Christians under attack worldwide at a rapidly rising rate

[redleghunter]

Violence against Christians — like the bomb attacks that killed at least 311 people in Catholic churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday — has been escalating steadily over the past few years, international observers say.

In just the past few weeks, stark reminders of the danger Christians face around the world abound: an underground priest is dragged from his pickup truck in Xuanhua Diocese in China, a Christian couple in India are beaten by a father accusing them of trying to convert his son, 17 Christians are killed during a child dedication service in Nigeria.

Open Doors USA, a mission for persecuted Christians, estimates that violent attacks on the faithful doubled from 2017 to 2018, with approximately 11 Christians dying every day for their faith.

“There’s a specific pattern of violence around Christian holy days, such as Easter and Christmas,” said Sarah Cunningham, senior director of communications for Open Doors USA.

Nearly 50 worshippers were killed on Palm Sunday 2017 by bombers who targeted Coptic Christians in Cairo. That same year, at Bethel Memorial Methodist Church in Quetta, Pakistan, nine Christians were killed a week before Christmas by suicide bombers linked to the Islamic State.

More at link: Attacks on Christians double since 2017

 

[Ignatius the Kiwi]

They are the glory of Christ, living out the gospel in conditions and places few of us dare.

 

[timothyu]

It is all a matter of man's politics and nature. Politics clash with politics. It depends on how the churches are seen. Rarely aggression against those who love all as self. If anything followers of Jesus have traditionally been neutral, helping all on all sides.

 

[jgarden]

Christians under attack worldwide at a rapidly rising rate

Neither the OP nor this President mentioned the 3 "black" churches recently torched in Louisiana within the last month!

One need not go beyond America's borders to cite numerous examples of churches being targeted - a disproportionate number of which were African-American.

American Churches - Arson

2015 June 22 2015 - College Hill Seventh Day Adventist, in Knoxville, Tennessee

2015 June 23 - God's Power Church of Christ in Macon, Georgia

2015 June 24 - Briar Creek Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina

2016 November 1 - Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in Greenville, Mississippi, 111-year-old church was burned and vandalized

2019 March 26 - St. Mary Baptist Church, Louisiana
- the first in a series of three historically black churches over 100 years old, burned within a span of 10 days

2019 April 2 - Greater Union Baptist Church in Opelousas, Louisiana

2019 April 4 - Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Opelousas, Louisiana

List of attacks against African-American churches - Wikipedia
*****************************************************
Church Shootings

2015 Jun 17 - Charleston church shooting, 9 dead, 1 wounded.

2017 Nov 5 - Sutherland Springs church shooting, 26 dead, 20 wounded

2018 Oct 27 - Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, 11 dead, 7 wounded (including the suspect)

List of massacres in the United States - Wikipedia

 

[Jamsie]

More at link: Attacks on Christians double since 2017

We live in a hateful and violent world, even in the USA. Did you note too that Muslims are the victims of 85% of terror attacks...

"According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the main victims of religious terrorism are overwhelmingly Muslim. It reported that of the more than 70,000 deaths worldwide in 2017, 85% were Muslim. Christians represented a fraction of the victims of religiously motivated violence." (11 Christians a day, 163 or more Muslims a day)

 

[All Englands Skies]

We live in a hateful and violent world, even in the USA. Did you note too that Muslims are the victims of 85% of terror attacks...

"According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the main victims of religious terrorism are overwhelmingly Muslim. It reported that of the more than 70,000 deaths worldwide in 2017, 85% were Muslim. Christians represented a fraction of the victims of religiously motivated violence." (11 Christians a day, 163 or more Muslims a day)

This thread isn't about Muslims.

Also, seen as you feel the need to mention Muslim victims on a thread about Christian persecution, what is the main religion of the terrorists killing them?

 

[timothyu]

what is the main religion of the terrorists killing them?

At the moment in Sri Lanka most likely Buddhists claiming one enemy has killed another, thus killing two birds with one stone.

 

[Jamsie]

At the moment in Sri Lanka most likely Buddhists claiming one enemy has killed another, thus killing two birds with one stone.

Please do not bring up Buddhists...this thread is confined to only Christians.

 

[timothyu]

Please do not bring up Buddhists...this thread is confined to only Christians.

My apologies. Was responding to the Muslim quote. I guess both apply?

 

[Mark Quayle]

Violence against Christians — like the bomb attacks that killed at least 311 people in Catholic churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday — has been escalating steadily over the past few years, international observers say.

In just the past few weeks, stark reminders of the danger Christians face around the world abound: an underground priest is dragged from his pickup truck in Xuanhua Diocese in China, a Christian couple in India are beaten by a father accusing them of trying to convert his son, 17 Christians are killed during a child dedication service in Nigeria.

Open Doors USA, a mission for persecuted Christians, estimates that violent attacks on the faithful doubled from 2017 to 2018, with approximately 11 Christians dying every day for their faith.

“There’s a specific pattern of violence around Christian holy days, such as Easter and Christmas,” said Sarah Cunningham, senior director of communications for Open Doors USA.

Nearly 50 worshippers were killed on Palm Sunday 2017 by bombers who targeted Coptic Christians in Cairo. That same year, at Bethel Memorial Methodist Church in Quetta, Pakistan, nine Christians were killed a week before Christmas by suicide bombers linked to the Islamic State.

