Christians persecuted in Iraq, Priest beheaded

[npincus]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/17/world/middleeast/17christians.html?ref=world

Don'tcha just love all that Freedom we brought over there? Sunnis and Shi'ites are killing each other like there's no tomorrow, they're both ('insurgents') killing our people, and now religious fanatics are targeting Christians.

Everybody knows this so-called "battle for freedom" is a SHAM, and every American life wasted while our gov't sits on their asses, blabbers about a 'Plan B' and bides time until Election Day is (MORE) blood on their stinking hands.



In the northern city of Mosul, a priest from the Syriac Orthodox Church was kidnapped last week. His church complied with his captors’ demands and put up posters denouncing recent comments made by the pope about Islam, but he was killed anyway. The police found his beheaded body on Wednesday.

Muslim fury over Pope Benedict XVI’s public reflections on Islam in Germany a month ago — when he quoted a 14th-century Byzantine emperor as calling Islam “evil and inhuman” — has subsided elsewhere, but repercussions continue to reverberate in Iraq, bringing a new level of threat to an already shrinking Christian population.

Several extremist groups threatened to kill all Christians unless the pope apologized. Sunni and Shiite clerics united in the condemnation, calling the comments an insult to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad. In Baghdad, many churches canceled services after receiving threats. Some have not met since.

“After the pope’s statement, people began to fear much more than before,” said the Rev. Zayya Edward Khossaba, the pastor of the Church of the Virgin Mary. “The actions by fanatics have increased against Christians.”

[ComerPerro]

1. they wanted religious war. They got it

[bryant69]

5. Could you clarify something please

Who are the "they" in that statement?

Bryant
check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[ComerPerro]

9. Christians in this country

[bryant69]

11. Hmmmm. I'm a Christian in this country

And I don't remember wanting a war with Islam.

Also kind of hard luck for us American Christians to be so bloodthirsty, but then it's the Iraqi Christians who have to pay the price - if you don't mind me saying, that doesn't seem fair.

Bryant

[Ilsa]

2. Ironic that Saddam used to let Christians abide in Iraq

with no big hassles. Now they are running for their lives. I wonder how long it will be before Bibles are outlawed?

[rodeodance]

3. "under Saddam Hussein, ...coexisted peacefully with Muslims,"

......Christianity took root here near the dawn of the faith 2,000 years ago, making Iraq home to one of the world’s oldest Christian communities. The country is rich in biblical significance: scholars believe the Garden of Eden described in Genesis was in Iraq; Abraham came from Ur of the Chaldees, a city in Iraq; the city of Nineveh that the prophet Jonah visited after being spit out by a giant fish was in Iraq.

Both Chaldean Catholics and Assyrian Christians, the country’s largest Christian sects, still pray in Aramaic, the language of Jesus.

They have long been a tiny minority amid a sea of Islamic faith. But under Saddam Hussein, Iraq’s million or so Christians for the most part coexisted peacefully with Muslims, both the dominant Sunnis and the majority Shiites.

But since Mr. Hussein’s ouster, their status here has become increasingly uncertain, first because many Muslim Iraqis framed the American-led invasion as a modern crusade against Islam, and second because Christians traditionally run the country’s liquor stories, anathema to many religious Muslims.

Over the past three and a half years, Christians have been subjected to a steady stream of church bombings, assassinations, kidnappings and threatening letters slipped under their doors.

[ComerPerro]

10. freedom is on the march

freedom for religious extremists, that is

[Tyo]

4. This is barbaric and intolerable

I don't think we have any choice but to move in militarily, topple the current regime and provide these people with security and freedom that they deserve.

Oh. Ah... never mind.

[npincus]

6. I thought you would say "unnaceptable"

[yellowcanine]

7. Bush no doubt says so........."Bush Confounded by the "Unacceptable"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/12/AR2006101201580.html

[npincus]

8. yeah...

the incredible shrinking president. The weaker and more inconsequential he (and the US under his rule) become, the more shrill and strident he becomes. He is too stupid to understand that this word is very loaded in diplo-speak... he's the boy who cried wolf.

[Parche]

12. priest

So now he is the head of the church???

[Cha]

13. Is this the same Iraq that peter king (insane/NY)

was talking about?..

"Peter King (R-NY3): "Baghdad is like Manhattan" Mosul is like disneyland."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2414114

[Howardx]

14. ATTENTION CHRISTIANS

this is what persecution looks like please keep this in mind when claiming to be persecuted here in america

[nemo137]

16. Well Played.

Very well played. I'd recommend forwarding this article next time you get a chain e-mail talking about poor, persecuted Christians in the US.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

15. Meanwhile, 500 muslims were killed in Iraq today...

Due to Christian fanatics...

[Bad Penny]

17. wow. has there been a Christian beheaded in iraq

since before the last election was heating up?