German professor: The idea that the Copts welcomed the Muslims as liberators is no longer tenable

Orthodox Christians with a long view of history are familiar with the meme of Muslims being viewed as liberators by the Egyptian Copts and Christians throughout the Levant, due to Byzantine heavy-handed rule. However, chronicles record such revered figures as St Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, as being deeply grieved by the invasions of the "godless Saracens," and preaching on the sufferings they caused the Christians as "because of our innumerable sins and serious misdemeanors." In a text dated December 6, either 636 or 637, Sophronius writes:

But the present circumstances are forcing me to think differently about our way of life, for why are [so many] wars being fought among us? Why do barbarian raids abound? Why are the troops of the Saracens attacking us? Why has there been so much destruction and plunder? Why are there incessant outpourings of human blood? Why are the birds of the sky devouring human bodies? Why have churches been pulled down? Why is the cross mocked? Why is Christ, who is the dispenser of all good things and the provider of this joyousness of ours, blasphemed by pagan mouths so that he justly cries out to us: "Because of you my name is blasphemed among the pagans," and this is the worst of all the terrible things that are happening to us. That is why the vengeful and God-hating Saracens, the abomination of desolation clearly foretold to us by the prophets, overrun the places which are not allowed to them, plunder cities, devastate fields, burn down villages, set on fire the holy churches, overturn the sacred monasteries...

So here we see a modern scholar likewise presenting sources contemporary to the seventh century Islamic jihad debunking the "Muslims as liberators" myth. 

German professor: The idea that the Copts welcomed the Muslims as liberators is no longer tenable

Jihad Watch — February 2, 2014

[From Robert Spencer:] The idea that the Coptic Christians in Egypt welcomed the Arab troops as liberators in the mid-seventh century is a staple of Islamic apologetics today, and (not surprisingly, given the abysmal state of academia today) is generally accepted among historians. However, it has always had weak foundations, and is actually yet another example of a phenomenon we see increasingly often: the revisionist whitewashing of history to remove any hint of wrongdoing on the part of Muslims. In my 2005 book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades), I noted that Islamic tradition has the Caliph Umar making a “telling admission in a message to an underling: ‘Do you think,’ he asked, ‘that these vast countries, Syria, Mesopotamia, Kufa, Basra, Misr [Egypt] do not have to be covered with troops who must be well paid?’ Why did these areas have to be ‘covered with’ troops, if the inhabitants welcomed the invaders and lived with them in friendship?”

Obama crosses red line by supporting jihadi terrorism...

... making jokes about Muslim Persecution of Christians.

by Raymond Ibrahim, via Jihad Watch — 8/28/2013

By now it should be obvious that whenever the U.S. interferes in another nation's politics in the name of "human rights," that that is only a pretext. So it is in Syria, as Obama prepares to plunge America in a war with that nation, and, inevitably, its allies. The United States' stated reason for intervention, as articulated by John Kerry, is that Syrian President Assad used chemical weapons on the rebels, many of whom are jihadis -- including terrorists, rapists, and cannibals -- and thus violated their human rights.

Kerry is certainly consistent. Earlier he worried about the "human rights" of Nigeria's genocidal Islamic terrorists, Boko Haram, while ignoring their victims -- thousands of slaughtered Christians and destroyed churches.

Washington Post assails Non-Profit Status for Churches

Certainly Ben Shapiro is correct in the context of his article. Writers like Dylan Matthews and Matthew Yglesias are the "bad cops" in the mainstream media, bullying religious groups with the threat of losing their tax-exempt status.

Our churches have become soft and pliable by relying on the non-profit privilege. If the state can grant something, it can also take it away. If the privilege seduces us into complicity with evil, then we ourselves should throw off its shackles.

Non-profit status for churches gives the government leverage and influence regarding church policies. Government moves (as in the California legislation discussed below) to rescind tax-exempt status of churches that "discriminate" are examples of using the non-profit exemption as a club to beat Christians into submissive silence. Churches will be under exponentially increasing pressure from the federal government to recognize and perform same-sex marriages, provide contraceptives to church school children, support abortion on demand, advocate physician assisted suicide, etc., in America's demonic push to outdo Sodom and Gomorrah.

It is time for the Orthodox Christian jurisdictions in America to seize the moment and pro-actively rescind their own tax-exempt status. Such a move would immediately evict the government from any influence in Church life by removing its only weapon, the non-profit status club. 

Then when the government begins to use naked force to order us to comply, its evil will be fully revealed, just as in the Soviet Union almost a century ago.


Washington Post assails Non-Profit Status for Churches, rips Americans for giving.
by Ben Shapiro, Breitbart News — 8/23/2013

The assault on America’s churches has begun, with commentators like Dylan Matthews of the Washington Post and Matthew Yglesias of Slate calling on the government to tax churches. “Whichever faith you think is the one true faith, it’s undeniable that the majority of this church-spending is going to support false doctrines,” Yglesias wrote on Thursday. He added, “upgrading a church’s physical plant doesn’t enhance the soul-saving capacity of its clergy.”

This is part of the new assault on religion in America that has seen its apex in the New Mexico Supreme Court decision to force religious photographers to cover same-sex weddings, and the California legislature’s bill that would strip non-profit status from any religious organization that “discriminates” on the basis of factors including religion or sexual orientation. 

