www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Muslims Attack Yet Another Christian Church

Press Release
17th, February 2002

UK Coptic Association,
PO Box 7969,
Knowle,
Solihull,
West Midlands
B94 6PY
Tel 01564 782546
Fax 01564 784181
E. mail ukcopticassoc@hotmail.com
>
President: Dr Helmy Guirguis

The UK Coptic Association condemn the attack on St. Mary Church in Bani-Walmas, El-Minia, Egypt on Sunday 10th, February 2002.

Muslim mobs attacked St. Mary Church Bani-Walmas, El-Minia, Egypt on Sunday 10th, February 2002 while prayers of consecration of the then newly renovated church was taking place led by Bishop Agathon, the local Bishop and hundreds of guests from Cairo and the nearby churches.

At 9 am, just after Bishop Agathon started the prayers, Muslim mobs attacked the church with stones, petrol bombs and Butane gas cylinders on fire.

The Christians did not take part in the violence not even in self defence, Bishop Agathon said. The police arrived 12.38 PM. by then the church seats, icons, chandeliers, and alter were charred, the bell tower was damaged, 5 cars belong to Christians including the Bishop's and a visiting priest, one bus and at least 15 houses all belong to Christians were burned.

It is note worthy that large number of the local secondary school Muslim students did not go to school on that day and participated in the attack against Christians. The local police was informed a week earlier of the intended day of celebration to take the necessary steps to insure peace.

The UK Coptic Association condemns the atmosphere of hate of Christians cultivated by the Islamic Media and school curriculum. It also condemns the slow reaction of the police and the police failure to arrest the perpetrators to stop further attacks on Christians and urges the Egyptian Government to give Christians equal citizenship rights.

The UK Coptic Association demands the abolition of the outdated, biased and discriminatory Hamayoni decree of 1856 that requires Christians to obtain a permit from the president of Egypt to authorise the building of a church, this rule does not apply to mosques.

For further details contact Dr Ibrahim Habib, Tel +(44) 79767 10729

[ 02-19-2002: Message edited by: aRomanCatholic@Work ]

Dear +Ray,

Yes, the Copts in Egypt have been undergoing their Calvary for some time now and the list of their Martyrs is growing.

We should all keep them in our Lenten prayers and thoughts, perhaps send money that we would have used in purchasing "junk food" during Lent to a Coptic relief organization.

Alex

In addition to this over 100 Orthodox Churches and monasteries have been destroyed in Kosovo. Over ten Orthodox Churches in Macedonia have been destroyed. And now Orthodox Churches in Albania are being desecrated and destroyed.

OrthoMan

Dear Orthoman,

Would you know of one or two Orthodox relief agencies that help the stricken Orthodox Christians in these areas that we could contribute to in the spirit of the Great Fast?

Could you share their addresses with us?

Alex

[Would you know of one or two Orthodox relief agencies that help the stricken Orthodox Christians in these areas that we could contribute to in the spirit of the Great Fast?
Could you share their addresses with us?]

I would recommend the IOCC (International Orthodox Christian Charities) which provides help to both Orthodox and non Orthodox alike all over the world including Yugoslavia. See -

http://www.iocc.org/

For pictures of desecrated Icons access -

http://www.decani.yunet.com/icons.html

(Note how the Moselems desecrate Icons by scratching the eyes or faces out of the image)

For pictures and a partial list of Orthodox Churches that have been destroyed or desecrated access -

http://www.kosovo.com/crucified/default.htm

Click on:

Churches In Ruins
Desecrated Icons
testimonies
Photo Story
Interviews

Dear Friends,

I would like to make the recommendation that all of us, of whatever affiliation, consider making a contribution to the organization mentioned by Orthoman to assist our suffering Orthodox Christian brothers and sisters during the period of this Great Fast (Old Calendarists are now into the Lenten Triodion too!).

Alex

From: acns-admin@www.stormcentre.net


Sudan's Supreme Court blocks execution of Christian woman [ENS]

Under intense pressure from the international community, Sudan's Supreme Court has overturned a sentence imposed under Islamic law on a Christian woman calling for her to be stoned to death for adultery.

