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Christian Arabs in the village of El-Khader savagely attacked by local Muslims as they celebrated a Christian holiday.Christian Arab residents of the village of El-Khader in the Bethlehem area were savagely attacked by local Muslims as they celebrated a Christian holiday last week. A report by CAMERA, an organization which monitors anti-Israel bias in the media, reported that Christians attempting to enter Saint George’s Monastery in the village were intimidated and attacked with rocks and stones. Author Lela Gilbert, author of Saturday People, Sunday People: Israel through the Eyes of a Christian Sojourner, filed a report with CAMERA over the...

Israeli Ambassador to the Holy See Dr. Zion Evrony speaks with CNA on May 20, 2014 Credit: Andreas Dueren/CNA Vatican City, May 21, 2014 / 10:36 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In comments made to CNA, the Israeli Ambassador to the Holy See noted that the presence of both a rabbi and a Muslim in the Pope’s delegation to the Holy Land is a milestone in interreligious relations. “For the first time in history Rabbi Skorka from Argentina, who is a friend of Pope Francis, will accompany him but also a Muslim religious leader, Imam Abbud, also from Argentina,” Dr. Zion...

In Europe and America, There’s a growing feeling of hysteria… But what may save us, me and you,Is if the [Muslims] love their children too.Adapted from ‘Russians’, by Sting, 1984.This year marks the thirtieth anniversary of the launch of Sting’s solo career with his critically acclaimed hit album, Dream Of The Blue Turtles. Included on this radical departure from the musical stylings of Sting’s former band, The Police, was the sobering meditation, Russians. (Complete lyrics here.)Although I disagree with some of Sting’s political sensibilities (after all, Reagan won the Cold War), his use of a simple, rhetorical question was most...

Bank accused of discrimination after telling Muslims they would escape overdraft charge of up to £80 a month Lloyds Bank has been accused of religious discrimination after offering free overdraft accounts to Muslims. The bank sent customers a booklet this month explaining new charges. While many will have to pay up to £80 a month if they go into the red, Muslims were told they would escape the charges. The document said: “We are removing the monthly overdraft management fee of £6 from our Islamic Account, Islamic Student Account and Islamic Graduate Account. So, if you use an unplanned overdraft...

The Muslim world’s biggest lie is about to unravel because of a populist Knesset bill to allow Jews to pray on the Temple Mount but which has little of chance of becoming law – yet.

A plan by Pope Francis to celebrate mass in a Jerusalem room believed by Christians to have hosted the Last Supper has brought criticism, controversy and conspiracy theories worthy of a Dan Brown novel. The pope’s first official visit to the Holy Land this month was meant to showcase interfaith tolerance and the improved ties between Israel and the Holy See. But the plan to hold mass in the room, known as the Cenacle, has sparked an ugly disagreement that is threatening to undermine the visit. The Cenacle is on the upper floor of a Crusader-era building that is holy...

“I am a Christian, I have not apostatized.” Thus Sudanese Doctor Maryam Yahya Ibrahim, declared to the court, after a Muslim religious tried for 30 minutes to convince her to “return to Islam” or retract her apostasy. The story, namely Maryam’s nightmare, who is a 27-year-old mother of an almost two-year old boy and eight months pregnant, shows what a long way some Muslim countries have to go to ensure the fundamental rights of their citizens. On May 15, 2014 she was sentenced to death for apostasy and to 100 lashes for adultery. Initially, in August of 2013, Maryam was...

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, during his latest visit to Germany a few days ago, was interviewed by Deutsche Welle. Among other things, the Patriarch spoke about Hagia Sophia possibly becoming a mosque and the situation in Ukraine. Below are excerpts:Hagia Sophia as a Mosque"In Nicea and Trebizond they have become (mosques). Formerly also in Vizye of (Eastern) Thrace. Ultimately I don't believe Hagia Sophia in Constantinople will become a mosque, but logic and the real interests of Turkey will prevail, which is to maintain it as a museum. I have said it publicly in my statements and in interviews. I also...

"We are looking for the bishop of this church to slaughter him -- we are tired of the existence of this church near our mosque and the noise they are making." — Church elder quoting Muslims who attacked a priest, Zanzibar."Muslims wanted to punish [him]...because he had recently organised a demonstration against violence in Islam." — Local priest of a murdered Christian, Bangladesh."O people of the Scripture [Christians]. Do not exceed the limits of your religion....Cease! It will be better for you...." — Koran, 4:171, Billboard in Nazareth, Israel.Human rights organization Open Doors published its 2014 World Watch List in...

Mgr Nona talks to AsiaNews about the "general indifference" that surrounds the deaths, violence and attacks in his country. Even though people need "peace and serenity", the elections "did not bring any major change." For his small Christian community, "life is getting harder every day. [. . .] We have been waiting for improvements, but we cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel".Mosul (AsiaNews) - "We are confident that the Church around the world will pray for Iraq," but the West and its governments seem to have "forgotten" the tragedy of its people. "It is as deaths,...

