More Transgender Men Using Fertility Treatment to Get Pregnant

Thomas Beatie was the world's first pregnant man. © F A C T / Facebook

Dozens of transitioning women are choosing to freeze their eggs at specialized clinics if they decide to have children after becoming men.

At least three men in the UK who were born female are believed to be using IVF techniques, according to the Daily Mail. Dozens of other men are also having their eggs frozen prior to transitioning to switch sex.

Despite it being possible for a male who was born female to become naturally pregnant, it is rare.

Instead, the fertilised embryo is usually moved to a surrogate, rather than a transgender man giving birth.

Thomas Beatie became the first man in the world to become pregnant, showing that men with female reproductive organs are still able to give birth.

The father of three paved way for other transgender men to consider having children, such as 17-year-old Riley Middlemore who hopes his eggs can be inseminated by a sperm donor and implanted into his girlfriend’s body to allow her to carry their child.

The National Health Service (NHS) is able to fund sex change and fertility treatment for patients, costing on average up to £34,000.

Some people have criticized the free treatment including Conservative MP Peter Bone, who said the NHS should get “its priorities right.”

“I am not sure why the taxpayer should be funding this,” he told the Daily Mail. “I just sometimes ask if the NHS is getting its priorities right.”

The measures were, however, defended by Dr James Barrett of the NHS Gender Identity Clinic, which is based in London.

“As a matter of principle, anybody who loses their fertility as a result of standard NHS treatment should be able to preserve their fertility,” he said.

They lose their fertility as a matter of choice. It appears they want to have their cake and eat it too.

“Why are people with cancer particularly magic and get this NHS fertility treatment, and other people don’t?” he added. “Transgender patients want to live like normal people. They want what everybody else gets as a matter of course.”

Seriously, 'what everybody else wants'? I don't know any women who want to father their own children. 

Interesting statement: 'transgenders want to live like normal people'. Nothing about this sounds 'normal' to me.

Once you start down a perverse path, it just gets weirder and weirder.

Secondhand Marijuana Smoke More Dangerous than Tobacco – Study

Would you believe 3 times as bad?

© Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

With an increasing number of states legalizing medicinal and recreational marijuana, a new study has found that exposure to secondhand marijuana smoke is more damaging to blood vessels than breathing secondhand tobacco smoke.

The study revealed that the blood flow in the arteries of rats that had inhaled secondhand marijuana smoke for one minute was less efficient for at least 90 minutes. Under a similar test for secondhand tobacco smoke, blood vessel impairment lasted only 30 minutes.

“While the effect is temporary for both cigarette and marijuana smoke, these temporary problems can turn into long-term problems if exposures occur often enough and may increase the chances of developing hardened and clogged arteries,” said Matthew Springer, PhD, the study’s senior author and a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco’s Division of Cardiology, in a released statement.

Those are pretty good credentials.

Researchers also found that merely burning the plant material appears to cause impaired blood vessels, unlike chemicals like nicotine and tetrahydrocannabinol.

Researchers say the arteries of rats and humans are similar in how they respond to secondhand tobacco smoke.

The study on the health consequences of exposure to secondhand smoke from cannabis comes as three more states – California, Maine and Nevada – are due to vote on ballot initiatives on whether to legalize recreational marijuana this November.

So the study would indicate that there will be an increase in pulmonary heart conditions down the road because of pot. Aside from the increased health-care cost, there's a cost in terms of productivity and quality of life. Is that acceptable?

We have already pointed out the significant increase in children being poisoned by cannabis candies. Is that acceptable?

ABC News reported that one in six Americans now live in states where cannabis is legal.

“There is widespread belief that, unlike tobacco smoke, marijuana smoke is benign,” Springer said. “We in public health have been telling the public to avoid secondhand tobacco smoke for years. But we don’t tell them to avoid secondhand marijuana smoke, because until now we haven’t had evidence that it can be harmful.”

The study was published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

God's Plan, Psychotic Break, or Demonic Possession

Richard Bain knew killing was wrong, but was

following God's plan, defence psychiatrist says

Murder trial for 2012 Parti Québécois rally shooting

hears accused may have bipolar disorder

Richard Bain has told the jury he has no memory of the night of the shooting, and no recollection of shouting "The English are waking up" as he was led away in handcuffs. (Radio-Canada)

Jaela Bernstien CBC Journalist

Quebec, Canada - On the night of the shooting, Richard Bain understood that killing was wrong, but that didn't stop him because he believed he was carrying out a mission for God, a psychiatrist for the defence told the court. 

"Even if he knew that killing is wrong. For him, this notion did not apply, because God was asking him to do something," said psychiatrist Dr. Marie-Frédérique Allard, who was called to testify by Bain's defence.

Allard believes that "it is more likely than not" that Bain was psychotic the night of the deadly shooting and that he thought he had been sent to protect the anglophones and kill the separatists. 

The psychiatrist told the jury it's her opinion that Bain was suffering from a delusion.

Bain is accused of first-degree murder in the Sept. 4, 2012 election-night shooting that left Denis Blanchette dead and another man, Dave Courage, seriously injured.  They were shot outside Montreal's Metropolis nightclub around midnight, while the Parti Québécois celebrated its election victory inside.

The defence is arguing that Bain is not criminally responsible for the shooting because of a mental disorder.

The prosecution contends the shooting was premeditated and motivated by the fact that Bain could not vote that day. 

Allard said both of the times that she saw Bain not long after his arrest in 2012, he was clearly in a psychotic state.

During one session on Nov. 9, 2012, Bain was afraid of being recorded, so he refused to answer Allard's questions out loud, and instead wrote down his responses.


Richard Bain is accused of shooting and killing Denis Blanchette, a lighting technician who was working at Montreal's Metropolis concert hall. (Facebook)

Allard read from her report in court, repeating what Bain told her: "The plan was to kill as many separatists as I could."

The Parti Quebecois was formed for the specific purpose of separating Quebec from Canada. So far, they have not been very successful.

"If inside, if Madame [Pauline] Marois could be seen, I could've killed her," Bain told Allard during their meeting.

Pauline Marois was the leader of the Parti Quebecois at the time.

Allard told the jury Bain said his mission was cut short because, "Jesus Christ stopped it."

After his arrest,  when Bain was in the backseat of a police cruiser, Brassard said he heard him say: "Your security was not good. My gun jammed. Grace of god, the gun jammed."

Based on testimony from colleagues, friends and family, Allard said it's evident that Bain always a law-abiding person in the past, with no violent history. 

She told the jury Bain told her that he took medication hours before the shooting to give him the "guts" to carry out his mission.

Allard said she also believes it's likely that Bain suffers from bipolar disorder.


Possible overdose of medication

Earlier in the trial, Bain told the court he took a handful of anti-depressants around 7 p.m., roughly five hours before the shooting.

Wow, a handful of antidepressants; I can't imagine what that would do to you. I wonder how many he took earlier in the day or the day before?


Psychiatrist Dr. Marie-Frédérique Allard (far right) was called to testify on Monday by defence lawyer Alan Guttman (far left). (Radio-Canada)

The following morning, a police interrogation video shows a sleepy Bain in custody telling police he's confused and doesn't understand why he's there.

    Bain's first interview with police

Based on what she observed in that video, Allard said Bain "looks like someone who was intoxicated, or who is coming down from some substance." 

She said she does not believe he was faking the symptoms, and cited a toxicological analysis of Bain's blood the day after the shooting.

The court heard that the report mentions the presence of two antidepressants: Effexor and Trazodone.

While Allard said she believes Bain was showing signs of an overdose, she did not link his actions the night of the shooting to the medication he had taken.

"I don't think the thing he did was the result of intoxication," Allard testified.

In earlier testimony, Bain told the court he believed he took an anti-depressant called Cymbalta the night of the shooting, but he later added that it could have accidentally taken Effexor instead.

Allard is expected to continue her testimony for a third day on Friday.

