No Room in America for Christian Refugees

The following excerpts are from AINA.org. All emphases are mine:

At the end of World War II, the Jewish survivors of Europe's Holocaust found that nearly every door was closed to them. "Tell Me Where Can I Go?" was a popular Yiddish song at the time. Decades later, the Christians of the Middle East face the same problem, and the Obama administration is keeping the door shut.

America is about to accept 9000 Syrian Muslims, refugees of the brutal war between the Assad regime and its Sunni opposition, which includes ISIS, Al Qaeda, and various other militias. That number is predicted to increase each year. There are no Christian refugees that will be admitted.

Why? Because the Department of State is adhering with all the rigidity of a Soviet era bureaucracy to the rule that only people at risk from massacres launched by the regime qualify for refugee status. The rapes of Christian women and the butchery of Christian children do not count. No matter how moved Americans were this Christmas season by the plight of their fellow Christ followers in Syria and Iraq, no matter how horrific the visuals of beheadings, enslavement, and mass murder, the Christians fleeing death do not engender the compassion of this president. The Christians are being raped, tortured, and murdered by militias, not by the Syrian government. This technicality condemns them to continue to be victims without hope. And this technicality is being adhered to with all the tenacity with which President Franklin D. Roosevelt's State Department manipulated quotas and created subterfuges to keep out the Jews fleeing the oppression of Nazi Germany. Obama no more wants the Middle East's Christian refugees than Roosevelt wanted Europe's Jewish refugees.

We have seen in the last several weeks that President Obama has no difficulty using his "phone and his pen," as he dramatically boasts, to circumvent the law. When it comes to immigration, he had no difficulty enacting an amnesty that a federal judge subsequently ruled unconstitutional. He has had no problem circumventing Congress to change the relationship with Cuba. This president has shown that he will push back on the constraints of law when he wants to get something done.

But there are not even such constraints when it comes to the Middle East's Christians fleeing the brutality of ISIS and Al Qaeda. The Department of State chooses to adhere to a definition of refugees as people persecuted by their own government. What difference does it make which army imperils the lives of innocent Christians? Christians are still be slaughtered for being Christian, and their government is incapable of protecting them. Does some group have to come along--as Jewish groups did during the Holocaust--and sardonically guarantee that these are real human beings?

The Christians would barely have to be vetted for ties to terror organizations, which by their very nature do not take Christians. Meanwhile, there is the uncomfortable issue that among the Sunni refugees there are some in league with the Sunni terror militias. And beyond that there is the equally uncomfortable question of the acculturation of segments of the Muslim community.

...it is time for all people of good will to say to the Obama administration that telling Christians awaiting death that there is no room for them in the inn is not only unacceptable, it is also, to use President Obama's own words, "not who we are." This season, Christians need to make their voice heard. They should not act as the Jews did, waiting for a president who had no intention of doing anything, to do something.

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No Room in America for Christian Refugees

Priests Race to Save Manuscripts From Jihadists in Iraq

The following excerpts are from AINA.org:

As fighters from the Islamic State group rampage across northern Syria and Iraq, a group of priests are racing against time to save what's left of the region's Christian heritage. Dominican Order priests have already managed to get many precious artifacts and manuscripts safely to Erbil in Kurdistan.

Reports of massacres and beheadings of Christians and other minority groups have scared thousands into fleeing the jihadists' advance. In a region regarded as the cradle of civilization, it's no surprise that the rapid advance of the militant fighters has alarmed those looking to preserve the region's heritage.

The Dominican Order [also known as the Order of Preachers] - a Roman Catholic religious order founded 800 years ago - has deep roots among Christian communities in northern Iraq. For decades, Najeeb Michaeel - an Iraqi priest belonging to the Order - has worked to collect and preserve precious manuscripts. Now with the rise of the Islamic State group, his work has become all the more important.

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Priests Race to Save Manuscripts From Jihadists in Iraq

Some Assyrians Who Fled Their Town Say They Wish to Leave Iraq

The following excerpts are from AINA.org:

(AINA) -- Some Assyrians who were forced by ISIS to flee from Telsqof, an Assyrian town north of Mosul, say they do not wish to return but leave Iraq. In an interview conducted by the World Council of Churches and posted on youtube, residents of Telsqof say they have no future and would like to leave Iraq. A resident shows cell phone pictures of their homes which have been destroyed and asks how can we return to our homes.

