War on Christianity > Indian Church Attacked by 200 Hindus; 17 US Christians Kidnapped in Haiti; 300 Persecuted in India 2021; 7 Pastors Arrested in UP; 17 Coptics Missing in Libya

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200 radicals attack church service in India; Christian leaders

demand authorities take action

By Anugrah Kumar, 

Christian Post Contributor| 

Monday, October 11, 2021

A religious cross is captured through some ornamental railings in the Fort Kochi area

in the state of Kerala in South India. | Getty Images

Christian leaders in India are demanding action be taken against a mob of 200 radical Hindu nationalists who left a church damaged and at least three Christian women seriously injured in an attack in India's northern state of Uttarakhand.

The attackers accused the church of "illegally" converting people to Christianity.

The Union of Catholic Asian News reports that a police complaint indicates that the mob attacked the church on Oct. 3 in Roorkee city's Solanipuram Colony and comprised members of the governing Bharatiya Janata Party and radical Hindu nationalist groups associated with the party, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal.

As the service was about to begin, the mob reportedly barged into the church, thrashed the congregants and vandalized church properties, injuring at least three Christian women who were taken to a hospital in Dehradun city.

Video footage of the damage caused by the attack was posted on social media.

The attackers claimed the church was engaged in illegal conversion activities.

The police complaint acknowledges that 200 people attacked the church, but no one was initially reported to have been arrested. However, a case has been filed against the perpetrators. 

"We demand strict action against them and police protection for us," Prio Sadhana Lanse, a leader in the church and who filed the police complaint, was quoted as saying.

Lanse said the church members recognized many individuals in the mob as they had previously threatened to shut down the church.

"The church that was attacked has been active for the past 30 to 40 years," Rev. Titoo Peter, a Methodist pastor, told UCA News. "Christians in Roorkee enjoy good relations with people of other faiths, and this is the first incident of a church being attacked. It is the handiwork of some bad elements who do not want peace and harmony in the area."

While some of these laws existed for decades in some states, no Christian has been convicted of "forcibly" converting anyone to Christianity. These laws, however, enable Hindu nationalist groups to make false charges against Christians. Nationalists are emboldened to attack churches under the pretext of the alleged forced conversion.

Hindu nationalists have accused Christians of giving financial benefits to Hindus to convert them to Christianity. Anti-conversion laws state that no one is allowed to use the "threat" of "divine displeasure." This means Christians can't talk about Heaven or Hell. Also, if snacks or meals are served to Hindus after an evangelistic meeting, that could be seen as an "inducement."

Christians make up about 2.5% of India's population, while Hindus comprise 79.5%.

India ranks as the 10th-worst country globally when it comes to Christian persecution, according to Open Doors USA's 2021 World Watch List. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has urged the U.S. State Department to label India as a "country of particular concern" for engaging in or tolerating severe religious freedom violations.

Open Doors USA warns that since the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party took power in 2014, persecution against Christians and other religious minorities has increased.

The group reports that "Hindu radicals often attack Christians with little to no consequences."

Armed gang kidnaps up to 17 American Christian missionaries,

including children, in Haiti – reports

17 Oct, 2021 10:46

FILE PHOTO. Port-au-Prince, Haiti. © FRED DUFOUR / AFP

Between 15 and 17 US missionaries and their families are reportedly being held by a gang in Haiti. Although the country is infamous for kidnappings, the abduction of such a large group of foreigners is nonetheless unusual.

The group was kidnapped on Saturday, while traveling on a bus not far from the Caribbean nation’s capital, Port-au-Prince, an initial report by the New York Times stated. Citing Haitian officials, the NYT said 17 hostages – among them US missionaries and their family members – had been abducted. At least three children were believed to be with the group, CNN reported. On Sunday, local security sources confirmed to the AFP news agency that at least 15 Americans had been kidnapped, and said they were being held by an armed gang.

The group had reportedly been heading to the airport after visiting an orphanage, when one of its members had posted an SOS message in a WhatsApp group. Cited by the Washington Post, it read, “We are being held hostage. They kidnapped our driver. Pray, pray, pray. We don’t know where they are taking us.” 

No further details about the missionaries or their church is currently available, but news of their abduction was disseminated among other religious aid groups via a “special prayer alert” sent out by Ohio’s Christian Aid Ministries, which is said to have direct knowledge of the incident. It said a field director of the mission whose members have been kidnapped had been staying at a base in Haiti at the time of the incident and was now working with the US Embassy there to try to resolve the crisis. 

No official statement has so far been issued by the embassy, while the US State Department said it was “aware of these reports,” but did not provide any further details.

Haiti has been engulfed in turmoil for years. The security and economic situation has worsened over the past several months, however, after President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated at his residence in July, and an earthquake hit the country in August, killing more than 2,000 people and leaving tens of thousands homeless.

Kidnappings have recently become much more common in the country, often happening in broad daylight. Those abducted include schoolchildren, pastors, police on patrol and even poor street vendors. Estimated to be the highest recorded per-capita kidnapping rate in the world, the number of abductions this year has spiked dramatically and already exceeds 600. According to the Center for Analysis and Research in Human Rights, a civil society group based in the capital, at least 628 kidnappings, including 29 of foreigners, have taken place since January. In 2020, 234 abductions were reported to the police, according to the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti.

