Free Republic

Remember the Danish "Muhammad cartoons" that set off riots by offended Muslims more than three years ago? The debate pitted freedom of press and speech against notions of freedom from insult of one's religion. It rages still – but now in a forum with international legal implications. For years, Islamic nations have succeeded in passing "blasphemy" resolutions at the United Nations (in the General Assembly and in its human rights body). The measures call on states to limit religiously offensive language or speech. No one wants their beliefs ridiculed, but the freedom to disagree over faith is what allows for...

Officials: Hamas forcibly converted Christian woman to Islam Hamas-linked militants kidnapped and forcibly converted to Islam a female Christian professor in the Gaza Strip, according to the professor's family and officials from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization. ...

Abduction of boys and girls by Islamists in northern state increasingly common. Victor Udo Usen SOKOTO, Nigeria, March 14 (Compass Direct News) – Beginning in November of last year, 13-year-old Victor Udo Usen, a member of the Christ Apostolic Church in this northern Nigeria city, went missing. On February 20, news that young Victor was spotted in a Muslim neighbor’s house jolted his family. A young Christian girl had raced to the Usens’ home in the Mabera area of Sokoto city with the news. Victor’s mother, Esther Udo Usen, told Compass that she ran to the house where her son...

Woman battles against the “forced” conversion of her children to Islam AsiaNews.it, Italy - Mar 14, 2007 http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=8731&size=A Her husband, recently converted to Islam, petitions Islamic Courts for divorce; his wife, a Muslim of Indian origin, wants their case heard before a civil ...

The fighthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Deletion_review/Log/2007_March_13#.5B.5BWikipedia:Deletion_review.2FLog.2F2007_March_13.7C13_March_2007.5D.5D The Article 'deleted' (so far) As a slogan short cut used by those in the west that take seriously Islamists actions and words as such of forcing to convert non Muslims or face death.In the global war on terror, the phenomenon of forced conversion, Islamization goal by Jihadists, is a fundamental part, just as bin Laden wants to restore an Islamic caliphate[1], as well as radical Islamists as a whole, their ultimate goal of is not to secure westerners' withdrawal from Afghanistan or Iraq, or even only to destroy Israel, but to reestablish the caliphate and the rule...

Iraq's Mandaeans 'face extinction' By Angus Crawford BBC News, Damascus Islamic militants forced Selwan to jump into a bonfire The Sabian Mandaeans - one of the oldest religious groups in the world - are facing extinction, according to its leaders. They claim that Islamic extremists in Iraq are trying to wipe them out through forced conversions, rape and murder. The Mandaeans are pacifists, followers of Adam, Noah and John the Baptist. They have lived in what is now Iraq since before Islam and Christianity. More than 80% have been forced to flee the country and now live as refugees...

Police protect girls forced to convert to Islam 22.02.07 http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23386539-details/Police+protect+girls+forced+to+convert+to+Islam/article.do Sir Ian Blair: Police and universities working together to tackle 'aggresive conversions' Extremist Muslims who force vulnerable teenage girls to convert to Islam are being targeted by police, Met chief Sir Ian Blair has revealed. Police are working with universities to clamp down on "aggressive conversions" during which girls are beaten up and forced to abandon university courses. Muslim pupils 'need their own showers' The Hindu Forum of Britain claims hundreds of mostly Sikh and Hindu girls have been intimidated by Muslim men who take them out on dates before...

Muslims force home church to close down by Benteng Reges In West Java yesterday, a crowd of local residents and Islamic activists broke into the home of a Christian that was being used as a church. The owner ceded to their requests and stopped the religious service. The revision of a Decree on places of worship has proved to be insufficient to guarantee Indonesian Christians the right to worship Jakarta (AsiaNews) – A crowd of Muslims has forced the closure of another home church in Bandung regency in the Indonesian province of West Java. Yesterday, 11 February, around 100 people...

'Leave, crusaders, or have your heads cut off' By Aqeel Hussein in Mosul and Colin Freeman, Sunday Telegraph Last Updated: 12:37am GMT 24/12/2006 The snow has already settled on the mountains further north, but the Christians of the Iraqi city of Mosul are scared to put festive decorations outside their homes this year. Their ancestors settled here in the 1st century AD, yet as teacher Jamal Fadi has discovered, some of their Muslim neighbours want this Christmas to be their last. Death threat: This letter was delivered with two bullets "A letter was delivered to my door with two bullets...

Nazareth Muslims: Islam will dominate world March through town described in New Testament as Jesus’ childhood home 'meant to intimidate Christians' Aaron Klein, WND Published: 01.01.07, 19:17 Islamic groups held a large militant march down the main streets of Nazareth this weekend, highlighting for some here the plight of Christians in this ancient city where Muslims have become a majority and members of the dwindling Christian population say they suffer regular intimidation. Nazareth, considered one of the holiest cities for Christians, is described in the New Testament as the childhood home of Jesus. It contains multiple important shrines and churches,...

