Sunday 10 January, 2010

World
UK

A modern Coptic monastery

By Charles Gardner

Christmas for many Coptic Christians in Egypt, who celebrate the feast a fortnight later than we do, has been ruined by fundamentalist Muslims.

For as hardline Islamists in Britain demonstrate increasing aggression towards those who have welcomed them to this country and allowed them freedom to build their mosques, their brothers in other countries are taking things much further.

Eight Coptic Christians were shot dead and 15 wounded as they left a Christmas Eve midnight mass on January 6 when an assassination attempt against an outspoken bishop was foiled.

”The Muslims promised us a wonderful Christmas, and I think the message is received now,” said an eye-witness, according to the Assyrian International News Agency website www.aina.org

“I was the one intended to be assassinated by this plot, and when it failed the criminals turned round and started shooting and finishing off the young ones,” said Bishop Kirollos of the Nag Hammagi Diocese.

Masked men began shooting randomly at the congregation from their cars as they came out of church. Those killed were mostly young men in their early 20s and among the dead was a young man and his fiancée and a 14-year-old boy.

The bishop accused security services of negligence in dealing with the events which led to the massacre, adding: “Not one single security man intervened to prevent casualties.”

It is apparently customary for security forces to guard the church at such events, especially in view of the unrest which took place in the area only two months ago.

The bishop had received a death threat following his criticism of recent attacks on Christians.

The AINA report added: “The State Security was heavily criticised for the shameful role it played when Muslims assaulted Copts, in addition to looting and burning their businesses – 163 Copts were forcibly deported from their village following the events which were sparked by a rumour that a Copt had raped a young Muslim girl, an allegation many believe was fabricated by Muslims to use as a pretext to start violence against them. The accused Copt has not yet been charged by the police.

Collusion between the assassins and the State is widely believed.
All Christmas festivities were cancelled as terrified Copts vowed to stay indoors.

And in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, three churches have been attacked following a High Court ruling allowing use of the word Allah in Christian publications.

None were injured in the attacks, but the incident caused a stir of unease throughout the country where Muslim groups unhappy with the court’s decision responded with nationwide protests.

Metro Tabernacle, an Assemblies of God church, had one of three floors gutted by a homemade firebomb while Molotov cocktails failed to explode in the grounds of the other two churches.

Muslim groups are concerned that the usage of Allah in Bibles will cause confusion to Muslims as to who God is.
The word Allah had been used in pre-Islamic times as a translation for ‘God’, according to the Bible Society of Malaysia.

Meanwhile British Muslim cleric Anjem Choudary keeps up his threat to hold a protest march through Wootton Bassett, the Wiltshire community which traditionally honours soldiers on the way to their last resting place.

Choudary, who is reported to be drawing £25,000 on tax-free benefits at our expense, wants the parents of our heroes to know that their sons – and daughters – have died in vain. But our sick Government is quite happy to keep dishing out payments to help fund a hate campaign against our traditional way of life – and Christians in particular.

In this respect they seem remarkably similar to their counterparts in Egypt who, though generally seen as a moderate Muslim state, appear to be colluding in the persecution of Christians. The latter is on the rise in Britain, where believers are being restricted in what they can and cannot say, with their jobs on the line if they default. But in Egypt and other Muslim nations, it is often a matter of life and death.

Why is it that Christians are forbidden to spread their faith in virtually all Muslim lands, and yet we bend over backwards to facilitate the furtherance of Islam here? Partly because of the very tolerance taught by Jesus in the gospels – that we should love and respect our neighbour, and thus leave him free to make his own choice about religion and way of life.

But some fanatics have abused that freedom by lecturing us on the merits of following Islam as against the evils of Western Christendom. If the Allah whom Muslims worship is God, why does he need such vicious defence as if he were not capable of standing up for himself?

When, oh when, will our leaders wake up, smell the coffee and realise that our freedoms are being rapidly eroded as we pander to political correctness?

With thanks to Dan Wooding and Michelle Chan of the ASSIST News Service.

Photo: Public Domain