Displaced Iraqi Christian Girl Asks God to ‘Forgive’ Islamic Terrorists

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Displaced Iraqi Christian Girl Asks God to ‘Forgive’ Islamic Terrorists

Christian Post report– Even though her village was seized by the Islamic State and she’s now living a rough life in an unfinished mall in Kurdish-protected Northern Iraq, a displaced Christian refugee child is asking God to “forgive” the ISIS militants.

After ISIS seized most of the Mosul region of Iraq last June, over 400 mostly Christian displaced Iraqi families from the villages of Qaraqosh, Bartella and Kharamles descended upon the Kurdish capital of Erbil to live in a half-built mall in the in the Christian neighborhood of Ainkawa.

As the families had picked up and fled their villages in a hurry before the ISIS militants reached their towns, the families could only afford to bring bare necessities and are now living in the mall without much more than the mattresses, blankets and other handouts they receive from humanitarian organizations.

A correspondent with the Arabic Christian television network SAT-7‘s “Kids” program interviewed children living in the Ainkawa Mall’s refugee camp and asked them what they missed the most about their lives back home.

In talking with the reporter and camera crew, a little girl named Myriam, from Qaraqosh, assured that although her life has changed drastically in the last year and her family’s future remains uncertain, God continues to provide for her and her family.

“We used to have a house and were entertained, where as here we are not,” Myriam said. “But thank God. God provides for us.”

The reporter was a bit perplexed by Myriam’s comment and asked what she meant by “God provides for us.”

“God loves us and wouldn’t let ISIS kill us,” she explained.

The reporter followed up by asking Myriam what she would do if she ever had the opportunity to retaliate for ISIS’ onslaught of her hometown.

“I won’t do anything to them,” Myriam asserted. “I will only ask God to forgive them.”

After the interview, the reporter thanked Myriam for her time. Then, Miriam replied, thanking him for his sympathy.

“You felt for me,” she said. “I had some feelings and I wanted people to know how I feel.”

Two other girls from Qaraqosh were also interviewed. They were asked what they missed the most about their lives before ISIS took over the region.

“Our school and our church,” Flourine responded.

Maryouma added that, although they miss their church, “Jesus will be with us no matter where we go.”

The reporter subsequently asked, “Is Jesus with you in this camp?”

“Yes,” Fluorine asserted. “In our hearts.”

The video concludes by showing the refugee children outside the entrance of the mall singing: “My love for my glorious Savior will increase with each new day. A new life, a happy day, the day I reunite with the Lord.”

Source: Christian Post

 

Amnesty International Calls for Release of Two South Sudanese Pastors Detained in Sudan

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Amnesty International Calls for Release of Two South Sudanese Pastors Detained in Sudan

Christian Today report-  A prominent human rights group is calling for the release of two South Sudanese pastors who are currently detained in Sudan.

The two South Sudanese pastors, Yat Michael and Peter Yen, also known as David Yein Reith in other reports, of the South Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church, have been in custody of the National Security and Intelligence Services (NISS) of Sudan for more than a month now.

They are allegedly being held in a secret location, and have been unable to communicate with their families.

Amnesty International issued a statement last week calling for the release of the two pastors, since they have not been properly charged for any offence.

“To date, absolutely no charge has been brought against these two church leaders,” the group’s UK Director Kate Allen said.

Allen then called on Sudanese authorities to reveal the pastors’ whereabouts and offences.

“The authorities in Sudan must reveal the location of these two men as soon as possible,” Allen demanded. “[A]nd either charge them with a recognisable criminal offence or release them immediately.”

The NISS arrested Pastor Michael in December 21. According to Morning Star News, the NISS took Michael into custody after a prayer service at the Khartoum Bahri Evangelical Church. Although originally of the South Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church, Pastor Michael was invited to the Khartoum Bahri Evangelical Church to provide encouragement as the church was facing demolition at the request of Muslim investors seeking to take over its property.

Pastor Peter Yen was arrested by NISS officials on January 9. A separate report by the Morning Star News stated that NISS called Yen while conducting a prayer service. The article said that NISS officials demanded that Yen return home immediately or his family will be arrested.

The arrests were possible since the NISS is authorised to make arrests of non-Muslims without the legal requirement of a formal charge.

In her statement, Allen stressed the need for urgent action to release the two pastors.

“The longer these two men are held in a secret location, the greater the risk of them being tortured,” she said.

