WASHINGTON — One-hundred percent of Christians in 21 countries around the world experience persecution for their faith in Christ as over 215 million Christians faced “high levels” of persecution in the last year, a leading human rights watchdog group reports. Continue reading “100% of Christians Face Persecution in These 21 Countries | re-blog CP World by Samuel Smith”
Tag: Iran
Israel: Obama’s “historic mistake” – nuclear Iran
Premier said to have rebuked Obama over Iran nuclear deal
by JPOST.COM STAFF, jpost.com / November 25th 2013 1:21 PM
A lawmaker from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud faction told an Israeli television station on Monday that the premier rebuked US President Barack Obama over the interim agreement agreed upon by the Western powers and Iran on Sunday.
“The prime minister made it clear to the most powerful man on earth that if he intends to stay the most powerful man on earth, it’s important to make a change in American policy because the practical result of his current policy is liable to lead him to the same failure that the Americans absorbed in North Korea and Pakistan, and Iran could be next in line,” Likud Beytenu MK Tzachi Hanegbi told the Knesset Channel.
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Netanyahu said that he agreed with US President Barack Obama to send the Israeli delegation to the US when the two leaders spoke about the interim Iran deal on Sunday.
“I spoke last night with President Obama. We agreed that in the coming days an Israeli team led by the national security adviser, Yossi Cohen, will go out to discuss with the United States the permanent accord with Iran,” the prime minister said.
“This accord must bring about one outcome: the dismantling of Iran’s military nuclear capability,” he said
Netanyahu added that the interim deal reached with Iran was bad but it would have been worse without Israel’s diplomatic efforts.
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Obama called Netanyahu on Sunday from Air Force One to discuss the interim agreement struck between world powers and Iran over its controversial nuclear program.
In the call, Obama told Netanyahu that the P5+1 — the US, United Kingdom, France, Russia, China and Germany — would use the next several months to forge a “lasting, peaceful and comprehensive” solution to the slow-motion nuclear crisis causing consternation throughout the Middle East.
“The president told the Prime Minister that he wants the United States and Israel to begin consultations immediately regarding our efforts to negotiate a comprehensive solution,” the White House said in a readout of the call.
“The President underscored that the United States will remain firm in our commitment to Israel, which has good reason to be skeptical about Iran’s intentions.”
While the White House said both leaders expressed their mutual desire to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, it did not acknowledge any disagreement voiced in the phone call.
Netanyahu on Sunday called the deal, hailed by the US, a “historic mistake” that would make the region more dangerous tomorrow than it was before.
After a hard series of negotiations, Iran agreed late Saturday night to pause much of its nuclear program, including construction on its heavy-water plutonium reactor in Arak and the installation of advanced centrifuges made to efficiently enrich uranium to weapons-grade levels. Iran also agreed to allow unfettered access to its nuclear sites and to dilute stockpiles of uranium already thoroughly enriched.
In exchange, the Islamic will attain relief from financial sanctions from the international community valued at up to $7 billion.
Michael Wilner contributed to this report.
9 Things You Should Know About Persecution of Christians in 2013 – Reblog Gospel Coalition
JOE CARTER | 12:05 AM CT (Original)
Christians are the single most widely persecuted religious group in the world today. As we pray for the persecuted church, here are nine things you should know about the plight of believers around the globe:
1. Christian churches around the world have set apart the month of November to remember and pray for the persecuted church, through the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP).
2. According to the U.S. Department of State, Christians in more than 60 countries face persecution from their governments or surrounding neighbors simply because of their belief in Christ.
3. With the exception of four official state-controlled churches in Pyongyang, Christians in North Korea face the risk of detention in the prison camps, severe torture and, in some cases, execution for practicing their religious beliefs. North Koreans suspected of having contact with South Korean or other foreign missionaries in China, and those caught in possession of a Bible, have been known to be executed.
