minority movements have led to undreamt of consequences. The campaign to pardon WW2 'enigma' hero Alan Turing developed into a tide of protests ultimately resulting in gender confusion, same sex marriage and, in the Church in Wales, a transgender priest and an openly lesbian bishop while orthodox Anglicanism has been jettisoned along with orthodox Anglicans.

The LGBT movement is now deeply embedded in Church, State and media. Constant efforts are made to spread LGBT propaganda in our schools.

Hand in hand with the LGBT campaign, the feminist movement previously used victimhood  and sympathy to invade the Anglican Church by stealth, inching their way forward from deaconess to deacon, priest and bishop after protesting that they had no ambitions beyond being ordained deacon.

After the success of the unscrupulous WATCH campaign the Roman Catholic Church is now being similarly targeted.

Fashionable minorities have a habit of taking over resulting in confusion as exhibited by the ignorant, intolerant mob culture that has developed, often encouraged by trendy, leftist bishops.

The Church in Wales has indeed much to learn and to repent of.

Postscript [12.06.2020]

That it should come to this

Outrage as Sadiq Khan BOARDS UP the Cenotaph, Churchill's statue and other 'at risk' monuments to protect them from attack ahead of a weekend of Black Lives Matter protests in London

Church in Wales: Gay marriage bishop's letter

Bishop of Bangor, The Right Rev Andy John                                               Source: NorthWalesLive

Addressing challenges facing the church which was at a “low ebb” following a number of resignations in the Diocese of Bangor in 2015 the Bishop of Bangor, Andy John, said that the church needs to 'move with the times'.

That is what lies behind his Episcopal Letter in which he comes out firmly in favour of same sex marriage. 

Bishop Andy writes, "This is not the teaching of the Church at this moment but I believe it is fully in keeping with our faith and orthodoxy. I believe it will strengthen our witness to a world which longs to see justice and fairness for all, regardless of gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation, and cannot understand how the Church is still wrestling with an issue that most people have accepted long ago.

"Any change to official Church teaching will require the consent of the Church in Wales through its Governing Body. I realize that not everyone will take the position outlined above - and there are good arguments for developing the Church’s teaching in other ways, for example by introducing a service of life vows or revisiting the question of blessing same sex unions. This debate cannot be ignored but neither can it take place without wisdom, generosity and grace. I pray that it will engage you in a new way this year and that you will pray and reflect on how we can be faithful to God and strengthen out witness to Christ’s redeeming love."

How very predictable. 

The bishop writes of the principle of developing our understanding of what constitutes "God’s will" as we consider issues where Church teaching has changed over time: "For example, no-one would argue today that God is anything other than implacably opposed to slavery and all forms of exploitation."

The bench of bishops are slaves. Slaves to the Zeitgeist, seeking loopholes to justify their perverse desires. They should return to orthodoxy and stop exploiting people who are supposedly in their care. 

Postscript [07.02.2019]

Response to the Bishop of Bangor regarding his letter concerning Same Sex Marriage

From The Evangelical Fellowship in the Church in Wales (Thanks to SM for this link)

Apologists' myopia

So far there is no evidence that Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil was crucified by ISIS on Good Friday as threatened. His fate is uncertain. But he is one of many. Others have been crucified. Muslim children are not exempt, 'crucified for not fasting during Ramadan'.

Women are routinely raped and sold into slavery yet people in authority continually make excuses.

Instead of relying on evidence fed to them of how wonderful this alien ideology is, apologists for 'the religion of peace' should open their eyes to the horrors that are being perpetrated around them.

Peaceful onlookers and those who look away after turning the other cheek are of no comfort to the persecuted.

If everything else fails, read the instructions

Mock-slave market where niqab-wearing women were seen chained together while
 masked men used loudspeakers to auction them off to the highest bidder.

