Christian Post report– The Islamic State policing unit in Mosul severely disfigured the faces of 15 Iraqi women by pouring acid on them as a form of punishment after the women were caught without their faces being veiled appropriately, by ISIS standards, last weekend.
ISIS’ all-female policing unit, the Al Khansa brigade, which polices the streets of the group’s Syrian stronghold of Raqqa and Iraqi stronghold of Mosul, reportedly carried out the punishments after the women were detained on Sunday in the Mosul neighborhood of Salamiya, a kurdish official told BasNews.
The official from the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Mosul, Saed Mamuzini, told the news site that the women were subject to the cruel, face-deforming punishment simply because they were caught in public without wearing a Niqab, the cloth like veil that fully covers the face except for slit for the eyes.
“They have implemented this punishment so that other women in the city will never consider removing or not wearing the niqab,” Mamuzini said.
ISIS issued a clear warning in July that women in the city of Mosul caught without wearing a full face veil would be severely punished, The Jerusalem Post reported. The group reasoned that such a restriction would protect women and religion from debauchery.
“This is not a restriction on freedom but to prevent her from falling into humiliation and vulgarity or to be a theater for the eyes of those who are looking,” The Islamic State said in its warning statement. “Anyone who is not committed to this duty and is motivated by glamour will be subject to the accountability and severe punishment to protect society from harm and to maintain the necessities or religion and protect it from debauchery.”
Al Khansa Brigade has previously punished women caught without the appropriate attire with other forms of cruel torture. Last December, Al Khansa officers in Raqqa arrested a woman after she was found breastfeeding in public and claimed she had to be punished because her naqib didn’t meet ISIS standards. To punish her, the militants took her to the group’s Raqqa headquarters and placed her breast in a medieval-like spike-clamp torture device, called a “biter.”
“I felt then that my femininity has been destroyed completely, we no longer afford to live this way,” the woman named Batol told the monitoring group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently. “I was not the only one that was tortured with this instrument. There were a lot of women in the headquarters and their situation was tragic.”
Although pouring acid on women and permanently disfiguring their faces might seem like the type of brutality that is exclusive to ISIS, acid attacks are quite common occurrences in nations with strict Muslim societies like Pakistan.
“The Qur’an directs men to beat women from whom they ‘fear disobedience.’ We have seen women who don’t abide by Sharia restrictions disfigured with acid in Pakistan and elsewhere,” writes renowned critic of Islam Robert Spencer, the founder of the Jihad Watch website. “This is just one more manifestation of the empire of fear that Sharia creates: virtue is enforced by terror, which means that it isn’t really virtue at all.”
Although it is quite common for women in Pakistan to be tortured for allegedly breaking Sharia law, women have also been subjected to acid attacks just because they are in disagreement with their husband or other males.
One example occurred in November when a man in Lahore, with the help of his father, beat his wife and then proceeded to pour acid down her throat over trivial domestic issues.
In September, a 16-year-old girl was attacked with acid after her family rejected a man’s request to marry her. Doctors said she lost 95 percent of her vision.
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Home Office is investigating how a passenger was allowed to board a flight from Spain to Britain without a passport.
Officials said Wednesday the passenger was questioned by Border Force agents at Liverpool John Lennon Airport after he landed there on a flight from the Canary Islands.
The statement said the passenger was allowed to enter Britain after agents “carried out identity checks and established that he was a British national who previously held a valid passport.”
It said it was the airline’s responsibility to make sure each passenger has proper documents.
The Daily Mail newspaper said the passenger used a photocopy of a bus pass to board the Ryanair flight after his passport was stolen.
Ryanair said in a statement it has a duty to repatriate nationals on their return flight to their home country.
“If a passport is lost or stolen, we ask that an alternative, or a copy of, photo ID is provided in order to verify the passport details the customer provided at the time of check-in,” it said.