Who knows exactly what went on in Bain's mind for him to do such a thing? But when I read stories where people say that God told them to do this or that, I usually suspect demonic influence. Demons can put thoughts into our heads as if they were coming from God. People with drug problems and or severe mental health problems are very susceptible to that. 

It might well have been the work of Jesus Christ, or more likely an angel, to jam his gun and prevent more deaths. It's the kind of thing He has done many, many times. 

I don't know what you think of demonic possession or demonic influence, but Jesus dealt with a lot of demons in His brief 3 year ministerial walk on earth. If they existed then, they surely exist now, otherwise, where have they gone?

I had an interesting vision once where I could see a map of Europe and western Asia. This was not too long after the collapse of communism. I could see something moving on the map; it was as though the map was covered in little black ants or bugs and they were all fleeing southward from the old USSR countries. I knew the bugs represented demons and God was showing me that they were deserting the old communist countries and moving into the Middle East, the 'stans, and North Africa, all Islamic countries. Interesting huh?

'Germany Should Send Back Foreigners to Save Lives, Stop Appeasing Islamists' – Bavarian MP

Finally, the conversation that should have

started last year begins

© Leonhard Foeger / Reuters

The fact that three of the terror attacks that shocked Germany last week took place in its largest state of Bavaria is a “nightmare” for locals, and shows a failure of the EU and Berlin to deal with migration, Thomas Jahn of the CSU party told RT.

Jahn, a vice chairman of Bavaria’s dominant Christian Social Union (CSU) conservative campaign, lambasted the migration policy pursued by Angela Merkel – the chair of his party’s traditional ally, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

“People in Bavaria and in [the] whole [of] Germany say that, of course, Mrs. Merkel has failed and, historically, the nation because she decided to ignore the German immigration law and she opened the borders of our country last year for two million immigrants from countries outside Europe,” Jahn said, adding that the government is to blame for the “nightmare” terror spate that has descended upon Germany.

“It’s really a nightmare [what] politicians brought to Germany and Bavaria, and people are very worried to be [the] next victims of terrorism in our country,” he said.

In order to prevent terror from spreading, Germany must secure its borders by introducing tougher border controls. In addition, Berlin must not hesitate to deport all new arrivals who could pose a threat to the country’s security, the MP argued.

“We need to control our borders, that is the most important thing at the moment, and we need to send...the dangerous people with Islamist ideology back to the countries outside Europe and [the] European Union,” the politician said.

While Bavaria’s interior minister, Joachim Hermann, has suggested that Germany’s internal army could be deployed to tackle major terror threats, Jahn believes such a move would be an “overreaction.” Instead, he says authorities should focus on expanding existing resources – particularly giving more powers to the police force.

“We have to give our police more rights,” Jahn stressed, before adding that “we have to send back foreigners very quickly, back to their countries, to save our lives and save security in our countries.”

Although the majority of Bavarian attackers were not German nationals, having fled war-torn regions of Afghanistan and Syria to resettle in Europe, the issue of home-grown terrorism inspired by violent Islam should not be ignored, Jahn said.

“The problem is that we have some kind of ideologies, we have some kind of Islamist ideologies that we never controlled in the last few years, we don’t have much attention on it,” Jahn said, adding that the advancement of extremist teachings within Europe should serve as “one of the greatest reasons we have to stop this kind of appeasement policy in Europe.”

In the wake of the attacks that rocked the Bavarian cities of Wurzburg, Munich, and Ansbach – at least two of which were linked to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) – Bavarian Governor Horst Seehofer said that “Islamist terrorism has arrived in Germany,” adding that Germans are “full of fear” as they face “an entirely new dimension of terrorism – the Islamist-minded terrorism.”

Hermann echoed Seehofer’s statement, proposing that Berlin deny entry to all asylum seekers who cannot prove their identity with a valid ID.

“Deportation into a war zone should not be taboo as well,” he stressed in an interview to Suddeutsche Zeitung, referring to refugees who do not abide by German law.

“You have to seriously consider how such people should be treated if they violate laws or pose a threat,” he said.

ISIS Tried to Recruit Refugees from Danish Migration Center

This is one of those good news/bad news stories. It's frightening that IS can walk right into an asylum centre in Europe and start recruiting jihadists. On the other hand, it's reassuring that the migrants reported the incident. That may indicate that there are few jihadist sleepers in the mix.


© Johan Nilsson / Reuters

A member of the Islamic State terrorist group is alleged to have made a daring visit to a remote Danish refugee center in the hope of finding new recruits for the jihadist extremists, according to a report obtained by a Danish TV station.

According to broadcaster DR, the Danish Red Cross reported the incident to the Danish Immigration Service. The episode is said to have taken place in April at the Slottet asylum center, which is located on the remote island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea.

The Red Cross says that some of the 234 residents at the center told the shelter’s management that they had been approached by a man who claimed to be a representative of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL). Their claims were deemed to be credible by those who run the center.

The refugee center accommodates people from 13 different countries, including a number of asylum seekers from areas affected by IS.

The Red Cross has not yet replied to RT’s request for comment on the report.


Bornholm, Island, Denmark

Some 21,000 refugees entered Denmark in 2015 and local authorities expect the same number to apply for asylum in 2016. The number of migrants arriving in Denmark has, in fact, nearly tripled compared to three years ago. The country lays on the route between the two most popular destinations for refugees in Europe – Germany and Sweden. In the wake of migrant influx, Danish officials have tried to make the state less attractive for the newcomers by cutting social benefits for refugees by 45%.

Meanwhile, Islamic State is being increasingly linked to attacks

committed by migrants in Europe.

In Germany, a knife- and axe-wielding refugee believed to be from Afghanistan or Pakistan injured five people in a train near the city of Wurzburg on July 17. IS then released a video, allegedly showing the perpetrator claiming “I am a soldier of the caliphate and I am going to carry out a suicide attack in Germany.”

An Islamist video was also found in the phone of a Syrian refugee who carried out a suicide bomb attack in the German city of Ansbach last week, killing nine. Investigators said the man had “pledged allegiance” to IS in the footage.

One of Paris attackers that killed 130 people last November had apparently made his way into Europe with a Syrian passport pretending to be a refugee. IS claimed responsibility for the assault as well.

    Bornholm Island, Denmark

France Has Two Choices - Civil War or Submission

This is pretty much how I see it

Paul Weston

Paul Martin Laurence Weston is a British politician, chairman of Liberty GB, parliamentary candidate, and member of the Pegida UK leadership team. Wikipedia

In the aftermath of the Bataclan theatre massacre in 2015, President Hollande declared France was at war with ISIS. In the aftermath of the Islamic carnage in Nice, Hollande declared France was at war with ISIS. In the aftermath of the Islamic attack on the church of Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray and the beheading of Father Jacques Hamel, President Hollande declared France was at war with ISIS. 

What strange times we live in. Hollande cannot declare war on ISIS because ISIS is not just some foreign power in far-away lands which can be bombed from the air with impunity. ISIS is Islam and Islam is in France. Islam is in Paris and Marseilles. Like a rapidly expanding virus, Islam has invaded France and is attacking the racial base, the cultural base, the spiritual base and the political base of the host country itself.


Bataclan 14 Nov.2015

So Hollande’s war is a myth, which is hardly surprising. After all, what is he realistically able to do? Invade Paris and level the banlieues? Build internment camps and lock up everyone with a beard? Hollande knows he is on difficult ground here, as can be gleaned from his following abject statement: “we must fight this war by all means, while respecting the rule of law, what (sic) makes us a democracy.”

In other words, the plump, jowly, bespectacled, soft-handed Hollande intends to take a small plastic knife into a fight against a muscular, fanatical opponent toting an AK-47 - with all too predictable results. France, like so much of the West these days, finds itself in a no-win situation. Our ruling elites have allowed a supremacist people and a violently supremacist culture into our peaceful liberal democracies and are now surprised to discover this was-not-really-a-very-good-idea-and-cannot-be-solved-by-mouthing-liberal-platitudes-alone….