Non-governmental agencies, including Human Rights Watch, called on Sudan's president and members of the government to save the life of Abok Alfa Akok. She is a Christian who is a member of the Dinka tribe and was sentenced by a court under Shari'ah law imposed by Islamic authorities in Sudan's South Darfur province. The law is being applied to all residents in the northern states, regardless of their religion. A Nigerian woman is appealing a similar sentence imposed by Islamic authorities in northern Nigeria after an international outcry.

Sudan has been enduring civil war between the northern Muslim government in Khartoum and rebels in the mainly Christian and animist south since independence in 1956.

Christians in northern Nigeria face growing hostility [ENS] Christians in northern Nigeria, which is overwhelmingly Muslim, are facing increased hostility, including the possible demolition of churches and the dissolution of non-Islamic courts, according to a release from the Barnabas Fund, a British-based organization that monitors persecution of Christians around the world.

Local authorities in the state of Zamfara are reportedly threatening to demolish 14 churches to prevent the growth of Christianity and its governor has suggested that he might abolish magistrates courts, leaving on the Islamic courts to function.
Zamfara was the first of a dozen Nigerian states to introduce full Islamic Shari'ah law in January 2000, but the move was intended to affect only Muslims. Christians fear that Muslims now intend the law to apply to everyone.

Authorities in the states of Kano and Jigawa, also with Muslim majorities, deployed police and soldiers because of fear of reprisals against Christians in the wake of recent riots in Lagos in southern Nigeria. Revenge attacks are common against minority groups in the country. Christian Yorubas in Kano, for example, live in fear that last October's violence against them will be repeated. Over 200 were killed when Muslims demonstrated in support of Osama bin Laden, causing Yoruba Christians to flee for their lives.

..................................
Chinese Christians play a role in the nation's social vision (ENI) The "extraordinary expansion" of Christianity in China is not sufficiently appreciated in the West, according to Caroline Fielder, an Anglican who will serve as a specialist on the subject for churches that are members of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland.

There now an estimated 17 million Protestants and about six million Catholics in China, according to some estimates, although statistics are complicated because the number of Christians who attend churches not registered with the government is unknown. According to some experts, counting those Christians could increase the total by 50 percent.

Fielder, who speaks Mandarin Chinese and taught at a school in Jiangxi Province, said that she would visit the country at least twice a year because "it is changing incredibly fast" and she must keep current on church trends. "For the first time, the churches are being seen as part of the social vision for China," she said.

Overseas churches currently support many social projects in areas such as health, teaching and rural development through the Nanjing-based Amity Foundation, founded by the Chinese with strong links to the China Christian Council, the official agency for the Protestant churches.

Chinese authorities have launched occasional crackdowns on churches not willing to work with the government, according to observers. The situation has gotten worse since the 1980s when Christians played a role in the collapse of Communist regimes in eastern Europe, leading some Chinese authorities to speculate that Christians in China might present a similar challenge. "We don't do anything that's not transparent," said Edmond Tang, an advisor to the commission on mission for Churches Together. "We're not taking sides and we work to promote the reconciliation of the official and unofficial churches."
______________________________________________
The ACNSlist is published by the Anglican Communion Office, London.

Land of Promise

Living in the Land of Promise

By Dr. Maria C. Khoury


On a bright clear Sunday morning I stared at the beautiful hills and
countryside of Biblical Judea and Samaria right outside my huge
bay kitchen window. Many Sundays especially during these last 18
months of the Palestinian Uprising, we had to get ready for church
listening to the horrid news that another bomb has gone off in
Israel. There was a period of time where Sunday after Sunday an
attack would take place that continues to brand the Palestinians as
"terrorists." And there's nothing you can do with such news except
go to church with a heavy heart and a very sick feeling in your
stomach and pray to God for peace to come in the Land of Christ's
birth. I screamed at my children to hurry up since church attendance
in our little Christian village of Taybeh is a number one priority and
was quite relieved that Hamas (the Islamic Resistance Movement)
took a day off. But still the thought crossed my mind that in a land
full of violence and bloodshed what kind of future do my children
really have as part of the Christian minority?


As Palestine
empties out of its Christian population, many families search for the
"American Dream" of better education, better living conditions and
better job opportunities. But, prosperity and success sometimes
have a very high price. This family tragedy and shocking death
made us re-evaluate our values, traditions and reasons for returning
to the land of promise after twenty-four years of middle class
America.