Yahoo News report– Sky Sports held on to five of the seven live packages on offer, but BT Sports increased the number of games which will be shown on their channel from 2016-2019 from 38 games to 42.
The total value of the auction – which was extended into a second round after no packages were won outright – dwarfs the previous domestic rights package of £3bn for 2013-16, when BT Sport dramatically entered the picture by capturing two packages.
Sky have held the rights for Premier League football ever since the competition’s inception in 1992, originally paying £191m for the right to broadcast 60 games per season from 1992 to 1997.
However, after brief entries from Setanta, from 2007-10, and ESPN, from 2010-2013, BT have confirmed their status as major rivals to Sky by increasing their proposition in their second successful entry into the auction.
BT also have the exclusive rights to the Champions League from next season.
There are 14 additional games per season in the Premier League deal from 2016-2019 with most of these matches to be shown on Friday evenings in a new departure for the league.
The Sunday 4pm package remains the most attractive to broadcasters as it contains the most first picks, which is why the slot often showcases the biggest games in the Premier League.
Capital Bay report– Prince Charles risked provoking a new political and religious storm yesterday when he said Muslims living in the UK should follow British values.
In a staunch defence of Britain’s ‘Christian standpoint,’ he denounced the radicalisation of young Britons by Islamic fanatics and said they should show more respect to ‘the values we hold dear’.
People who had ‘come here, were born here or go to school here’ should ‘abide by our values,’ he said. His comments were made as he started a six-day tour of the Middle East, seen as another stage in assuming more of the Queen’s international duties.
It is a clear response to critics who say he should not meddle in sensitive political matters. The Prince will also challenge Arab leaders head-on during the trip. The
Mail on Sunday can disclose that he is to tell new Saudi king Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud to his face that he should stop the 1,000 lashes handed down as punishment to Saudi blogger Raif Badawi for comments which the regime claimed were critical of Islam.
Prince Charles last night called for a halt to the persecution of Christians by Islamic State and other militant Islamic groups, telling them bluntly: ‘We were in the Middle East before you.’
And he killed off speculation that when he becomes King he will give up the Monarch’s traditional ‘defender of the faith’ role in favour of a multicultural ‘defender of faiths’ title.
His renewed ‘defender of the faith’ pledge will be seen by some as a U-turn and a signal that the Monarch’s role as the head of the Church of England is far from over.
The Prince’s intervention comes hard on the heels of a new book which claims the Queen is worried that her heir plans to be an ‘activist king’. The Prince’s comments on Islam and Christianity are broadcast in an interview with BBC Radio 2’s The Sunday Hour this morning, suggesting he plans to be very active.
‘The radicalisation of people in Britain is a great worry, and the extent to which this is happening is alarming, particularly in a country like ours where we hold values dear,’ he says. ‘You would think the people who have come here, or are born here, and go to school here, would abide by those values and outlooks.’
It was ‘frightening’ that young British Muslims were radicalised by ‘crazy stuff on the internet’.
Charles will reinforce his tough stance on Islamic extremism by telling the new Saudi king to show clemency to Saudi blogger Badawi.
His sentence of 1,000 lashes and ten years in jail over his website which encouraged Saudis to criticise Islam and their rulers has caused international outrage.
Diplomatic sources say that Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud may pay more attention to Charles, a fellow royal, than a foreign political leader.
Capital Bay
THE WOUNDS HAVE YET TO HEAL FROM FIRST FLOGGING
Blogger Raif Badawi, 31, was last year sentenced to ten years in prison and 1,000 lashes for his website which encourages Saudis to debate politics and religion.
His Free Saudi Liberals online forum – now closed – criticised Saudi Arabia’s clerics and claimed that a university in the country had become ‘a den for terrorists’.
In 2013, after Badawi’s wife and children fled to Canada, he was cleared of apostasy, the rejection of Islam, which could have carried a death sentence. But he was found guilty of ‘insulting Islam’ and ‘going beyond the realm of obedience’.
