by Raymond Ibrahim<\/p>\n
Christian Solidarity International<\/em><\/p>\n On January 24, during his State of the Union Address, the president of the United States has a chance to expose the plight of religious minorities living in Muslim majority nations. Doing so would not merely shed light on one of the most ignored humanitarian crises of the 21st century; it would help alleviate it.<\/p>\n Why should the president speak up on the oppression of religious minorities? For starters, it is the right thing to do and reflects American values and principles.<\/p>\n He should speak up because religious cleansing is currently underway in nations like Nigeria, where Boko Haram \u2014 “Western Education is Forbidden” \u2014 and other Islamic groups have\u00a0declared jihad on the Christian minorities<\/a>\u00a0of the north, killing and displacing thousands, burning and bombing hundreds of churches, most notoriously this last Christmas, where over forty people werekilled while celebrating Christmas mass<\/a>. Likewise, since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, about half of Iraq’s one million Christians have been forced by\u00a0targeted violence<\/a>\u00a0to flee their homeland, the most notorious incident, again, being a\u00a0church attack<\/a>, where some 60 worshippers were killed.<\/p>\n He should speak up because churches are constantly being attacked, burned, or forced into closure, not just in\u00a0Nigeria<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Iraq<\/a>, but in\u00a0Afghanistan<\/a>,\u00a0Egypt<\/a>,Ethiopia<\/a>,\u00a0Indonesia<\/a>,\u00a0Iran<\/a>,\u00a0Sudan<\/a>,\u00a0Tanzania<\/a>,\u00a0Tunisia<\/a>\u00a0(click on country-links for the most recent examples). In Egypt alone, after several churches were burned, thousands of Christian Copts gathered to demonstrate \u2014 only to be\u00a0slaughtered by the military<\/a>, including by being\u00a0run-over by armored vehicles<\/a>.<\/p>\n He should speak up because Muslim converts to Christianity are regularly ostracized, beat, killed, or imprisoned \u2014 recent examples coming from\u00a0Algeria<\/a>,Eritrea<\/a>,\u00a0Kashmir<\/a>,\u00a0Kenya<\/a>,\u00a0Malaysia<\/a>,\u00a0Nigeria<\/a>,\u00a0Pakistan<\/a>,\u00a0Somalia<\/a>,\u00a0Sudan<\/a>, and even\u00a0Western nations<\/a>. Iran’s\u00a0Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani<\/a>, whose plight actually made it to the mainstream media, is but one of many people imprisoned and tortured for simply following their conscience and converting to Christianity.Uganda<\/a>\u00a0offers a typical example: there, a Muslim father\u00a0locked<\/a>\u00a0his 14-year-old daughter for several months without food or water, simply because she embraced Christianity. She weighed 44 pounds when rescued.<\/p>\n He should speak up because Christian girls are being abducted, raped, and forced to convert to Islam \u2014 recent examples coming from\u00a0Egypt<\/a>,\u00a0India<\/a>,Pakistan<\/a>, and\u00a0Sudan<\/a>. In Pakistan alone, “a 12 year-old Christian [was]\u00a0gang raped for eight months<\/a>, forcibly converted and then ‘married’ to her Muslim attacker.” Now that she has escaped, instead of seeing justice done, “the Christian family is in hiding from the rapists and the police.” Earlier in Pakistan, a\u00a02-year-old Christian girl<\/a>\u00a0was savagely raped and damaged for life because her father refused to convert to Islam.<\/p>\n The US president should speak up because such persecution is not merely performed at the hands of “outraged Muslim mobs,” but is institutionalized in many Muslim governments, including those deemed “US friends and allies” \u2014 such as\u00a0Afghanistan<\/a>, where the last church was recently razed;\u00a0Egypt<\/a>, where Islamists, supported by the US, openly speak of returning Copts into second-class\u00a0dhimmis<\/em>; and Saudi Arabia, where churches are not permitted, and Bibles and crucifies are confiscated and destroyed.<\/p>\n He should speak up because there is a pattern, one that is becoming increasingly hard to ignore \u2014 one that demonstrates great continuity over the centuries. Past and present, from Morocco in the west, to India in the east \u2014 in countries that do not share race, culture, or language, only a culture permeated with the spirit of Islamic supremacism \u2014 non-Muslims suffer.<\/p>\n