Source: Christian Today

San Francisco Archbishop Tells Legislators to Respect His Religious Freedom

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San Francisco Archbishop Tells Legislators to Respect His Religious Freedom

Catholic Herald report– The Archbishop of San Francisco has told legislators in California that he respects their right “to employ or not employ whomever you wish to advance your mission” and expects the same in return.

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s comments came in a letter to five state assembly members and three senate members after they urged him to remove Catholic sexual morality clauses that have been added to handbooks for teachers in four archdiocesan high schools.

The lawmakers told Archbishop Cordileone in a letter they believed the clauses would “foment a discriminatory environment” and “send an alarming message to youth”.

But the archbishop told them before making a judgment, they should have as complete information as possible about what the archdiocese is proposing and he directed them to various documents and videos on the archdiocesan website to dispel misinformation, “such as the falsehood that the morality clauses apply to the teachers’ private life”.

The Archdiocese of San Francisco is also proposing three new clauses to contracts for teachers in archdiocesan Catholic high schools to further clarify that Catholic schools – as the first clause states – “exist to affirm and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ as held and taught by his Catholic Church”.

The archdiocese is adding detailed statements of Catholic teaching on sexual morality and religious practice, taken from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, into the faculty and staff handbooks of the four archdiocesan high schools.

The handbook additions will take effect in the 2015-16 school year and are not part of the contract.

Source: Catholic Herald

Vatican and Italy Increase Security Level Over Islamic State Threats

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Vatican and Italy Increase Security Level Over Islamic State Threats

Christian Today report– Both Italy and the Vatican have increased their security preparedness after reports that Islamic State elements could be in the south of the country.

According to UCAN India, the Italian government has increased the country’s state of alert, increasing the number of Italian anti-terror soldiers in “safe streets” duties from 3,000 to 4,800. The government had voted to approve the increased state of alert last week, and implemented the plan on Tuesday. Journalists and prominent Jews were assigned security details, while ministers are now allowed to use official aircraft for personal trips.

The Swiss Guard at the Vatican also followed suit on Wednesday, increasing its alert levels to be more watchful of possible threats to the Pope.

“We have asked all the Swiss guards to be more attentive and to carefully monitor the movement of people,” UCAN India quoted Swiss Guard commander Christoph Graf saying on Wednesday.

“What happened in Paris with the Charlie Hebdo attacks could also happen at the Vatican,” Commander Graf opined. He stressed that intelligence services are crucial to identifying any potential threat, but he is also confident of the Swiss Guard’s ability to protect the Pope.

“We are ready to intervene to ensure Francis is protected,” Graf concluded.

The Islamic State had said at the end of its latest video showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Copts that Islamic State fighters were already “at the south of Rome.” The ISIS militants also threatened to use Libya as a platform for launching attacks in Italy.

The foreign ministry in Rome, the Expo 2015 world fair in Milan, the Vatican and various churches and synagogues across the country have been identified as possible targets by the Italian media.

An Italian senator says that attacks on Italy by extremists or their supporters is very likely.

“The risk of an attack by a lone wolf or an unbalanced person is concrete,” Italian Senator Felice Casson said in the UCAN India article.

“The more successful attacks in other countries are, the greater the risk of someone trying to emulate them in Italy,” he warned.

Source: Christian Today

3 Reasons For Confusion Over Gay Marriage in Alabama

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3 Reasons For Confusion Over Gay Marriage in Alabama

Christian Post report– There is a state of confusion in the state of Alabama over whether same-sex couples can legally get a marriage license.

Here are three reasons:

1. A Federal judge overstepped her authority.

Judge Callie S. Granade, a federal district judge in Mobile, ruled that an amendment to Alabama’s constitution defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman was unconstitutional. A federal district judge, however, can only make rulings that are binding on those before her in court. Her decision does not bind all the state’s probate judges, which are the officials who issue marriage licenses.

Even The New York Times, a liberal newspaper that is sympathetic to gay marriage, has acknowledged this fact.

Reporter Emily Bazelon defends Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore’s claim that Granade does not have authority over all of the probate judges in a Feb. 11 article for NYT Magazine cleverly titled, “In Sort-of-Defense of Roy Moore.”

After interviewing Florida International University law professor Howard Wasserman, Bazelon concluded Granade’s ruling was “peculiar” because, “District-court rulings, even if they’re about important matters of policy, usually affect only the people involved in the case in question.” Only a federal appeals court or the U.S. Supreme Court can issue a ruling that is binding on the entire state, Bazelon learned.