The father of three received the first 50 lashes on January 9, and he was expected to receive 50 more every week for the following 19 weeks.
Amnesty International say the second 50 lashes have been delayed. It was reported that the wounds had not healed, and his wife said that as a diabetic who suffered from hypertension he may be unable to physically withstand another flogging.
Protests were held outside Saudi embassies across the world, and Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond raised it with Saudi ambassador Prince Mohammed Bin Nawwaf Bin Abdelaziz last month.
However, Amnesty has accused the UK of being ‘muzzled’ by its commercial and strategic links with the kingdom and of failing to object strongly enough.
A video posted on YouTube shows Badawi receiving his lashes in a square outside a mosque in Jeddah, watched by a crowd of several hundred who shout Allahu Akbar (God is great) and clap and whistle after the flogging.
The Prince last night touched down in Jordan, where he will meet Jordanian King Abdullah II, before travelling on to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
Charles also intends to use his Middle East tour to call for an end to attempts to drive Christians out of the region. IS terrorists slaughtered thousands of Yazidis and Christians in Northern Iraq, and Christians are also threatened in other Muslim countries.
If nothing was done, the time could soon come when ‘there are no Christians left in the Middle East… they are intimidated to a degree you can’t believe,’ the Prince said.
He rammed home his point in uncharacteristically plain terms: ‘The tragedy is even greater because Christians have been in the Middle East for 2,000 years, before Islam came in the 8th Century.’
Furthermore, the Prince went out of his way to quash claims that he does not want to be ‘Defender of the Faith’ when he inherits the throne. He said his comment about being ‘defender of faiths’ to embrace all religions – made 20 years ago – had been ‘misinterpreted’.
The Church of England’s role was not to defend Anglicism to the exclusion of other religions, he said, but to protect the free practice of all faiths.
He would approach it from a ‘Christian standpoint’ and be both ‘defender of the faith’ and ‘defender of faiths.’
The former Bishop of Oxford, Lord Harries, said the Prince’s comments were a ‘helpful clarification’. He said some had seen the Prince’s earlier remarks as watering down the Church of England’s historic role in an increasingly multi-faith country.
Lord Harries said the Prince may have been advised he could not easily change the traditional title, given to Monarchs since Henry VIII, because of the constitutional implications.
The Prince appeared to accept he could be ‘deeply immersed’ in his own faith in the Church of England while being ‘protective of other faiths’.
Lord Harries said: ‘He is making the important point that they are not mutually exclusive.’
Prince Charles’s trip to the Middle East and his radio interview come after a new book Charles: Heart Of A King by writer Catherine Mayer, claimed that the Queen is concerned her son will be an ‘activist’ Monarch.
Charles’s principle private secretary William Nye was forced to write a public letter describing it ‘ill-informed speculation’. He said Charles was ‘inspired’ by his mother’s example and understood the ‘necessary and proper limitations’ on the role of a constitutional Monarch.
Ms Mayer’s biography claims Charles disagrees with the bans imposed in France and Belgium on Muslim women covering their faces with burkas and niqabs, seeing the move as ‘an infringement of human rights’ which criminalises women rather than challenging the custom.
Additional reporting: Jonathan Petre
The rapier wit and wisdom of the ‘Meddling Monarch’
Prince Charles’s reputation for ‘meddling’ stems from decades of making his views clear on political matters – at home and abroad.
The Prince bombards Ministers with his views on subjects ranging from the Human Rights Act (he is opposed) to complementary health care (very much in favour).
His ‘black spider memos’, written in a scrawling hand, are dreaded across Whitehall.
Until now, his most incendiary interventions on the diplomatic stage have come in relation to China: Charles is a friend and supporter of the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader who campaigns against Beijing’s human rights abuses in his former homeland.
In 2006 The Mail on Sunday revealed that the Prince was unhappy with the 1997 handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China, calling it ‘The Great Chinese Takeaway.’
