Bulletin of Christian Persecution, August 21, 2009
Facts without comments-- We
Collect the Dots; You Connect Them
Please spread this bulletin and send us
events that you find.
July 24, 2009
Washington. D.C., USA
Reps. Frank Wolf and Anna Eshoo
expressed concern for the security of Iraq’s Christians in a letter to Prime
Minister Nouri Al-Maliki.
July 27, 2009
Dearborn, MI, USA
A Muslim high school principal fired the
hall-of-fame Christian wrestling coach because a student wrestler converted from
Islam to Christianity.
August 2 2009
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
An airport chapel removed
Christian symbols and installed a large compass facing Mecca on the floor.
August 3, 2009
Fairfax, Virginia, USA
The Islamic Saudi Academy’s
expansion plans were approved. When the Academy was a Christian school such
plans were denied, citing zoning ordinances. Many are concerned that the school’s teaching materials still incite hatred and violence.
August 10, 2009
Washington, D.C., USA
USCIRF issued a letter to
President Obama urging him to raise concerns over religious freedom and human
rights during his visit with Egyptian President Mubarak. The Institute on
Religion and Public Policy issued a similar
letter (8/16).
August 11, 2009
Orlando, FL, USA
A teen girl from Sri Lanka who converted to Christianity ran away from her Ohio
home for fear of being killed by her father for apostasy. Video here .
UPDATE:
The girl's father speaks out.
August 10, 2009
Washington, D.C., USA
Rep. Janice Schakowsky sent a letter to the Secretary of State asking her to
address the "ongoing ethno-religious cleansing of Iraq's Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac
Christian community” in Iraq.
August 13, 2009
Washington, D.C., USA
Coptic Americans announced plans to hold a rally in Washington, D.C. during
Mubarak’s state visit on the 18th.
August 13, 2009
Egypt
The Coalition of Coptic Organizations issued a letter to President Obama, stating
that peace in the Middle East is inseparably linked to peace for the Copts of
Egypt. The Alliance of Egyptian Americans echoed their call to confront Mubarak over human rights issues on 8/17.
August 18, 2009
Washington, D.C., USA
A heated debate broke out at a press
conference between Egyptian Copts and Muslims when a Coptic panelist decried
human right abuses under Sharia.
Africa
July 17, 2009
Minya, Egypt
Police are suspected of collusion in an arson attack on a church. Two Copts
were arrested after the incident and police stood by while the fire raged.
July 20, 2009
Mahadday Weyne, Somalia
Muslims shot to death a
convert to Christianity who had been leading an underground congregation.
July 22, 2009
Somalia
Christians and beheading: an obvious pattern.
July 23, 2009
Beni Suef, Egypt
Three terrorist attacks against
Christians in one province in one month have prompted suspicions of
state-sponsored terror rather than mere vigilantism.
July 25, 2009
Cairo, Egypt
The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights
sent a letter to the Arab League, the Middle East Council of Churches and the
World Council of Churches condemning the latest church bombings in Iraq. Since
2004 58 churches have been bombed in Iraq
July 26, 2009
Minya, Egypt
Hundreds of Muslims tried to set fire to
the home of a Copt after he announced plans to turn it into a church. 20
“protesters” were arrested and two Copts were injured .
July 27, 2009
Eritrea
A third Christian died this year in a military
prison. He had been jailed for his faith and buried in the camp.
July 27, 2009
Borno, Nigeria
Boko Haram staged 3 attacks in Nigeria,
killing 150 in two days, in a campaign of terror against education. Another
attack took place in Wudil.
July 29, 2009
Somalia
It is “open season” for killing converts to Christianity.
July 29, 2009
Potiskum and Maiduguri, Nigeria
Islamic militants
hacked a pastor to death and razed 5 churches. Boko Haram seeks to impose Sharia
over the whole country even though Muslims already live under Sharia. Update 8/6 : 12 Christians were killed in total, including 3
pastors , and 20 churches were razed. 1000 are
estimated to have been killed in Maiduguri.
July 29, 2009
Bauchi, Nigeria
Police freed 180 abducted women and children from Boko Haram. Video at link.
Update http://www.mnnonline.org/article/13010
August 3, 2009
Tanta, Egypt
An Egyptian father has appealed to Mubarak in
demanding justice for his son, who was brutally murdered. He also created a
Facebook group.
August 6, 2009
Cairo, Egypt
Christian garbage collectors suffer after the pig cull.
August 7, 2009
Kenya
Muslim leaders are calling for Sharia to be inserted into the constitution.
Kenya has drafted a new constitution which expands the powers of Islamic courts.
August 11, 2009
Egypt
Abduction and forced Islamization of Coptic girls continues in Egypt.