Where's Rodrigo Duterte when you need him! 

Please pray for these Christians and please pray for Haiti. Nothing barring a series of miracles can save that hapless and hopeless country.

Over 300 Incidents of Christian Persecution Have Occurred

across India in 2021

Milton Quintanilla | 

Contributor for ChristianHeadlines.com | 

Monday, October 25, 2021

A street in India, Pastor beaten in India for refusing to help pay for tribal rituals

According to a recent report by human rights groups in India, more than 300 incidents of Christian persecution have taken place in the country in just the first nine months of 2021.

The report, titled "Christians Under Attack in India," was published by United Against Hate, the United Christian Forum and the Association of Protection of Civil Rights. The groups also held a joint press conference in Delhi last week detailing the findings.

"The brutal attacks have taken place across 21 states. Most of the incidents are taking place in northern states, and 288 instances were of mob violence," A.C. Michael, the National Coordinator of the United Christian Forum, said at the press conference.

As reported by International Christian Concern, the continued attacks on believers may result in the highest incidents of Christian persecution recorded in a single year.

"This is a scary situation, raising critical questions over the role and the position of the National Human Rights Commission and the Home [Interior] Ministry and their failures in stopping this violence," Michael added. "Over 49 FIRs [police complaints] have been registered, too, but no substantial action has taken place."

India is ranked 10 on Open Doors USA's 2021 World Watch List of countries where Christians experience persecution.

Since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party took power in 2014, Christians and other religious minorities have faced increasing incidents of persecution. According to The Christian Post, Hindus comprise about 80 percent of radical nationalists, while Christians only make up 2.3 percent of the population.

Across India, nine states have enacted anti-conversion laws which have permitted radical Hindus to persecute Christians with impunity.

Earlier this month, a mob of some 200 radical Hindu nationalists ravaged a local church, which left at least three Christian women seriously injured. The attackers, who were associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party, claimed that the church was "illegally" converting Hindus to Christianity.

Michael, however, denied the mob's claims of forced conversions.

"The fears which are being fueled of Christians converting Hindus are baseless," he contended.

Seven Pastors arrested on anti-conversion laws in Uttar Pradesh

The Voice of the Martyrs (Canada) 

1 d  · 

Seven pastors were arrested on October 10th in the Mau district of Uttar Pradesh, India. They were accused of violating the state's anti-conversion legislation, and subsequently charged with "illegal assembly."

The pastors had gathered together for a prayer meeting when they were detained. Fifty other Christians were also detained at the time but later released, including two Catholic nuns who were merely waiting at a nearby bus stop and had no connection with the gathering. At last report, the pastors remained in custody, but their lawyer was working on obtaining bail.

Anti-conversion laws have been widely abused throughout India. Hindu nationalists frequently accuse Christians to justify harassment. In the words of one pastor: "Police officials often don't bother to record our complaints. This further emboldens our attackers and we have to bear the brunt." More information on the persecution of Christians in India has been made available here: https://vomcanada.com/india.htm

17 Coptic Christians go missing in Libya, fears rise

over possible abduction by terrorists

By Anugrah Kumar, 

Christian Post Contributor| 

Monday, October 25, 2021

At least 17 Egyptian Coptic Christians have gone missing in Libya, and it's feared an armed group might have abducted them in the north African country where 21 Coptic Christians were beheaded by ISIS in 2015.

The Coptic Christians, who were living in an Egyptian neighborhood in Tripoli, have either been detained by the authorities or taken by an armed group due to their Christian faith, friends and family believe, according to the U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern, which says that they have been missing since Sept. 30.

The Copts had work visas for labor work in Libya, “but they failed to get work opportunities and the costs of renewing the visas are high and it’s likely that “the police of Libya detained them from September 30 until now,” a lawyer and friend of one the missing Copts was quoted as saying.

“The Copts were staying in the Gargash District in Tripoli,” he added. “In this residency, they were surrounded by so many persons of other countries like India and Bangladesh. So the action of detaining 17 Copts only is such a mysterious action! We are fearing of repeating an incident like the one who did by ISIS. We are contacting the Egyptian Foreign Ministry to intervene in the situation.”

Numerous Coptic Christians cross over to Libya in search of work despite knowing that they will face severe persecution, including death.

The Sunday Times quoted a Coptic Christian as previously saying: “We know it is more likely we will die than live in Libya but we don't have a choice. … More and more people are going to Libya because of the economic crisis here. You can't get work, you can't make money in Egypt. We are aware of the dangers, particularly as Christians.”

Getting work in Egypt is more difficult for a Christian than other demographics. An economic crisis just exacerbates the problem.

In 2017, Libya’s interior ministry said they had found a mass grave with the bodies of 21 Coptic Christians who were beheaded by the Islamic State two years earlier.

“The heads are separated from the bodies clad in orange jumpsuits, hands bound behind the back with plastic wire,” said the ministry’s unit for fighting organized crime in the city of Misurata at the time, according to Agence France Presse.

The authorities came to know about the mass grave near the one-time Islamic State bastion of Sirte, 280 miles east of Tripoli, after an ISIS prisoner confessed to the group's killings.

ISIS had kidnapped the Copts in separate incidents in Libya throughout December 2014 and January 2015. The terrorist group then released the video of their execution on Feb. 15, 2015, showing the Christian men in orange jumpsuits kneeling on the sand as the terrorists stood behind them, ready to carry out the executions at a beach near Tripoli.