NICOSIA, Cyprus—Divine Liturgy was carried out for the first time in 50 years in the Armenian Church of Virgin Mary in the Turkish-occupied northern part of the Cypriot capital of Nicosia on Sunday, Gibrahayer Magazine reports. The Liturgy was carried out by the Armenian Archbishop Varoujan Hergelia, who re-consecrated the church as it had not been used for such a long time. The event was addressed by Armenian-Cypriot Member of Parliament Vartkes Mahdessian, who spoke at the church’s first ceremony in more than half a century. The Church lies in the northern part of Nicosia, which is occupied by the...

The dramatic recent collapse of the Arab-Israeli peace talks and the ongoing political turmoil involving the Temple Mount have again focused world attention on the centuries-old struggle for that sacred site. Since antiquity, the roughly 37 acres of the Temple Mount and its immediate surroundings have frequently been the focus of interreligious strife. The destruction of the Jewish temple by the Romans in A.D. 70 was a devastating event in the history of Judaism. It served as a transforming catalyst in both the origins of Christianity and the transition of Israelite religion from a priestly sacrifice-centered system to the legalistic...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK) Secretary of State John Kerry, stopping in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to visit with U.S. Embassy staff, implied that religious tenets created more than 1000 years ago were inappropriate for modern society. Kerry said: "This is a time here in Africa where there are a number of different cross-currents of modernity that are coming together to make things even more challenging. Some people believe that people ought to be able to only do what they say they ought to do, or to believe what they say they ought to believe, or live by their interpretation of something that was written...

Americans are accustomed to a marriage debate between traditionalists and egalitarians. The traditionalists say marriage is the union of a man and a woman. The egalitarians say all marriages, gay or straight, should be treated the same. The egalitarians also ground their view in pluralism, arguing that the law should respect different ways of life. In other parts of the world, however, these ideas aren’t always at odds. Traditionalism, equality, and pluralism sometimes converge. But they don’t converge in the way Americans might expect. What they converge on is polygamy. That’s what is now happening in Kenya. Last week President...

To the awe of its readership, a recent Daily Mail article reports that the “jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and Levant [ISIL],” which is currently entrenched in Raqqa, Syria, “publicly crucified two Syrian rebels in northeastern Syria in revenge for a grenade attack on members of their group.” While the Daily Mail is to be commended for exposing these barbaric acts—along with posting photos of the crucified—it nonetheless minimized their significance, in two important ways: 1) by repeatedly saying things like “even al-Qaeda is distancing itself from ISIL,” and so implying that the act of crucifixion is some wild aberration...

A council election candidate has resigned from Britain's ruling Conservative Party with immediate effect, apologizing for posting anti-Islamic and anti-gay comments on Twitter."I have let myself and my party down," David Bishop, a candidate in Brentwood South in Essex, said in a statement Sunday. "In order to avoid any further embarrassment, I have taken the decision to resign from the Conservative party with immediate effect. I will not be asking anyone to vote for me on 22 May. Last month, Bishop, who is also a local DJ, tweeted, "#Islam 'the religion of peace' & rape," referring to the arrest of...

This is odd and surprising. It would seem most likely that the Pope wanted a secretary from the Islamic world to show his favorable view of Islam, and is unaware of Father Yoannis Lahzi Gaido’s previous statements. He will undoubtedly soon find out, however, if he hasn’t already, and what happens then will be interesting. Here is Blazing Cat Fur’s modified Google translation of a German-language article: “The Pope’s new Coptic secretary: Islam is a ‘culture of death,’” Blazing Cat Fur, April 29, 2014 (thanks to Jamal): Pope Francis has a new secretary who speaks Arabic and has very clear...

The current Turkish prime-minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan is considering the possibility of Muslim prayer at Hagia Sophia Church in Istanbul (Constantinople), reports Romphea. Erdogan is planning to participate in a namaz at the historic Hagia Sophia Church in Constantinople, reports the Radikal Turkish daily newspaper. The Muslim prayer will probably be performed during the annual celebrations of the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in 1453, just before the August elections, when Erdogan wants to retake his office of prime-minister. Realizing that such prayer at Hagia Sophia may provoke active opposition, the Turkish authorities have to make concessions and...

The leader of Nigerian Islamist terror group Boko Haram, Abubakar Shekau, has vowed to sell the more-than-200 Nigerian schoolgirls his group abducted "on the market," insisting in a new video that "Allah says" the girls should be sold and married off at ages as young as nine. According to Agence France-Presse, who first obtained the video, a man believed to be Shekau appears dressed in combat gear and assumes responsibility for the mass kidnappings. "I will sell them in the market, by Allah," he declares, "Allah says I should sell. He commands me to sell. I will sell women. I...

Pope Francis prays at General Audience Sept. 25, 2013. Credit: Elise Harris/CNA. Vatican City, May 2, 2014 / 09:28 am (CNA/EWTN News).- In his daily homily on May 2, Pope Francis said that he wept over recent news of Christians allegedly being crucified, reflecting that there are still many martyrs in today’s world. “I cried when I saw reports on the news of Christians crucified in a certain country, that is not Christian,” the Pope said, according to Vatican Radio, during morning Mass in the chapel of his residence. In recent weeks, media groups have circulated images that appear to...