Additionally, the case for which Granade issued her ruling did not even have a probate judge as a defendent. The state’s attorney general was sued even though he has no authority to issue a marriage license.

So, now a single federal judge in Alabama is attempting to rewrite the state’s marriage laws on a, literally, case by case basis.

Robert McFarland, vice dean and associate professor of Law at Faulkner University’s Thomas Goode Jones School of Law, explained the situation well in an article for The Public Discourse.

“Judge Granade has now set herself up to be the chief probate officer in the state of Alabama. She has not defined marriage, and her failure to do so leaves state actors, especially probate judges, without a definition of the institution for which they are issuing state licenses. Worse, she has provided no legal standards — not even a limiting principle — to guide her administration of Alabama family law, which she has now taken upon herself. She will be rewriting the family laws of Alabama, piecemeal and arbitrarily, from her bench. Rather than conducting legislative hearings regarding the familial rights and duties related to the definition of marriage, Judge Granade will be conducting contempt proceedings in which she will decide on a case-by-case basis which actions of Alabama officials violate the Constitution and which do not,” he wrote.

2. The U.S. Supreme Court is being ignored, but has, so far, offered no help.

Another oddity about Granade’s decision is that she cited a U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld state’s rights to define marriage in striking down Alabama’s right to define marriage.

In United States vs. Windsor, the Supreme Court struck down the part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act that said federal law would not recognize same-sex marriages in states that allow same-sex marriages. Defining marriage was the purview of the states, the Court ruled, so the federal government cannot decide to ignore a marriage license issued by a state. Ironically, Granade cited that decision in striking down Alabama’s marriage law.

Using Windsor to strike down a state marriage law “takes inexplicable contortions of the mind or perhaps willful ignorance,” McFarland quoted a federal district court judge in Puerto Rico saying, because it would mean interpreting “Windsor’s endorsement of state control of marriage as eliminating the state control of marriage.”

Since the Supreme Court is expected to decide by this June whether the U.S. Constitution requires states to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, the confusion in Alabama could have easily been avoided by simply waiting for the high court’s decision. However, Granade, a federal appeals court and the Supreme Court itself have all, so far, declined opportunities to issue a stay in Granade’s ruling.

3. In trying to fix the problem, the Alabama Supreme Court could actually make it worse.

The Alabama Supreme Court has been asked by two traditional marriage advocacy groups to order the state’s probate judges to not issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

If the Alabama Supreme Court were to issue such a ruling, however, some of the state’s probate judges could be put in the position of being held in contempt of court regardless of what they do. By not issuing a same-sex marriage license they might be held in contempt of a federal court; by issuing a same-sex marriage license they might be held in contempt of the Alabama Supreme Court.

Source: Christian Post

Indian Prime Minister Statements Will Silence Loose Cannons, Says Opposition Party Leader

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Indian Prime Minister Statements Will Silence Loose Cannons, Says Opposition Party Leader

Christian Today report– The leader of a prominent political party in India said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent statement on religious tolerance will silence ‘loose cannons’ and send a positive message to the rest of the world.

After months of silence and amidst reports of attacks on Christian churches across India, Prime Minister Modi finally spoke out on the issue during a gathering of Indian Catholics in Vigyan Bhawan to commemorate the recent canonisation of two new Indian saints.

 

“We cannot accept violence against any religion on any pretext and I strongly condemn such violence. My government will act strongly in this regard,” the Financial Express quoted the Indian leader as saying.

Modi then vowed that his government would take steps to ensure “complete freedom of faith.” The Prime Minister told the gathered Catholics that everyone in India is free to exercise their religious faith and to choose their religion without being coerced or influenced by certain parties.

In response, People’s Democratic Party leader Mufti Mohammad Sayeed said that, while the statement was long overdue, it nevertheless will send the “right signal” to the world.

“Though, the Prime Minister’s response to the divisive policies of certain elements did not come too soon but his assertion on inclusive and pluralistic character of the country should help in sending right signals to the world,” Sayeed said on an article in the Economic Times.

“It will convey that the idea of India continues to offer inspiration for peaceful coexistence of communities and ethnicities,” the PDP chief stated.

Sayeed went on to say that he hoped Modi’s stand will finally put an end to the activities of “loose cannons of extremist thought.”