ICC earlier reported that the victims' family members took pride in how their loved ones stood up to the Islamic radicals and refused to deny their faith despite the imminent threat of death.

One wife said that her husband “kept the faith, and was martyred in the name of Christ. His faith was very strong. I'm proud of him. He has lifted our heads up and honored us and all the Christians.”

Could you do that? Would you do that? 

Another family member said: “I’m very happy that my brother is in Heaven with Jesus now. I loved my brother when he was alive on the Earth, but now I love him more than before. He was martyred in the name of Jesus Christ.”

Over 900,000 Christians Have Been Killed in 10 Years, at Least 30% Martyred for Their Faith

This is actually a couple years old, but still valid, unfortunately

By Samuel Smith, CP Reporter

Christians attend Sunday service in the Virgin Mary Church at Samalout Diocese in Al-Our village, in Minya governorate, south of Cairo, May 3, 2015. Copts have long complained of discrimination under successive Egyptian leaders and Sisi's actions suggested he would deliver on promises of being an inclusive president who could unite the country after years of political turmoil. However, striking out at extremists abroad might prove easier than reining in radicals at home. Orthodox Copts, the Middle East's biggest Christian community, are a test of Sisi's commitment to tolerance, a theme he often stresses in calling for an ideological assault on Islamist militants threatening Egypt's security.

| (Photo: Reuters/Stringer)

Over 900,000 Christians have been martyred in the last 10 years, a Christian research firm affiliated with Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts estimates.

Gordon-Conwell's Center for the Study of Global Christianity recently released its annual report on the persecution of Christians, which found that as many as 90,000 Christians died for their faith in the last year.

Although the study was released this month, the finding that 90,000 Christians — or one Christian every six minutes — were killed in 2016 was leaked by a prominent Italian sociologist named Massimo Introvigne during an interview with Vatican Radio in December and the report received much media attention before it was even released.

Men in orange jumpsuits purported to be Egyptian Christians held captive by the Islamic State kneel in front of armed men along a beach said to be near Tripoli, in this still image from an undated video made available on social media on February 15, 2015. In the video, militants in black marched the captives to a beach that the group said was near Tripoli. They were forced down onto their knees, then beheaded. Egypt's state news agency MENA quoted the spokesman for the Coptic Church as confirming that 21 Egyptian Christians believed to be held by Islamic State were dead. 

| (Photo: Reuters/Social Media via Reuters TV)

Even though 90,000 Christian martyrs might seem like a lot in one year, the think tank maintains that 90,000 Christians have died each year on average from 2005 to 2015.

"In the last week, several news organizations reported on the persecution of Christians around the world and cited our figure of 90,000 Christian martyrs in 2016," the organization said in an email to supporters. "The Center for the Study of Global Christianity has done extensive research on Christian martyrdom, both historical and contemporary. We estimate that between 2005 and 2015 there were 900,000 Christian martyrs worldwide — an average of 90,000 per year."

Only 30 percent of the 90,000 Christians

were killed because of terrorism

It should be noted that 90,000 Christian martyrs per year is a very liberal estimate. In fact, the organization notes that only 30 percent of the 90,000 Christians were killed because of terrorism. Seventy-percent of the 90,000 Christians were actually killed in tribal conflicts in Africa, which raises the question of whether or not 70 percent of 90,000 Christians were actually killed over their faith or just victims of violent conflicts.

In the email, the center explained the definition of "martyr" it used for its study. Two of the qualifying factors for "martyr" is that the slain Christians must have been in a "situation of witness" and have been killed "as a result of hostility."

"'Witness' in this definition is not restricted to public testimony concerning belief in Jesus," the email explains. "It refers to the individual's entire lifestyle, regardless of whether or not he or she was actively proclaiming at the time of death."

The email adds that the definition "as a result of hostility" takes "a variety of forms including war, conflict, random killing, and genocide, and includes acts by both individuals or groups (such as governments). This excludes deaths through accidents, crashes, illness, or acts of nature."

Last week, the Christian persecution watchdog group Open Doors USA released its 2017 World Watch List of top 50 countries where Christians face the most persecution.

Open Doors estimates that a little over 1,200 Christians were killed for their faith around the globe from Nov. 1, 2015 to Oct. 31, 2016. However, that is a conservative estimate since it only includes documented cases and doesn't include statistics from North Korea and areas of Iraq and Syria, where the Islamic State has killed thousands of people over the last two years.

According to Open Doors, Christian persecution across the world has steadily increased over the last three years and 2016 was "the worst year of persecution on record."

Center for the Study of Global Christianity also found that Christians are the most persecuted religious group throughout the world.

The blood of the Coptic Christians flows into the Mediterranean Sea after they are beheaded by ISIS.

| (Photo: Screen Grab via TKList)

7 Killed in Egypt as Bus Carrying Christian Pilgrims is Ambushed - UPDATED

UPDATE 4Nov18: Egypt reports all who attacked Christian bus, are dead!

Egypt says security forces have killed 19 militants in a shootout, including the gunmen suspected of killing seven Christians in an attack on pilgrims traveling to a remote monastery.

The Interior Ministry says the militants were tracked to a desert hideout west of the central Minya province, where Friday’s attack took place.