The current unemployment of over 60% in the village and the awful
closure and terrible checkpoints still make every young man want to
leave this Biblical town of Efraim. The new modern name
"Taybeh" was given to the village during Salahdin's visit in the late
12th century but our location is mentioned in the New Testament:
"Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews; but went
thence unto a country near the wilderness, into a city called
Ephraim..." (John 11:54). Therefore, the Christian presence in this
village dates back to the time of Christ. The archeological ruins of
the first St. George's Greek Orthodox Church in Taybeh date back
to the fourth century built by St. Helen when the Nativity Church
was constructed in Bethlehem.


A mere ten to fifteen minutes drive from the village to the city of
Ramallah takes over two to three hours depending on the
checkpoints. I can almost handle one checkpoint with patience but
when you stop three times on your way to school to show your
identification traveling from a Palestinian village to a Palestinian
city, it is frustrating because you are not going anywhere near Israel
or threatening the security of Israel. The most aggravating feeling is
when the soldiers deny you the right to pass. I JUST WANT TO
BLOW UP!!! The worst I have experienced with the checkpoint
phenomenon on more than one occasion is sitting at the Qalandia
checkpoint for four hours following a tiring school day in a van
with nine children, only three of which are my own. During the
whole time, I kept yelling at all the young boys that came to hide
behind my van and throw rocks at the soldiers. I kept screaming
"Why do you want to die today, can you please go home." In the
mean time my sons were starring out the van window as soldiers
were shooting more Palestinian boys hiding behind trashcans. We
watch the violence as we watch a movie and ask for the Grace of
God to keep us safe. By the time we get home some days, it is
completely dark out and we get up the next morning at 6 am to go
through the same miserable way because it is the only way to get to
school in Palestine. All the main roads have been blocked for such a
long time. Money can buy you solutions, so we took an apartment
in the city of Ramallah to avoid these checkpoints but when the
Israeli tanks invaded and the noise of shooting was constant, my
children wished to sleep in the village where they had less fear and
anxiety.


Following the Oslo Peace Agreement, the picturesque Taybeh
village was not a bad place to raise children. We would avoid the
Saturday night parties because everyone just visits their
grandmother. We would not have teenage peer pressure for drugs
because they were simply not available in a little village on the
West Bank. We would avoid the malls and being spoiled with too
much materialism because we would see so many people that don't
even have food to eat. We would easily go to church on Sundays
because there would be no hockey conflicts or soccer games at the
same time. Raising children in a small Christian village in the Holy
Land appeared like an innocent and wholesome upbringing. There
was only one small problem. As an American of Greek descent, I
did not have any connection to this land. However, with time and
with personal and psychological suffering, the land of Christ's birth
gave me a deep spiritual awakening as an Orthodox Christian.


I felt it was the legacy of my children to experience their Palestinian
Christian roots since their father, a Palestinian Orthodox Christian
had grown up in this tiny village where everyone is related. I
thought my children would know themselves deeply if they
developed a strong sense of cultural identity and experienced the
richness of the Palestinian culture. I even firmly believed the love of
a close-knit extended family would help my children be good
human beings. When I met my husband at Hellenic College in
Boston in the late 70's, I must admit I did not know anything about
Palestinians and truthfully speaking I did not even know there were
any Christians in the Holy Land. However, being an obedient wife,
I followed him to the land of promise. His personal promises that it
was the best place in the world to raise responsible children. It has
been a long, painful and rewarding six-year learning adventure.


My husband had a dream to return to his homeland, to be an
obedient son who travels to the West for education and money and
brings back the skills and the knowledge to help Palestine. It's the
ultimate dream of every Palestinian father. It's sort of a noble thing
to do and being an entrepreneur, he talked the family into building a
microbrewery in the village of Taybeh that would boost the
Palestinian economy. The Oslo Peace Agreement gave many people
a false promise of peace and prosperity that led into over five years
of frozen negotiations where people continued to invest in
Palestine. "Taybeh Beer" was launched in the market in the summer
of l995 as the first Palestinian beer and the only microbrewery in
the Middle East. We also spent five years out of suitcases building a
huge stone mansion that now we pray the apache helicopters will
not see if they decide to bomb Taybeh. The new beer was so
successful that it made history in Palestine by being the first and
only Palestinian product to be franchised and brewed in Germany
under the Taybeh Beer license. Hundreds of newspapers articles
were written because reporters were so curious who are these
people who invest millions of dollars to produce beer in a 98%
Muslim population. These brave and loyal men are my husband
David C. Khoury and my ingenious brother-in-law Nadim. They
invested their heart, soul and money to help build Palestine.