4. In Syria, Christians are increasingly becoming the target of violent attacks. Catholic and Orthodox groups in Syria say the anti-government rebels have committed “awful acts” against Christians, including beheadings, rapes and murders of pregnant women. A special ‘Vulnerability Assessment of Syria’s Christians’ conducted by the World Watch unit of Open Doors International from June 2013 warned that Syrian Christians are the victims of “disproportionate violence and abuse.” They warned further that Christian women in Syria are particularly vulnerable to sexual abuse.
5. In August 2013, Egypt faced what has been called the worst anti-Christian violence in seven centuries: 38 churches were destroyed, 23 vandalized; 58 homes were burned and looted and 85 shops, 16 pharmacies and 3 hotels were demolished; 6 Christians were killed in the violence and 7 were kidnapped.
6. The bloodiest attack on Christians in Pakistan’s history occurred in September 2013. Two suicide bombers exploded shrapnel laden vests outside All Saints’ Church in the old city of Peshawar. Choir members and children attending Sunday school were among 81 people killed. The attack left 120 people wounded, with 10 of them in critical condition.
7. During an attack on a shopping mall in Nairobi in September, Islamic terrorists asked people for the name of Muhammad’s mother or to recite a verse from the Quran in order to identify non-Muslims. One of the terrorists announced, “We have come to kill you Christians and Kenyans because you have been killing our women and children in Somalia. Any Muslims can go.”
8. Four Christians in Iran will get 80 lashes each this month for drinking wine during a communion service. Ahmed Shaheed, UN special rapporteur on human rights in Iran, said that it is common practice for Christians to be punished for violating theocratic laws. In the UN report Shaheed wrote: ‘At least 20 Christians were in custody in July 2013. In addition, violations of the rights of Christians, particularly those belonging to evangelical Protestant groups, many of whom are converts, who proselytize to and serve Iranian Christians of Muslim background, continue to be reported.’
9. An average of 100 Christians around the world are killed each month for their faith. (Note: There are several sources that claim the numbers are as high as 100,000+ a year. In the absence of solid evidence for those numbers, though, I chose to go with the more empirically verifiable estimate.)
The Silent Tragedy of Child Marriage – Re-Blog / Robert Spencer
The Silent Tragedy of Child Marriage
By Robert Spencer
May 20, 2013 – 8:00 am
“Since this is not negated later, we can take from this verse that it is permissible to have sexual intercourse with a prepubescent girl.” — IslamOnline.Com
Last Friday, an Afghan journalist named Mustafa Kazemi posted on Facebook a harrowing story about an eight-year-old girl in the Khashrood district of Nimruz province in Afghanistan, who was sold off into marriage to a mullah in his late 50s, and who bled to death on their wedding night.
It was one of many such tragedies in a land that little notes nor long remembers such deaths. An eight-year-old girl sold into marriage and dead after a brutal sexual assault that her body could not withstand is no more noteworthy than a pack animal that collapses under a too-heavy weight. It’s time and money wasted, that’s all. Forget about it. Get another one. Continue reading “The Silent Tragedy of Child Marriage – Re-Blog / Robert Spencer”
UPDATE: Iran Jails Two Christian Converts As Part Of Crackdown – Re-blog
Iran Jails Two Christian Converts As Part Of Crackdown
By BosNewsLife Middle East Service
TEHRAN, IRAN (BosNewsLife)– Two Christian converts are already over 50 days in Tehran’s feared Evin prison as part of a crackdown on spreading Christianity in heavily Islamic Iran and it remains unclear when they will be released, BosNewsLife learned Monday, March 4.
Shahrzad Y., a 25-year-old woman, and a man named as Sam S. 27, were both detained on January 9 after security forces raided their homes in western Tehran, Iranian Christians said.
The two university students were reportedly charged with the “formation and promotion of house churches and holding gatherings intended for committing crimes.”
Iranian police also confiscated personal belongings including laptops, Christian books and notes, Christian song Compact Disks and cameras, reported Mohabat News, a news agency of Iranian Christians and activists.
Their arrests came shortly after some 50 other Christians were reportedly detained on similar charges, though it remained unclear how many of them remained behind bars Monday, March 4.
Continue reading “UPDATE: Iran Jails Two Christian Converts As Part Of Crackdown – Re-blog”
The Peanut Gallery 