The ministry published photographs purporting to show the bodies of the slain militants. It says the men opened fire when security forces surrounded them.

Friday’s attack was the second in as many years to target pilgrims on their way to the monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor. A May 2017 attack left 29 dead.

Christians make up about 10 percent of Egypt’s 100 million people and have long complained of discrimination.
— AP

Original Story follows:

Egypt was hit by a spate of multiple casualty attacks on

Coptic Christians between 2015-2017

The worst part of this theatre in the War on Christianity is that if the Muslim Brotherhood had not been thrown out of government, it would be much worse.

Thomson Reuters 

A man screams beside a bus carrying Coptic Christians that came under attack outside Cairo on Friday. Islamic militants ambushed the bus carrying Christian pilgrims on their way to a monastery south of the Egyptian capital. (Egypt Coptic Orthodox Church via AP)

Gunmen killed at least seven Christians in an attack on a bus near a Coptic monastery in Egypt on Friday, authorities said, in the most serious assault on the minority in more than a year.

No group immediately claimed responsibility, but militants linked to ISIS have regularly targeted Christians.

The attackers struck close to Saint Samuel the Confessor monastery in Minya, 260 kilometres up the River Nile from Cairo, Archbishop of Minya Anba Makarious told Reuters.

The attack took place close to where gunmen killed 28 Christians in a similar assault in May 2017.

"Terrorists opened fire on a tour bus from Sohag province, heading back from the ... monastery," the archbishop said. He had earlier said the bus was approaching the monastery.

He said seven people were killed and 14 were wounded. State news agency MENA, citing a security source, put the number of injured at seven and said the bus was transporting Christians.

Local residents said the bus was part of a convoy.

Egypt's president promises justice

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said he mourned the victims as martyrs, and vowed to push ahead with a campaign against militants.

"I assert our determination to fight dark terrorism and to pursue the perpetrators," he said on Twitter.

Outside Egypt, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the archbishop of Britain's Coptic Orthodox Church were among those condemning the attack and expressing condolences to Egyptians.

Well, that's unusual! Trudeau recognizing the persecution of Christians. Must be an election coming.

Egypt has been waging a major military and security campaign, mainly in Sinai but also on the border with Libya, to crush militants behind a wave of attacks on security forces and civilians, including Christians.

Egypt says fighting Islamist militants is a priority to restore security after the years of turmoil that followed the Arab Spring protests in 2011.

Egypt's public prosecutor ordered an investigation and said he had sent a team of investigators to the location and to nearby hospitals.

‘Volcano of Homosexuality’: Egypt’s Coptic Christians Organise Conference to ‘Treat’ Gays

An act of moral terrorism?

FILE PHOTO © Jamal Saidi / Reuters

The Coptic Church in Egypt has reportedly organized a conference entitled "The Volcano of Homosexuality" which will offer a variety of ways to "treat" homosexuality.

St. Mark's Orthodox Coptic Cathedral in Alexandria will set up the event to increase awareness about "treatments" for homosexuality and how best to ensure a "speedy recovery," reports The New Arab.

A date for the conference has yet to be confirmed but early reports indicate that a number of workshops will be provided at the event by a "homosexuality healing specialist" who will provide instruction on gay conversion therapy.

The Coptic church has previously described same-sex relationships as "immoral" and a "threat" to family stability.

"Therefore this marriage is completely refused from the Christian faith," head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Tawadros II, said when asked about gay marriage, as cited by Step Feed.  

"When God created man and woman and for them the first family was made by man and woman. [gay marriage] is not acceptable and it is considered as a sin. It's sin," he added.  

Homosexuality is taboo in Egypt among the nation's Muslim majority and Christians alike. The country has roughly 77 million Muslims and four million Christians, the vast majority of whom are Coptic.

Seven people were detained for flying the rainbow flag at a concert in Cairo on Monday.

Declaring yourself as a homosexual is not a human right,

Egyptian MP Shadia Thabit

"What happened at the concert cannot be accepted by society. Declaring yourself as a homosexual is not a human right," lawmaker and Egyptian Member of Parliament Shadia Thabit said, as cited by The New Arab.

"How can they openly announce their sins? Don't talk to me about human rights. They should go, get lost far away from us," she said.

Abbas Shouman of the Al-Azhar mosque in Cairo described the incident as an "act of moral terrorism," as cited by Egyptian Streets.

At a 2003 meeting of all Christian churches in Egypt, chaired by the former Pope of the Coptic Church, Shenouda III, leaders opposed attempts to legalize homosexual marriage, reports Egypt Independent.

Police in Egypt use decades-old laws to arrest members of the LGBT community including an anti-prostitution law established in 1950 and a 1961 law against "debauchery" which have been pretexts for raids on gay clubs and events in the country.

Death Toll Up to 29 as Coptic Christians Who Refused to Convert to Islam Were Killed

Survivors of Egypt Christian bus attack recount their horror

Pope calls victims of ISIS attack 'martyrs'

The Associated Press 

Relatives of killed Coptic Christians grieved as they gathered during the funeral at Abu Garnous Cathedral in the north Minya town of Maghagha on Friday.

(Mohamed el-Shahed/AFP/Getty Images)

Survivors of a deadly attack by Islamic militants on a bus taking Egyptian Christians to a remote desert monastery are painting a picture of untold horror, with children hiding under their seats to escape gunfire.