NM Court Says Christian Photographers Must Compromise Beliefs

This is a bit off topic, but as I claim to be both a Christian, and a Photographer (and used to photograph weddings), it hit pretty close to home, and certainly is an important story as a sign of the times. If I hadn't already stopped doing professional photography years ago, today is the day I would quit for good.

NM Court Says Christian Photographers Must Compromise Beliefs
By Todd Starnes — Fox News — 8/22/2013

The New Mexico Supreme Court ruled Thursday that two Christian photographers who declined to photograph a same-sex union violated the state’s Human Rights Act. One justice said the photographers were “compelled by law to compromise the very religious beliefs that inspire their lives.”

In 2006 Vanessa Willock asked Elaine and Jonathan Huguenin, owners of Elane Photography, to photograph a same-sex “commitment ceremony” in the town of Taos.

Huguenin and her husband declined the job because their Christian beliefs were in conflict with the message communicated by the ceremony.

Willock found another photographer at a cheaper price but nevertheless filed a complaint with the New Mexico Human Rights Commission accusing Elane Photography of discrimination based on sexual orientation. She was later found guilty and ordered to pay thousands of dollars in fines.

“The Huguenins today can no more turn away customers on the basis of their sexual orientation – photographing a same-sex marriage ceremony – than they could refuse to photograph African-Americans or Muslims,” Justice Richard Bosson wrote in the court’s unanimous decision.

Bosson said the Christian photographers are now “compelled by law to compromise the very religious beliefs that inspire their lives.”

Orthodox patriarch calls for reopening of Istanbul’s Halki Seminary

Speaking truth to power, His All Holiness Bartholomew is not allowing the Ecumenical Patriarchate to be closed without a struggle.

Hurryet Daily News via Pravmir
July 22, 2013

Fener Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew repeated his call to the Turkish government for the reopening of the Heybeliada Halki Seminary, saying that the religion was entering a dangerous phase due to a lack of proper religious officials.

Bartholomew was speaking at an iftar event organized by the Istanbul Müfti office, with Müfti Rahmi Yaran present, where the patriarch mentioned the closed Halki Seminary.

“We would like to mention at this time the importance of qualified religious officials in the society. Religious officials should always be properly educated and set examples based on their trainings throughout their life. We would like to emphasize the gravity of the situation of the Halki Seminary, closed since 1971, now that we are entering a stage of danger by lacking qualified religious officials,” the patriarch said.

Previous efforts have also focused on the Heybeliada Halki Seminary to be reopened, with the subject remaining on Turkey’s political agenda. The realization of plans however, has still failed to materialize.

PRISM: Has Tyranny Triumphed in America?

The NY Times editorial board, after the revelation of the NSA's collection of phone data from millions of Verizon customers daily, slammed the Obama Administration as having "lost all credibility."

The NY Times' withering assault on Obama was apparently before the revelation that all the cellular and telecom companies were having to provide such data to the government, and it was certainly before this evening's screaming internet headlines about PRISM, the top-top-secret government internet server harvesting program implicating nine or more major internet companies including Microsoft, Google, Apple and AOL (many of whom are already denying that the government has direct access to their servers — much more to play out yet here).

According to the Washington Post article which broke the story, two senators whose clearance gave them classified knowledge of the system, were unable to speak of it openly:

Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Mark Udall (D-Colo.), who had classified knowledge of the program as members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, were unable to speak of it when they warned in a Dec. 27, 2012, floor debate that the FISA Amendments Act had what both of them called a “back-door search loophole” for the content of innocent Americans who were swept up in a search for someone else.

Is this not one of everyone's worst fears about our ever more intrusive, powerful, bullying and sinister government? The past several weeks have seen wave after wave of shocking scandals crash upon the generally accepting American public, to the point where we can glimpse the monster of tyranny behind the slipping mask of Uncle Sam.

• Benghazi Cover-up
• IRS intimidation of Conservative groups
• AP phone records scandal
• James Rosen of Fox News treated as a conspirator for doing his job as a reporter
• Wiretapping of members of Congress - Holder refuses to deny
• NSA harvesting data on billions of U.S. citizens' phone calls every day
• PRISM: total surveillance of all Americans who are in any way on the grid

Even the author of the Patriot Act Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis, stated the NSA collection of phone data was never the intent of the law. But with the temptation of power in government, this is what happens. And the law will never be repealed, it will only be expanded as technology for surveillance improves. This is the future. This is our future.

Late last night, in an extraordinary statement, the Director of National Intelligence condemned the disclosure of data harvesting procedures, not the procedures themselves:

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper called the disclosure of an Internet surveillance program "reprehensible" and said it risks Americans' security... "The unauthorized disclosure of a top secret U.S. court document threatens potentially long-lasting and irreversible harm to our ability to identify and respond to the many threats facing our nation," Clapper said in an unusual late-night statement.

This is precisely the "newspeak" of a 1984-style, Orwellian totalitarian regime which is applying Soviet control principles to a pacified populace sedated and distracted by comforts, gadgets, and a sham pop culture that rots the brain.