In the interview the residents say ISIS looted, destroyed or booby trapped their homes with explosives. All of the residents fled the town.

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Some Assyrians Who Fled Their Town Say They Wish to Leave Iraq

Tens of Thousands of Assyrian and Yazidi Children At Risk in North Iraq

The following excerpts are from AINA.org:

(AINA) -- 200,00 Assyrians and 150,000 Yazidis who were driven from their villages by ISIS are now facing the dangers of cold weather as winter approaches. Already temperatures in north Iraq are very low at night, requiring extra blankets and space heaters for warmth.

...In an interview on the MidPoint program on Newsmax TV, the president of the Iraqi Christian Relief Council, Julianna Taimoorazy, is warning that up to 200,000 children are at risk from exposure to cold weather.

Note: Assyrians are also known as Chaldeans and Syriacs.

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Tens of Thousands of Assyrian and Yazidi Children At Risk in North Iraq

Mother of 3 Year-old Assyrian Girl Kidnapped By ISIS: 'She Will Die If She Does Not See Me'

Christina Khader Ebada, a 3 year-old Assyrian girl,
was abducted from her family by ISIS as they were leaving Baghdede.

The following excerpts are from AINA.org:

(AINA) -- The mother of Christina Khader Ebada, a 3 year-old Assyrian girl who was abducted from her family by ISIS as they were leaving Baghdede (AINA 2014-08-25), was interviewed by Ishtar TV, an Assyrian network based in Arbel. The interview was conducted after Christina's family reached Ankawa, just north of Arbel, where 70,000 Assyrians refugees have come in flight from ISIS.

According to a relative of the family, Christina's mother is physically handicapped and her father is blind.

Here is the text of the interview.

..."We went and sat in the big bus, and then one man came aboard, I was carrying my child in my arms, I sat in the bus and he came and took her from me, snatched her from me, and left the bus. I followed him inside [the building], and my little girl was crying inside the center. An old man, one of those ISIS people, who was apparently their leader then carried her.

He said [she is speaking in Arabic now] "is this your daughter?" I said yes. He said "she is crying for you." I told him give her back to me, poor girl, what is she guilty of? She is breast feeding from me. For the sake of Allah, for the sake of Muhammad, what do you worship? Give me this little one, she is breast feeding from me. She will die if she does not see me. I am her mother.

He said "shut up. if you speak another word I will let them slaughter you. I will call them now to slaughter you." He drew his machine gun and said "go quickly to the car. If you come close to this little girl you will be slaughtered, we shall slaughter you. Come now, go!"...

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Mother of 3 Year-old Assyrian Girl Kidnapped By ISIS: 'She Will Die If She Does Not See Me'

Syria's Christians Under Threat

The following excerpts are from Aina.org:

The wildfire victories of the Islamic State (IS, formerly the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) in northern Iraq and Syria have left the area's minorities under threat.

Torn between fighting back and leaving for good, Assyrians, Syriacs, Armenians, and Kurds, all inhabitants of the area and part of its rich historic legacy, are weighing their ever-diminishing options.

IS policies, inspired by a fanatical version of Islam, were made clear in its conquest of Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city. There, they destroyed Christian and Shiite places of worship and demanded that all non-Muslims pay the jizya, an ancient poll tax, observe a certain dress code, or convert to Islam.

Exile is another option that the IS has offered to the conquered population. Many escaped before the arrival of the hardened followers of the Al-Qaeda affiliate, which recently declared its leader a caliph and demanded that all Muslims obey him.

Last week, IS forces converged on Al-Hasakah in northeastern Syria, a province dominated by Christians, and claimed it would annex it to its expanding territories.

IS leaders said that they plan to "liberate" the provincial capital of Al-Hasakah from the "hands of the infidels," an epithet which it uses indiscriminately in reference to Muslims and non-Muslims who oppose its brutal methods.