Videos of interviews with the survivors surfaced on social media networks on Sunday, two days after 29 were killed in the attack on a desert road south of the capital. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack on Friday. It was the fourth attack against Christians in Egypt since December to be claimed by the IS. The string of attacks have killed more than 100 and injured scores.

One survivor, a small boy who seemed to be about six, said his mother pushed him under her seat and covered him with a bag. A young woman speaking from her hospital bed said the assailants ordered the women to surrender their jewelry and money before they opened fire, killing the men first and then some of the women.

They chose death

The woman said the gunmen were masked and wore military uniforms.

Bishop Makarios, the top Coptic Orthodox cleric in Minya, the province where the attack took place, said the assailants told Christian men they ordered off the bus they would spare their lives if they converted to Islam.

"They chose death," said Makarios, who has been an outspoken critic of the government's handling of anti-Christian violence in Minya, where Christians account for more than 35 per cent of the population, the highest anywhere in Egypt.

'Holding on to our faith'

"We take pride to die while holding on to our faith," he said in a television interview aired late Saturday.

Makarios confirmed that the assailants stole the women's jewelry and his contention that the men were ordered off the bus before being killed was also confirmed by a video clip purportedly in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. This video showed at least four or five bodies of adult men lying on the desert sand next to the bus; women and other men screamed and cried as they stood or squatted next to the bodies.

Pope Francis recites a prayer from his studio window overlooking St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on Sunday. (Alessandra Tarantino/Associated Press)

Egypt responded to the attack with a wave of airstrikes against suspected militant bases where the military said the perpetrators trained. A manhunt for the assailants in the vast deserts to the west of the site of the attack has so far yielded no arrests.

In the Vatican, Pope Francis, for the second day in a row, expressed his solidarity with Egypt's Coptic Christians following Friday's attack. He led thousands of people in prayer Sunday for the victims, who Francis said were killed in "another act of ferocious violence" after having refused to renounce their Christian faith.

Speaking from his studio window over St. Peter's Square, he said: "May the Lord welcome these courageous witnesses, these martyrs, in his peace and convert the hearts of the violent ones."

I suspect there is nothing there to convert! 

23 Killed in Attack Targeting Egypt's Coptic Christians - Update: Egypt Attacks Libya

Update: May 26, 12:50 PM PST - 

Egypt bombs militant camps in Libya 

Egypt's fighter jets have struck militant camps in the aftermath of the deadly attack on Christians, country's President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi has said.

Egypt’s President vowed to continue striking any bases, used to train militants, who carry out terrorist attacks in the country, regardles of the camps' location, Reuters cited him as saying. He also reiterated call that the countries financing, training and arming terrorists should not get away unpunished.

Original story:

By Andrew V. Pestano  

Egypt's Coptic Christians have been targeted in a deadly attack as at least 23 died in a shooting carried out by unidentified gunmen on Friday. Attacks against Coptic Christians led Egypt's president to declare a three-month state of emergency in April. File Photo by Karem Ahmed/UPI | License Photo

UPI -- Gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying Coptic Christians in the Minya province Friday, killing at least 23 people and injuring 25 others, an Egyptian security official said.

The bus was heading toward the Monastery of St. Samuel on a road near El Edwa city in Minya, about 140 miles south of Cairo. Faisal Dewidar, the director of security for Minya, told Egypt Independent that unknown militants shot the bus, adding that all injured were immediately transferred to the nearest hospital.

The Copts United media outlet said the militants were hiding in a hill overlooking the road until the bus approached and they launched the assault.

Islamic State, or just Islam?

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack but the Islamic State has previously launched attacks targeting Egypt's Coptic Christians.

On Sunday, Egyptian Attorney General Nabil Sadik said he referred 48 suspected Islamic State militants to a military court over the bombing of Coptic churches.

The Islamic State took responsibility for bombing the St. Peter and St. Paul Church in Cairo's al-Abbasiya neighborhood in December and also took credit in April for targeting the Saint Mark's Church in Alexandria and the Mar Girgis church in Tanta.

More than 70 people died in the attacks targeting the Coptic churches. Following the attacks in April, Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi declared a three-month state of emergency.

Egypt is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a Christian. Islamic State supporters are certainly responsible for most of the carnage, but not all, like the mob who torched 7 Christian homes and paraded an elderly Christian woman through the streets naked. This happened to occur not far from where the bus was attacked today.

Many Muslim in predominantly Muslim countries are extremely sensitive and highly volatile. They are extremely protective of their god and prophet, because they are incapable of protecting themselves.

A partial list of Christian martyrs from 2016 from around the world numbers 1318. All of them were killed by Muslims. Some were radicalized Muslims, some were ordinary Muslims. 

One more thing - you will not see this story on MSM. Mainstream media is hostile to Christians and sympathetic to Muslims. How many Muslims were murdered by Christians last year. Six Muslims were murdered in Quebec last winter but the perpetrator did not claim to be Christian, nor did he have any apparent affiliation with any Christians. I'm sure if there were any Muslims killed by Christians, it would have been front page news for days. And MSM wonders why people are losing confidence in them.

