One Christian is killed every 11 minutes: UK Parliament told

Members of the House of Commons were told that the persecution of Christians is increasing, that one Christian is killed around every 11 minutes around the world, and that Christianity is the “most persecuted religion globally”.

A long list of countries in which life as a Christian is most difficult was discussed, including Syria, North Korea, Eritrea, Nigeria, Iraq and Egypt.

MP Jim Shannon said the persecution of Christians is “the biggest story in the world that has never been told”.

He said that although the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, there are many countries in which these rights are not given.

Shannon alleged that 200 million Christians will be persecuted for their faith this year, while he said that 500 million live in “dangerous neighbourhoods”.

He added that in Syria Christians are “caught between opposing sides in the conflict”, and mentioned the “specific targeting” of Christian-dominated locations, such as Sadad and Maaloula.

MP Sammy Wilson said that in Syria, “50,000 Christians have been cleared from the city of Homs”, while in Sudan two million Christians were killed by the regime over a 30-year period.

He added: “Within the last month, hundreds of people, from Nigeria to Eritrea to Kazakhstan to China, have been arrested and put in prison simply because of their faith, and when they go into prison they are denied due process. They are denied access to lawyers. They are sometimes even denied knowledge of the charges facing them. They can languish in prison for a long time and in horrible conditions… This is not only happening in Muslim countries. From Morocco to Pakistan, Christians in Muslim countries are under threat, but it happens elsewhere too.”

The recent comments of Baroness Warsi at a lecture in Washington were echoed, including her assertion that “the parts of the world where Christianity first spread is now seeing large sections of the Christian community leaving, and those that are remaining feeling persecuted”.

MP Nigel Dodds said that the “persecution of Christians is not new”, but that it is “staggering” how many Christians are killed today.

In Iraq, he noted the words of Canon Andrew White, who had said that Christians are “frightened even to walk to church because they might come under attack. All the churches are targets… We used to have 1.5 million Christians, now we have probably only 200,000 left… There are more Iraqi Christians in Chicago than there are here”.

Sir Edward Leigh said the remaining number of Christians in Iraq was likely to be closer to 600,000, but that this was still a shocking figure and that “things have become much worse since the invasion”.

MP Rehman Chishti said: “I come from a Muslim background, and my father was an imam… I know it is absolutely right and proper to have a debate on the subject”. He called the persecution “completely and utterly unacceptable” and “a very sad state of affairs”.

He also quoted his “good friend” the former Bishop of Rochester, Michael Nazir-Ali: “He told me that the persecution of Christians was taking place in more than 130 of the 190 countries in the world at the moment”.

During the debate, the oppression experienced by Christians in China and Malaysia were also highlighted and outlined. As the British Prime Minister is currently in China, MP David Rutley raised the issue of the sizeable Christian community in China, and asked about the potential establishment of a deeper inter-faith dialogue to engage the Chinese authorities with Christian groups.

Meanwhile, a UK-based organisation has claimed that the number of countries posing an extreme risk to the human rights of their populations has risen by 70 per cent in the past five years.

Risk analysis company Maplecroft (which researched 197 countries for its annual Human Rights Risk Atlas 2014) says that since 2008 the number has risen steeply from 20 to 34, predominantly comprised of countries in the Middle East and Africa.

Syria tops the list, followed by Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan, Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq.

” Meanwhile, a UK-based organisation has claimed that the number of countries posing an extreme risk to the human rights of their populations has risen by 70 per cent in the past five years.

Syria tops the list, followed by Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan, Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq.”

Obama has done nothing but hurt the free peoples of the world, everywhere his influence extends.

The rise in food stamp recipients here in America may only be surpassed by the rise in the persecution of Christians worldwide.

Obama is a very successful man, at what he WANTS to accomplish...

This is very sad, yet it is something you wouldn’t hear in our media. The media will report on Muslims who are victims of discrimination and act as though Christians are persecuting Muslims, but they don’t report on this.

It’s getting worse in this country, although it’s minor compared to what Christians in countries like North Korea have to go through. Here they seem to use the issue of gay marriage to go after Christians. In England a couple had to shut down their bed and breakfast. Here we’ve had issues with bakers, photographers, and a trolley driver as well as with Catholic Charities adoption agency having to shut down. They’ve also used abortion/contraceptives to try to force Christian compaines to pay for something against their faith. Hollywood thinks nothing of mocking Christians, but they’d think twice when it comes to a religion like Islam.

Christ tells us that Christians will be persecuted. If they killed Christ (who was God’s own son and perfect), why wouldn’t they perecute his imperfect followers.

As they say in the Old Country, “Welcome to the club”. My grandparents fled Russia in the late 1890’s/early 1900’s to escape the beginings of the Cossack pogroms. My other grandmother came to America about 1909 for new life, but lost her other 6 brothers and sisters to the Nazis.

If you look at the list of countries where Christians are under attack (and have been for many years, i.e. Sudan), you will see that there are literally no Jews there anymore despite having basically started out over 5,000 years ago in Mesopotamia/Iraq (which my helped liberate in 2003 - Not much gratitude in that part of the world, eh!). The thousands of years old communities of Libya, Egypt, Iraq and Yemen are gone, never to come back.

One Jew left in Aghanistan, a handful in Iraq, maybe a handful in Syria or Libya or Egypt, none that I know of in the Sudan, some in Tunisia (a relatively tolerance moslem country but with rising fundamentalist movement), a larger community in Morocco (one of the saner Arab/Moslem countries of North Africa, and almost none left in Ethiopia (they now live safely in Israel).