August 11, 2009
Alexandria, Egypt
Religious intolerance erodes a once
multicultural paradise in favor of Islamic uniformity.
Somalia
Four Christians were beheaded by al-Shabaab, The were working for an NGO which
aids orphans.
August 16, 2009
Minya, Egypt
The Fawzy brothers were released after a
year’s unjust detention. They were arrested for allegedly killing a Muslim man
while doing construction at the monastery of Abu-Fana when it was attacked.
August 18, 2009
Minia Governate, Egypt
Muslim village elders issued a death fatwa against a Coptic priest for requesting
to convert part of his home into a prayer hall for his congregation of 800 which
has no place to worship.
Asia
July 17, 2009
Sana’a, Yemen
Ethiopian Christians are denied funerals and burials in Yemen.
July 20, 2009
Baghdad, Iraq
The Bishop of Baghdad urges believers to
not be afraid the fear of a new exodus remains, particularly in Mosul, where the
Nineveh Plain is being disputed by various factions.
July 21, 2009
Faridpur, Bangladesh
A Christian convert, a minor who
was subjected to months of rape by her teacher, is being forced to marry him,
and was sentenced to 101 lashes in addition to the 25 beatings she has suffered.
She is pregnant.
July 22, 2009
Lahore, Pakistan
Muslims shot a Christian businessman
eight times in the legs while he was driving because he refused to pay
protection money.
July 22, 2009
Iran
Religious cleansing in Iran continues through
state-imposed discrimination, repression, and imprisonment.
July 22, 2009
Iraq
As US troops withdraw, Islamic militants are
trying to drive out the last of the Christian minority.
July 23, 2009
Gaza
A church official and his wife were beaten and robbed in their home, part of
a patterns of attacks on the small Christian community.
July 23, 2009
Punjab, Pakistan
A minority rights leader has been
jailed by those opposed to his work on behalf of Christians.
July 23, 2009
Lahore, Pakistan
150 Muslims with guns attacked a
Christian apartment building, looted it, then demolished it in a land-grab.
Incidents of Muslims demanding protection money from Christians have
increased.
July 23, 2009
Ankara, Turkey
The State continues to waver regarding
the re-opening of the Halki Theological School, closed since 1971, as
recognition of the Ecumenical Patriachate continues to stall.
July 23, 2009
West Java, Indonesia
Local government demolished a
Protestant church because it had no permit, even though parishioners had tried
several times to obtain one and had gotten the consent of the Muslim
community.
July 23, 2009
Nineveh, Iraq
Security forces are building trenches
and checkpoints to protect Christians.
July 26, 2009
Mosul, Iraq
Gunmen killed a young Christian factory
owner outside of his business after beating the guard.
July 27, 2009
Sikendarabad, Pakistan
Armed men attacked a Christian colony, beat people with sticks, overtook a primary
school building, and demanded protection money, all with the knowledge of the
police.
July 28, 2009
Tashkent City, Uzbekistan
A children’s holiday camp is in
peril as the Baptist Union faces charges for unlawfully teaching children
religion and allegedly misusing their property.
July 29, 2009
Tehran, Iran
A final decision on the apostasy law, which
has so far been practiced arbitrarily, is to be reached this fall. It would
obligate courts to enforce the death penalty.
July 30, 2009
Jakarta, Indonesia
The jihadists behind the Jakarta
bombing were targeting the UK soccer team: “These players are Christians, so
Muslims should not honor and respect these enemies of Allah.”
July 31, 2009
Uzbekistan
A Baptist’s home was raided by police, who
confiscated his library and charged him with "illegally producing, storing,
importing and distributing of materials of a religious nature."
August 1, 2009
Gojra, Pakistan
A Muslim mob attacked a Christian town, gunning
down 9 and burning 75 homes (many using
chemical bombs ) and two churches after an accusation of blasphemy.
Christians fled the town after the violence. Compass reports that 14 were killed and 100 homes burned.
August 2, 2009
Iraq
Christians are forming militias to protect themselves
from a systematic campaign by Muslims to drive them out. (Video.)
August 2, 2009
Gojra, Pakistan
Eight Christians were burned alive and
20 injured by militant Muslims amidst fresh violence in the town. Three later died of
injuries.
August 5, 2009
Dhaka, Bangladesh
The family of a man who converted to
Christianity has been ostracized and threatened with death.
August 5, 2009
Gojra, Pakistan
Muslim leaders threatened to hang
Christians charged with blasphemy and demanded the release of clerics who
incited violence at a press conference to discuss the earlier attacks in
Gojra.
August 5, 2009
Pakistan
Christian leaders agree that burning Christian
women and children alive is damaging to Pakistan and the Muslim faith.