El Edwa, Minya, Egypt

Piers Morgan Asks Why U.S. Media Won't Cover Christian Genocide By Radical Muslims

Interesting question by Piers Morgan who is not

a representative of the religious right

The point he fails to make is that there is a war on Christianity in MSM today and in many political venues. That ISIS has declared war on Christianity puts the political left and MSM in agreement with them

BY: FRANK CAMP, Daily Wire

On Monday, Piers Morgan asked an incredibly insightful question on Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tonight. Why are American journalists essentially ignoring the massacre in Egypt?

Here's the pertinent portion of the exchange between Morgan and host Tucker Carlson:

CARLSON: "You sent out a tweet right after this [bombing in Egypt] saying: 'This will not get the attention of massacres in Europe, but it should.' Why won't it, do you think?"

MORGAN: "I think, unfortunately, if it happens in the Middle East, this kind of atrocity, it just does not seem to attract the kind of media attention in America that it would if it happened, as we've seen with the attacks in Sweden, the last few days, in London two weeks ago. I was there for that - huge attention in the American Media. In Paris, in Nice, these get huge attention. And yet what happened in Egypt was unbelievably significant.

If you look at what ISIS really stands for, what they are carrying out now in the Middle East - and in Egypt in particular - is a kind of genocidal attack on Christians and Christianity. They want Christianity eradicated. They want to convert all Muslims to their crusade, they want it to be a holy war; they want Christians gone.

And I don't think that narrative is getting the attention it should get in the American media..."

CARLSON: "What's so strange is the West is primarily Christian, predominantly - I mean, that's what makes it the West. And yet there's this sense that it's somehow wrong to root for the home team. When something happens to Christians abroad, it's somehow, I don't know, impolite to mention it because it's self-interested. Have you noticed this?"

MORGAN: "Right. ISIS couldn't be more transparent. After the attack in St. Petersburg last week, they made it absolutely clear that this is a war against the Cross. They said that. That was what the statement said. They are at war - in their heads - with Christianity. Not just with Christianity - they're at war with all other religions as well. But they have been singling out, in increasingly virulent terms, that their real war now is against Christians and the Cross...

I think this is a huge story. This is the kind of story that ought to be dominating cable news in America; it should be dominating headlines around the world. The press in America should be full of headlines about this. This narrative, to me, is very straightforward. ISIS have declared war on Christianity. I'm not seeing that being covered enough."

Although Morgan and Carlson asked the important question - why isn't this narrative dominating the news in the United States? - they didn't offer any real answers.

There are two reasons the assault on Christianity in the Middle East isn't being covered. First -as Piers Morgan noted - attacks in that part of the world seem almost routine, so they often go unnoticed.

However, the principle reason the media ignores the genocide of Christians in the Middle East at the hands of radical Muslims is because coverage of such events would harm their preferred narrative.

After every Islamic terrorist attack, the media asks the same question: "What could have motivated this attack?" And every time, the answer is a variation of the following statement: "We may never know."

The mainstream media is unwilling to acknowledge Islamic terrorism because to do so would undermine a delicate fiction that benefits progressives and Democratic politicians. The fiction is as follows: Conservative Christians stir up hatred against moderate Muslims by calling out every terrorist attack committed by jihadists.

In the aftermath of every Islamic terrorist attack, the following sequence of events needs to occur in order for progressives to keep their narrative running and profitable:

Most media outlets ignore or run cursory stories about the attack.

In response, conservative organizations cover the attack, correctly pinning the blame on radical Islamic philosophy.

Progressive media figures swoop in, and trot out the usual commentators who tell us that "not all Muslims are terrorists" (as if any sane individual thinks that). They call conservative coverage an "overreaction" that will perpetuate Islamophobia, and lead to bigoted attacks against moderate Muslims.

The media dusts off a story or two about someone attacking a moderate Muslim. These stories permeate the cable news and social media landscape.

Americans either shut up because they're afraid of looking like the bad guys, or they buy into the leftist narrative.

Progressives look like bleeding-heart heroes who are simply protecting a minority against the cruel, conservative, Christian majority.

Rinse and repeat.

By adhering to this cycle, progressives gain voters who see them as compassionate. Because the policies of the Left have no material value, everything they do is fashioned around appearances - namely, the appearance of compassion. Pretending to care is an incredibly powerful tool.

Actually, there are crusaders who are genuinely concerned and they are even more powerful even while being deceived by the propaganda.

As mentioned above, conservatives are the "cruel majority" against whom progressives are waging war. A great many conservatives are Christian. Thus, to acknowledge Christian oppression or murder at the hands of Islamic terrorists would be to give legitimacy to the alleged bad guys.

Identifying and condemning Christian genocide at the hands of jihadists would harm the narrative of Christian conservatives fomenting unwarranted fear of moderate Muslims and stirring Islamophobia. So instead of calling out radical Islam, progressives simply look the other way, and follow their time-tested recipe.

Youtube video 5:39

Today in Canadian Parliament a Conservative MP spoke out:

Coptic Cave Church Really Knows How to Rock (Video)

A CAVE turned into a Church to Worship Jesus in Egypt

70,000+ gather every week to worship

The cave church in Egypt is one of the largest churches in the country, a place where more than 70,000 Christians gather every week to worship and praise the name of Jesus.

Being in the Arabic world, surrounded by all Islam dominated countries, it is very hard to maintain the custom and continue their Coptic culture. Yet, their uncompromising faith to gather and praise the ‘Name that’s Above Every Other Name’ “Jesus” in the Cave Church.