The IS has proved itself to be a tough adversary in battle. Its fighters are toughened by years of fighting in both Iraq and Syria, and have a high morale after their recent successes. Armed with superior weaponry stolen from the arms depots of the Iraqi army, IS fighters are now engaged in skirmishes near Al-Hasakah, testing the city's defences before an assault.

Inside the city, the various communities have come together to defend themselves. Reports from the beleaguered city speak of a growing coalition of Kurds, Christian militia, and regime forces -- groups that have conflicting agendas but are now united by the threat of a common enemy.

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Syria's Christians Under Threat

From The Dignitatis Humanae Institute : "The Islamic State Tightens Grip - Christians Flee"

Note:The following is a press release from The Dignitatis Humanae Institute

Rome, 26 July 2014

The world has watched with increasing dismay and horror as the remaining Iraqi Christian minorities have been forced out of their homes, most recently in Mosul and the surrounding area, in the latest wave of persecution and destruction rained down by the Islamic State formerly known as "ISIS". Houses have been looted and robbed. Graves and shrines have been demolished. Crosses smashed and removed from churches.

Elie Essa Kas Hanna, DHI analyst on Human Dignity and Religious Freedom, said: "Iraqi Christians are the original residents of Mesopotamia - descendants of the ancient Babylonians, Chaldeans, Assyrians and a large number of Arabs tribes: Mudar, Rabia and Tay etc. Christianity has been present in Iraq since the First Century AD, when most of the population of Mesopotamia converted to Christianity, though leaving others to continue in their traditional beliefs in Judaism, Manichaeism and Parsee. Today, 2,000 years later, the descendants of these original Christians are being driven out as though guests in a home whose welcome they have overstayed - ironically by a religion that didn't even appear on the scene for another five centuries."

DHI Chairman Luca Volontè added: "The whole situation is clearly out of all control. There is tension between the government and the opposition forces, as well as the tension that still exists between the central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government. It is in this space of uncertainty and mistrust that the Islamic State has moved deftly to occupy a large part of Iraqi territory that is now almost two-thirds the size of the Great Britain."

Lord Alton of Liverpool, who launched the DHI-affiliated Cross-Party Working Group on Human Dignity in the Palace of Westminster, and one of the British Parliament's most respected authorities on religious persecution around the world, said: "In 2003, the Christian presence in Iraq was 1.5 million. After the end of the Second Gulf War, the Christian presence was reduced to 400,000 people - and most of these lived in the north. Now a staggering 90% of those Christians who remained have now fled from Mosul to surrounding areas, especially onto the plains of the Biblical city of Nineveh, on the border of the Kurdistan region."

Lord Alton illustrated the current situation with a recent example: "The DHI notes with alarm the destruction of the Biblical Tomb of Jonah - which dates from the 8th Century BC - smashed by sledgehammer blows which have echoed around the world. We can only hope that last week's rumour of the similar destruction of the tomb of the Prophet Daniel turns out to be false."

Indicating the difficulty regarding the authentication of reports that are emerging from the Islamic State, Lord Alton added: "Also unverified, the UN and the BBC have reported that ISIS forces in Mosul have ordered all girls and women to undergo female genital mutilation. This is an outrage. More than 130 million girls and women have already been subjected to this barbaric practice worldwide - and it has to stop. In the Islamic State today we see a historically recurring meme sadly replaying itself: an orgy of destruction of culture and heritage sooner or later leads to attacks on human beings, their freedom and dignity."

Volontè concluded: "The DHI believes that Iraqi Christians are a vital part of Iraqi society, and that they have an irreplaceable role to play in rebuilding together - with other citizens of goodwill - a future for their country. The DHI appeals to the international community to do everything possible to come to the aid of the few Christians left in Iraq. We add our prayers to those of His Holiness Pope Francis, who follows the suffering of Christians in Iraq with great closeness."

