Islamic religious bigots continue the persecution of Christians

Raymond Ibrahim:

The war on Christianity and its adherents rages on in the Muslim world.  In March alone, Saudi Arabia’s highest Islamic law authority decreed that churches in the region must be destroyed; jihadis in Nigeria said they “are going to put into action new efforts to strike fear into the Christians of the power of Islam by kidnapping their women”; American teachers in the Middle East were murdered for being or talking about Christianity; churches were banned or bombed, and nuns terrorized by knife-wielding Muslim mobs.  Christians continue to be attacked, arrested, imprisoned, and killed for allegedly “blaspheming” Islam’s prophet Muhammad;  former Muslims continue to be attacked, arrested, imprisoned, and killed for converting to Christianity.

To understand why all this persecution is virtually unknown in the West, consider the mainstream media’s well-documented biases: also in March alone, the New York Times ran a virulently anti-Catholic ad, but refused to publish a near identical ad directed at Islam; the BBC admitted it will mock Jesus but never Muhammad; and U.S. sitcoms were exposed for bashing Christianity, but never Islam.

 Is it any wonder, then, that this same mainstream media ignores or at best whitewashes the nonstop persecution of Christians under Islam?  Exposing such ugly truths would undermine their narrative of Islam as the “religion of peace.”

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He gives a country by country description of the attacks on Christians.  One of the places is important in light of the 60 Minutes report on Christians leaving the occupied territories of Israel:

Bethlehem: One week after the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority told an audience of Evangelicals that his government respected the rights of its Christian minorities, the PA declared a Baptist Church illegal, adding that birth, wedding, and death certificates from the church are no longer valid.  A pastor notes that “animosity towards the Christian minority in areas controlled by the PA continues to get increasingly worse. People are always telling [Christians], ‘Convert to Islam. Convert to Islam. It’s the true and right religion.’”

The blasphemy laws are really an attack on the freedom of religion.  What they really say is that there is no freedom of religion in countries dominated by Muslims.

"Smart diplomacy" under Obama tends to ignore the oppression of Christians in Muslim countries.  That is not smart and it betrays the values of this country.