Coptic Christians have actually built 7 churches into Mokattam Mountain in Cairo, all in the second half of the 20th century. This church is called 'the Virgin Mary and St. Simon Cathedral'.

Inside the spacious caverns, beautiful engravings cover the walls, each representing stories from the Bible. St. Simon’s Hall, a large seating arena that accommodates 2,000 people for spiritual meetings, sits on the upper level.

The Monastery also includes an education center, an area for children, as well as a school for the deaf.

A special Arabic song ‘Emmanuel” sung by about 20,000 in the cave church gives goosebumps to people to hear it. Watch the video here.

Churches in Egypt have seen their communities decline in recent years as Egypt has faced political turmoil, a slumping economy and a growing militant insurgency. The exodus of Christians has intensified fears for the future for Christianity in the Middle East (Arab World), as some now worry for the fate of Egypt’s Christians, one of the world’s oldest Christian communities.



“Mostly they’re travelling to US to find better opportunities because of uncertainties in Egypt,” said Rev. Markos Ayoub, a priest who leads the Sunday liturgy at St. Mark in English. “It’s not easy to be a Coptic Christian in the Middle East these days considering the militant insurgency in Egypt.

    Cave church, Cairo

Muslim Mob Parades Elderly Christian Woman Through Streets of Cairo - Naked

Armed Muslim mob in Egypt attacks elderly Christian woman, parades her naked through streets of Cairo 

Coptic Christians walk outside St. Markos Church in Minya, south of Cairo, Egypt. A Muslim mob ransacked and torched seven Christian homes in a province south of the Egyptian capital, Cairo, after rumors spread that a Christian man had an affair with a Muslim woman, according to a statement by the local Orthodox Coptic church. (ROGER ANIS/AP) 

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CAIRO — An armed Muslim mob stripped an elderly Christian woman and paraded her naked on the streets in an attack last week in which seven Christian homes were also looted and torched in a province south of the Egyptian capital.

According to the local Orthodox Coptic church and security officials, the assault in the Minya province village of Karma on Friday began after rumors spread that the elderly woman’s son had an affair with a Muslim woman — a taboo in conservative Egypt.

Police have arrested six men suspected of taking part in the violence and are looking for 12 more, the security officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi called for the culprits to be held accountable and gave the military a month to restore property damaged during the violence, at no cost to the owners.

In a statement issued Thursday by his office, el-Sissi said Egypt appreciates the role of “glorious Egyptian women” and that “the rights and the protection of their dignity are a humanitarian and patriotic commitment before being a legal and constitutional one.”

Anba Makarios, Minya’s top Christian cleric, told a talk show host on the private Dream TV network that the 70-year-old woman was dragged out of her home by the mob who beat her and insulted her before they stripped her off her clothes and forced her to walk through the streets as they chanted Allahu Akbar, or “God is great.”

Yeah, because that's how you glorify God, right?

The woman reported the incident to the police five days later, said Makarios, adding that she had initially found it too difficult to “swallow the humiliation” she suffered and go to the police.

Attiyah Ayad, a 58-year-old farmer from a nearby village who witnessed the attack, described how the mob chanted “we must drive the infidels out” as they looted and burned the Christian homes, one of which belonged to his relatives. He said they were armed with firearms, knifes and sticks.

The religion of peace in action again. Can't you just feel the calm?

“They emptied magazine after magazine, firing in the air to terrorize us,” said Ayad, who suffered a head injury from being hit by a rifle butt and his son Ayad, 30, sustained a deep knife wound in his left shoulder.

The incident, intensely publicized since Wednesday night, has unleashed a flurry of condemnations on social media networks where users blamed the influence of ultraconservative Salafi Muslims for the attacks and derided authorities for not reacting quickly.

The hashtag “Egypt stripped naked” on Twitter gained traction shortly after it was introduced.

Extramarital affairs or sex between unmarried couples are taboo among Muslims and Christians in Egypt. They often attract violent reactions in rural areas, where questions of honor can lead to deadly family feuds that endure for years or result in ostracizing the perpetrators.

Christian men cannot marry Muslim women in Egypt unless they convert to Islam first, but Muslim men can marry Christian women. An affair between a Christian man and a Muslim woman takes such sectarian sensitivities to a much higher and dangerous level and often lead to violence if found out.

According to a statement Wednesday by Makarios, police arrived at the scene of Friday’s violence two hours after the attack began. The family of the Christian man had notified the police of threats against them by Muslim villagers the day before the attack, he added.

“No one did anything and the police took no pre-emptive or security measures in anticipation of the attacks,” the cleric said, speaking in another TV interview, also Wednesday night.

Is there any chance the police were Muslim? 

“We are not living in a jungle or a tribal society,” he told Ahmed Moussa, a prominent, pro-government talk show host on the private Sada el-Balad television.

Christians, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt’s population of more than 90 million people, have long complained of discrimination in the mostly Muslim nation.

El-Sissi, in office since 2014, has sought to address some of their grievances, changing election laws to allow more Christians into the national legislature and easing restrictions on building new churches and renovating old ones. But many Christians say they are still treated unfairly and are often the victims when in disputes with Muslims.