Iran, about 10,000 Jews left, not including those hung on trumped up charges ever few years. Jordan - nada; Saudi Arabia (nada except foreign diplomats or a few workers); Yemen (maybe a handful left in the mountains of what was one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world); Turkey - a handful but the future is growing dimmer every day; Lebanon - nada; and the old Yugoslavia (basically Hitler’s dream come true - Judenfrei - Jew Free).

Most of eastern Europe has rapidly dwindling Jewish populations, while Western Europe isn’t doing too well in the welcoming department. Poland and Germany have made some sincere efforts to keep Jews there, but rising anti-semitism has increased the number of younger people leaving; Hungary, a sad rise in extreme anti-Semitism; Romania - maybe a small community left; Bulgaria - basically the only protector of Jews in Europe during WW2 (besides Denmark) - might have some left; Italy - has a viable Jewish population; Greece - not much left after WW2; Spain - once a safehaven, not questionable; France - a large Jewish community under attack by the Moslems and fascists; Belgium, Luxembourg, Lichtenstein, Monaco - irrelevant.

England - rising anti-semitism from all sides. Sweden - Malmo is a hotbed of rising Islamic extremism and anti-Semitism; Norway - don’t know much about what is going on there. Lativa and Lithuania - a revival of virulent anti-semitism, like that of WW2 (SS divisions and police made up of locals - lots of massacres - my friend’s father escaped from one in which 2,000 men and boys were killed in Lithuania); Estonia - don’t know anything about the situation there.

Cuba - a very small Jewish community compared to what was there during WW2 and afterwards until Castro came in. Same for Nicaragua - Sandinista marxists hate Israel. Argentina - Hezbullah’s favorite bombing place - still anti-semitic, anti-US and anti-sanity; Chile is a lot better place. Bolivia - a marxist shithole as is Venezuela. Uruguay - don’t know; Ecuador - a handful of people, if any. Mexico - what little I know is that the Jewish communities in the larger cities are treatment reasonably well.

I want to say to our persecuted Christian brethren - we’ve been there and want to support you in your travails. Fight back wherever you can - Nigeria, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Zimbabwe, even Syria (no good choice in that hellhole), Iraq, Iran, and elsewhere.

We know that Red China and North Korea are pure hellholes for Christians but Obama is silent as is his State Department of reds, appeasors, dumb as dogshit diplomats, and liberal loons. Benghazi!!!

If we had a real president your plight would be a major priority of the State Department, not just wishy washy statements that nobody listens to. Obama is not your friend. Remember, his minister was Rev. Jeremiah Wright, a Jew-hating, white-hating, marxist friend of Islam (Farrakhan) and Castro, Qaddafi’s Libya, and Venezuela.

Do you really expect Obama to do anything noteworthy on your behalf? You’ll get more aid from Israel and the Vatican than you will from the US, and you can take that to the bank.

Obama doesn’t care. Actually he doesn’t give a flying crap about you, “you who cling to your guns and bibles”.

We Jews will do what we can to help you, perhaps most importantly besides telling people about your plight and taking in refugees, especially in the 2014 elections. A lot of liberal Jewish heads have been pulled out of the sand and asses recently because the “emperor has shown to have no clothes and no honesty”.

If we can help change the complexion of Congress next year, you can bet that more Jewish congressmen and maybe women, will be speaking out on behalf of world Christianity. We will be demanding it of our Jewish congresspersons.

My entire life I've advocated for Israel. When a young teen in '67, I told my scoffing friends that all the newspapers listing the numbers of forces and equipment opposing Israel were wrong, that Israel would triumph.

When a soldier in 1973, I told everyone the same, even though I was in an order of battle position at the time. They didn't scoff then. Most knew Israel would turn that struggle around. Had Nixon not gotten involved, Egypt would have become a Jewish possession.

In '78, I believe, I marched in college, with hundreds of Jewish marchers from Cincinnati's strong Jewish community, against those American Nazis who were attempting to terrorize Skokie, Illinois. I was not one prone to marching for causes, but for that one I did.

As an Army Chaplain in 1987 I was assigned to a spec ops unit and given Netanyahu's book, "Terrorism: How the West Can Win". It recalled for me my wonder at the contribution of Benjamin's brother Jonathon at Entebbe, but it also firmed in my mind that a 3-way ideological struggle between Islam, secularism, and Judeo/Christianity was being taken to the battlefield with a vengeance and that Christianity was slow to recognize it.

My own evangelical Christianity has inclined me toward support for Israel, but that support for Israel actually preceded my commitment to Christ which wasn't made until I was in my 20's.

So when a group of Russian Jews were permitted to emigrate to Germany in 98-99, as chaplain of the installation chapel, I was surprised that no place of worship could be "found" for them in our German town. When asked, I opened our chapel to them, and on Saturdays they worshipped. They invited me to their first gathering, and I recall the fuss over getting me on the proper side of the building and my wife on the other, having me properly yamulkahed and her properly covered.

Prior to returning to the states, knowing that our forces were leaving that German town, I initiated the paperwork to have that chapel turned over to the Jewish group so they'd have their own worship location after the US departed that German town. I hope the higher-ups followed through, but I don't know if they did since I retired from the Army shortly thereafter.

Somehow, I've always sided with Israel and known them to be allies, friends.

Your post reminds me of the quote by Niemoller: "...When they came for the Jews,I remained silent; I wasn't a Jew. When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out."

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