Some of us have pointed out the foolishness in allowing the barbarian 7th century to jump into bed with the advanced 21st century, but we failed to make much headway. In point of fact, we were cast into the wilderness allocated for the dissident class of racists, xenophobes and Islamophobes who thought they knew better than our illustrious Traitor Class of cowardly political careerists and media whores.

And now we in the West find ourselves in desperate trouble. The slow march of time is finally speeding up. The demographic shift is starting to make itself known. When 100,000 Muslims in France became 200,000 the end of the world was not nigh. But when today’s 6 million Muslims of France become 12 million by 2030 and 24 million by 2050 -  then the end of France becomes very much nigh indeed. And please bear in mind that a baby born today will only be 36 in 2050. This is not about something in the unimaginably distant future.

New Year’s Eve 1999 seems only yesterday. Who can ever forget the madly grinning Tony Blair and his ghastly wife coercively linking arms with the poor old Queen as they cavorted and capered their way into a new millennium of Labour party based hope and optimism; into a European Union whose glorious future was laid out under the oxymoronic EU motto of “United in Diversity”. How we laughed and cheered in the final hours of 1999! How we danced, drunk on the promise of a brave new world!

But here we are sixteen-years later in an altogether different world. A world where Islam weighs heavily on the West. A new world which started on the 11th of September 2001 and continues through to the present day beheading of Father Jacques Hamel. Where will be in another sixteen-years? If Islamic terror went from occasional stories in 2000 to constant front page news in 2016, who would rationally argue against a civil war in France by 2030? Apart from half-witted left-liberals I mean…..

Who remembers the news stories from the final decade of the 20th century? 1989/1990 gathered a lot of interest as Communism withered and crashed in Eastern Europe, but apart from that there were few horror stories about Islam. And now? Every day brings fresh stories of fresh Islamic atrocities around the world and within the West. Bombings, shootings, stabbings, rapes and sexual assaults. Again and again and again.

And after each new Islamic horror the West lights its candles, holds its vigils, clasps its Teddy Bears and buries its dead. When Hollande proclaims France is at war, he is lying. He is generating grandstanding, vainglorious soundbites. He is shouting at the pub brawler already under police arrest, long after the pub brawler broke his nose and put him firmly on his backside in the Frog & Firkin.  It is not at real war you see, because it takes two sides to make a war. One to attack and one to defend. If there are only attackers and no defenders it is not a war -  it is a massacre.

France is in desperate trouble. For all the talk of war there is no resistance. Patrick Calvar, head of the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI) warns of impending civil war but talks mainly of aggression coming from the right, not Islam. Hollande talks about war but never mentions the real enemy which is Islam, not ISIS. The enemy is not in Iraq or Syria. The enemy is in Paris and Marseille. The enemy is within. The enemy holds a French passport. The enemy of France is French and the enemy of France is growing exponentially.

So now we have half the French army patrolling the streets of France during peacetime. But it’s not really peacetime is it? France is under attack but is not at war. Without a defined enemy there cannot be a war, only a long, drawn out massacre as I have already said.

The descent of post-Christian France into Islamic France will take decades, but if there is no resistance, Islamic it will become. Islam by a thousand cuts is perhaps the best way of understanding France’s future. Prime Minister Valls has stated French people must get used to living with terrorism. I don’t think he said Islamic terrorism, just plain old terrorism, which rather goes to show just how successful Islamic terrorism is....

Can France be saved? It can, but it would mean removing Islam from the public life. It would mean closing down the mosques. It would mean deportation. French Muslims in their millions wouldn’t like this, so it would also mean civil war. Real civil war a la 1990s Yugoslavia. Hollande and Valls are not prepared to take the steps necessary to ensure France’s survival. Even Marine Le-Pen might baulk at instigating civil war but France’s survival has moved beyond peaceful measures now, through sheer weight of Muslim numbers combined with a fanatical belief system.

So we wait to see what happens. And whatever happens to France could also happen to many other Western European countries. Germany, Holland, Belgium, Britain and Sweden are all on the same incremental but remorselessly unstoppable trajectory toward Islamic confrontation or post-Christian submission. We live in interesting times. No one can predict the future but I think one thing can be said with absolute certainty – the next ten-years will be NOTHING like the last sixty-five years of relative peace and prosperity. Really nothing at all. And right now, all eyes are on France.

Honoring Child-Killers as Martyrs: No Obstacle for Subsidies, Says Dutch Government

Press release of Likud of the Netherlands, July 25, 2016.

Hallel Yaffa Ariel  (see video below)

The killer of this girl is honored as holy Islamic martyr – supported by Dutch subsidies.

The Dutch government was asked if they agreed with honoring as a ‘martyr’ the murderer of the 13-year-old Israeli girl Hallel Ariel, as was done by the Palestinian news agency Ma’an.

In a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Likud of the Netherlands the government acknowledged it subsidizes the Palestinian news agency Ma’an.

It said this was fitting for the Dutch government in the context of promoting “freedom of speech”.

However, Ma’an honored the terrorist who last month killed a 13-year-old Israeli girl (pictured) while asleep in her bedroom, as an “Islamic martyr”. That’s somebody in the Islamic doctrine that died in the jihad – the struggle against the “infidels,” and therefore goes straight to the Islamic paradise, where he will be rewarded with 72 virgins.

I can't believe how many Muslims are stupid enough to believe this.

But the Dutch government considers this glorification of violence no reason not to give more ‘development help’ to Ma’an, because it said that this is a good method to promote “human rights” and to achieve the desired “diversity” in Palestinian media.

After all, writes the Ministry: “according to the Palestinians a martyr is someone who perishes in the struggle for the Palestinian cause and ending the Israeli occupation.” That is simply “the local context.”

Is it not wrong that in the last year dozens of innocent Israeli civilians including children were killed by this kind of incitement, supported with Dutch tax money?

Apparently not, because the murders are, according to the Ministry, just “the way of Palestinians to resist against the occupation.”

That 98% of Palestinians are not living under occupation but under Palestinian self-rule, and that the Muslim fundamentalists do not murder to fight against ‘occupation’ but to gain access to the Islamic paradise, therefore the Dutch government – still – sticks her head deep in the sand.

While a look at Wikipedia reveals what is really meant by it: the concept of shahid (martyr) has a deep religious meaning. It is a Muslim who dies while performing his duty to Islam – during the jihad, with the paradise as a reward.

So it is also explained by the Palestinian leadership, for example by Mahmoud Al-Habbash – former minister and now a religious adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas – on Palestinian television: “All sins are forgiven with the first wave of blood of his blood from his wound”.

Jesus shed His own blood so that all sins can be forgiven. The shedding of more blood is an affront to Jesus Christ and only produces more sin and judgment. There are no virgins where these murderers are going.

The Dutch government sees no problem in subsidization this glorification and that at a time when the radical Islamic terror has already reached Europe and now even the French Riviera.

Three months ago, Likud Netherlands showed in another press release that the Dutch government had financed a Palestinian organization that organized a tribute to the killing of three Jews and the stabbing of an elderly Dutch Christian woman in Jerusalem.

In response to questions of parliament the Dutch Government then replied that: “The government will not support organizations that anti-Semitic expressions or glorify terrorism.”

So that proves to be only a very empty phrase.

Wake Up, Europe! Radicalized Muslims Have to be Locked Up or Deported

Baby-faced ISIS jihadi who slit Catholic priest's throat in Normandy church

THIS is the baby-faced terrorist who stormed into a Catholic church in Normandy and slit the throat of a 86-year-old priest in front of his terrified congregation whilst shouting "Allahu Akbar".

By TOM BATCHELOR AND NICK GUTTERIDGE

Two attackers killed a priest with a blade and seriously wounded another hostage.

Weedy Adel Kermiche was shot dead by police marksmen alongside another maniacal Islamist attacker after the pair targeted helpless nuns taking part in an early morning Mass. 

The baby-faced 19-year-old, who lived with his mum just 200 yards from the church in Normandy, was a convicted terrorist who was known to the French authorities and should have been monitored with an electronic tag.

