Tag: human-rights

New Egyptian Charter enshrines Sharia Law – Please pray for Coptic Christians

Peanut Gallery: This article accurately describes the ideological struggle taking place in the streets of Cairo… between Islam and Secularism.

“Egypt is Islamic, it will not be secular, it will not be liberal,” thousands of Morsi supporters chanted Friday after the funeral of two men killed in clashes earlier this week. Witnesses say the violence began when Islamists attacked an anti-Morsi protest camp outside the presidential palace.

“Bottom line, this is a struggle between ideologies — the Islamic ideology moving with a clear plan with public support, and the secularists,” said pro-Morsi demonstrator Khaled Omar, his head bandaged from Wednesday’s fighting. “We are defending Islam, which people want.”

Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood are “fast-tracking” the Islamification of Egypt… and they will not be denied. The article is well worth the read to see what’s at stake in Egypt. It does not bode well for Christian communities in the Middle East.

Please pray for Coptic Christians and the new Coptic Pope who are trying to navigate these treacherous waters.
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In articles explicit and vague, Egypt draft constitution allows widespread use of Islamic law – Fox News/World Link

CAIRO – One of Egypt’s most prominent ultraconservative Muslim clerics had high praise for the country’s draft constitution. Speaking to fellow clerics, he said this was the charter they had long wanted, ensuring that laws and rights would be strictly subordinated to Islamic law.

Sheik Yasser Borhami
Sheik Yasser Borhami

“This constitution has more complete restraints on rights than ever existed before in any Egyptian constitution,” Sheik Yasser Borhami assured the clerics. “This will not be a democracy that can allow what God forbids or forbid what God allows.”

The draft constitution that is now at the center of worsening political turmoil would empower Islamists to carry out the most widespread and strictest implementation of Islamic law that modern Egypt has seen. That authority rests on the three articles that explicitly mention Shariah, as well as obscure legal language buried in a number of other articles that few noticed during the charter’s drafting but that Islamists insisted on including.

According to both supporters and opponents of the draft, the charter not only makes Muslim clerics the arbiters for many civil rights, it also could give a constitutional basis for citizens to set up Saudi-style “religious police” to monitor morals and enforce segregation of the sexes, imposition of Islamic dress codes and even harsh punishments for adultery and theft — regardless of what laws on the books say.
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Violence continues in the streets of Cairo – Fox News Video – click here
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The spiraling crisis is threatening to turn into an outright fight for the identity of post-revolutionary Egypt, splitting the nation between those who want an Islamic state and those who oppose it, two years after the fall of autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

For Islamists, the constitution is the keystone for their ambitions to bring Islamic rule, a goal they say is justified by their large victory in last winter’s parliamentary elections. President Mohammed Morsi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood, has rejected opposition demands that he cancel a Dec. 15 nationwide referendum on the draft.

riots in cairo“Egypt is Islamic, it will not be secular, it will not be liberal,” thousands of Morsi supporters chanted Friday after the funeral of two men killed in clashes earlier this week. Witnesses say the violence began when Islamists attacked an anti-Morsi protest camp outside the presidential palace.

“Bottom line, this is a struggle between ideologies — the Islamic ideology moving with a clear plan with public support, and the secularists,” said pro-Morsi demonstrator Khaled Omar, his head bandaged from Wednesday’s fighting. “We are defending Islam, which people want.”

The opposition is determined to stop the draft, and thousands marched for a third straight day Friday on the palace.

The Brotherhood is “unleashing its gang chanting jihadi slogans, as if they are in a holy war against the infidels,” said businessman Magdi Ashri, who opposes Morsi. “Their agenda is to monopolize power in Egypt, whatever it takes.”

Egypt’s Islamist-dominated Constituent Assembly debated the draft for months, until most liberal members — and all the Christian ones — walked out Continue reading “New Egyptian Charter enshrines Sharia Law – Please pray for Coptic Christians” →

Please pray for: Bishop Tawadros new pope of Egypt’s Coptic Christians | BBC

Peanut Gallery: Please pray for Bishop Tawadros who has been chosen the new pope of Egypt’s Coptic Christians, becoming leader of the largest Christian minority in the Middle East… to be enthroned in a ceremony on November 18.