Receiving Arafat's blessing for the brewery was also a test when
there would be a democratic Palestinian state, there would be a
place for the Christian minority.
Then came Sharon and September 28, 2000 and all the dreams of
Palestinians that had returned to their homeland following the Oslo
Agreement were shattered. Slowly but surely, destruction took place
each day with bombings, shootings, assisinations and outright
massacres of unarmed civilians. The Israelis have destroyed lives,
houses, businesses, roads, olive trees, the economy and education.
Everything that was built following Oslo and any progress made
was completely ruined. The list of destruction is far too long. There
is nothing left to destroy except the peoples' will power to be free
and to seek their human rights and independence. We watched as
many families picked up their belongings and returned to their
previous lives. They all gave up the hotels they built, the battery
factories they created, the health clinics they established. These
Palestinians tried to invest and live in Palestine but could not handle
the harsh conditions imposed by the Israelis. They gave up the
dream to help their homeland and to live in the land of promise.
Sometimes I just can't understand my husband's decision to stay
especially when the imported bottles that he needs so desperately to
fill with "Taybeh Beer" are stuck at the Israeli port due to red tape.
The fees and storage costs are far beyond what the bottles are worth
themselves. I feel it is such a high price to pay, financially and
psychologically, to be a Palestinian businessman. Not to mention a
40% production tax that basically cripples you as a new business.
The war against the Palestinian economhy is an entire story by
itself.

When the Palestinian Intifada first broke out, we would usually
wake up every morning not knowing if we were going to school or
not. You must get up, get dressed and try to go to school before you
discover the road situation. There is nothing more frustrating than
going through all the preparations and not being able to have a
school day. Sometimes the road was open, sometimes the road was
closed. Sometimes you make it all the way to school passing many
checkpoints just to find the school was cancelled because of a
funeral or protest. Sometimes while in school, a bomb would go off
in Israel and we couldn't get back home. This anxiety was
unbearable and drove me crazy. Not knowing day to day what will
happen. In the fall of 2000, it was so common to hear "they're
bombing Ramallah." I would drop everything, try to get my children
out of school as fast as possible and get back to the village where it
was perceived safer. So, you have hundreds of parents doing the
same thing. There was panic in the streets and in the schools. The
constant fear was very nerve recking.
To top off this instability, constant attacks were happening on the
roads because we have hundreds of illegal Israeli settlements
choking us up in the West Bank. Israeli settlers killing Palestinians
and Palestinian gunman killing Israeli settlers back and forth until
the violence escalates so much that it's totally out of control and
takes on a life by itself. Then we would observe an abnormal kind
of quiet, which is the type of quiet before a heavy storm. There is so
much anxiety and confusion, you can't decide what scares you the
most, the violence itself or the silence before the bloodshed occurs.

Driving down these roads where innocent people were killed every
day was not the easiest thing in the world. The only comfort I could
possibly give my children was explaining to them that if it was
God's Will for us to die, we would die no matter where we live. For
the first three months, I would physically shake driving to school
every day. Now, I have somewhat adjusted myself. I just do my
cross and say my prayers. I have gained a type of inner peace that
allows me to live here and see devastation all around me. I must
admit, I owe this inner peace to each and every person that prays for
me. May God be with you.

What really amazes me the most is day in and day out, I see and
experience the suffering of the Palestinian people and the world
continues to support Israel and allow them to get away with human
right violations. I am amazed at how people survive on such low
incomes and under such awful conditions. Any human being living
under these harsh conditions of Israeli Military Occupation would
turn into a terrorist because you reach a mental point of either
"freedom or death." My children keep reminding me of the license
plate they saw in New Hampshire on their summer vacation stating
"live free or die." I can't remember this plate myself because they
say I have lived four decades. But my children insist that if
Americans can make such statements why can't Palestinians have
the same rights. The struggle for freedom has taken more than fifty
years. In this new millennium we must give Palestinians their full
human rights and treat them as part of humanity not creatures of a
lesser God. For the love of humanity, peace should come to this
region where the Prince of Peace lived.

