Posted on 07/17/2012 8:03:13 AM PDT by Ooh-Ah
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Dozens of Gaza Christians staged a rare public protest Monday, claiming two congregants were forcibly converted to Islam and were being held against their will.
The small but noisy demonstration showed the increasingly desperate situation facing the tiny minority.
Protesters banged on a church bell and chanted, "With our spirit, with our blood we will sacrifice ourselves for you, Jesus."
Gaza police say the two are staying with a Muslim religious official at their request, because they fear retribution from their families converting to Islam. Two mediators said the two — a 25-year-old man and a woman with three children — appeared to have embraced Islam of their free will. Forced conversions have been unheard of in Gaza before.
Since the Islamic militant Hamas seized power five years ago, Christians have felt increasingly embattled, but have mostly kept silent.
There are growing fears among Gaza Christians that their rapidly shrinking community could disappear through emigration and conversions.
Their numbers appear to have shrunk from some 3,500 to about 1,500 in recent years, according to community estimates. They are a tiny minority among 1.7 million Palestinians in Gaza, most conservative Muslims.
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
Protesters banged on a church bell and chanted, “With our spirit, with our blood we will sacrifice ourselves for you, Jesus.”
I am humbled ans ashamed by what Christians in other countries have to endure. America was once considered a Christian country and we allowed a nobody with no experience to become president to finish us off and say we are no longer a Christian country. We allow our government officials to vote for homosexual agendas and abortion without consequences for them. I, for one, will do everything in my power to oust Mary Landrieu from her Senate position for just such votes. We have stand strong and fight for our Christian beliefs (in our own country-I never thought I would see the day).
I have heard reports for years through Christian ministries which are active in the Middle-East that young, Christian girls are frequently abducted from their families, forced to convert to Islam, and then married off into an Islamic household. Impossible to confirm what happened without the facts in this case.
Had a unforgettable History professor that lectured on the highly successful 8th century “Convert to Islam or Die” campaign across North Africa.
Of course the Anglicans/Episcopalians have far more problems than that. That sect is becoming a women's club social organization and a civic society like Garden Club or Rotarians.
Excusez moi, sil vous plait. Wrong thread.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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Funny how often this kind of thing repeats itself in the Islamic world. Always, they are there of their own free will, especially a bride right after her wedding. Always, they fear reprisals from their (former?) congregation. Jews and Christians from Pakistan to Egypt sure are vindictive sobs./sarc
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