Islamists Destroy Oldest Church in Syria and the Middle East, Defile Ancient Icons

The 'militants' referred to here are the Al-Nusra/Al-Qaeda Islamists Obama is supporting in his proxy war on Christians.

"The main cross fell from the dome, wall paintings were destroyed, shot down and slashed by debris, while the walls themselves were either destroyed or disfigured by holes of shells... The militants are continuing to shoot down the remaining church walls with mortar.... The former Ma'loula has been lost to mankind forever..."

CHURCH OF STS SERGIUS AND BACCHUS IN MA'LOULA DESTROYED BY MILITANTS

Pravoslavie — 9/29/2013

Militants have destroyed the ancient Christian Church of Holy Martyrs Sergius and Bacchus in Ma'loula and have stolen or demolished its world-famous icons. A correspondent of ITAR-TASS agency saw it for himself on September 29.

This construction, which was the oldest in the Middle East, had been built in the early 4th century. There was a convent here lately; but after the coming of the terrorists and militants of Al-Nusra Front a month ago the sisters found refuge in the Convent of St. Thecla, Equal-to-the-Apostles, where at the present time they are taking shelter from the militants together with 40 orphaned children. It is still impossible to come up to this convent because of the heavy fire of snipers who do not even spare journalists.

The Church of Sts Sergius and Bacchus became "guilty" because of the building of the "Safir" hotel near it, where earlier numerous Christian pilgrims and tourists used to stay, but then Muslim extremists took their positions there. The Syrian army has almost leveled the hotel to the ground but the militants are still taking cover in its cellars and in neighboring grottos, converted into cells. Where monks used to live in ancient times, now there is sustained artillery fire.

A unique icon of Sts. Sergius and Bacchus painted in the 13th century, which was situated just at the entrance, has been lost forever. The iconostasis and its central icon, painted in the 13th century, have been destroyed together with the icons of the Mother of God and Christ "the Archpastor". The latter always evoked the surprise of researchers because it depicted Christ in a long robe of silk with golden threads which is more typical to Damascus of the 18th century than to the period of the beginnings of Christianity. There is no altar of Sts. Sergius and Bacchus any more. It was semicircular with a low edge—the legacy of pagan altars. Now only debris remains of it.

It is difficult to predict how much of the scientists’ time and strength it will take to calculate all damage; however, in the view of a layman, the church cannot be restored. The main cross fell from the dome, wall paintings were destroyed, shot down and slashed by debris, while the walls themselves were either destroyed or disfigured by holes of shells. At the same time, the militants are continuing to shoot down the remaining church walls with mortar.

"We knew our Muslim neighbours all our lives...We had excellent relations. It never occurred to us that Muslim neighbours would betray us."

This and similar incidents confirm my contention that Islam, if taken seriously by a devout Muslim, can deaden his human conscience, and lead him to perform inhuman acts thinking he is doing something pleasing to God. 

An anecdote from the Ottoman Empire in the late nineteenth century:

Then one night, my husband came home and told me that the padisha had sent word that we were to kill all the Christians in our village, and that we would have to kill our neighbours. I was very angry, and told him that I did not care who gave such orders, they were wrong. These neighbours had always been kind to us, and if he dared to kill them Allah would pay us out. I tried all I could to stop him, but he killed them — killed them with his own hand. (Sir Edwin Pears, Turkey and Its People, London: Methuen and Co., 1911, p. 39)

"Syria crisis: In sacred Maaloula, where they speak the language of Christ, war leads neighbours into betrayal" 

by Robert Fisk — Independent via Jihad Watch — 9/25/2013:

The Diab family can never return to Maaloula. Not since the Christians of this beautiful and sacred town saw their Muslim neighbours leading the armed Nusrah Islamists to their homes. Georgios remembers how he peered over his balcony and saw Mohamed Diab and Ossama Diab and Yasser Diab and Hossam Diab and Khaled Turkik Qutaiman – all from Maaloula – walking in the street with men whom he said were dressed in Afghan-Pakistani clothes. “One of them had a Kalashnikov rifle in one hand and a sword in the other,” he says, shaking his head in disbelief.

Twenty years ago, identical tragedies destroyed the villages of Bosnia. Now they are being re-enacted in Syria. “We knew our Muslim neighbours all our lives,” Georgios says. He is a Catholic. “Yes, we knew the Diab family were quite radical, but we thought they would never betray us. We ate with them. We are one people.

