Persecution of Catholics still alive, oppression’s face fanatic, traditional

Catholic Online ^ | 04.19.06 | Mary DeTurris Poust

[Coleus]

Religious persecution got a fair amount of press during the heyday of communism. There was never any doubt in people's minds that where communism flourished, faithful Christians suffered. Then the Berlin Wall came down, the Soviet Union dissolved and the Cold War ended. Surely religious persecution was on its way out as well. The problem is that no one noticed a new form of religious persecution ramping up in new places, even so-called "friendly" places, like Saudi Arabia, while the old-style persecution was kept on life support in places we might not want to look, like China.

With the recent trial of Abdul Rahman, the Afghan man who faced the death penalty for converting to Christianity, we are confronted in a dramatic and unavoidable way with the reality of religious persecution in the modern world.

"People naively think that, for the most part, as communism disappeared, religious persecution has also disappeared.... There is still a tremendous amount of persecution and suffering that takes place," said Msgr. John Kozar, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies. "Despite that, the faith is very strong."

New kind of battle

Msgr. Kozar said that a newer, less traditional kind of persecution is emerging in places where governments are enforcing the harsh Shariah law of Islam. "We have these new forms of persecution largely because of religious fanaticism. In Muslim countries that have a state-imposed Shariah government, that is a religious-imposed government, the Catholic Church is either limited severely or in some instances not allowed to function, as was the case in Afghanistan. There was not a Catholic Mass offered in Afghanistan in 10 years," Msgr. Kozar explained, adding that even now, between the remnant of the Taliban and the warlords and Muslim fanaticism, the Catholic faith is persecuted.

In Pakistan, churches are often set upon by mobs and burned out or bombed. "In many of these countries there are laws against conversion. Even in India, the world's largest democracy, there are anti-conversion laws," he said. In some parts of India, there are fanatic Hindu groups that will come in the middle of the night and burn a whole Catholic community, kill people and take people hostage, Msgr. Kozar explained.

Under fire

Father Khalid Rashid, who serves in Pakistan, has seen first-hand just how devastating religious persecution can be. In an e-mail interview, he told Our Sunday Visitor that after the United States invaded Afghanistan and Iraq and later when anti-Muslim cartoons appeared in a Danish newspaper causing riots around the world, Christians in Pakistan came under direct attack.

"We are daily experiencing religious persecution in Pakistan. The Catholic Church in Pakistan has minority status and therefore is in a marginalized position. There is discrimination in the media, laws and policies," Father Rashid said. "The properties and places of worship of the religious minorities are increasingly becoming a target by the extremist attacks – grabbing and destroying the scriptures and beating and killing priests, nuns and other religious leaders."

Father Rashid said that his parishioners carry the cross of religious persecution with them daily. They are denied jobs and receive unequal treatment when they do find work. Women, especially, are in constant danger of sexual harassment. "Violence is the reality of today, and whether we like it not, we have to give a response to it," Father Rashid said. "Our response is always, absolutely nonviolent."

Sarkis Boghjalian, national director of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), said that religious freedom is a "complex matter," one that requires looking beyond the obvious problems to the "bigger issues" – poverty, ignorance and education. Many persecuted Christians are living in a kind of "sub-poverty" that "creates a condition and an environment to be exploited," he told Our Sunday Visitor.

"There is the reality of fear. You don't know what is going to happen next. Where Christianity is the minority religion, you become a second-class citizen," said Boghjalian, who said his organization is concerned with the flight of Christians from the Middle East. In response, ACN established the Bethlehem Project, which purchases hand-carved olive wood rosaries made by Catholics in Bethlehem to help them put food on their tables.

Other threats

Boghjalian and Msgr. Kozar both warned of places where persecution exists right in the shadow of the United States. Cuba, for instance, continues to monitor the movements of – and threaten – Christians, and Venezuela is ripe for a similar style of religious persecution if President Hugo Chavez stays on his current course.

"He is in a real strong campaign against the church and specifically against the bishops who have spoken out very forthrightly about some of his measures," said Msgr. Kozar. "He has publicly repudiated the church. That would fall right in line with what Fidel Castro has done in Cuba." Boghjalian called on U.S. Catholics to get involved in an interfaith dialogue to help end religious intolerance in this country and persecution abroad. "Perhaps the parishes can establish this dialogue, a dialogue to invite people so that they do not perceive us as a threat," he said. "It is our Christian duty to extend and open our door, our hearts and our spirits toward others."

[NYer]

Chalden Catholic Church - before bombs exploded in 2004

And here is the aftermath of destruction.

In Beirut Lebanon earlier this year, Muslims attacked a prominent Maronite Catholic Church, breaking windows and injuring parishioners. And last week, on Good Friday, Muslims attacked worshippers at a Coptic Church in Alexandria, killing one and injuring 17.

And for those who may have missed it, the following article gives an excellent view into the persecution suffered by the Palestinian christians. There are some truly beautiful slideshows of these christians and the struggle they face daily, trying to live out their lives as faithful christians.

The community of Arab Christians is dwindling in the Holy Land

Sometimes, we forget that christianity began in the East. Jesus was born, died and resurrected in the Holy Land. Please remember these christians in your prayers!

[Salvation]

‘Serious’ threats made against 31 churches in Indonesia[Catholics and Protestants
Saudi Arabia arrests Eastern-rite Catholic priest for celebrating Mass
Catholic Priest Arrested and Expelled from Riyadh
Ramallah: Islamic violence targets Christians
Moslem Terror Chasing Out 1,000 Christian Arabs a Year

INDIA: VIOLENCE SCARS EASTER WEEK (Pastors beaten, churches vandalized by Hindu extremists)
GFA Urges Prayer as Hindu Extremists Intensify Anti-Christian Persecution
Persecution of Catholics still alive, oppression’s face fanatic, traditional

[RKBA Democrat]

Persecution of Christians is an ongoing problem. The website Asianews.it provides a daily chronicle of the latest sufferings of Christians. The Voice of the Martyrs website provides a lot of information information as well.

Amongst the Catholic churches, persecution is disproportionately experienced by eastern Catholics. Over time it seems to have merely shifted from the slavic churches under communism to the eastern Catholic churches based in the middle east and far east.

One of the underlying problems in my view is that the much smaller eastern Catholic churches are largely invisible to the western Catholic majority. Most western Catholics in the U.S. don't even realize that there are "other" Catholic churches out there.

[stm]

Perhaps it's time we starting fighting back....and in force, deadly if necessary

[bornacatholic]

Amen. Islam has been the mortal enemy of Jews and Christians for 13 centuries. Accrd to the Koran, the Hadiths, and Sira, we are to be killed, converted, or, if allowed to live, subjugated and made to pay the tax of the unbeliever.

Tragically, there is virtually not a single elected official, (national, state, local) who understands the nature of Islam and we in the west invite our enemies into our camps

And so, having smoked the dope of diversity in our multicultural pipes, we live in a pipe-dream world of an imagined "all-religions-are-the-same" psychosis and we leave ourselvs defenseless.

As Christians, we have the model of Jesus; fullly God, fully man. We are to imitate the Prince of Peace, who made the lame walk, the blind see, who came to die for us as a ransom for sin, who gave the Sermon on the Mount.

The Muslim's model is Muhammad; part Al Capone, part Jim Jones; he married a 6 yo and consummated the marriage when she was 9. He was involved in over 60 battles; he ordered the death of many innocent men, women, and children;...

and I am expected to think Islam can co-exist peacefuly with Christianity and Judaism

[Convert from ECUSA]

You nailed it! Spot on!