But despite his attempts to travel to Syria to fight for Islamic State (ISIS) he was free to enter the church at just after 9am and brutally murder Father Jacques Hamel in a barbaric attack.

His brother is believed to be a jihadi militant in the Middle East and tonight it emerged how he became radicalised after hero-worshipping the Charlie Hebdo attackers. 

Kermiche was caught attempting to cross the Turkish border into Syria in early 2015 and was deported back to France via Switzerland, where he was electronically tagged and forced to live with his parents. 

At the time his mother - a teacher - told Swiss media that her son had turned to radical Islam after hearing about the Charlie Hebdo massacre, when jihadi gunmen murdered journalists at a French satirical magazine.

She said: "The Charlie Hebdo killing was like a detonator for him".

"From then this happy, kind young man who would go out with friends – closed himself off. He obsessively attended his local mosque.

"It was like he had been brainwashed and bewitched – preaching to his non-practicing family."

Would you believe demon-possessed? Can it be that hard to pick out radicalized Muslims from social media, friends, colleagues, etc.? France, and all of Europe have to make it illegal to be radicalized and keep all such people locked up until they renounce violence and jihad very convincingly.


Kermiche was radicalised after hearing about the Charlie Hebdo attack. The 19-year-old beheaded a priest at a church in Normandy

Kermiche is pictured as a child on his Facebook page wearing an Algeria football hat, but listed himself online as being from Port Louis in Mauritius.

He went to College Paul Eluard in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray, just yards away from where he committed today's barbaric attack.

According to French media, Kermiche should have been living with his parents under a court order.

He was allowed out unsupervised between the hours of 8.30am and 12.30pm. Mass at the church started at 9am.

I-tele reported that the teenager, who was shot dead by police during the siege, spent nearly a year in prison before being released on March 2. 


The church of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, blocked by police following an attack by two knife-wielding men GETTY


French President Francois Hollande speaking outside Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray's city hall GETTY

French President Francois Hollande has confirmed the attack was carried out by Islamic State sympathisers. Mr Hollande said the two hostage takers were terrorists who had pledged allegiance to Islamic State.

He said: ”Daesh has declared war on us, we must fight this war by all means, while respecting the rule of law, what makes us a democracy,” using an Arab acronym for the Islamist extremist group.

A statement released by ISIS’ Amaq news agency said two Islamic State “soldiers” carried out the Normandy church attack in France. The statement said: "They carried out the operation in response to the call to target the countries of the crusader coalition.”

The development will pile further pressure on France's security services, which were already facing criticism for their response to (failure to prevent?) the Nice attack which left 84 people dead.

France has been rocked by a wave of terrorist incidents and police and counter-terrorism specialists are scrambling to stop further attacks.

The latest incident has sent sent shock waves through a nation already reeling from deadly massacres including attacks in Paris aimed at rock fans and sports crowds and the Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris.

    Normandy

Transgenders Get Special Session of Legislature; Sexually Abused Children Get Nothing

Transgender human rights bill passes,

with some Liberal dissent

From Rob Shaw


British Columbia's Lieutenant-Governor Judith Guichon delivers the Throne Speech in the B.C. Legislature, in Victoria on Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016. JONATHAN HAYWARD / THE CANADIAN 

VICTORIA — A new law to protect transgender rights in B.C.’s Human Rights Code passed into law Monday, despite opposition from at least one of the governing party’s own MLAs.

The legislation was fast-tracked through the house in one day, during a special summer session of the legislature. 

Wow! An extraordinary session of the B.C. legislature! This must have been extremely important, a virtual emergency! Amazing! There are anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand transgendered people in B.C. liable to suffer anything from a physical beating to a minor slight. 

Meanwhile, every fifth, or so, child in the province is being, has been, or will be sexually abused. 
(1 in 3 girls and 1 in 6 boys experience an unwanted sexual act.
Source: Child Sexual Abuse (The Canadian Badgley Royal Commission, Report on Sexual Offences Against Children and Youths), 1984. (pg. 175) - courtesy Little Warriors

There are nearly a million children in B.C. 20% of that is close to 200,000. Even if we used a very conservative number of 1 in 10 children, that amounts to nearly 100,000. The statistic of 1 in 10 represents children who have been subject to significant sexual abuse. 

But that's not an emergency, like dissing a transgender. What an insane world we live in!

Laurie Throness, the Liberal MLA for Chilliwack-Hope, said his religious beliefs prevented him from supporting legislation to specifically enshrine protection for transgender people in the human rights law. He said he believes in a fixed-gender, which is decided at birth, and described the LGBTQ community as a powerful lobby group intolerant of himself and others who disagree that the law would add necessary protections.

Though its rare for a Liberal MLA to criticize his own government’s legislation, Throness did not go so far as to vote against the bill. Instead, he abstained from voting at all. The bill passed unanimously.

Attorney General Suzanne Anton said the legal change was necessary because many transgender people had clearly told government they did not feel the human rights code adequately protected them under the law.

LGBTQs have a loud voice and use it often. Children have no voice, and so get completely ignored while suffering exponentially more harm than transgenders. 

Vancouver West End NDP MLA Spencer Chandra Herbert said he was pleased that governing B.C. Liberal Party finally enacted the legal change after several years of not enacting his private members’ bills on the subject.

Rare Win for the Good-Guys in War on Christianity

Trinity Western University wins legal battle with N.S. Barristers' Society

Society had argued 'community covenant' discriminated against gay people

By Stephanie Skenderis, Jon Tattrie, CBC News 


Trinity Western University students must sign a covenant recognizing the sacredness of marriage between a man and a woman. (CBC)

Nova Scotia's highest court has upheld a decision to allow future graduates of a conservative and controversial law school to practise in the province.

The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal decision released Tuesday rules in favour of the proposed law school at Trinity Western University in Langley, British Columbia.

Freedom of conscience and religion

is the first fundamental freedom upheld in the charter

- Trinity Western University

The private, Christian university had been turned down by the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society in 2014 because it requires students and staff to abide by a community covenant. The covenant says students must abstain from sexual intimacy that violates the "sacredness of marriage between a man and a woman."

The barristers' society says that covenant violates the Charter of Rights with regards to sexual orientation and so it refused accreditation to graduates.

But the court said the society's council did not have the authority to "issue rulings whether someone in British Columbia 'unlawfully' violated the Human Rights Act or the charter."

The court did not comment on the charter arguments.

'Freedom of conscience'

Trinity Western spokeswoman Amy Robertson has said the covenant has "nothing to do with wanting to push away members of the LGBT communities."

"The community covenant is a core part of defining the TWU community as distinctly Christian," she said Tuesday.

"We are not making a statement about LGBTQ people; we are making a statement about traditional Christian marriage, which is sacred to us. The same covenant calls for all members of the TWU community to respect the dignity of others regardless of their background."

The university took the case to the provincial Supreme Court — and won. The barristers' society's appeal was heard in April.

"Freedom of conscience and religion is the first fundamental freedom upheld in the charter," Robertson said in a news release Tuesday.

"Everyone, religious or not, should celebrate this decision, which amounts to a protection of our freedom and our identity."

The planned law school has already received accreditation in six other provinces: Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador. It is expected to open in 2018.

Legal fights across Canada

The Law Society of Upper Canada (Ontario) rejected the proposed school as well. Trinity Western appealed, but in June, received a negative ruling from the Ontario Court of Appeal. 

The Law Society of British Columbia has also said it will not recognize graduates from the proposed school. That case is before the courts. 

B.C. had originally accepted the University program but then caved under LGBTQ lobbying.

Trinity Western says it ultimately expects the matter to go before the Supreme Court of Canada.

That will be the final skirmish in this battle. Christians should be praying for that event, and praising God for today's ruling.

Colorado’s Legalized Marijuana has Resulted in Hospital Visits for Children

Marijuana-infused gummy candies (L) purchased in Northglenn, Colorado are shown next regular ones. © Rick Wilking / Reuters  Do these people have a brain in their heads? What did they think would happen when you make marijuana gummy bears? Is it spectacular stupidity or do they just not care about children?