Modi’s government had been criticised for its lack of action towards the violence and persecution perpetuated by radical elements against minorities in India, including Christians and Muslims. Sajan K George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians, said on January that extremists frequently attack Christians “because they are not restrained by the law.”

Source: Christian Today

Obama Speaks on His Refusal to Call ISIS ‘Islamic’- It Legitimizes the Terror Group and Hurts American Interests

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Obama Speaks on His Refusal to Call ISIS ‘Islamic’- It Legitimizes the Terror Group and Hurts American Interests

Christian Post report– President Barack Obama has responded to conservative criticism centered on his refusal to identify ISIS as “Islamic” by stating that that would be precisely what the terror group wants, and he does not want to legitimize the jihadists.

“These terrorists are desperate for legitimacy. And all of us have a responsibility to refute the notion that groups like ISIL somehow represent Islam, because that is a falsehood that embraces the terrorists’ narrative,” Obama said at the State Department on Thursday, using another name for ISIS.

The president insisted that tying ISIS to a specific religion is a “lie” that would encourage the terror group and hurt America’s interests.

Obama has faced various criticism for how his administration has presented the war on ISIS, with evangelical preacher Rev. Franklin Graham and Family Research Council President Tony Perkins both asking why the President did not immediately identify the 21 Egyptians who were beheaded by ISIS earlier this week as “Christians.”

“The truth is — their barbaric murderers openly said they killed them because they were ‘people of the cross.’ Why is the president seemingly continuing to protect Islam and refusing to open his eyes to the truth?” Graham asked.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has accused Obama of working against Christians and Jews and supporting only the Muslim community.

“The one group of people that can know they have his undying, unfailing support would be the Muslim community. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the radical Muslim community or the more moderate Muslim community,” Huckabee said earlier this month.

Fox News host Bill O’Reilly added in a separate statement: “The Holy War is here, and unfortunately it seems the president will be the last to acknowledge it,” he said, referring to Obama’s refusal to link Islam with ISIS.

After an op-ed by Obama in the LA Times on Tuesday, which described the 21 murdered Egyptians as “Christians,” Southern Evangelical Seminary President Dr. Richard Land praised this “first step,” but said that ISIS militants need to be identified as “radical Islamic jihadists.”

The Coptic Christians, kidnapped by masked gunmen from Libya in December and January, were beheaded by the jihadists in a video sent out on social media and titled “A Message Signed With Blood to the Nation of the Cross.”

On Thursday Obama explained, however, why linking ISIS to Islam could be a dangerous choice.

“That narrative becomes the foundation upon which terrorists build their ideology and by which they try to justify their violence, and that hurts all of us, including Islam and especially Muslims who are the ones most likely to be killed,” he said.

In the op-ed, Obama insisted that the “overwhelming majority” of Muslims in the world reject the ideology of ISIS and other jihadist groups, such as Boko Haram in Nigeria.

“The world must continue to lift up the voices of Muslim clerics and scholars who teach the true peaceful nature of Islam. We can echo the testimonies of former extremists who know how terrorists betray Islam,” Obama said

Source: Christian Post

 

Egyptians Christian Beheadings Has Strengthened The Church, Says Coptic Bishop

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Egyptians Christian Beheadings Has Strengthened The Church, Says Coptic Bishop

Christian Today report– The beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians has energised the Church and strengthened relationships with the Muslim community, a Coptic-Catholic Bishop has said.

“Persecution is part of the life of the Church. The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church,” Bishop Youssef Aboul-Kheir of Sohag told Aid to the Church in Need this week.

 

“In Europe the Church is free. We, on the other hand, are faced with many obstacles. But which Church is the stronger?”

Islamic State issued a video on February 15 showing the beheading of a group of Egyptian Christians who had been kidnapped in Libya.

The five-minute video was titled: “A message signed with blood to the nation of the cross” and the men identified as “people of the cross, the followers of the hostile Egyptian Church.” They are shown being marched to a beach and forced to kneel on the sand.

In a message to the “crusaders”, a masked insurgent holding a knife says his fellow militants are “chopping off the heads of those that have been carrying the cross illusion.” All 21 are then murdered.

Earlier this week the brother of two of those killed has thanked IS for including the men’s declaration of faith in the video.

The last words of some of those killed were “Lord Jesus Christ” and Beshir Kamel said the men’s show of faith has strengthened his own.