The newspapers and television reports are full of it. "UK police launch hunt for London schoolgirls feared to have fled to Syria". At least these "academically gifted" girls had a choice. Unlike the young Yazidi woman forced into sex slavery by the Islamic State who "begged the West" to bomb the brothel where she was being held after militants raped her 30 times in just a few hours (here). As for their menfolk their fate was to be expected.

Slavery is nothing new to Islam. The plight of the Yazidi people is slipping from the memory as each blood curdling atrocity tops the previous act of depravity. According to a study released last month by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue "There is no doubt … that the women who migrate to the territory controlled by Isis revel in the gore and brutality of the organisation. They appear desensitised to the horrific nature of the violent acts being committed."

Where will it end? Will anyone speak out? A 'Brave German woman' did here when an Imam began his call to prayer in a Christian Church. But where are the other voices? As Christianity becomes sidelined Islam advances. People are too paralysed to question how Islam can be the 'Religion of Peace' despite all the evidence to the contrary. Pat Condell does here when 'Islam is Dismantled In 6 Minutes' but his is just another lone voice crying in the wilderness.

So what about you and me? Today's reading in Marianne Dorman's 'Living Lent' is "Follow me". She writes "The Gospel reading [Luke5:28] tells of the calling of Levi, a tax collector for the Roman government, who immediately left his desk after hearing Christ's words "Follow me". How can we imitate Levi's example and be a true follower of our Lord in all the perplexities that modern society offers?

Good question! It is central to Christian belief that God was made man. This being so, Muslims must be deluded about their faith which is based only on the word of one man who claimed to hear the word of God which just happened to support his lifestyle as a warlord. Does the casual Muslim know this let alone non-Muslims? Probably not, because questions are discouraged. Islam means submission. Accusations of Islamlophobia are designed to put Islam above criticism. Consequently people remain baffled.

British people with no religion usually have a basic, inherent Christian understanding based on the British way of life and the process of law, hence their live-and-let-live attitude to a religious ideology which, unknown to them, seeks to convert them to Islam, subjugate them or, as is evident in Syria and Iraq, dispatch them. People need to be educated about this. Some good advice for people who are baffled is 'if everything else fails, read the instructions'.  Unlike the Bible which is a collection of stories developing over time until the prophecies were fuliled in Jesus Christ, the Quran, which apparently can only be properly understood in Arabic, is a book of instructions emanating from a single source said to be the word of God. Where verses differ the later verse abrogates the earlier verse but it is common for Muslims to quote earlier, peaceful verses rather than the 109 or so verses that call Muslims to war with non-believers for the sake of Islamic rule. Hence the need to look at various topics to guard against "popular misconceptions".

It was no surprise to read that the Archbishop of Canterbury is to visit a school in Birmingham where 80 per cent of its pupils are Muslim and just eight per cent of its pupils are Christian. The school been declared "outstanding" by Ofsted, just like the Bethnal Green Academy which the "academically gifted" girls attended before boarding a flight to Turkey.

Along with the Prime Minister Muslim leaders at the East London Mosque are "extremely concerned". Not so concerned though that they will permit their faith to be held up to the same scrutiny as others. Pity really. If anyone needs to see the Light it is our Muslim friends, especially the "devastated" families of children who, despite all the advantages offered to them in this country choose submission.

Slavery and trafficking includes British citizens

Today sees the publication of It Happens Here by the Centre for Social Justice, a study of "collated evidence of exploitation of foreign adults and children as well as British citizens, in factories, fields, construction sites, brothels and houses. It identified more than 1,000 cases, but cautioned that official figures remain "a pale reflection of the true size of the problem". Christian Guy, managing director of the centre, said it was appalling that many of those who fall into modern-day slavery were themselves considered criminals." 

Two trailer reports here and here suggest a degree of complacency on behalf of the government which enables this trade to continue. Others take the problem more seriously. The Salvation Army has launched the "first ever app" that helps people spot the key signs someone may be being trafficked. Details here.