Evangelical sects put Iraqi Christians in danger, Iraqi bishop says
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TechnoratiROME (CNS) -- The proliferation of foreign evangelical Christian sects in Iraq is putting Iraqi Christians in greater danger, said a Chaldean bishop.
The fall of Saddam Hussein opened the doors to a large influx of Christian groups and movements from abroad, said Chaldean Auxiliary Bishop Shlemon Warduni of Baghdad.
These groups, many of which are from the United States or the United Kingdom, "have money and vehicles which they use to attract children and young people offering them food and money," he told the Italian Catholic agency SIR Dec. 3.
This activity puts the Iraqi "Christian minority at risk, exposing it to the unjust accusation of proselytism," he said.
Even though much progress has been made in reducing violence in Iraq, "security and stability are still lacking," the Iraqi bishop said, and people are still afraid.
This year, like previous years, Christmas midnight Mass will be celebrated during the day, he said. Many families will celebrate the festivities privately in their own homes, he added.
He said the hatred and discrimination aimed at the country's Christians stem from a fundamentalist minority. People's daily relations with their Muslim neighbors are "good" and marked by mutual respect, he said.
"When I pass a checkpoint in my clerical robes, the Iraqi guards salute me, they respect me, they let me through. That's something the English and American soldiers don't do," he said.
Bishop Warduni said many Muslims expressed enormous solidarity for their Christian neighbors when a flare-up in violence in October claimed the lives of 13 Christians and forced thousands to flee Mosul in northern Iraq.
He said many Muslims urged Christians to not be intimidated and to remain.
When families chose to escape, many Muslims went to visit them, bringing food, clothing and invitations to return with them in their vehicles to Mosul, promising to act as "shields against attacks by extremists," he said.
"Many Muslims in Mosul guarded Christians' abandoned homes, keeping them from being looted," he added.
© 2008 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
Comments (2)
Thomas Friedman Column
By Jerry (not verified) on Thursday, December 4, 2008The liberal columnist Thomas Friedman of the New York times has an excellent article showing how Muslims must react to Muslim violence and repression if they are truly a peaceful religion.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/03/opinion/03friedman.html?_r=1
Dhimminitude Status
By jerry (not verified) on Thursday, December 4, 2008This article should demonstrate to readers what happens when Muslims become the majority and Sharia law is imposed, including oulawing proselytism. I love the quote from the article:
This activity puts the Iraqi "Christian minority at risk, exposing it to the unjust accusation of proselytism," (Bishop Shlemon Warduni)said.
Notice how the tone of the article is to blame Evangelical sects for the violence committed by Muslims. It is like a virtuous woman raped in her own home blaming not the rapist, but other women who did not wear burkas in public.
It really doesn't matter if the fundamentalist minority are the violent ones. It's no different than Nazi Germany where the majority stood silent while the minority of Nazi's did the dirty work. Every place there is a Muslim majority the minority are officially repressed.
The majority of European Muslims believe in imposing Sharia in the almost certain future when Muslims will become the majority based upon birth rates. Europeans care only about their Club Med vacations and don't care about the future.
Under the banner of the cult of non-discrimination U.S. Catholic will continue to publish items suggesting there is no greater problem with Islam than Christianity.
It doesn't matter if a Muslim scholar spoon feeds to U.S. Catholic soothing words about Islam. It would make a difference if Islamic Clerics throughout the Muslim World teach in their Mosques that jihad to spread the faith is always wrong and that laws oppressing minorities (such as outlawing proselytism) are always wrong. Essentially Islam must reject these tenents just as the Mormon Church rejected the prior allowance of polygamy.