The rate of marijuana exposure in young children in Colorado has increased 150 percent since 2014, when recreational marijuana products became available on the legal market, a new study says. This has led to more children ending up in hospitals.

The study, published in the journal JAMA Pediatric on Monday, says that the number of children admitted into hospitals and poison control centers due to being exposed to marijuana has sharply risen in Colorado since the state legalized pot.

Researchers from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, in Aurora, looked at admissions information from a children's hospital and data from a regional poison center between 2009 and 2015. They found that 81 children, all of whom were under 10 years old, were treated at the hospital, and that 163 exposure calls were made to the poison center. The poison center cases increased by 34 percent each year, compared to the average 19 percent increase in the rest of the US.

“Marijuana exposures in young children have resulted in respiratory compromise requiring the use of a ventilator and intensive care unit admission in a handful of cases,” senior author Dr. Genie Roosevelt of the Denver Health and Hospital Authority told CBS News.

Officials had hoped that the child-resistant packaging requirements that are part of the recreational marijuana law would cause a drop in accidental exposures in children, but the increase was more dramatic than expected, Roosevelt said.

Marijuana-related visits to the children’s hospital increased from 1.2 per 100,000 in 2012 – two years before legalization – to 2.3 per 100,000 two years after the law was passed. Half of the children were under three years of age.

That is almost double! And since half of them were under three, we can probably assume that the entire increase has been borne by children under 3.

Research has shown a strong connection between marijuana use in under 16s, and full-blown, irreversible schizophrenia. There has been no research, according to Colorado Children's Hospital, on the effects of marijuana on a one or two year old child. 

We know that short-term effects are inversely proportional to a child's size and weight. Whether there are long-term effects from a single exposure is extremely important to know and state legislators should wipe the dollar signs from their eyes and find out, and start protecting children. It's obvious some parents can't be bothered.

Colorado’s increase is happening faster than the rest of the US, researchers wrote. Most of the time, the marijuana was owned by family or friends.

The main culprit behind the exposure is believed to be edibles, or sweets that are infused with THC - the active ingredient in marijuana. These candies or baked goods are easily mistaken with child-friendly versions, and children who are exposed can become agitated, lethargic, vomit, and lose balance.

Colorado just enacted a bill effective July 1 that bans edible marijuana products that might catch the eye of children. As part of the bill, marijuana can no longer be sold in the shape of humans, animals, or fruits.

They should not allow THC laced candies period. What insanity!

"The caretakers were leaving these in plain sight of children and outside of child-safe packaging," Roosevelt told CBS News. "We'd like people to think of these products as medication. Stored out of sight and away from children, like your aunt's diabetic medication. We need to make that cultural leap.”

You are asking marijuana users to act responsibly....good luck with that.

Last week, the town of Hugo, Colorado, told residents to stop drinking tap water because the municipal supply had tested positive for THC - an unintended consequence of the legal marijuana boom that brought Colorado more than $135 million in tax revenue in 2015.

Twenty-three states have passed laws that allow for medical marijuana use. Washington, Alaska, Oregon, and Washington, DC, have joined Colorado in passing laws that allow marijuana for recreational use by people aged 21 or older.

Today's Terror Attack in Europe - France, Again

#JeSuisPrêtre: Twitter lights up in prayer for priest murdered in Normandy

Another, in a string of terror attacks in Europe! This is the 6th attack between Germany and France 

in less than two weeks. All of them committed by Muslim men, at least half by migrants.

Welcome to the new Europe, enriched by embracing the Religion of Peace.

This picture obtained on the website of the Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray parish on July 26, 2016 shows late priest Jacques Hamel celebrating a mass on June 11, 2016 in the church of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, Normandy © HO / AFP

Social media users, including clergymen, are taking to Twitter to pray for the Catholic priest killed in a suspected terror attack in northern France Tuesday.

The hashtag #JeSuisPrêtre (I am priest) is being used to condemn the ongoing violence and pay respect to the priest who reportedly had his throat slit by two men who held five hostages in a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray.

Fellow clergymen have also paid respect to the 84-year-old priest,  Father Jacques Hamel, murdered in the attack.

This priest based in Paris, urged people to pray for the victims and killer and not seek vengeance.

Father Hamel’s death was confirmed by the Archbishop of Rouen, Dominique Lebrun, in a statement as he urged people to pray for the victims and “not give into violence”.

Father Hamel has been described by members of the community as a warm and peaceful man.

Claude-Albert Seguin, a 68-year-old pensioner, told The Associated Press that “everyone knew him very well. He was very loved in the community and a kind man.''

Mohammed Karabila, president of the Regional Muslim Council of Normandy, told The Local he was “distressed at the death of his friend.”

“Our religious communities always worked together,” he said. “For the past 18 months, and the beginning of the attacks in France, we had meetings in the interfaith committee, and we communicated a lot.”

Father Hamel was awarded a Golden Jubilee for serving 50 years in the priesthood in 2008. At the time of the attack, he had been filling in for another priest, Auguste Moanda-Phuati, who has been the parish priest for the past five years.

"I could not possibly imagine that such a thing would happen to us," Moanda-Phuati said.

The two assailants were shot dead by police and another hostage is reported to be in a serious condition.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls took to Twitter to brand the attack as "barbaric", saying the Catholic community and France as a whole is hurting.

President  François Hollande has confirmed the incident as a terror attack at a press conference in Seine Maritime.

"We are facing a group - Daesh [IS] - who have declared war and we have to fight this war using all means possible,” he said.

IS, themselves, have also claimed responsibility for the attack.

String of attacks

The Ansbach bombing is the fourth attack in southern Germany -- and the third in the state of Bavaria -- in recent days, which also came on the heels of the Bastille Day ISIS attack in Nice, France, that killed 84 people.

A police officer stands guard in Ansbach. 

Speaking at a press conference Monday, Hermann acknowledged it had been a "very terrible week" in Bavaria.

"Yes, this was also for me personally a very terrible week, as I think it was for most of the people in Bavaria. The attack last Monday on the train in Wurzburg, then the rampage ... in Munich Friday night, and now again an attack."

The stabbing attack in Wurzburg, which authorities said appeared motivated by ISIS propaganda, has left four people hospitalized, including one in an induced coma, medical officials said.

The Munich shooting spree was carried out by an 18-year-old German-Iranian with dual nationality, who killed nine people before killing himself in a shopping district.

Police said the gunman was a mentally troubled individual who was obsessed with mass shootings and may have planned the attack for a year. Authorities have not found a link to terror groups.

And on Sunday, hours before the Ansbach attack, a 21-year-old Syrian refugee killed a Polish woman with a machete in the city of Reutlingen.

Germans were shocked by sexual assaults of women blamed on immigrants at New Year's Eve festivities in Cologne and other cities, and three Syrian men were arrested last month on suspicions they were planning to carry out a mass casualty attack in Dusseldorf.

======================================================================================

Failed Turkish Coup Attempt Sympathizers Suffer Torture & Rape – Amnesty

If you feared for the health and well-being of the thousands

of people arrested by Turkey, your fears were justified

A policeman checks a soldier beaten by the mob after troops involved in the coup attempt surrendered on the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey July 16, 2016. © Murad Sezer / Reuters

Amnesty International has gathered “credible evidence” that people arrested in relation to the past week’s failed coup attempt have been often arbitrary detained, deprived of contacts with family and lawyers as well as go through “severe” tortures.

The detainees arrested over alleged links to the foiled coup attempt are being arbitrarily held, sometimes in informal detention places such as sports centers and stables. They are also not properly informed about the charges against them, Amnesty International said in a statement, published on its official website.

Some detainees, including at least three judges, were held in the corridors of courthouses.

Amnesty also obtained “extremely alarming accounts of torture and other ill-treatment of detainees” from their lawyers, doctors and a person on duty in a detention facility.

According to these reports, police held detainees in stress positions for up to 48 hours, denied them food, water and medical treatment, verbally abused and threatened them and subjected them to beatings and torture, including rape and sexual assault.