He also described Chinese government officials in his personal journals as ‘appalling old waxworks’ and attacked the ‘ridiculous rigmarole’ and ‘awful Soviet-style display’ of Chinese soldiers during the handover ceremony.
Then, in 1999, Charles caused alarm at the Foreign Office by boycotting a banquet at the Chinese embassy in London hosted by the then president Jiang Zemin: as a gesture of solidarity with the Dalai Lama, Charles chose instead to attend a private dinner at his home with Camilla Parker Bowles and close friends.
And last year, the Prince strongly criticised Vladimir Putin. Shortly after the Russian leader had seized Crimea, Charles told a woman who lost relatives in the Nazi Holocaust: ‘And now Putin is doing just about the same as Hitler.’
Former Conservative MP Louise Mensch greeted the news of Charles’ visit to the Middle East by calling his friendship with the Saudi royal family ‘repellent’ – due to the Gulf state’s human rights record – and calling on him to tackle the issue during his official visit which started yesterday.
My fears over intimidation of Christians, by HRH The Prince of Wales
There is a real worry that there could come a time when there are no Christians left in the Middle East because the numbers have gone so dramatically down.
With what has happened in Mosul in Iraq and other centres, there are very few Christians left because they were intimidated to a degree you can’t believe.
Everything has been taken from them. Many of them are so fearful now of ever going back.
It is a most agonising situation, but we must remember that all around the world there is appalling persecution going on, not only of Christians but of Muslims and of other faiths and religions.
The radicalisation of people in Britain is a great worry, and the extent to which this is happening is alarming, particularly in a country like ours where we hold values dear.
You would think that the people who have come here, or are born here, and who go to school here, would abide by those values and outlooks.
But the frightening part is that people can be so radicalised, either through direct contact with somebody, or through the internet. There is an extraordinary amount of crazy stuff on the internet and clearly some people get particularly affected by it and join with others.
I can see some of this radicalisation is a search for adventure and excitement at a particular age.
So what I have been trying to do with the Prince’s Trust and other groups is to find alternatives for adolescents and people at a young age – constructive paths to channel their enthusiasm, their energy, their sense of wanting to take risks.
I started something in 2007 called ‘Mosaic’, which was designed to try to help young people in Muslim areas, particular in deprived areas in the UK, with mentoring to help build self-esteem and self-confidence.
I have been asking them recently to do more towards de-radicalisation, and there are some really interesting examples of how people can be deradicalised once they become radicalised because they find they are horrified by what it leads to.
Of course, how you prevent radicalisation in the first place is the great challenge. You cannot just sweep it under the carpet. But the most important thing is to remind people of the distortions that are made of great religions, and the original ideas of the founders of these religions.
Often you find their message is so distorted by their putative followers. That’s the tragedy and, of course, traditional Islam does not permit this sort of thing.
Inevitably, I find it heartbreaking that these sort of things should happen, particularly when I know that there has never been more activity going on with interfaith dialogue and endless efforts made to bring everyone together.
And the tragedy is even greater because Christians have been in the Middle East for 2,000 years, before Islam came in the 8th Century.
But I think the secret is we have to work harder to build bridges, and we have to remember that Our Lord taught us to love our neighbour.
When I called myself Defender of Faith all those years ago I was trying to describe the inclusion of other people’s faiths and their freedom to worship in this country. At the same time as being Defender of the Faith, you can also be protector of other faiths.
From that point of view, it was very interesting that 20 years or more after I mentioned this frequently misinterpreted phrase, the Queen, in her address to faith leaders around the time of the Jubilee, said that as far as the role of the Church of England was concerned, it is not to defend Anglicanism to the exclusion of other religions but to protect the free practice of all faiths in this country. She was conveying what I was trying to say.
Christian Today report- Archbishops of the Anglican Church in New Zealand have been forced to issue an apology for remarks by a bishop which offended both Jews and Muslims.