The Islamic Inquizition: "Convert or Die"! Radical Muslims: 'Convert or Die' http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/11/22/111047.shtml?s=lh (Nov, 2006) Two Christians freed after torture by Muslim who wanted to convert them to Islam. to Islam and when they refused, they tortured them http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?idarticle=6982 Centanni later explained he and Wiig were forced to convert to Islam (by Palestinians) at gunpoint. http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52960 (2006) They have no other recourse but to convert to Islam or die http://memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=archives&Area=sd&ID=SP138606 (2006) Islam and Violence Similar threats were made in advance of the pope's ... to post signs denouncing the pope's comments on Islam. ... world agreeing that Westerners must "convert or...

Two Christians freed after months of torture by Muslim http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=7956 Muhammad Ikram kidnapped the woman who used to clean his house together with her 13-year-old daughter. He tortured them for months in a bid to force them to convert to Islam. They were released thanks to the intervention of the Lahore court and the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance.

Perhaps I am misreading what I have seen on Fox News, or perhaps I am getting too cynical in my old age. Perhaps not. Is anyone else being struck by the "oddness" of this whole scenario? As I watched the men being rushed into the building and as they met with the head of the Palestinian Authority and as they were dragged out for their "press conference" (Mrs. BBC Wiig's big moment) I couldn't help noticing the dearth of western faces. I also noticed Wiig's reaction to being grabbed by several Palestinian "officials" and his yelling "Get off!". My immediate...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/14/nmuslim14.xml BBC frightened of criticising Islam, says archbishop By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent Last Updated: 2:21am GMT 14/11/2006 The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, has accused the BBC of bias against Christianity and says the broadcaster fears a terrorist backlash if it is critical of Islam. The archbishop, the second most senior figure in the Church of England's hierarchy, said Christians took "more knocks" than other faiths at the hands of the BBC. Dr Sentamu claims Christians take ‘more knocks' at the BBC "They can do to us what they dare not do to the Muslims," he said. "We...

'Gas Limos' terrorist faces sentencing By Matthew Moore telegraph.co.uk November 6, 2006 A British Muslim plotted to cause "massive explosions" in Britain and the United States designed to kill thousands of people, a court heard today. Dhiren Barot, a 34-year-old convert from north London, led a conspiracy to commit mass murder and was intent on causing, in his own words, "another black day for the enemies of Islam". Dhiren Barot was arrestedin August 2004 in London His plots included using radioactive dirty bombs, a petrol tanker, and a co-ordinated bomb attack using limosines packed with gas cylinders. He also...

Violence in France,takes turn toward planned attacks on police Violence in France's tough housing projects takes turn toward planned attacks on police, In Britain, former Foreign Minister Jack Straw, now leader of the House of Commons, this month touched off a wide debate about the rights and obligations of Muslims by saying that he asks devout Muslim women to remove their veils when visiting his office. Prime Minister Tony Blair said Islam needs to modernize. In France, a high school teacher received death threats, forcing him into hiding, after he wrote a newspaper editorial in September saying Muslim fundamentalists are...

The Guardian of Islamic Extremism http://www.aina.org/news/20060921100346.htm ................................................................................................... Churches Firebombed By Members Of The "Religion of Peace" http://www.postchronicle.com/commentary/article_21240687.shtml ...................................................................................................If Islam is the religion of peace, it should act like it http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2006/092006/09212006/223419 The Free Lance-Star, VA - Sep 21, 2006... My next complaint is the lame argument that says something along the lines of "Islam (the religion of peace) doesn't promote violence; remember Christians are ......................................................................................................Death threats from the 'religion of peace' http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52078

Muslims want Pontiff out Clerics, scholars call for Benedict removal after controversial Islam remarks by AP LAHORE, Pakistan -- About 1,000 Muslim clerics and religious scholars meeting yesterday in eastern Pakistan demanded the removal of Pope Benedict for making what they called "insulting remarks" against Islam.

Somalia is officially an Islamic state and conversion is prohibited. The country has a population of approximately 8.3 million, nearly all of them Sunni Muslims. There is a small, extremely low-profile Christian community. According to the International Religious Freedom Report 2006 issued by the US State Department last Friday, proselytizing for any religion except Islam is prohibited in Puntland and Somaliland and effectively blocked by informal social consensus elsewhere in the country. Somalia has had no government since the fall of Siad Barre in 1991. The Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), which grew out of individual courts' efforts to establish...

If you call me a killer one more time, I'm gonna kill ya http://moonagewebdream.blogs.com/moonage_political_webream/2006/09/if_you_call_me_.html September 20, 2006 If you call me a killer one more time, I'm gonna killa ya. `Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." Those are the words Pope Benedict uttered that has caused quite a stir. Those words were originally uttered in the 14th century by the Byzantine Emporor Manuel II. Now, contrary to the replies from Muslim fanatics, Byzantine was...