Egypt: Christian Arrested for Using Home as Church

by Raymond Ibrahim // RaymondIbrahim.com

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Photo via dreamstime.com

A Coptic Christian man in Egypt has been arrested on complaints from local Muslims that, without a permit, he has converted his home into a church and is supposedly even holding religious rituals.

The 55-year-old man, known only by his initial, “BH,” is a laborer in the al-Minya district in Upper Egypt, where Christians are especially targeted.  It was back in 2011 that the Copt first turned his home into a church, prompting angry, local Muslims to report him.   He was arrested by police but later released after agreeing that he would never again try to use his home as a church.

Apparently not one to be deterred, “after a while, Muslims in the village were shocked to see the Christian worker do it again [use his home as a church]—only openly this time.”

So police have arrested him once again, pending investigation.

In Egypt, as well as most other Muslim countries, Christians need special permits, often from the presidency itself, to build churches—permits which are next to impossible to acquire—shedding some light on this Copt’s actions.

Why the Media Doesn’t Cover Jihadist Attacks on Middle East Christians

by Raymond Ibrahim // The Torch 

“To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting cufiHim to public disgrace”—Hebrews 6:6

The United Nations, Western governments, media, universities, and talking heads everywhere insist that Palestinians are suffering tremendous abuses from the state of Israel.  Conversely, the greatest human rights tragedy of our time—radical Muslim persecution of Christians, including in Palestinian controlled areas—is devotedly ignored.

The facts speak for themselves. Reliable estimates indicate that anywhere from 100-200 million Christians are persecuted every year; one Christian is martyred every five minutes. Approximately 85% of this persecution occurs in Muslim majority nations. In 1900, 20% of the Middle East was Christian. Today, less than 2% is.

In one week in Egypt alone, where my Christian family emigrated, the Muslim Brotherhood launched akristallnacht—attacking, destroying, and/or torching some 82 Christian churches (some of which were built in the 5th century, when Egypt was still a Christian-majority nation before the Islamic conquests).  Al-Qaeda’s black flag has been raised atop churches.  Christians—including priests, women and children—have beenattacked, beheaded, and killed. Continue reading “Why the Media Doesn’t Cover Jihadist Attacks on Middle East Christians”

The Poison of Postmodern Lying

by Victor David Hanson // Tribune Content Agency 

Fabio Premoli via Flickr
Fabio Premoli via Flickr

All presidents at one time have fudged on the truth. Most politicians pad their resumes and airbrush away their sins. But what is new about political lying is the present notion that lies are not necessarily lies anymore — a reflection of the relativism that infects our entire culture.

Postmodernism (the cultural fad “after modernism”) went well beyond questioning norms and rules. It attacked the very idea of having any rules at all. Postmodernist relativists claimed that things like “truth” were mere fictions to preserve elite privilege. Unfortunately, bad ideas like that have a habit of poisoning an entire society — and now they have.

Texas gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis was recently caught fabricating her own autobiography. She exaggerated her earlier ordeals, lied about the age at which she divorced and was untruthful about how she paid for her Harvard Law School education. Continue reading “The Poison of Postmodern Lying”

Obama’s Ironic Foreign Policy

by Victor Davis Hanson // PJ Media 

In the old postwar, pre-Obama world, the United States accepted a 65-year burden of defeating Soviet communism. It led the fight against radical Islamic terrorism. The American fleet and overseas bases ensured that global commerce, communications, and travel were largely free and uninterrupted. Globalization was a sort of synonym for Americanization. Continue reading “Obama’s Ironic Foreign Policy”

New Study Exposes Scandalous Fatwas of Brotherhood and Salafis in Egypt

by Raymond Ibrahim // Gatestone Institute

As the full ramification of the Muslim Brotherhood’s year in power continues to be exposed, a new study by Al Azhar’s Fatwa Committee dedicated to exploring the fatwas, or Islamic decrees, issued by the Brotherhood and Salafis—the Islamists—was recently published. Continue reading “New Study Exposes Scandalous Fatwas of Brotherhood and Salafis in Egypt”

Murdered Christian Children: The Price of Obama’s Pro-Brotherhood Jihad

by Raymond Ibrahim // RaymondIbrahim.com 

Who is more deserving of punishment by the United States?  Millions of Egyptians, for ousting the Muslim Brotherhood?  Or the Muslim Brotherhood, for habitually terrorizing and murdering Christians, among many other crimes? Continue reading “Murdered Christian Children: The Price of Obama’s Pro-Brotherhood Jihad”

Overseas Contingency Operations and Such

by Victor Davis Hanson // PJ Media 

On the occasion of the outreach from Iran, and the embarrassment in Syria, it is wise to remember why and how our leaders became so inept at dealing with Islamists. Continue reading “Overseas Contingency Operations and Such”

Vote for Me Or Else: Patterns between Egypt and Pakistan

by Raymond Ibrahim // Gatestone Institute 

In what seems to be a pattern in many Muslim nations of finding new pretexts to justify anti-Christian—and “anti-Other”—behavior, Egypt’s Christians and their churches are under attack, ostensibly because Christians joined the June 30 Revolution, which led to the ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Lesser known is that, even before the revolution back during the 2012 presidential elections, Christians were often threatened and sometimes attacked simply for not voting for the Muslim Brotherhood—an absurd expectation considering that it has long been the Brotherhood and its many Islamist/jihadi offshoots that have terrorized Egypt’s Christians for decades. Continue reading “Vote for Me Or Else: Patterns between Egypt and Pakistan”

Exposed: Final Conversation Between Morsi and Sisi

by Raymond Ibrahim // RaymondIbrahim.com

On July 5, El Watan (“the nation”), one of Egypt’s most popular newspapers, published the final dialogue between General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Dr. Muhammad Morsi, which took place on Tuesday July 2, a few hours before Morsi’s final speech to the Egyptian people. A reporter who was taken to an adjacent room was allowed to witness and transcribe their conversation from a TV screen. I translate the entire speech as it appears on El Watan below: Continue reading “Exposed: Final Conversation Between Morsi and Sisi”

Democracy’s Dog Days

by Victor Davis Hanson // PJ Media

We all want democracy to thrive and flourish, but can it?

The Obama administration was quite pleased that the anti-democratic Mohamed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood had come to power through a single plebiscite. That confidence required a great deal of moral blindness, both of the present and past. Continue reading “Democracy’s Dog Days”