Based on the information given by a person on duty at Ankara Police Headquarters’ sports hall to Amnesty, a detainee suffered severe wounds after apparently being beaten by police. He could not stand up or focus his eyes and he eventually lost consciousness. Police refused to allow this detainee to receive basic medical treatment and a police doctor reportedly said: “Let him die. We will say he came to us dead.”

According to the evidence obtained by Amnesty, 650-800 male soldiers were being held in the Ankara police headquarters sports hall. At least 300 of them had signs proving that they were beaten, with some of them even having broken bones. About 40 were unable to walk because of serious injuries sustained in custody.

Amnesty also collected accounts of police officers saying that the detainees are being beaten so that “they would talk.” Many detainees are also handcuffed behind their backs with plastic zip-ties and forced to kneel for hours or are blindfolded.

At the same time, Amnesty stressed that the worst treatment in detention was reserved for higher-ranking military officers. Two lawyers in Ankara told the NGO they saw senior military officers in detention being raped with a truncheon or finger by police officers.

Amnesty International interviewed more than 10 lawyers in both Ankara and Istanbul who gave information about the conditions of their clients’ confinement. The lawyers represented up to 18 detainees each.

Most of their clients are soldiers but there are also judges, prosecutors, police, and other civil servants among them.

The interviewees also told the human rights organization that based on what detainees told them police deprived them of food for up to three days and water for up to two days. Some detainees are also reportedly in extreme emotional distress and even attempt suicide.

“Reports of abuse including beatings and rape in detention are extremely alarming, especially given the scale of detentions that we have seen in the past week. The grim details that we have documented are just a snapshot of the abuses that might be happening in places of detention,” said Amnesty International’s Europe director John Dalhuisen.

"It is absolutely imperative that the Turkish authorities halt these abhorrent practices and allow international monitors to visit all these detainees in the places they are being held,” he added, stressing that “failing to condemn ill-treatment or torture in these circumstances is tantamount to condoning it.”

Amnesty also stressed that depriving detainees of access to lawyers and family and holding them in unofficial detention facilities as well as arbitrary detentions amount to “enforced disappearance which in itself is a crime under international law.”

This practice places detainees outside the protection of the law and cuts them off from the outside world, putting them at very high risk of torture or even extrajudicial execution, the NGO stressed.

Amnesty also emphasized that independent monitors must be allowed to access detainees amid torture allegations and called on the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) to conduct an emergency visit to Turkey to monitor conditions of detention.

As a member of the Council of Europe, the Turkish government has an obligation to cooperate with the CPT, it said.

“Amnesty International urges the Turkish authorities to adhere to their obligations under international human rights law and not to abuse the state of emergency by trampling on the rights of detainees,” said John Dalhuisen.

Following a failed coup attempt on July 15, Turkey launched a massive crackdown on the alleged coup supporters. It also introduced a state of emergency on Wednesday, which, according to the deputy prime minister, means a means temporary suspension of the European Convention on Human Rights.

In total, 13,165 people have been detained for alleged involvement in the foiled coup attempt in Turkey that occurred on Friday July 15, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

“Some 8,838 among the detained are soldiers, 2,101 are judges and prosecutors, 1,485 are police officers, 52 are local authorities and 689 are civilians,” he said as quoted by Turkish Hurriyet daily.

In the meantime, 934 schools, 109 dormitories, 15 universities, 104 foundations, 35 health institutions, 1,125 associations and 19 unions were closed over alleged links to what Erdogan described as “the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization.” Their assets were seized by the state.

On Saturday, Turkish authorities arrested a man, whom a presidency official described as the "right hand" of US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, who President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused of masterminding the failed coup attempt.

Earlier Saturday, Muhammet Sait Gulen, Fettulah Gulen’s nephew, was arrested on the orders of the chief prosecutor of Ankara.

Meanwhile, Erdogan told France 24 on Saturday that the arrested coup plotters “are starting to confess.” He also justified the imposition of the state of emergency by saying that it is actually aimed at supporting and strengthening democracy. He also said that it could easily be prolonged if necessary.

"Starting to confess" - out of a guilty conscience, I'm sure....

Horrible Persecution of Christians Around the World

“Worthless Christians” Treated “Like Animals”

By Raymond Ibrahim


Raymond Ibrahim, a Middle East and Islam specialist, is author of Crucified Again: Exposing Islam’s New War on Christians (2013) and The Al Qaeda Reader (2007). His writings have appeared in a variety of media, including the Los Angeles Times and Middle East Quarterly. 

Ibrahim regularly briefs governmental agencies, provides expert testimony for Islam-related lawsuits, and testifies before Congress. He is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum, and a Media Fellow at the Hoover Institution, 2013.

“Dr. Berhane Asmelash, a former prisoner and victim of torture, described prisoners being tied up and hung from trees. One form of hanging is known as the ‘Jesus Christ,’ he said, because the victim looks as though they are on a crucifix.” — Eritrea.


Five Christian girls were kidnapped, forcibly converted to Islam, and forced to marry their captors. — Pakistan.

“We expect the Swedish Government and the concerned authorities to immediately make sure that these people are safe. A distinct asylum accommodation for Christians and other asylum seekers is essential. We appeal to you to set off such a place and give the word asylum back its true meaning of protection and safety.” — Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church.

In his response, the Director General of the Swedish Migration Board said that separate housing for Christians and other vulnerable groups “would go against principles and values that are central to Swedish society and our democracy.”

But, apparently, Christian persecution does not!

Muslim Attacks on Christian Churches

United States: A pro-ISIS group called the United Cyber Caliphate defaced the website of the Christian Reformed Church in Lamont, Michigan. A 15-year-old girl discovered the vandalism, which consisted of an ISIS propaganda video and Arabic text. The recruiter featured in the video says, “We will conquer your Rome, break your crosses and enslave your women by the permission of Allah, the Exalted. This is His promise to us, He is glorified and He does not fail in His promise.”

Ethiopia: Muslims in the majority-Christian country started riots in the East Shewa Zone to attack Christians whom they accused of converting Muslims. They burned down 14 churches of different denominations and left more than 2,000 Christians without places for worship. One church cemetery was also vandalized. A church leader said: “We have been worshipping outside and sitting on the bare ground bearing the hot sun. We appeal to our brothers elsewhere to come and assist us. The attackers poured petrol and were chanting ‘Allahu Akbar’ [Allah is Greater] before setting the church building on fire.”

Uganda: Around midnight on April 12, a mob of Muslims demolished a Christian church. They were heard chanting: “We cannot live together with neighbors who are infidels. We have to fight for the cause of Allah.” Musical instruments, more than 500 plastic chairs and other property were also destroyed. Two days earlier, a group of Muslims shouted “Allah only is to be worshipped, and Muhammad is his prophet” and slaughtered a church leader’s pigs, a key source of income. He had previously received a text message saying, “Let this be known to your church members that pigs are extremely unholy and an abomination before Allah, very outrageous and shameful. They are haram [forbidden] and unlawful as our holy Quran does prohibit them.” A church member also received a message that read, “We are soon coming for the heads of your pigs.” He soon found that eight of his swine had been killed.

Iraq: The Islamic State blew up Mosul’s iconic Clock Church, famed for its soaring clock tower, with explosives. According to the Assyrian International News Agency, “Militants cordoned off areas surrounding the church and looted the building for profitable artifacts and antiquities before destroying the remaining parts with explosives…. The Clock Church….became a target of ISIS attacks last year, when its cross was removed.” Although Mosul was once home to about 45 churches, most have either been destroyed or converted into courts or jailhouses since the Islamic State took over in June 2014.