It is important to keep a Christian presence in the Holy Land
because it is the land of Christ's Birth. The Holy Land being the
"mother church" of Western Christianity stands proud to have so
many brothers and sisters in Christ. Together we can work for a
great awareness of the Palestinian struggle so that congress can
have real names and real faces of how the American support to
Israel affects over three million Palestinians in a negative way and
cheats them from their basic rights. We need many prayers to live
together as Christians, Muslims and Jews in this precious land. We
need people to make their government officials aware of the
atrocities that occur in the Holy Land. We need people who can see
the human suffering that the Zionist movement created since l948.
We need the occupation to end. We need the world to see the
suffering and humiliation the Palestinians face every day. We need
the world to understand the cause of terrorism is the Israeli
occupation itself and America's policy in the Middle East.
Living in the land of promise may be full of bloodshed, violence
and deep anxiety but also it has been the place where I have grown
very close to God. I literally must live each day as if it is the last day
of my life. Praying more, going to confession and fasting help me
realize our final destiny is the kingdom of God. I truly believe God
gives us every blessing and every suffering so that we may come to
know Him who gives us eternal life. All the riches and the
materialism in this world will not provide a place for us in God's
kingdom. It is only our good works on earth that will count and the
firm belief that Christ is our Savior. When Christ is in your heart
you do love your neighbor as yourself and forgiveness becomes
essential. As Christians our ultimate goal is to give glory to God.
We are called to see God in each and every human being. Let us
pray these Christian values and principles can be practiced in the
land of promise, in the land of Canaan as is my first born son's
name who as a young Palestinian Christian proudly carries his
grandfather's name "Canaan."
* * *
Editor's Note: Maria C. Khoury is the author of four Orthodox
Christian Children's books published in Jerusalem. She has written
over forty articles helping bring awareness to the Christian presence
in the Holy Land. Her e-mail address is <khourymaria@hotmail.com>.
* * *

Orthoman wrote:"...In addition to this over 100 Orthodox Churches and monasteries have been destroyed in Kosovo. Over ten Orthodox Churches in Macedonia have been destroyed. And now Orthodox Churches in Albania are being desecrated and destroyed..."

Please do not forget the hundreds of Roman Catholic churches and Muslim mosques that were destroyed by the Orthodox as well!!!

mark

Christians in the land of Christ face a horrendous catch 22. They are persecuted by the Muslim's for being infidels and by the Israelis for being Palestinian. Lord, have mercy!

Dan Lauffer

Since we are comparing statistics--a la lex talionis--"please do not forget" the Orthodox temples destroyed by Croat Catholics, etc., etc., and "unto ages of ages," may we never forget and forgive?

Isn't that what Jesus taught: never forgive and never forget? Or is it? Or, is it just a matter of Christians not REALLY believing in Him? Maybe for most so-called Christians, the way of Jesus is just a dog and pony show?

And we wonder why so many, outside the faith, consider us to be hypocrites and the most disingenuous people on the face of the earth.

They want nothing to do with us.

Good for them. At least they have integrity!

Regards?

MI

MI,

Maybe forget the offense as regards the way we treat others. Forget the offense in the sense that we rejoice if they repent/or we repent as the case may be. But why forget the sorrow our brothers and sisters have faced and continue to face because of persecution?

Let us never forget the courage of those who live for Christ in the face of horrendous persecution.

One Christlike option was shown me a few years ago by a fellow Methodist minister. He and several others went to Bosnia and literally stood between the fighting forces there. No condemnation. Just a courageous witness for peace and for Christ. I admire that kind of courage. It did briefly stop some fighting.

Remember the saints. Speak up in defense of them and of our Lord. Work for peace. Many Christians are doing that. May their number increase.

Dan Lauffer

Dan,

As Father Wesley would say, I extend to you the right hand of fellowship!
(I just love that holy man to pieces, y'all.)