Bishop Aboul-Kheir has also praised the dedication of those killed. “They suffered a holy death with prayers on their lips. They went to their deaths just like the early Christians,” he said.

And despite attempts to disrupt Muslim-Christian relations in Egypt, IS’ brutality has in fact done the opposite, he said. “Many Muslims are angry because of the murders. President Sisi visited the leader of the Coptic Church to convey his condolences. And the President travelled to the home of the murdered ones. You can see that the attack has united us Egyptians,” the bishop explained.

However, he expressed concern about Muslim extremists who “speak with forked tongues”.

“It is crucial that we Christians in Egypt should finally be able to live as equal citizens,” he said.

Source: Christian Today

 

UN Human Rights Commissioner Calls For A United Libya to Tackle Extremists

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UN Human Rights Commissioner Calls For A United Libya to Tackle Extremists

Christian Today report– The United Nations’ head for human rights has called upon Libyans to unite and resist the influence of the extremists in their country.

The security situation in Libya is currently in a vacuum following the overthrow of long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Despite the election of a government in 2012, extremism in the country rose involving the same rebels that fought against Gaddafi’s army in the civil war.

Some elements have now apparently affiliated themselves with the Islamic State, and are believed to have been behind the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians on Sunday, earning the ire of Egypt and triggering retaliatory airstrikes from both the Egyptian and the Libyan air force.

According to the Human Rights Watch, at least six civilians were killed in the airstrikes in Libya’s Derna.

In the wake of this latest tragedy involving ISIS, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein urged Libyans to unite against the extremists.

“The brutal murder of these men, and the ghastly attempt to justify and glorify it in a video, should be roundly condemned by everyone, in particular by the people of Libya who should resist the urgings of takfiri groups,” Zeid said in a statement.

The term “tafkiri,” refers to an event when a Muslim accuses another Muslim, or a person of another Abrahamic faith like Christianity or Judaism, of apostasy or insulting the Islamic religion. The term is attached to groups with hard-line Islamist ideologies like the Islamic State.

Zeid then reminded Libyans that the murder of the Egyptian Coptic Christians is against Islamic law.

“Murdering captives or hostages is prohibited under international law and Islamic law,” he said.

The victims of the latest execution from ISIS had travelled to Derna in Libya to find employment but they were kidnapped in December and January.

Zeid revealed that this is not the first time that Egyptian Coptic Christians were targeted by extremist groups in Libya.

“UN human rights staff have documented several incidents involving abductions of Egyptian Copts in Libya,” he said, referring to a recent United Nations report that revealed that Egyptian Copts are especially targeted by Libyan armed groups.

Source: Christian Today

God Involved in Politics: Crowds Gather to See Jesus Statue ‘Weeping’ in Greece

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God Involved in Politics: Crowds Gather to See Jesus Statue ‘Weeping’ in Greece

Christian Today report– Crowds of people in Greece have been seeing the hand of God in politics after a statue of Jesus began “weeping” when an anti-austerity party won the January elections.

The oily tears of the early 20th century religious icon have drawn hundreds to St Nicholas Church, Asprokampos in Corinthia since Alexis Tsipras, leader of the Syriza party, gained power. The Bishop of Corinth Dionysios Mantalos, among the visitors, said afterwards that the colorless, odorless liquid running was down the entire body of Jesus on the cross.

The bishop plans to ask experts to examine the statue, which has become a separate of phenomenon on social media, where it is being described as the “Miracle of Syriza”.

Tsipras, an atheist, had pledged to renegotiate Greece’s debt with the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank and also to reverse austerity measures that have seen Greece plunged into mass unemployment, mass poverty and a dramatic rise in suicides.

There was controversy at his inauguration when he refused the usual tradition of being sworn in by the head of the Greek Orthodox church, Archbishop Ieronymos II.

However, not everyone is taking it seriously.

The Greek investigative journalist, Yiannis Baboulias, told Newsweek: “The weeping icon is an urban legend that resurfaces every now and again in Greece. Stories like this happen all the time, and this one is really funny.”

He said such phenomena helped the Greek Orthodox Church attract followers. “What is really happening is simply that the paint on the icon is starting to leak due to environmental changes,” he added. He also admitted it was the first time such a phenomenon had been linked to politics.

“The Greek church is not an apolitical entity. Different church officials back different political powers very openly – it’s a mixed bag.”

The area where the statue is has become a bedrock of support for the far right party Golden Dawn.

Source: Christian Today

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