ENDS

population before 2003 32.200.000

population after 2013 29.000.000

Shia 26.000.000

Sunni 2.000.000

Others 1.000.000

Christians before 2003 1,500,000

Christians after 2003 400,000

Christians after Isis 2014 100,000 – 200,000

Source: Central Statistical Organisation, Ministry of Planning, Republic of Iraq

The Dignitatis Humanae Instituteaims to uphold human dignity based on the anthropological truth that man is born in the image and likeness of God and therefore has an innate human dignity of infinite worth to be upheld. The Institute promotes this understanding by supporting Christians in public life, assisting them to present effective and coherent responses to increasing efforts to silence the Christian voice in the public square.

A Desperate Cry From Iraq's Christians

The following excerpts are from Aina.org:

Iraq's Christian leaders have just made a desperate cry for help. Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako, head of Iraq's Catholic church, has issued an appeal "to all who have a living conscience in Iraq and all the world."

The situation for Iraq's Christians has been steadily deteriorating ever since the 2003 invasion, in part because the U.S. never acknowledged that Christians were being targeted by Islamists and did not prioritize protection of Christians or other minorities.

But with the recent sweep through Mosul and other Iraqi cities by the jihadi group ISIS, Iraq's Christians look to be on the verge of genocide.

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A Desperate Cry From Iraq's Christians

The Continued Plight of Egypt's Copts

The following excerpts are from AINA.org:

For Egypt's Copts, the military's removal of President Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood from power was nothing short of a miracle. After two and a half years in which Islamists dominated every electoral contest they faced, there was little if any hope on the horizon. Since the 25th of January revolution, Coptic despair manifested itself in an unprecedented wave of emigration from Egypt, which intensified during the Brotherhood's year in power. Following the massive demonstrations against the Brotherhood's rule and the military coup of July 3rd 2013, Copts were in a frenzied mood celebrating their deliverance; a deliverance that would prove short lived, however.

The Copts represent the Middle East's largest Christian population, and were once one of the pillars of early Christianity, with some of its early saints framing what it meant to be Christian. However, centuries of persecution and struggles for survival have left Copts a small minority in their homeland. Modernity brought new challenges to the community, though it removed the legal second-class status in which Copts lived in the Middle Ages. In recent years Copts have come under increasing pressure due to the discriminatory policies of successive governments, as well as violent attacks by their fellow citizens.

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The Continued Plight of Egypt's Copts

Iraqi Christians Flee Violence, Fear End of Long History

The following excerpts are from AINA.org:

The violence in Iraq is hastening the end of nearly 2,000 years of Christianity there as the few remaining faithful flee Islamic State militants, archbishops from Baghdad, Mosul and Kirkuk said on Wednesday.

War and sectarian conflict have shrunk Iraq's Christian population to about 400,000 from 1.5 million before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, and now even those who stayed are leaving for Turkey, Lebanon and western Europe, the prelates said on a visit to Brussels seeking European Union help to protect their flocks.

The three - Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako, Syrian Catholic Archbishop of Mosul Yohanna Petros Mouche and Kirkuk's Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Youssif Mirkis - are all Eastern Catholics whose churches have their own traditional liturgy but are loyal to the pope in Rome.

"The next days will be very bad. If the situation does not change, Christians will be left with just a symbolic presence in Iraq," said Sako, who is based in Baghdad. "If they leave, their history is finished."

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Iraqi Christians Flee Violence, Fear End of Long History

Christian Exodus From Iraq Accelerating

The following excerpts are from AINA.org:

• The Church in Iraq is on the brink of disappearing into obscurity, according to the country's leading bishop, who says the migration of Christians has shot up.
• Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako of Baghdad described how the rate of Christians leaving Iraq was growing and went on to raise the spectre of Christianity in Iraq coming "to an end".
• In an interview with Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need given at the close of a Synod of Chaldean bishops held in Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan, the Patriarch said: "When I was in Turkey recently, 10 Christian families from Mosul arrived.
• "And in the space of only one week, 20 families left Alqosh, a completely Christian town not far from Mosul.
• "This is very serious. We are losing our community. If Christian life in Iraq comes to an end, this will be a hiatus in our history."
• The head of the Chaldean Catholic Church, which is in full communion with Rome, said the future of Iraq's Christians is under threat: "In 10 years there will perhaps be 50,000 Christians left."