“A few of the Diab family had left months ago and we guessed they were with the Nusra. But their wives and children were still here. We looked after them. Then, two days before the Nusra attacked, the families suddenly left the town. We didn’t know why. And then our neighbours led our enemies in among us.”

It is a terrible story in this most beautiful of towns, with its 17 churches and holy relics and its great cliff-side caves. Now the fighters of Jabhat al-Nusra – a rebel group with links to al-Qa’ida – are surviving in the caves and shooting down at the Syrian soldiers in Maaloula’s streets with Russian sniper rifles. You have to run from house to house, and one bullet smashed the windscreen of a parked car scarcely 10 metres from the balcony on which Georgios was telling his awful story. Up the road, a mortar round – apparently fired by Nusrah men – has torn a hole in the dome of a church. The Syrian army says it has driven the Islamists from Maaloula, which is technically true; but to leave the town, I had to ride in the back of a military armoured vehicle. It is not a famous victory for anyone.

Not one of the 5,000 Christian residents – nor a single member of the 2,000-strong Muslim community – has returned. Maaloula is, almost literally, a ghost town. Only Georgios and his friend Hanna and a few other local Christian men who joined the “national defence” units to defend their homes, are left. At least 10 Christians were murdered when the Nusra militia began its series of attacks on Maaloula on 4 September, some of them shot – according to Hanna – when they refused to convert to Islam, others dispatched with a knife in the throat. And there is a terrifying historical irony about their deaths, for they were slaughtered within sight of the Mar Sarkis monastery, sacred to the memory of a Roman soldier called Sergius who was executed for his Christian beliefs 2,000 years ago.

Hanna says that before the war reached Maaloula this month, both Christians and Muslims agreed that the town must remain a place of peace. “There was a kind of coexistence between us,” Georgios agrees. “We had excellent relations. It never occurred to us that Muslim neighbours would betray us. We all said ‘please let this town live in peace – we don’t have to kill each other’. But now there is bad blood. They brought in the Nusra to throw out the Christians and get rid of us forever. Some of the Muslims who lived with us are good people but I will never trust 90 per cent of them again.”...

Ohio Mother gets Islamic Proselytizing Video removed from 7th Grade History Class

For Christians, this should be an especially relevant and galvanizing issue. Would you want your son or daughter to be exposed to Islamic dawah, proselytizing?  This is an example of smart and legal activism.

Here are the sorts of religious claims that Islam makes in order to deceive Christians into committing apostasy, and which may very well be taught in your school district:

• Muslims and Christians worship the same God.
• Islam is an 'Abrahamic Religion'.
• Islam venerates Jesus and his Mother.
• Islam believes in the Virgin Birth of Jesus.
• Abraham, Moses, and Jesus were Muslim Prophets.
• Muhammad was a man of virtue who brought peace and tolerance to Jews and Christians, and women's rights, to 7th century Arabia.
• Islam was welcomed by people in the Middle East and North Africa, and spread quickly as a result.
• Muslims have lived in peace and harmony throughout history with Christians and Jews, especially in such places as Andalusia (Spain), Turkey, and the Holy Land.
• The very word, 'Islam', comes from the Arabic for 'peace'.
• Islam invites all Christians to live in peace, as is seen in the message 'A Common Word Between Us and You' sent by 138 Muslim imams to Christian spiritual leaders.
• Judaism, Christianity and Islam represent a threefold hierarchy of truth, with Islam, through Muhammad's direct revelations from God, being the highest form of truth.

Could you respond to and refute each of these claims? Get my book, FACING ISLAM, which discusses nearly all of these directly, and gives tools and resources for further study. Do not let your children be in danger of being deceived by a false religion, which St John of Damascus called "a forerunner of the Antichrist."

I actually had a poor, deceived Orthodox Christian woman deliver the last one on the list to me immediately after the Divine Liturgy one Sunday! What kind of Christian can receive the Most Holy Body and Most Precious Blood of our Lord, God and Savior Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, then less than twenty minutes later make such a statement?!

Bravo to this brave woman, Jenny McKeigue, who worked with the Thomas More Law Center to have an Islamic proselytizing video removed.

Ohio Mom Teams-up With TMLC to Remove Islamic Proselytizing Video from 7th Grade History Class

TMLC via Atlas Shrugs — 9/26/2013

The Olmsted Falls City School District, located in Olmsted Falls, Ohio has agreed to remove the video “30 Days: Muslim and America” from the 7th grade World History Curriculum.  The action was taken to avoid a constitutional challenge by the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which filed a series of requests for public records concerning the video on behalf of Jenny McKeigue, a mother of three children who attend schools within the district. 