Discrimination against Christians is somewhat subtle in big cities like Cairo or Alexandria on the Mediterranean, but becomes much more pronounced in provinces where they are a sizable minority like Minya, where they make up about 35 percent of the population, the largest in any of Egypt’s 27 provinces. Minya, like Assiut province farther south, is a traditional stronghold of militant Muslims.

Makarios, in unusually candid comments, said he predicted the crisis in the Minya village will most likely be handled through a government-sponsored meeting of the two sides in which the Christians will be forced to accept “humiliating” conditions for reconciliation.

Islamic State Gains Libya Foothold

Egypt is bombing Islamic State targets in its stronghold of Derna

The Islamic State (IS) has wreaked havoc in the Middle East, seizing vast areas of Iraq and Syria and now it is taking advantage of Libya's collapse into anarchy.

It has gained a foothold in key towns and cities in the mostly lawless North African state, prompting Egypt - seeing itself as the bulwark against Islamists in region - to launch air strikes against the group.

Last August I reported on IS in Libya, and in September I reported that IS was popping up all over the place. As limited in numbers as they are I think it will be impossible to stamp them out. There is too much money behind them and the extreme ideology is a literal adherence to the Quran. There may be ebbs and floes in the IS tide, but eventually it will become a tsunami.

After the two war-ravaged Middle Eastern states, IS has launched its most high-profile attacks in Libya, bombing an upmarket hotel in the capital, Tripoli, in January, and releasing a video earlier this month showing the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians it had kidnapped.

For UK-based Libyan academic, Mohamed Ahdash, the emergence of IS affiliates in Libya is not surprising.

"There is a study which shows that after Saudi Arabia, most of the fighters who went to Syria were from Libya," he told the BBC.

'Magnet for African jihadists'
Libya's UN-backed government believes the fighters are now returning, following a shift in IS thinking to promote local jihad, and are under the command of a Tunisian named Abu Talha.

A fighter of Libya's Fajr Libya group (Libyan Dawn) fires his gun during clashes
in the hill village of Kikla, southwest of Tripoli on 21 October 2014
Libya descended into anarchy after the fall of Col Gaddafi

Libya, analysts say, is an obvious target for IS - it has been chaotic since the overthrow of long-serving ruler Muhammar Gaddafi in a Nato-backed offensive in 2011.

A Libyan woman walks past the rubble of a building in the Mediterranean
 city of Sirte on 13 October 2012. The militants have built a presence in Sirte,
which was heavily bombed during the campaign to oust Gadaffi

There are currently two rivals governments, dozens of groups armed with weapons looted from the former regime's arsenal, and smugglers who roam freely across porous borders in the desert region.

Moreover, Libya is rich in oil and earlier this month, gunmen claiming to represent IS raided a French-run oil facility in al-Mabruk, south of Sirte city, killing at least 11 guards.

Libyan oil is a potentially lucrative source of funding for IS, though it will find it difficult to export it because of the foreign navies patrolling the Mediterranean coast.

Mr Ahdash says Libya has become a magnet for jihadis from other parts of Africa - especially those who fled northern Mali after a French-led military operation recaptured territory from them in 2013.

"They are under one umbrella, but they are very different and very divided. It is difficult to work out who is who," he says.

He says Islamists had a presence in Libya during Col Gaddafi's rule, but they were heavily suppressed.

The late Strongman Col Muammar Gadaffi

So it does not surprise him that they have now gained a foothold in cities like Benghazi, the cradle of the 2011 revolution that overthrew Col Gaddafi, and Derna, the coastal town being targeted by Egypt's military and where the first IS affiliate emerged in October.

But what surprises him, Mr Ahdash says, is that they have secured a presence in Sirte, the birthplace of Col Gaddafi, which had been seen as hostile towards Islamists.

'Aspirational'
He says either foreign jihadists have infiltrated the city or Gaddafi loyalists, including military officers, have joined the militants, just as they did in Iraq after Saddam Hussein was overthrown by US-led forces in 2003.

"I'm worried that could happen in Libya; that there could be a marriage of interest," says Mr Ahdash, pointing out that Ahmed Gaddafi al-Dam, an influential cousin of the former ruler, has publicly hailed IS as "pure".

An image posted online by militants who claim to be part of the Islamic State
group showing them destroying statues in Derna - 1 February 2015

Nevertheless, he does not believe IS or its affiliates have a huge presence in Libya.

"Most Libyans are moderate Muslims, and they hate Daesh," Mr Ahdash told the BBC, referring to the name by which IS is known in the Arab-speaking world.

A Coptic clergyman shows a picture of a man whom he says is one of the
 Egyptian Coptic Christians purportedly murdered by Islamic State (IS)
group militants in Libya. Egypt intervened after its nationals were killed.

Patrick Skinner, a former CIA case officer, is quoted by Foreign Policy magazine as saying that there are an estimated 1,000 to 3,000 fighters loyal to IS in Libya, many of whom acquired combat experience in Iraq and Syria.

IS-linked fighters operate in Tripoli, the south-western region of Fezzan, and the eastern region of Barqa, which includes Benghazi and Derna.

However, Thomas Joscelyn, senior editor of the Long War Journal, says that while IS has grown in Libya, its strength should not be exaggerated.

"These zones are more aspirational than they are real," Mr Joscelyn told Foreign Policy.

Even if IS control in Libya is limited to a few small areas, it still has the potential to make the country's desperate situation even worse, threatening regional stability.