“You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.  And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”  2 Timothy 2.1-3 NKJV

Watch the moment in the ceremony when a blindfolded boy picked the name out of a bowl –

Bishop Tawadros has been chosen as the new pope of Egypt’s Coptic Christians, becoming leader of the largest Christian minority in the Middle East.

His name was selected from a glass bowl by a blindfolded boy at a ceremony in Cairo’s St Mark’s Cathedral. Three candidates had been shortlisted.

The 60-year-old succeeds Pope Shenouda III, who died in March aged 88.

He succeeds as attacks on Copts are on the increase, and many say they fear the country’s new Islamist leaders.

The other two candidates were Bishop Raphael and Father Raphael Ava Mina. They were chosen in a ballot by a council of some 2,400 Church and community officials in October.

Bishop Tawadros has studied in Britain

In God’s hands

Their names were written on pieces of paper and put in crystal balls sealed with wax on the church altar.

A blindfolded boy – one of 12 shortlisted children – then drew out the name of Bishop Tawadros, who until now was an aide to the acting leader, Bishop Pachomius.

Bishop Pachomius then took the ballot from the boy’s hand and showed it to all those gathered in the cathedral.

Strict measures were in place to make sure there was no foul play during the televised ceremony: the three pieces of paper with candidates’ names were all the same size and tied the same way.

Copts say this process ensures the selection is in God’s hands.

Bishop Tawadros will be enthroned in a ceremony on 18 November.

Continue reading the main story

” Freedom of Worship or Religion?” – What Will Become of the Middle East’s Christians? | First Things

Peanut Gallery: What’s the difference between “Freedom of Worship” and “Freedom of Religion?”

The secularists in the Obama administration are attempting to substitute the former for the latter in official “human rights” documents – so what?

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom’s 2010 Annual Report took note of the shift, stating, “This change in phraseology could well be viewed by human rights defenders and officials in other countries as having concrete policy implications.”

As Nina Shea, director of the Center for Religious Freedom, observed, this expression implies a narrower scope of the exercise of religion. “It excludes the right to raise your children in your faith; the right to have religious literature; the right to meet with co-religionists; the right to raise funds; the right to appoint or elect your religious leaders, and to carry out charitable activities, to evangelize, [and] to have religious education or seminary training,” said Shea, who previously served on the Commission.

The simple substitution of one word – “worship” for “religion” – forms the ideological basis for Christian persecution throughout the world… and most particularly in Islamic countries. It’s a big deal!

Please read the full article by Andrew Doran published in First Things

What Will Become of the Middle East’s Christians?

October 30, 2012 – Andrew Doran

In the fall of 2010, a few months before revolution swept the Muslim world, I happened to be in Yemen for work. The trip coincided with the start of the Eid holiday, which provided ample free time to see much of the capital, Sana’a.

One afternoon, en route to the hotel from the historic Old City, the driver pointed out the window at a group of men standing on a vacant corner. “Look!” he said with the excitement of happening upon a rarity. “Those are Jews.”

They were some distance away, and whatever distinguished them from other Yemeni, I could not see it through the window of an SUV. In the blink of an eye, they were no longer visible.

At the start of the last century, there were tens of thousands of Jews in Yemen; today, there are perhaps hundreds. Most were airlifted out in 1949 and 1950 as part of Operation Magic Carpet, an Israeli undertaking to rescue Arab (especially Yemeni) Jews following the pogroms that resulted from the founding of Israel in 1948. While efforts to rescue the remaining Jews have recently resumed, the whereabouts of many Yemeni Jews remains unknown.