The Bishop of Te Wai Pounamu, Rt Rev John Gray – South Island’s first Maori bishop – invited representatives of other faiths to the diocese’s annual ministry school. During a plenary session entitled ‘Hard Talk’ he told the Jewish speaker that the Holocaust “should have taught you a lesson”.
He then appeared to hold the two Muslim guests personally responsible for the slaughter inflicted by Islamic State and Al Qaeda, asking what they were doing about it, and questioned why their faith did not accept the Trinity.
The archbishops issued a public apology for the “for the hurt which had been caused” by Bishop Gray’s remarks. It continues: “We as leaders do not share or support the views that Bishop John has expressed, and his comments do not represent the Anglican Church’s view on these matters.”
The apology by the three archbishops – Most Revs Brown Turei, Philip Richardson and Winston Halapua – went on to say that the Church “values the relationships and the dialogue that it has with other faiths”.
The local Sunday Star Times quotes representatives of the Jewish and Muslim communities as finding Bishop Gray’s remarks offensive, but says that they welcomed the apology.
Catholic Herald report– The Archbishop of Delhi has said the Indian government failed to deliver on its promises following the victory of an anti-corruption party in the state elections.
Speaking to AsiaNews, Archbishop Anil Joseph Thomas Couto claimed the election had been marred by anti-Catholic violence after churches were vandalised and a peaceful protest was broken up by heavy-handed police.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which translates as “the common man”, won 67 of the 70 assembly seats in the Delhi state elections on Tuesday. Its leader, Arvind Kejriwal, will be the new chief minister of Delhi. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the party of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was left with just three seats.
Archbishop Couto said: “The result is a vote for change. Even after eight months, the Modi government has failed to act well, nor has it fulfilled its promises.
“The people of Delhi are disappointed and that’s why they wanted to give Arvind Kejriwal a chance as the new chief minister.”
Since December, five different churches in the Indian capital territory have been vandalised. Last week, the Church of St Alphonsa was broken into and sacred hosts were scattered on the altar and the floor.
A peaceful protest against the attacks on churches was broken up by police last week. AsiaNews reported that Delhi police beat and detained dozens of priests, nuns and laypeople, including women and children, during the silent march outside the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart.
Archbishop Couto said: “These elections were negatively affected by the attacks on churches.
“Five attacks on five different churches and the BJP, which was in power, stood by in silence.
“What’s worse, it said that what happened was normal, that in many other places similar incidents were happening.”
The result constitutes a major setback to the BJP and Mr Modi, who has enjoyed widespread public support since winning the 2014 general election.
Archbishop Couto said: “The people of Delhi voted against the BJP and its attempt to polarise the voters in the name of religion.
“The result of these elections is a message to the Prime Minister: he should think seriously about his behaviour.”
In a separate incident, India’s Catholic bishops protested last week against a government decision to deny visas to two Vatican officials.
Archbishop Arthur Roche, former Bishop of Leeds and now secretary at the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, and Archbishop Portase Rugambwa, president of the Pontifical Mission Societies, were due to address a conference of Catholic bishops in Bangalore on the subject of “Life and Liturgy” but had to cancel their trip at the last minute.
Charisma report- Potential presidential candidate Ben Carson has been labeled as an “extremist” by the Southern Poverty Law Center for his support of biblical marriage.
The SPLC labels his ideology as “Anti-LGBT,” and cites Caron’s quotes in multiple news interviews, as well as his written word in “America the Beautiful,” for his placement.
“When embracing traditional Christian values is equated to hatred, we are approaching the stage where wrong is called right and right is called wrong,” Carson tells WND in response to the placement. “It is important for us to once again advocate true tolerance.”
The SPLC, which was founded to ensure follow-through of the civil rights movement, has gone for fighting for racial equality to “advocacy.”