McKeigue first became concerned about the history curriculum in 2011 when her son, then in 7th grade, was required to memorize the 5 Pillars of Islam (the requirement was later discontinued).   After a deeper look into the 7th grade history curriculum, McKeigue became concerned about the content of the “Muslims and America” video to which the school had exposed her son.   She asked the School District to remove the video from the curriculum and replace it with an objective video relevant to the history of Islam, not one that taught children how to become a Muslim. Her request was denied.  Subsequently, Mrs. McKeigue began the escalation process to the Superintendent and the School Board.

Canada: Jihad mass murder plotter says there is no moderate or radical Islam — 'There is only one Islam'

This echoes what Turkish Prime Minister and Islam proponent Erdogan has stated: "The Term 'Moderate Islam' is ugly and offensive; There is no moderate Islam; Islam is Islam."

Train terror suspect: 9-11 was a 'tap on the cheek'

from The Canadian Press via Jihad Watch — 9/26/2013

One of the Via terror suspects has called the 9-11 attacks a "tap on the cheek" compared to the violence committed by the West.

Chiheb Esseghaier is quoted telling La Presse in a prison interview that the Iraq embargo, Afghanistan conflict and support for Israel are examples of the West "plunging a knife into the body" of the Muslim world, by comparison.

La Presse says that, over the course of two interviews, Esseghaier never denied the charges against him. He is one of two people accused of plotting to cause a train disaster in the Niagara region.

According to the newspaper the Tunisian-born scientist also appeared to offer a vaguely worded hint that he is far from unique: "I am only a drop of water in the sea. A detail," he is quoted as having repeated multiple times.

Violence against Egyptian Christians Reaches a Level Not Seen for Centuries

By Todd Daniels — ICC — 9/26/2013

9/26/2013 Washington, D.C. (International Christian Concern) – “I'm afraid to get out from my home and walk in the streets of the village. The situation is so dangerous for us here,” Father Youannis Shawky, a Coptic priest, told ICC.  This sentiment is shared by many in the Christian community throughout Egypt, as Christians have increasingly come under attack for their part in the protests to remove Islamist president Mohamed Morsi from office. The retaliation against Christians from Islamists has included the looting and burning of houses, churches, schools, and businesses. It has also become personal, as kidnapping and threats against individuals have been on the rise. In the city of Delga, in Upper Egypt, Islamist gangs took control, holding it captive for more than two months before security forces moved in.  A City without Protection Father Youannis is a priest of St. Mary and Anba Abraam Monastery in Delga, Egypt. The city of 120,000 people, including 15,000 Christians, had been under the control of hardline supporters of former President Morsi for nearly two months.  On Monday, September 16, Egyptian authorities staged an operation to retake the town. As the Guardian reports, “Two earlier attempts to retake Delga failed, but in the early hours of Monday morning police launched a third and decisive assault, and have now re-entered the town.” The takeover by Morsi supporters occurred following his removal from office on July 3, when armed gangs in the city ran off the security forces and seized control. The situation for the Coptic Christian community became terrifying as many of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood supporters blame the Christians for their loss of political power.  Speaking with International Christian Concern from Delga on September 12, Adel Shafik, a Coptic activist said, “From August 14 till now, more than 52 Christian families lost their homes, their homes were ransacked, burned, and demolished.” He added that “more than 40 Christian families left the village fearing from the threats of the Muslim fanatics to them.”  The destruction did not stop with just homes, but also included many of the church buildings in the city. “Our monastery which includes three churches, St Mary Church, Mar Gigis Church, and Anba Abraam Church were looted, burned and demolished. Now we don't have any another place to pray in,” Shafik said.  The level of violence has reached a level unseen in centuries. As ICC reported, on August 18th, services were cancelled at the church for the first time in 1,600 years. Days earlier, the church, which dates back to the Fifth century, was looted and set on fire while calls for help went unanswered by the security forces, Christian Post recounted.

Hell in the Land That Speaks the Language of Christ

Straight news reporting can only say so much. Here is a haunting impression of the suffering of Christians in Maaloula and their beloved archpastor, Patriarch John X of Antioch.  Lord have mercy.

Hell in the Land That Speaks the Language of Christ

by Aimilios Polygenis

Crime.gr via Mystagogy — 9/26/2013

In Syria there are not only victims of a civil war that seems to have no end. The people of Assad and the rebels are not the only ones fighting. There has manifested in Syria another war, even if it is indirect - the religious one.