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Christian Exodus From Iraq Accelerating

International outrage grows for Sudanese woman sentenced to death for apostasy | Fox News

The following excerpts are from FoxNews.com:

• International outrage is mounting over the death sentence a Sudanese judge ordered for the pregnant wife of an American citizen — all because she refuses to renounce her Christian faith.
• Meriam Ibrahim, 26, was sentenced Thursday after being convicted of apostasy. The court in Khartoum ruled that Ibrahim must give birth and nurse her baby before being executed, but must receive 100 lashes immediately after having her baby for adultery — for having relations with her Christian husband. Ibrahim, a physician and the daughter of a Christian mother and a Muslim father who abandoned the family as a child, could have spared herself death by hanging simply by renouncing her faith.
• "We gave you three days to recant but you insist on not returning to Islam," Judge Abbas Khalifa told Ibrahim, according to AFP. "I sentence you to be hanged to death."
• But Ibrahim held firm to her beliefs.
• “I was never a Muslim,” she answered. “I was raised a Christian from the start.”
• Ibrahim was raised in the Christian faith by her mother, an Orthodox Christian from Ethiopia. She is married to Daniel Wani, a Christian from southern Sudan who has U.S. citizenship, according to sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.

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International outrage grows for Sudanese woman sentenced to death for apostasy | Fox News

Sudan: woman at risk of death sentence for converting to Christianity : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

The following excerpts are from CWN:

• A Sudanese court has found a 27-year-old woman guilty of apostasy and has been given until May 15 to renounce her Christian faith.
• Ahmed Bilal Osman, Sudan’s minister of culture and information, told Agence France-Presse that “it's not only Sudan. In Saudi Arabia, in all the Muslim countries, it is not allowed at all for a Muslim to change his religion.”
• Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, the daughter of a Muslim father and Christian mother, maintains that she was raised a Christian.

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Sudan: woman at risk of death sentence for converting to Christianity : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

Video shows Islamic extremist threatening to sell abducted Nigerian schoolgirls | Fox News

The following excerpts are from Fox News:

• An Islamic extremist leader has threatened to sell the 276 teenage girls his terror group abducted from a school in northeast Nigeria three weeks ago.
• In a videotape screened by the Associated Press Monday, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau claimed responsibility for the April 15 kidnappings for the first time. He also threatened to attack more schools and take additional girls.
• "I abducted your girls," said the leader of Boko Haram, which means "Western education is sinful."
• He described the girls as "slaves" and said "By Allah, I will sell them in the marketplace." The hour-long video starts with fighters lofting automatic rifles and shooting in the air as they chant "Allahu akbar!" or "God is great."

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Video shows Islamic extremist threatening to sell abducted Nigerian schoolgirls | Fox News

From The Dignitatis Humanae Institute: Nigeria's Islamic militants: a cancer that risks metastasising (and the world turns away)

Note:The following is a press release from The Dignitatis Humanae Institute

Rome, 26 February 2014

As the Christian community of Nigeria suffers two large-scale terror attacks in the course of a week, Luca Volontè, Chairman of the Dignitatis Humanae Institute, spoke of his outrage at the disregard displayed by Western governments:

"For four years, Boko Haram has conducted a campaign of mass slaughter and wanton destruction. Like a cancer, their reach and influence has been allowed to spread unchecked, the number of innocents dead now ranges in the thousands, the extent of property and communities destroyed incalculable. While European officials rush to Kiev to take undeserved credit for the hard-won liberty of Ukraine's people, they seemingly ignore the suffering of those in Nigeria.

As has repeatedly been made clear by Nigerian officials, the domestic security and military services lack the expertise to conduct an effective counter-insurgency campaign. As it was in Mali, it is our duty to give our full support to the besieged communities and make available any means that they so require."

Last week saw Boko Haram (which means "Western education is a sin") conduct two attacks on predominantly Christian towns - Bama and Igze - the latter of which had only been attacked three weeks previously. With the use of sophisticated military hardware, the Islamist attackers destroyed public buildings, burned Churches and killed over one hundred people in each attack. The savagery and scale of the raids further demonstrates the inability of Nigeria's security forces to prevent the murderous campaign of Boko Haram, despite a State of Emergency already being in place.