“The SPLC has moved from monitoring actual hate groups like the KKK and Neo Nazis to slandering mainstream Christian organizations with that very same ‘hate group’ label,” Charisma columnist Matt Barber said in 2012 protest. “By extension, the SPLC is smearing billions of Christians and Jews worldwide as ‘haters,’ simply because they embrace the traditional Judeo-Christian sexual ethic.”
Christian Post report– A traditional marriage group urged the residents of Alabama to oppose the legalization of gay marriage in that state following a ruling from a federal judge.
Last month U.S. District Judge Callie V. S. Granade ruled the state’s ban on gay marriage, passed with over 80 percent of the vote in 2006, unconstitutional.
The National Organization for Marriage denounced Alabama’s issuing of marriage licenses to gay couples on Monday.
In a statement, NOM President Brian Brown said that Judge Granade does not have the authority to strike down the constitutional amendment.
“A single federal judge does not have the authority to overturn a state marriage amendment and the people of Alabama should refuse to go along with this order,” stated Brown.
“The issues in play are currently under review by the Supreme Court, and allowing a lower court ruling that overturns a state marriage amendment adopted by over 80% of voters is reckless and undermines the integrity of the Court.”
Brown also asked that “the people of Alabama continue to enforce their state marriage laws.”
“We commend Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore for ordering state probate judges, who are responsible for issuing marriage licenses, to enforce state law limiting marriage to one man and one woman and to refuse to issue licenses that violate state law,” continued Brown.
In January, Granade ruled that Alabama’s marriage amendment was unconstitutional and granted a two week stay on the ruling pending an appeal by the state government.
Alabama attempted to get the Supreme Court to intervene and grant a stay. However, on Monday morning the Court decided 7-2 to not grant the request, allowing the gay marriages to go forth.
An aura of confusion has clouded the proceedings for the probate judges of Alabama, as state Chief Justice Roy Moore issued an order Sunday evening demanding the continued enforcement of the state’s ban.
“The state of Alabama shall not recognize as valid any marriage of parties of the same sex that occurred or was alleged to have occurred as a result of the law of any jurisdiction regardless of whether a marriage license was issued,” ordered Moore.
Confusion over the conflicting orders has meant that while some probate judges in the state have gone ahead and issued marriage licenses to gay couples, others have refused to do so.
With the Supreme Court’s denial of a stay for the Granade decision, Alabama became the 37th state in the country to legally recognize same-sex marriage.
The vast majority of these 37 states came via judicial action and most since the 2013 Supreme Court decision striking down one part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
Regarding the recent refusal by the highest court in the nation to stop gay marriages in Alabama, some have speculated that this shows what will happen later this year when the Supreme Court determines the constitutionality of state level bans.
“They also effectively admitted what court-watchers have suspected for months: The court is preparing to rule in favor of nationwide marriage equality at the end of this term,” wrote Mark Joseph Stern of Slate.com.
“By permitting these marriages to occur, the justices have effectively tipped their hand, revealing that any lower court’s pro-gay ruling will soon be affirmed by the high court itself.”
Christian Today report– Pope Francis dedicated a portion of his general address last week to the unrest in the Ukraine, and urged the warring sides to push for peace instead of victory.
Thousands have been killed in the war in Donbass, and heavy fighting across the region has increased since January. Francis called on both sides to stop the violence.
“Let us pray to the Lord so that this horrible fratricide violence may cease as soon as possible,” he said, hoping a compromise could be reached.
According to the Vatican news service, the Pope admitted that the words “victory” and “defeat” brought him great pain and sadness.
“They are not the right words,” he lamented. “The only right word is peace. This is the only right word.”
Conflicts between pro-Russian rebels and the Ukrainian government have escalated since the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, and resulted in the self-declared Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics arming themselves against the government.
Pope Francis grieved the division.
“I think of you, Ukrainian brothers and sisters, this is a war between Christians,” he insisted.
Russian Orthodox Church leader Patriarch Kirill I of Moscow thanked the Pope for his call for peace, and for taking a neutral stance in the brutal conflict.