Of course, my response was thick with sarcasm.

The point is, all religious and ethnic groups in the Yugoslav civil wars have been victims, though the poor Muslims suffered casualities (relative to their population figures) equal to those of the European Jews of WWII; horrendous enough for folks like me to even question the existence of God, I'm afraid. But one just can't give up; one must continue to wage "holy war" against the psychological demon of unbelief.

In the Balkans, half of the problem is that people never forget! We know the evil consequences of that long-term memory. It is murderous.


I would say that for the Orthodox and Catholics of the Balkans, the Lord's Prayer---"forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us"--- is the most ignored and misunderstood of those prayers common to both groups. It has degenerated to an exercise of magic and rote, ritual and superstition, not just among the ignorant, but even among the well educated; not just among the laity, but among the priesthood as well.

After the tears, one must laugh at the idiocy of human nature.

God is Love, but He cannot possibly be omniscient.

Regards,

MI

Dear MI,

Why not Omniscient?

Alex

Subject: Peacemakers: Archbishop offers to die in place of woman sentenced to stoning

Ecumenical News International
Daily News Service / 22 February 2002
Archbishop offers to die in place of woman sentenced to stoning
By Obed Minchakpu

Lagos, 22 February (ENI)--A Nigerian Catholic archbishop has
voluntarily offered to die in place of a Muslim woman who has
been condemned to death by stoning by an Islamic court
for the crime of adultery.


Dr Anthony Olubunmi Okogie, the Catholic archbishop of the Lagos
Archdiocese in south-western Nigeria, has offered to pay the
sentence recently imposed on the woman in the northern state of
Sokoto in a case which has created an international outcry. The
man has been allowed to go free.

The woman, Safiya Hussaini Tungar-tudu, is appealing the
conviction; the next hearing has been set for 18 March.

In a statement released to the news media by the archdiocese
earlier this week, Archbishop Okogie explained that he decided to
make the offer as a protest of the Nigerian Catholic Church
against the Islamic Sharia legal system.

The archbishop accused the system of deliberately persecuting
Christians and the poor of northern Nigeria. He called on
religious leaders vested with responsibility for administering
and interpreting the Islamic legal code to do so in the fear of
God and with humility, taking human considerations into account.

The archbishop warned the nation's political leaders that unless
checked, policies in certain Nigerian states could isolate the
entire nation from the international community.

Under the strict Sharia law applied in Sokoto, adultery carries a
mandatory death sentence.

Hussaini, a nursing mother whose one-year-old baby girl is at the
centre of the case, was convicted of having had an illicit sexual
affair with a man out of wedlock.

Her lawyers were preparing to appeal the verdict on the grounds
that Hussaini was raped. But Hussaini, who is divorced, has since
claimed that her former husband is the father of the child, which
would not be an offence under Sharia law.

Bello Sanyinnawal, the judge who convicted Hussaini, said the
criteria for adultery on the part of a man were very specific.

Speaking of Hussaini's case, Sanyinnawal told ENI: "The man had
to be freed for lack of evidence. Under the Sharia law, for the
man to be convicted, there must be four male witnesses who saw
them at the same time having sex. *

Either that or the man
himself confesses to the act. These two instances were lacking."
The judge said that the sentence passed on Hussaini, if carried
out, would ensure her access to paradise. "She will be saved on
the day of judgement. The manner of her death now will save her
from a terrible ordeal on judgement day. She may be admitted in
the good heaven."

Abdulkadir Imam Ibrahim, a legal practitioner, has filed an
appeal on her behalf at the Sokoto State Sharia Court of Appeal
and asked for a stay of execution of the death sentence pending
the appeal.
"I can't predict anything now, but surely, we will examine very
critically whether there were procedural or legal errors in the
judgement delivered", he told ENI in Sokoto City.

Mallam Hussaini Tungar, Hussaini's father, told ENI in an
interview in Tungar-Tudu that he had appealed to both the state
of Sokoto and the federal government not to kill his daughter: "I
don't want my daughter to be stoned to death. Allah is forgiving.
Let them forgive her."
* * *
All articles (c) Ecumenical News International
Reproduction permitted only by media subscribers and
provided ENI is acknowledged as the source.