In a statement unlikely to give much solace to the besieged population of Nigeria, US Ambassador James Entwistle pointed the finger to underlying social causes for the rise of Islamist terrorism, including the 'lack of employment opportunity' and 'the education system.' Luca Volontè retorted:

"Given their expressed desire to enforce an Islamic state upon all, ruled by Sharia Law in its entirety; I doubt that tinkering with the nations' employment opportunities or the education system is likely to convince Boko Haram to give up its weapons. Rather than blaming a suffering society for the intent of their attackers, it is imperative that all unequivocally reject the agenda of Boko Haram. As we have seen in Sri Lanka, with the right conviction and the necessary means, terror groups can be suppressed and the rule of law restored."

The Dignitatis Humanae Instituteaims to uphold human dignity based on the anthropological truth that man is born in the image and likeness of God and therefore has an innate human dignity of infinite worth to be upheld. The Institute promotes this understanding by supporting Christians in public life, assisting them to present effective and coherent responses to increasing efforts to silence the Christian voice in the public square.

We must stand up for Middle East's persecuted Christians | Fox News

The following excerpts are from the Opinion section of FoxNews.com:

• Christianity began in the East, not the West, yet today Christians in the East are enduring an all-out-assault by Islamic terrorists, while Christians in the West live their lives largely oblivious to it all. This has to change.
• This is no imaginary persecution; in Syria alone there have been reports of kidnappings, Christian communities intentionally displaced by militants and, worst of all, shootings and beheadings of Christians who refused to convert to Islam. 
• In Egypt radicals have recently destroyed dozens of churches, and the once vibrant Christian population in Iraq has been decimated.
• Christians in the West should stand up for those in the East out of regard for all they have given us over these thousands of years, if for no other reason.

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We must stand up for Middle East's persecuted Christians | Fox News

Assyrian International News Agency: Christians in Middle East Deserve Better

The following excerpts are from Assyrian International News Agency (AINA.org):

• Since the so-called "Arab Spring," there has been a new Middle East Christian leadership that has emerged with policies that are more coherent, intellectual, and courageous in challenging the status quo and bringing into the open the plight of the Middle East Christians in their countries. This positive leadership has brought their various denominations together and has given new confidence to the local Christians in their countries because they all face similar challenges.
• The plight of the Middle East Christians has also brought The Vatican and Arab and Muslim leaders to the understanding that emptying the Middle East of Christians and the rise of religious fundamentalism does not bode well for their governments or religion, and have initiated national and international conferences in the Middle East and abroad.
• Even westernized Muslim leaders, such as Baroness Sayeeda Warsi (the British government minister for faith and the first Muslim member of British cabinet), called on western governments to do more to protect besieged Christian minorities across the world, particularly in the Holy Land where they are now seen as outsiders.....
• However, European and American leaders seem to have reversed roles regarding the preservation of Middle East Christianity, Christians, their rights, and their existence. While President Vladimir Putin is publicly demanding the safeguard of Syrian and Middle East Christians, the American government is seen as doing the opposite by cooperating with politically-religious-minded political groups, such as in Egypt, the Syrian opposition, or by turning a blind eye to Iraqi Christians' dilemma after invading Iraq.
• Pope Francis, like his predecessors, has been eloquent and outspoken regarding the Middle East Christians. Unfortunately, his message has been dimmed by the western press, who has been more interested in his "liberal" view than in his efforts to preserve the Middle East Christians....

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Assyrian International News Agency: Christians in Middle East Deserve Better

Pope Francis' Appeal For Nuns Kidnapped From The Santa Tecla Monastery, Syria

Vatican City, 4 December 2013 (VIS) – After today's catechesis, the Pope appealed to all present to pray for the nuns of the Greek Orthodox monastery of Santa Tecla and the Christian people of Maaloula, Syria, forcibly abducted by armed men two days ago and whose whereabouts are now unknown.

“Let us pray for these nuns, for these sisters”, he asked, “and for all those who have been kidnapped as a result of the current conflict. Let us continue to pray and act for peace together. Let us pray to the Virgin”.