A summit with Western leaders is scheduled for Wednesday, but it is unclear whether it will be postponed as fighting in eastern Ukraine intensified on Tuesday.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko reported that the rebels launched an artillery strike against the town of Kramatorsk, Tuesday morning. Three people were killed and 15 were injured.
Christian Today report– An Iraqi Archbishop today warned that Christianity is at risk of extinction in the Middle East, both “as a religion and as a culture”.
Speaking before the Church of England’s General Synod in London, the Chaldean Archbishop of Erbil, Bashar Warda, said that the growing crisis in Iraq and Syria is one of “chronic urgent need”.
The Archbishop was introduced by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who said it was a “huge privilege to hear from someone who speaks from the centre of the suffering Church”.
Archbishop Warda’s address and the experience of Middle Eastern Christians is of “immense importance and significance to us,” Welby added.
“For the Chaldean Church, and our sister churches in the East, the persecution our community is enduring is doubly painful and severe,” Archbishop Warda said in his opening remarks.
“We are personally affected by the need and by the reality that our vibrant Church life is dissolving in front of our eyes. The massive immigration that is now occurring is leaving my Church and other Churches much weaker. This is a deeply sorrowful reality.”
The Iraqi Archbishop said that more than 125,000 Christians have been forced to flee from their homes over the past year after being threatened with a ‘convert or die’ edict by Islamic State militants. Reports of Christian homes being looted and destroyed have emerged, and many churches and other places of worship have also been desecrated.
“We are waiting to know that our villages are safe and secure,” the Archbishop said. “We believe the dear Lord will allow us to see that day; and on that day we will return to deserted and ruined houses, empty schools and hospitals. As for our precious churches, it is heartbreaking for us to imagine what they will look like when we return. But we can…rebuild.”
Archbishop Warda said the current situation is “one of [the] worst and hardest stages” in the history of Christianity. Believers in the Middle East have experienced a number of “upheavals” in the wake of World War II, he added, including a number of massacres and “acts of genocide”.
“They were crowned by the Massacre of the Church of Our Lady of Salvation in Baghdad in 2010 during which the Christian worshippers were killed in cold blood,” he said.
“This was followed by acts of terrorism and displacement in June and August 2014 that witnessed the worst acts of genocide experienced by us in our homeland. We are now facing the extinction of Christianity as a religion and as a culture from Mesopotamia.”
The Archbishop added that he and many of his fellow clergymen are often tempted to ask Christians not to flee, to “keep the presence of Christ alive in this special land”. But “the Church is unable to offer and guarantee the fundamental security that its members need to thrive.”
He therefore called upon the international Church to increase its prayer for those being persecuted at the hands of Islamic State, and to raise awareness of their plight.
“I cannot repeat loudly enough that our well-being, as a historic community, is no longer in our hands,” he said.
“The future will come, one way or another, and for us this means waiting to see what sort of aid arrives.”
Following Archbishop Warsa’s address, Rev Dr Chris Sugden, a clergy member for the Diocese of Oxford, called on the Church of England to issue an apology to Christians in Iraq “for failing to support them adequately in their hour of need”.
“In the body of Christ, when one member suffers, all member suffer,” he continued, adding that he believes the Church to have failed its fellow believers. He also criticised the UK government for failing to offer “meaningful asylum” to those who have fled the Middle East.
“I trust that our Church though what channels it can … will seek to provide some meaningful help for persecuted Iraqi Christians, even at this late stage,” Sugden finished.
Yesterday, Archbishop Warda told UK peers and MPs that Christians in the Middle East do not “have much time left” and urged greater military action to combat the threat of ISIS.
“As a Catholic I find it hard to say, but I want military action, there is no other way now,” he said.
“What we are seeing is worse for the world than what happened in Afghanistan, with more and more young people going to fight with Daesh [Islamic State]. Military action is needed – powerful force – to get them out of our villages.”
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