Indonesia: An Islamist group vandalized a new church in Bekasi and demanded that the local mayor cancel its permit. The Santa Clara Church had received its permit in July 2015 and opened this year on March 7. The Islamic Forum Community and other Muslim leaders accused church leaders of acquiring the permit through false means. The mayor of Bekasi denied the allegation and refused to annul the church’s permit. He said it had fulfilled all the legal requirements necessary for construction. “Despite this,” explained the Asian Human Rights Commission, “law enforcement agencies have failed to protect the Santa Clara Church congregants; in fact, it seems the agencies have no will or policy to enforce the law against vigilantes. As a result, the church congregation lives under pressure and intimidation.” The rights group further called upon the local police to “take a strong stance” against the Islamic Forum Community and “ensure that the government guarantees protection to the Santa Clara congregation to practice their religion.”

Algeria: “Churches in Algeria are facing intimidation and harassment, despite constitutional provisions guaranteeing freedom of worship in the country,” noted World Watch Monitor on April 29. That week, authorities claimed that a church in the Kabylie region was ordered to cease all religious activities on the grounds that it was violating a 2006 law that regulated non-Muslim worship. Authorities threatened to commence legal proceedings against the church if Christian worship continued there. Last February, authorities issued a notice to the church in the town of Aït Djima, also in Kabylie, citing the same law. Critics say the 2006 law, which is aimed at regulating all religious worship except Islamic worship, is used as a tool of persecution by the authorities. According to Rev. Haddad, pastor of a Protestant church in the city of Algiers: “It is an unjust law against Christians, who were denied their right to worship and the opportunity to share the Gospel freely…. the situation of Christians in Algeria will not improve until the outright law, which is no longer justified, is repealed.”

Turkey: Six churches were seized by the government this April. After ten months of conflict in the nation’s southeast, the government expropriated huge sections of property in the region’s largest city, Diyarbakir. “But to the dismay of the city’s handful of Christian congregations,” notes a World Watch Monitor, “this includes all its Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant churches. Unlike the state-funded mosques, Turkey’s ancient church buildings – some of which pre-date Islam – have been managed, historically, by church foundations. The new decision has effectively made the Diyarbakir churches – one 1,700 years old, another built only in 2003 – state property of Turkey, an Islamic country of 75 million.” Few Christian houses of worship remain in Turkey’s southeast. Although it is the ancestral homeland of Syrians and Armenians, well over a million of these ethnic Christians were massacred and sent on death marches during the final years of the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the 20th century.

Palestinian Territories: In Gaza City, authorities demolished a recently discovered, 1,800-year-old Christian church and its treasured artifacts, despite attempts by Palestinian Christians to save them. Protests failed to win the attention of the international community, including United Nations agencies such as UNESCO, whose mission is to secure the world’s cultural and natural heritage. The ancient church was found in an area where Hamas is planning to build a shopping mall. According to the report:

Did you see this one on the news? No, of course you didn't.

“The dramatic discovery of the antiquities did not seem to leave an impression on the construction workers, who removed artifacts and continued with their work at the site… Bulldozers were used to destroy some of the church artifacts — a devastation that drew sharp criticism from Palestinian Christians, some of whom rushed to accuse both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) of copying ISIS tactics in demolishing historic sites. For Palestinian Christians, the destruction of the church… ruins is yet a further attempt by Palestinian Muslim leaders to efface both Christian history and signs of any Christian presence in the Palestinian territories.”

Muslim Slaughter of Christians

Nigeria: Muslim Fulani herdsmen slaughtered approximately 40 people in a Christian majority village and burned Christ Holy Church International to the ground. Ten homes were razed by arson, cars and motorcycles were destroyed, and animals randomly killed. From his hospital bed a survivor said, “I was coming out from the house when I heard the community bell ringing. I was going with a friend to know what the bell was all about, only to see about 40 Fulani herdsmen armed with sophisticated guns and machetes. They pursued us, killed my friend and shot at me several times but missed. They caught up with me and used machetes on me until I lost consciousness.”

Pakistan: After a Christian man warned local Muslim drug dealers to “stop recruiting young Christians to participate in the sale and consumption of drugs,” two men assaulted him while he was working in the field and “sliced open his throat.” According to local pastor Alfred Azam, “This is not the first incident of persecution of Christians in our village, local Muslims are always creating problems for our Christian community. Before and after our church services Muslim drug dealers swarm around our church trying to sell drugs to our vulnerable youth…” Azam explained that drug pushers regularly beat young Christians and force them to take drugs to try to get them addicted. “When our older men tell these criminals to leave our young people alone they get killed.” As usual, police officials “refused to register a report for the crime or take any action whatsoever.”

Separately, Muslims lynched a Christian, 18-year-old Qaisar Masih, on the accusation that he was romantically involved with a Muslim girl. He was “killed by the girl’s family in an attack led by her father, Mohammad Billa.” They had warned Qaisar not to have anything to do with her and threatened to kill him. According to Qaisar’s sister, he was hanged after being killed to make it look like suicide:

“My brother was innocent, he tried not to contact Mehwish [the Muslim girl] but Mehwish said that she cannot live without him… We told her sisters to ask Mehwish to avoid my brother because her father is a criminal and he will kill my brother. But none of our efforts could save my brother.”

Qaisar’s mother, Rani Sardar, said: “We all know who killed my son, he was the youngest, he was the apple of my eye and they killed him brutally and hanged him in front of our house. I only demand justice.”

Syria: ISIS militants slaughtered 21 Christian hostages, three of whom were women, in the town of al-Qaryatain. This was discovered after the town was retaken by Russian-backed Syrian forces in April. Some were reportedly killed for violating the terms of their “dhimmi contract,” Islam’s discriminatory body of rules that govern Christian minorities and others. Another five missing Christians were believed to be dead, while many girls are believed to have been sold into sex slavery.

Muslim Attacks on Christian Freedom
(No Apostasy, Blasphemy, or Proselytization)

Uganda: A Muslim man beat and threatened to butcher his wife because of her commitment to Christ. The 38-year-old woman had fled to another village with their four children after he first beat her a year ago upon discovery of her conversion. “My husband shouted, ‘Allah Akbar,’ then he took a blunt object and hit me on my left hand,” she said. “I cried for help, and neighbors arrived and saved my life. I then slept at a neighbor’s house with my four children that very night.” Last April she went back to visit her estranged husband to discuss child support. It wasn’t long before the man began again to harass the woman again her faith:

“Again I answered him that Jesus is my Lord and Savior, and he took a panga[machete 16 to 18 inches long], but I managed to get hold of him before he could hit me, so the panga dropped, and he started strangling me. His younger brother woke up and rescued me. I then managed to escape.”

Before a judge, the Muslim man showed no regret. “I cannot live with the kafir [infidel] in my house,” he explained, “unless she returns back to my religion. If not, I will not stop hunting for her life, because our Holy Koran allows us to kill any apostate from Islam.”

Kenya: After a Muslim man named Godana converted to Christianity, his life changed for the worse. His troubles began last October, when his wife was hospitalized and treated for an unspecified but deadly illness for three weeks with no signs of recovery. “Soon thereafter,” notes the Morningstar News, “they received a visit from an Evangelist with the Evangelical Christian Church of Africa (ECCA), who prayed for her. His wife was not completely healed, but she was able to go about most of her daily activities, and a week later the couple invited the Evangelist and two other church leaders to their home. The couple decided to become followers of Jesus after talking and giving thanks with the church leaders, and they began meeting at their home for Bible study and prayer.” Soon Muslim neighbors informed Godana’s relatives that the couple had left Islam for Christianity. The same report continues, “Godana’s in-laws began sending him threatening texts: ‘You had a Muslim marriage, so it is against Islam to change your faith,’ one read. ‘If you continue in the Christian faith, we shall come and take our daughter.’ Then, in February, Godana’s in-laws took his wife. A few weeks later, they came and seized his young children as well.

Turkey: An American Evangelist was detained and later released by authorities—but only on the condition that he leave Turkey and never return. David Byle was declared “a danger to public order,” by authorities on April 6. The grounds for the claim that Byle was a “danger to public order” were never specified. Those close to Byle, 46, describe him as being “mild-mannered, polite and calm” and believe that he was detained and ordered deported because of his Evangelical activities. He was released on April 14 and given a “no-reentry order.” The arrest took place days before Byle was set to teach a class to a group of Turks on how to tell people about the gospel.

