The war on Christians; it is real.

"Christians are being killed in the Islamic world because of their religion.  It is a rising genocide that ought to provoke global alarm".  So starts the compelling and concerning article in the February 13th edition of Newsweek Magazine as written by Ayaan Hirsi Ali.  The pictures are graphic; lots of blood.  The grief of the victims families are profound.  Listen to these words from the article:  "but a fair-minded assessment of recent events and trends leads to the conclusion that the scale and severity of Islamophobia pales in comparison with the bloody Christophobia currently coursing through Muslim-majority nations from one end of the globe to the other".

The article goes on to describe in great detail the persecutions in countries like Egypt, Nigeria, Sudan, Pakistan, Iraq and even the supposedly more tolerant island nation of Indonesia.  Keep in mind that in many of these nations the Christian population may be 1% or 2%, although Nigeria has a 40% Christian minority.

These are but a few of the examples cited in the article and backed up by graphic pictures: Egyptian soldies shot Christians after a church burning on March 5th of last year, 13 killed and 140 injured in March 2011when a Christian group was attacked by non-Christian residents of a surrounding neighborhood in Cairo, on Christmas day 2011 dozens are killed and hundreds injured in Pakistan.  And it goes on, and on and on.

I've personally written and preached about the deadly attack in 2010 at a Sunday evening Mass in a Christian neighborhood in Iraq where terrorists stormed a Catholic Church, during the Mass itself, and slaughtered many; killing several Priests. 

The article goes on to say that for the most part the world remains silent and the media seems to avoid the subject.  With our current cycle of 24 hour news and talk shows on cable, which will explore a story to ridiculous proportions, again, little discussion here.

One of the most telling statistics from the article is the 309% increase in terrorist attacks on Christians in Africa alone from 2003 to 2010.  And these attacks, along with others in Asia, go on without any protection or even basic care and concern by the ruling governments of these countries and the Christians have "lost the protection of their societies."

The conclusion of the article challenges us to get our priorities straight and reminds Western governements to protect the rights of the Muslim minorities in majority Christian nations:  "But the West must also exert influence to demand that non-Muslims, the religious minorities, in Muslim-majority societies be protected as well.  The West can use financial pressure, diplomatic pressure and trade relationships as a condition of protection of the freedom and conscience and worship for ALL."

"A real stand against Christophobia must be made.

We need tolerance."

And so concludes this Newsweek article.  I tried to link this online so you could read the entire article.  I could not find it; perhaps because this is a recent article and hopefully it will be posted soon.  There is a website called Newsweek Online so please look for this in the next few weeks.  In the meantime, consider yourself more fully informed of the trials and tribulations of our brothers and sisters in Christ who endure everything to worship Jesus Christ as freely as we do.  May we never grow complacent, especially in light of our recent religious liberty attacks, in rejoicing in those freedoms we have to worship Jesus Christ loudly and freely!