August 5, 2009
Lahore, Pakistan
Three Christians were killed after a rumor spread that they desecrated a Koran.
August 6, 2009
Pakistan
A concise history of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws since 1990.
August 6, 2009
Istanbul, Turkey
A Christian was held hostage and
threatened at knife point in “a bizarre show of Turkish nationalism.”
August 6, 2009
Sargodha, Pakistan
A Christian man was tortured to death by police after being picked up for “bootlegging.”
August 7, 2009
Faisalabad, Pakistan
A young Christian shopkeeper was
beaten and arrested on a spurious blasphemy charge.
August 7, 2009
Ankara, Turkey
The Turkish government denied the Pope’s
request for a church in Tarsus. Tarsus’ only church was confiscated in 1943 and
is now a museum.
August 9, 2009
Zamboanga City, Philippines
Residents of Zamboanga City live in constant terror.
August 10, 2009
Tehran, Iran
Iranian authorities told two Christian
converts who have been detained since March to recant their faith during a
hearing on 8/9.
August 10, 2009
Gojra, Pakistan
80 Muslims were arrested for attacking Christians.
Agust 10, 2009
India/Pakistan
A Muslim scholar says the sharia blasphemy laws should be scrapped and expresses
full solidarity with Christian communities who have been victimized by violence.
August 11, 2009
Middle East
Muslims chase the remaining Christians from
the Middle East while blaming Jews for their exodus.
August 11, 2009
Islamabad, Lahore, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Multan, Hyderabad,
Karachi, and Lahore Pakistan
Pakistani Christians observed “Black Day”
instead of Independence Day on August 14, with solidarity protests in the UK,
USA, Canada, and Holland.
August 11, 2009
Rasht, Iran
More than 30 Christians were arrested in a
two-week period in the town of Rasht and 8 remain in prison. Two women have been
imprisoned since March.
August 13, 2009
Kyrgyzstan
Unregistered communities of believers are forbidden from worshipping, but cannot
get registered. One Protestant church has been trying for two years.
August 14, 2009
Jakarta, Indonesia
A congregation finds it hard to worship and pray in peace “as medieval-style
pitchfork-wielding mobs give vent to the insecurity of their ‘majority religion.’”
August 16, 2009
Pakistan
A Muslim TV evangelist claimed that the
violence against the Christian community in Gojra was a Western conspiracy to
make Pakistanis question their blasphemy laws.
August 17, 2009
Gujrat, Pakistan
A pregnant Christian woman was beaten and dragged naked through a police station.
She later miscarried.
August 19, 2009
Kirkuk, Iraq
“A climate of concern and fear” grips the
Christian community as a man was killed in front of his home and a doctor was
abducted while returning home. A Christian passerby was also killed in the
latter incident.
Europe
July 18, 2009
London, UK
A teacher claims that he was fired for
reprimanding students who made “racist” remarks about his being Christian.
July 24, 2009
Cyprus
Turkey has illegally occupied northern Cyprus
for 35 years and has forcibly expelled 142,000 Greek Cypriots, converted 55
churches into mosques and 50 churches into other buildings.
July 24, 2009
UK
70 or so Muslims
unfurled a huge banner which read “Jesus was a Muslim” in a shopping center. A
row ensued and police were called.
July 25, 2009
Glasgow, Scotland
A publicly funded exhibit by a group
representing gay Christians and Muslims encouraged a Bible to be defaced. Update 7/28 : The Pope condemned the actions.
July 31, 2009
UK
Britain’s war on Christianity: a blogger describes being the victim of the UK’s
equivalent of blasphemy laws. (Video.)
August 9, 2009
Cologne, Germany
Germans are wary as a mega-mosque is
being built which rivals the city’s cathedral, the world’s biggest.
August 10, 2009
Sweden
Assyrian asylum seekers are frequently deported
back to Iraq and most of them end up on the run in neighboring countries. Criticism mounts against Sweden’s deportation policy toward Iraqis.
August 14, 2009
UK
Muslim students outnumber Christians in 24 Roman Catholic schools.
August 17, 2009
Sarajevo, Bosnia
Bosnia’s spiritual leader called for Sharia to be incorporated into the Bosnian
constitution. Christian leaders protest.
August 17, 2009
Manchester, UK
A street preacher faces arrest for
“inciting hatred with homophobic and racial comments” because he was reading the
Bible in public.
August 18, 2009
Amsterdam, Holland
Orthodox Islamic schools are being
accused of instituting an apartheid system whereby non-Muslim teachers are
treated as “inferior beings” and forced to teach that Christianity “would be
abolished.”
Australia
August 13, 2009
New South Wales, Australia
A large conference was held to call attention to the endangered Assyrians of Iraq.
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