In the ancient Christian city of Maaloula, Islamic organizations with ties to Al Qaeda have begun a war in this land for a while now. And though Christians may not be their direct target, they have become on a daily basis "collateral damage". Nobody cares about what will happen to them.

Obama: Dhimmi or Dunce?

by Timothy Furnish, PhD — FrontPageMag — 9/26/2013

Timothy R. Furnish holds a PhD in Islamic History and is an author, analyst, and consultant to the US military who specializes in transnational Islamic movements, eschatology and Mahdism. His website is www.mahdiwatch.org.

When I went to Iran in 2008 (to attend and present a paper at the annual Mahdism conference there) one of the Muslim presenters spoke about the future Mahdiyah as a global state where Christians would be given the choice to convert to Islam and acknowledge the returned Twelfth Imam—or be put to death.  Alas, as anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear knows, neither Shi`i nor Sunni  (al-Shabab; Syrian jihadists; Pakistanis) Muslims are waiting for the Mahdi to persecute Christians.  Indeed, despite being the world’s largest religion in number of adherents (2.2 billion), Christians are the world’s most-persecuted believers of any stripe—and mostly at the hands of followers of the world’s second-largest religion: eight of the top ten most dangerous countries for Christians are majority Muslim.

So it is indeed “open season on Christians.”   Yet other than Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and, before he stepped down from the chair of St. Peter, Benedict XVI—no major world leader or organization has spoken up, much less fought for, Christians.  Case in point: President Obama gave a long speech at the United Nations Tuesday and stated that the two greatest problems emanating from the Middle East are Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.   The chronic and toxic torment of his own co-religionists was never mentioned—except in passing reference to undesignated “terrorists” and “extremists” who engage in “sectarian conflict.”

Obama’s white-washing of Islamic violence—rooted, that is, in the Qur’an and in both the examples and hadiths (alleged sayings) of Muhammad, Islam’s founder—extended even to the Islamic Republic of Iran, as the president once again adduced a purported fatwa against nuclear weapons by Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei, which does not, in fact, exist.

Obama pointed out that “the U.N. was designed to prevent wars between states” but “increasingly we face the challenge of preventing slaughter within states” [emphases added].  His reference clearly was to Syria, but nary a presidential peep was uttered about equally-horrific venues where Christians are being butchered, such as Nigeria, Pakistan or Iraq; or where churches were burned, as in Egypt under the Muslim Brotherhood; or where Christians are not even allowed to have churches, as in Saudi Arabia.

Furthermore, relative to Syria, Obama’s obsession with international treaties and norms is rather selective:  violating the Geneva Convention rubrics on chemical weapons is reason to use military force; but breaching Geneva Convention genocide prohibitions—which include “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”—elicits no such outrage on the part of Obama, Sec of State Kerry or Director of Central Intelligence John Brennan when Christians are the victims. This despite the fact that a Sudanese Anglican bishop has written to Obama, asking him to help persecuted Christians in Sudan.

The Status of Women in Islam (with two videos)

Muslim apologists put forward the claim that Islam liberated women in the 7th century and ever after. Our federal government, via the National Park Service (who knew they were so concerned over promoting Islam instead of running the National Parks!), is promoting this utter fabrication via a new video series:

From the first part of the 3 videos at the 4:45 mark:

People think that Islam oppresses women and there’s no equality, but they’re wrong – there’s equity… 7th century A.D. Islam gave women the right to be involved in politics, the right to earn and keep her own money. Islam gave women the right to work outside of the home, Islam gave women the right to own property, Islam gave women the right to divorce, Islam gave women the right to choose who she marries. Islam gave women a whole bunch of rights that Western women acquired later in the 19th and 20th centuries and we’ve had these rights since the 7th century A.D. and it’s just not acknowledged worldwide.

It should be noted that the Muslim Brotherhood strongly condemned the UN's Declaration on Women's Rights. And women in Afghanistan would likely disagree with the National Park's Islamic Promotional Service.

Thankfully, David Wood over at Answering Muslims, sets the record straight using Islamic source texts, including hadiths about Muhammad's actual teachings about women, and specific verses from the Quran, in this brief presentation:

Mr. Wood goes on to note:

According to the Qur'an, Muslim men can beat their wives into submission (4:34) and rape their female captives (4:24). Muhammad taught his followers that the testimony of women is unreliable because women are stupid and immoral (Qur'an 2:282; Sahih al-Bukhari 2658; Sahih Muslim 142). Muhammad's wife Aisha even said that, in her lifetime, Muslim women were treated worse than non-Muslim women (Sahih al-Bukhari 5825). Amazingly, modern Muslims claim that Islam liberates women! 