You can find more information at: www.visnews.org

The news items contained in the Vatican Information Service may be used, in part or in their entirety, by quoting the source:

V.I.S. -Vatican Information Service.

Copyright © Vatican Information Service 00120 Vatican City

The Silence of Our Friends -- the Extinction of Christianity in the Middle East

The following excerpts are from AINA.org:

• The last month and a half has seen perhaps the worst anti-Christian violence in Egypt in seven centuries, with dozens of churches torched. Yet the western media has mainly focussed on army assaults on the Muslim Brotherhood, and no major political figure has said anything about the sectarian attacks.
• Last week at the National Liberal Club there was a discussion asking why the American and British press have ignored or under-reported this persecution, and (in some people's minds) given a distorted narrative of what is happening.
• Among the four speakers was the frighteningly impressive Betsy Hiel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, who has spent years in Egypt and covered Iraq and Afghanistan. There were lots of stories of Muslims protecting Christian neighbours, but there were also incidents with frightening echoes; Hiel described a man riding on his bike past a burned down church and laughing, which brought to my mind the scene in Schindler's List when local Poles make throat-slitting gestures to Jews en route to Auschwitz.
• Some of this has been reported, but the focus has been on the violence committed against the Brotherhood. Judging by the accounts given by one of the other speakers, Nina Shea of the Center for Religious Freedom, the American press is even more blind, and their government not much better; when Mubarak was overthrown one US agency assessed the Muslim Brotherhood as being 'essentially secular'.
• The night ended with historian Tom Holland declaring sadly that we are now seeing the extinction of Christianity and other minority faiths in the Middle East. As he pointed out, it's the culmination of the long process that began in the Balkans in the late 19th century, reached its horrific European climax in 1939-1945, and continued with the Greeks of Alexandria, the Mizrahi Jews and most recently the Chaldo-Assyrian Christians of Iraq. The Copts may have the numbers to hold on, Holland said, and the Jews of Israel, but can anyone else?

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The Silence of Our Friends -- the Extinction of Christianity in the Middle East

Obama Must Increase Egyptian Pressure to Protect Christians, USCIRF Declares

The following excerpts are from AINA.org:

• President Barack Obama must increase pressure on the Egyptian interim government to protect Christians who have been violently targeted in the past couple of months, urges a letter sent by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) on Monday.
• "I respectfully urge you to speak out clearly and forcefully about the unprecedented sectarian attacks committed against Christians in Egypt that proliferated at a frenetic pace on August 14 and the immediate days thereafter," wrote USCIRF Chairman Robert P. George.
• "It also is vitally important that the Egyptian interim government understands from you that it must promptly and thoroughly investigate violent incidents, prosecute perpetrators to the fullest extent of the law, and provide greater protections for Christians and their places of worship."
• While Obama has repeatedly spoken out against the violence in Egypt following the ousting of former President Mohamed Morsi, Coptic Christians have found themselves targeted by Islamic mobs blaming them for taking part in the protests that led to the government change. Muslim Brotherhood-backed attacks on Christians resulted in fatalities, as well as burnt down churches, monasteries, Christian schools and book stores.
• Both the Islamic protesters and the interim government have been blamed for using excessive force, which has led to thousands of Egyptians losing their lives, leading to a state of emergency in the African country.
• "We were deeply troubled that leaders and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood tolerated or even encouraged incitement against Christians, and that the interim authorities stood by or were slow to react when attacks occurred," George continues.
• "The extent and scope of attacks since August 14 have resulted in the sectarian-related killings of at least seven Copts and attacks on more than 130 churches and Christian religious structures, homes, and businesses."
• The letter to Obama adds that Morsi's leadership, which began in June 2012, had been marked by sectarian rhetoric targeting religious minorities, including Copts and other Christians, Shi'a, Sufis, and Baha'is. It also says that although Muslim Brotherhood leaders have called for peace in official statements, their supporters who have turned to violence have been tolerated and even encouraged at times.

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Obama Must Increase Egyptian Pressure to Protect Christians, USCIRF Declares