Egypt: An Egyptian Christian, Bishoy Kameel Garas, was finally declared “innocent”— but not before serving more than half of his six-year sentence. Bishoy was jailed in September 2012 for his alleged defamation of Islam. The charges were all connected to a fake Facebook account in his name. Bishoy was imprisoned even though he had posted warnings on his own Facebook page regarding the false account and had alerted cyber police whose subsequent investigation supported his innocence. According to the Barnabas Fund, “The court was besieged by mobs demanding his punishment and even accusing his defense lawyers of blasphemy for defending him.” Although innocent of the defamation charge, he lost his job as a teacher, which left his already impoverished father to pay for his legal fees; and although he spent more than three years of his life in prison, rights activists believe it is highly unlikely he will receive any reparations from the state.

Europe: Muslim migrants who thought they were now free to quit Islam and convert to Christianity continue to ” fear murderous Islamic retaliation in Europe.” According to a Breitbart report:

Many migrants who are recent converts to Christianity fear retaliation from Muslims and that converting may become a “death sentence.” One of the more surprising aspects of the migrant crisis has been the number of Muslims from places like Syria and Afghanistan, that have been converting to Christianity in Austrian churches. The Archdioceses of the Austrian capital in Vienna can hardly keep up with the requests as they get five to ten per week. So far this year 83 percent of the recorded adult baptisms into the Catholic faith have been Muslims compared to 2015 when they were only 33 percent, reports Kurier. Muslims who convert and leave Islam face a very real potential for violence and even death. A migrant to Austria who now calls himself Christopher told the Kurier, “this could be my death sentence.” Christopher came to Austria in 2012 and requested that his new Christian name be used because he fears not only reprisal against himself but his family as well.

Dhimmitude
(Contempt, Hostility, and Violence for “Infidels”)

Eritrea: Hundreds of Christians are currently believed to be in Eritrean jails, while tens of thousands have fled the country. According to Christian Today , for more than a decade the regime has been persecuting Christians, who make up roughly half of the population. Many churches have been closed and many Christians have been tortured. Christians who fled from Eritrea and are currently housed in an Ethiopia-based refugee camp revealed some of their experiences:

Elsa fled after her sister was beaten to death by prison guards: “We were kept in underground cells. Sometimes the guards put us both in a metal shipping container to torture us. This became so hot during the day and then in the night it became freezing cold. We didn’t get much to eat and there was no medical treatment. The guards offered to let us go, but only if we renounced our faith in Jesus. We said no.” One night the guards took turns beating Elsa and her sister. Recalling that night, Elsa said, “I will never forget hearing the screams of my sister. I never saw her again.”

According to a refugee named Dawit, “When I was living in Eritrea I was arrested because of my Christian faith. That’s why I left. In Eritrea almost every Christian faces imprisonment.” He spent more than a month in prison, and later in a hard labor camp. He was tortured and forced to sleep every night with his hands and feet lashed together behind his back.

“Dr. Berhane Asmelash, a former prisoner and victim of torture, described prisoners being tied up and hung from trees. One form of hanging is known as the ‘Jesus Christ,’ he said, because the victim looks as though they are on a crucifix.”

Egypt: Another Christian child was kidnapped and later released for a staggering ransom. Anthonius Farag, 13, was abducted from his school on April 5, in the village of Mansheyyit Manbal. His kidnappers released a Muslim child after identifying his religion by his name, but kept the Christian boy. According to the parent of another Christian pupil who was also nearly kidnapped:

“My son, Kyrellos, was standing with both fellow pupils Anthonius and Mohamed when one of the kidnappers approached them. [The kidnapper] inquired about their names. They let go of Mohamed, but [because of their Christian names] gripped hold of Kyrellos and Anthonius. My son managed to escape, while other boys started screaming. One of the kidnappers shot rounds in the air to disperse the crowd, as the others quickly pushed Anthonius into the car and fled.”

Three days later, the kidnapped boy’s father received a call demanding a ransom of two million Egyptian Pounds—more than $225,000 USD—in return for his son. The father, who received little help from police, eventually managed to get the kidnappers to drop the ransom to 300,000 Egyptian Pounds ($34,000 US)—still more than 300 times an agricultural worker’s monthly wages. It was all that he, a farmer, could raise, taking up a collection from Christians who earned more. After he was released, Anthonius recalled his ordeal, which included beatings and being kept in a dark room blindfolded. This latest case is not isolated. According to records from the Upper Egyptian province of Qena alone, there have been at least 72 cases of kidnappings, extortion and related violence against Christians in the period from 2011 to 2014.

Separately, Dr. Yassir al-Burhami, Egypt’s premier Salafi, was exposed in a video inciting hate for and violence against the nation’s Christians. He also decried giving them their full human and civil rights: “When you cooperate with a criminal, aggressive, oppressive, infidel minority, you attack the rights of the majority [Muslims].”

Pakistan: Two Muslim men invaded the home of a Christian woman while her husband was away serving in the army. After beating her, they tied her arms and legs down to her bed and gang raped her while threatening to slaughter her 2-year-old infant daughter if she did not comply. According to the victim, 30-year-old Asia Mushtaq:

The men treated me like an animal, telling me I was a worthless Christian, but I know my God is a great God. When I screamed they told me that they knew my husband was away and that I was unprotected. They threatened to kill my child if I did not comply with their perverse demands. They said Christian women are all whores and they would come back and repeat their debauchery if I ever told anyone. I feel so unclean now, but have done nothing wrong. I want these men to be punished and hope the law will protect me.

Wilson Chowdhry, chairman of the British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA), said of the incident:

Another woman finds herself a target of the whims of brutal Muslim rapists in Pakistan, in a society that targets its most vulnerable community: Christians. Furthermore, this time a soldier, whose only desire was to serve and protect his country, has found that the majority of his country do not feel the same way about him. Moreover, the army he serves has offered little or no protection despite threats being made against him and his family. It pains me to say this but the complex acts of betrayal leave me feeling that Christians have no place in Pakistan’s theocratic society.

In a separate incident in April, five Christian girls were kidnapped, converted to Islam, and forced to marry their captors.

Sweden: Christians continue to be persecuted by Muslims in asylums. One Christian was threatened with “slaughter” — having his throat cut — by a self-proclaimed Jihadi. According to the same report by Christian Today, “A Pakistani Christian couple moved into a church when the husband’s name was sprayed on a wall near their room calling for his death. A separate group of asylum seekers were forced to leave their accommodation when their harassment escalated.” Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II, head of the Syriac Orthodox Church, called on Swedish authorities to get involved in the crisis. “This situation does not reflect the culture of the peaceful and loving Swedish people,” he wrote, adding:

Christians do not live in refugee camps in the Middle East, because, there too, they are persecuted by Muslim extremists… To witness that they are once more being persecuted at Swedish asylum accommodations make[s] us very sad. We expect the Swedish Government and the concerned authorities to immediately make sure that these people are safe. A distinct asylum accommodation for Christians and other asylum seekers is essential. We appeal to you to set off such a place and give the word asylum back its true meaning of protection and safety.

In his response, the Director General of the Swedish Migration Board, Anders Danielsson, said that separate housing for Christians and other vulnerable groups “would go against principles and values that are central to Swedish society and our democracy. It would be considered a great failure having to resort to segregation as a measure.”


Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II (left) of the Syriac Orthodox Church requested that Sweden’s government ensure the safety of Christian refugees in Sweden, by moving them out of asylum seekers’ housing where Muslim residents are persecuting them. Anders Danielsson (right), Director General of the Swedish Migration Board, replied that separate housing for Christians and other vulnerable groups “would go against principles and values that are central to Swedish society and our democracy.”

Sudan: An Egyptian-born Christian monk serving in the African nation was kidnapped. Rev. Ghabrial al-Antony was working on his brother’s farm in Sudan’s Darfur region when three men appeared, tied up his brother, and abducted al-Antony. “We don’t know who they are or why they kidnapped him.”