For the full citations of the sources used by David Wood, visit the Answering Muslims post, The Truth About Women in Islam.

In my book, FACING ISLAM, I contrast Islam's view of women with that of Christianity:

Ma'loula Martyr: "I am a Christian, and if you want to kill me for this, I do not object to it"

This humble confession of faith in Jesus Christ is virtually identical to that often uttered by the Holy Neo-Martyrs under the Ottoman Muslims: "I am an Orthodox Christian, and I shall die an Orthodox Christian."

The "extremists" in Syria are strictly following the example of Muhammad and orthodox Islamic teaching on jihad, as they invite their victims to renounce Jesus Christ and accept Islam, to become a Muslim. If they refuse, they are killed. And they inherit an eternal crown for confessing Jesus Christ unto death.

You can learn more about the Neo-Martyrs via Witnesses for Christ: Orthodox Christian Neomartyrs of the Ottoman Period, 1437-1860.

We are witnessing in the early 21st century a new harvest of neomartyrs, in the savage persecution of Christians throughout the Islamic world.

ONE OF THOSE KILLED IN MA'LOULA: "I AM A CHRISTIAN, AND IF YOU WANT TO KILL ME FOR THIS, I DO NOT OBJECT TO IT"

Pravoslavie.ru — 9/26/2013

Damascus, September 18, 2013

"I am a Christian, and if you want to kill me for this, I do not object to it" - such were the last words of one of three Christians, killed by extremists after their refusal to accept Islam in Ma'loula, which has already become famous among the faithful as "a land of Martyrs".

Christians of Syria call Ma'loula "a land of Martyrs" after this small Christian town was several times attacked by various armed groups.

Islam and Extremism: What is Underneath

This is an outstanding article surveying the challenge of Islam. Please take the time to read and share widely.

By William DiPuccio, Ph.D. — Answering-Islam.org

William DiPuccio holds a Ph.D. in religious studies and has authored numerous articles and essays on both religion and science.  He has also worked and taught in both fields.  You can find his blog, Science Et Cetera, at scienceetcetera.blogspot.com

[ Gatestone Institute, November 1, 2012.  Revised and expanded, February 23, 2013. ]

Reposted by permission of the author.

NOTE: Footnote links will link back to the footnotes at Answering-Islam.org.

An excursion into the blogosphere reveals the polarization which attends Islamic issues.  Comment areas are populated with readers who seem to think that Islam is a monolithic belief system.  This myth, maintained by both “Islamophiles” and “Islamophobes,” has overshadowed any nuanced discussion of Islam.

Islam is a diverse religion.  Many Muslims who have immigrated to America and Europe have adopted Western ideals of free speech and religious toleration.  Those in the United States have done particularly well in assimilating these values.[1]  In a democracy, in which the individual is regarded as the basic unit of society, a person is judged not by his ethnic or religious associations, but by his ideas and behavior.

Although nearly half (42%) of the American public, as well as the U.S. government, believe that Islam is no more likely to encourage violence than any other religion,[2] the radical tendencies which exist in Islam are unambiguously present and they continue to fuel terrorism and supremacist ideologies, such as Islamism, on a scale not seen in other modern religions.  This fact, though politically incorrect, has not escaped the notice of Muslims here in the U.S.  According to a 2011 Pew survey, 60% of Muslim Americans are concerned about the rise of Islamic extremism in the U.S., and 21% feel that there is significant support for extremism in the Muslim community.[3]

Americans and government officials who deny that there is a religious link between Islam and terrorism face a disconnect between their idealism, which seeks the good in all things, and the hard edge of historical reality.  Western liberal optimism places its faith in reason and the essential goodness of mankind.  According to this worldview, Islam is a religion of peace, and, given favorable political and economic opportunities, even terrorists can be persuaded to live in harmony with the rest of the world.

By seeing Islam through this lens, American idealists and their European counterparts are projecting Western democratic values upon the Islamic world in the sincere belief that in the end, reason and human goodness will triumph.[4]  As many of these values, discussed in detail below, are at the core of America’s identity, errors in judgment can have grave consequences for American foreign policy, domestic security, and even our constitution.