The exodus of Jews from Yemen, where they had lived for fifteen centuries before the birth of the Prophet, was not an isolated occurrence; it was repeated across the Middle East and North Africa, as these Diaspora Jews made their way, reluctantly in many cases, to Israel. Their fight for survival foreshadowed that of the more than ten million Christians of the Muslim world, who today struggle to maintain a presence and identity in the lands where they have lived for centuries. Continue reading “” Freedom of Worship or Religion?” – What Will Become of the Middle East’s Christians? | First Things” →

Please pray for Christian refugees from Syria in Lebanon

Peanut Gallery: Please continue to pray for displaced Syrian Christians… now finding refuge in Lebanon. The article below tells their story.

“Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters. Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it! Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies.” Hebrews 13.1-3 NLT


Prayer: Lord Jesus, give me the same compassion that you feel for strangers and refugees close to me… or far away. I remember especially today refugees from Syria. Use your people to feed them, clothe them, shelter them… and above all to love them. I ask it in your name.

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Bishop Expects Massive Influx Of Christian Refugees From Syria, Lebanon

Thursday, October 25, 2012 – By BosNewsLife Middle East Service
with additional reporting by BosNewsLife’s Stefan J. Bos

BEIRUT, LEBANON (BosNewsLife)– The Bishop responsible for Maronite Christians in Europe warned the Western world Thursday, October 25, that recent deadly attacks in Christian districts of Beirut and Damascus could “unleash” a massive “new wave” of Christian refugees.

Bishop Maroun Nasser GemayelIn remarks published by the ‘Aid to the Church in Need’ (ACN) group, Bishop Maroun Nasser Gemayel said Christians in the Middle East were longing for freedom and security and could therefore “be tempted to emigrate” to Europe or the United States, “despite their great love of their homeland.”

Bishop Gemayel said the situation in Syria’s capital Damascus already was dramatic, and “now many, including those in [Lebanon’s capital] Beirut, will believe that they can no longer live in safety even in the Christian quarters” despite their “great love of their homeland.”

Anti-Christian attacks last Friday, October 19 in Beirut and on Sunday, October 21, in Syria’s capital Damascus killed Continue reading “Please pray for Christian refugees from Syria in Lebanon” →

Prepare now for “International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted 2012”

Peanut Gallery: Persecution.org has provided online resources for remembering Presecuted Christians around the World. Resource kits and Bulletin Inserts are available for church or personal use. Nov 11th is the target date but any Sunday will work.

“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”
2 Corinthians 4:8-9 NIV

Please consider how you can help your circle of influence become more aware of the Persecuted Church. See article below.

International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted 2012

Get resources to observe a day of remembrance on the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted (November 11) or any time you want!

Every year, ICC produces prayer bulletins to help your church observe a “Day of Remembrance” for the persecuted. Most churches observe this on IDOP (International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted), which is held on the second Sunday in November, but it can be held any time. In fact, our bulletins are produced in such a way that they aren’t date specific so your church can observe a “Day of Remembrance” on November 11 or July 21…it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that you take the time to educate your congregation about the plight of their persecuted brothers and sisters.

Resource Kits

In addition to prayer bulletins, we also have a CD “Resource Kit” that we’ve packed with information, presentations, and videos about the persecuted church. Pastors and church staff can call us (1-800-422-5441) to receive a free kit as long as we can ship it to a valid church address. The cost for all others is just $5.

Prayer Bulletin Inserts

This year, ICC is providing a free PDF for your congregation or small group to become better informed about the persecution that faces your brothers and sisters around the world. Just right-click on the image of the cover at left and choose “save link as” to download the flyer. If you left-click on the cover, click on the down arrow next to the “full screen” option in the far upper left corner of the viewer that appears to download and print the document as a standard PDF. When printing, please designate “booklet” to format correctly.

Song: “Say a Prayer for Me”

“Say a Prayer for Me” is a song written by Rhonda Daeumer to help inspire others to pray for the persecuted church. It is free for certain use, according to the following terms, and we hope it will bless you as you prepare for your day of prayer for the persecuted! Download.