Mark's Views, Perhaps — from behind my eyeballs
Muslims are feared. Muslims are vilified. Muslims are hated.
Not by everybody, of course, and likely not by a majority either. But the adherents of Islam and Islam itself just don’t get a lot of good press and positive attention.
And speaking of Muslims and Islam, what do you know about Ramadan? Read it all
Behold a little bit of what the Pew Global Attitudes Project found on the general subject of Muslim Publics Divided on Hamas and Hezbollah
At least three-quarters of Muslims in Egypt and Pakistan say they would favor making each of the following the law in their countries: stoning people who commit adultery, whippings and cutting off of hands for crimes like theft and robbery and the death penalty for those who leave the Muslim religion. Majorities of Muslims in Jordan and Nigeria also favor these harsh punishments.
Well, maybe that 75%+ is accurate or maybe it’s only for polling purposes.
In addition to the above link, you might also be interested in these:
If something happens and it isn’t reported in the main media, did it happen?
“Get up! Grab your things. We need to go!” Imagine these words said in panic, as you and your family are given less than 24 hours to gather your belongings and leave your home in Iraq.
Open Doors USA says for thousands of Iraqi Christians, this scenario has become a real life nightmare, as extremist Muslims force them to either leave their homes or pay with their lives.
Often, believers only have time to grab a few essentials and leave with the clothes on their back. Among these items is usually a Bible, as they cling to it and its message of hope.
To help these refugees, Open Doors is aiding in the set up medical projects, as well as distributing emergency packs, which include basic necessities.
As the Americans continue their stand-down, draw-down, get-out-of-here exodus from Iraq, will matters get much worse for Christians in Iraq?
Despite laws preventing conversion, Muslims are turning to Christ in what’s being called an amazing move of the Spirit in Northern Algeria.
In 2008, Algeria put into full effect a new anti-conversion law that prohibited efforts to convert Muslims to another religion and gave the government the right to regulate every aspect of Christian practice. This law was a direct attack against Christians since almost all Algerian Christians are converts from Islam. The new law could make nearly all Christian churches in the country illegal.
Despite this new law, 2009 has been an incredible year for evangelical church growth, says Pastor Youssef Jacob with Operation Mobilization. “We have churches that have grown 802%. Many converts have come from Islam with no Christian heritage, no Christian background, no resources whatsoever, no training. But they just believe in God and His Word.”
Jacob says the Kabylie people are the most responsive in the Kabylie region, which is home to more than 2,000 towns and villages. “In every village and every town there are Christians, and there are churches,” says Jacob. “In one town, actually there are more churches than mosques, which is a big miracle to happen in the Middle East.”
Source: Mission Network News
No, not in Pakistan or Turkey or Egypt.
In Britain.
I know, I know — the story below is dated September 19. Old news.
But it’s current news because these folks’ trial is yet to come.
Christian hoteliers charged with insulting Muslim guest
Ben and Sharon Vogelenzang are charged with breaching Section 5 of the Public Order Act – causing harassment, alarm or distress. If convicted, they face fines of £2,500 each and a criminal record.
The Muslim woman was staying at the Bounty House Hotel in Liverpool, which is run by the Vogelenzangs, when a conversation arose between the hoteliers and their guest about her faith.
It is understood that among the topics debated was whether Jesus was a minor prophet, as Islam teaches, or whether he was the Son of God, as Christianity teaches.
Among the things Mr Vogelenzang, 53, is alleged to have said is that Mohammad was a warlord. His wife, 54, is said to have stated that Muslim dress is a form of bondage for women.
The conversation, on March 20, was reported by the woman to Merseyside Police. Officers told the couple that they wanted to interview them over the incident.
After being questioned on April 20, they were interrogated again three months later before being charged on July 29 with a religiously-aggravated public order offence. They appeared in court on August 14 and are now awaiting trial.
Amazing. In a sobering sort of way.
Here’s another article: Critics slam case against pair who ‘upset’ Muslim
Ed Vitagliano reports at OneNewsNow.com:
But there is another group of people whose circumstances, while increasingly precarious, are almost invisible to the world: Palestinian Christians.
A combination of threats and intimidation from Muslim extremists and the fallout from the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict are driving many of these believers from their ancestral homes.
David Parsons, media director for the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem and contributing editor of the Jerusalem Post Christian Edition, said that the “Palestinian Christian community is dwindling fast, from about 10 percent of the population in 1948 to barely 1.5 percent today.”
[…]
Muslim journalist Khaled Abu Toameh dismisses any attempts to blame Israel above all factors. “True, Israel’s security measures in the West Bank have made living conditions more difficult for all Palestinians, Christians and Muslims alike,” he said. “But to say that these measures are the main and sole reason for the Christian exodus from the Holy Land is misleading.”
The exodus is not simply the fault of the entire Muslim community, either, Toameh said. The Arab-Israeli conflict has ruined the economy in many places throughout the Palestinian region and has heightened the dangers facing Christian families.
[…]
“Over the past few years, a number of Christian businessmen told me that they were forced to shut down their businesses because they could no longer afford to pay ‘protection’ money to local Muslim gangs,” Toameh said.
[…]
The persecution is taking its toll in some locales. “Today, Christians in Bethlehem constitute less than 15 percent of the population,” said Toameh. “Five or six decades ago, the Christians living in the birthplace of Jesus made up more than 70 percent of the population.”
Squeezed between Israel and Palestinian Muslims — especially Muslims on the more radical fringe — the difficulties endured by many of these Palestinian Christians are often completely off the radar screen of believers elsewhere.
With a hat tip to Stephen Wilkinson, I present Jan Markell’s open letter to Rick Warren. Read it all