More at link: Attacks on Christians double since 2017

Notice the attitude of some here in the USA, calling them Easter Worshipers, instead of Christians. The hatred is everywhere, people working against them and praising every hint of the reduction of numbers. Polarization continues; it is not fun, but it is good to know what side people are on. God keep us bold and honest.

 

[JosephZ]

They are the glory of Christ, living out the gospel in conditions and places few of us dare.

This is so true.

A lot of people have probably heard about the cathedral bombing that took place here in the Philippines back in January of this year, but what a lot of people don't know is how many times this particular Church had been targeted in the past. I'm in awe at the courage the attendees of this church have. It takes a tremendous amount of faith to continue worshiping at a church that is under a constant threat of attack. These Christians are an incredible witness to their faith.

Below is a list of attacks since the year 2000:

January 27, 2019, Twin bombings rock the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. At least 21 people are killed and more than a hundred others injured.

August 14, 2013, Two people were hurt in a grenade explosion near a Catholic church in Jolo, Sulu Wednesday night. The injured victims were identified as 25-year-old Romano Saiwan and 16-year-old Saima Pacana. An unidentified person lobbed the grenade in front of the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Cathedral Church located in the center of Jolo town at about 7:30 p.m.

August 1, 2012, A grenade attack has rocked Jolo, the capital town of Sulu, and damaged the roof of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Cathedral Church, a military official disclosed Thursday. No one was killed nor injured in the grenade attack that took place around 6:30 p.m. The grenade exploded after an unidentified person lobbed it into the roof of Mount Carmel Cathedral Church located along Gen. Arolas Street in downtown Jolo.

January 10, 2010, A grenade explodes just outside Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Cathedral Church early Sunday morning, 20 minutes before the day's first Mass. No casualties were reported.

May 2010, A Fragmentation grenade exploded in front of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Cathedral Church in the island province of Sulu.

December 31, 2009, A grenade explodes in front of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Cathedral Church late night on New Year's Eve, wounding a soldier.

October 27, 2009, A grenade explodes just outside Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Cathedral Church before the lunch time rush. No one is injured in the attack, which leaves damaged properties.

July 2009, In Jolo on the southern Philippine island of Sulu. An improvised explosive device (IED) was placed inside a motorcycle. It detonated in downtown Jolo at 7:55 a.m. outside a hardware store, killing six people. The store's owner was one of the fatalities. Approximately forty people were injured in the explosion. It exploded about 100 metres (330 ft) from the Mount Carmel Church. Police discovered two more unexploded devices within a similar radius around the church.

March 27, 2006, Terrorists initially target the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Cathedral but eventually bombs the nearby multipurpose cooperative building. A Philippine Star report quoted police investigators as saying that the plan shifted because the store "serves both as a religious and commercial target." The blast leaves at least 5 dead and 17 wounded.

June 3, 2000, A grenade is thrown at the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Cathedral. The attack comes amid negotiations for the release of hostages taken by the terrorist group in Mindanao.

December 2000, Father Benjamin Inocencio, chancellor of Jolo vicariate in the Philippines, was shot dead Dec. 28 a few meters from the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Cathedral.

 

[Jamsie]

My apologies. Was responding to the Muslim quote. I guess both apply?

They absolutely should...(I was just mimicking from Post 6) The state of the world should concern all humanity. Just as an aside on another site a person was shocked to find that Buddhists were responsible for so many killings.

 

[All Englands Skies]

They absolutely should...(I was just mimicking from Post 6) The state of the world should concern all humanity. Just as an aside on another site a person was shocked to find that Buddhists were responsible for so many killings.

So the 70000 Muslims you claim were killed world wide since 2017 is all down to Buddhists?

Come on, we all know the majority of Muslims killed by terrorists is Muslim on Muslim violence.

People also have short memories, there was a time when more Christians and also animists were being killed in South Sudan by the Islamists than most other places, yet even back then we were making more of an issue over Muslim victims of violence and hardly ever did I read people making an issue over the apathy to their suffering, the same way as its implied there is an apathy against Muslim deaths. Nobody called out the Muslims in the 1990s for Instance, for not caring about the deaths in South Sudan, while making a bigger deal out of Bosnia which was less bloody, nobody tried to make an issue about Muslims "caring more about there own".

 

[timothyu]

Just as an aside on another site a person was shocked to find that Buddhists were responsible for so many killings.

Man in general is self serving and what God calls evil. No sense in trying to blame one more than the other. Given the right circumstance no one is beyond doing deeds like this. And if we do we just self justify it away by redefining the definition of of good and off evil.

 

[timothyu]

So the 70000 Muslims you claim were killed world wide since 2017 is all down to Buddhists?

I don't believe anyone said that.

 

[Jamsie]

So the 70000 Muslims you claim were killed world wide since 2017 is all down to Buddhists?

Reading comprehension? The figure was in the article which estimated 70,000 or more. So if one takes the 70k figure divides it by 365 they would arrive at 163 per day...though some I guess consider the following quite vapid and hollow:
“Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.”
― John Donne

 

[redleghunter]

We live in a hateful and violent world, even in the USA. Did you note too that Muslims are the victims of 85% of terror attacks...

"According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the main victims of religious terrorism are overwhelmingly Muslim. It reported that of the more than 70,000 deaths worldwide in 2017, 85% were Muslim. Christians represented a fraction of the victims of religiously motivated violence." (11 Christians a day, 163 or more Muslims a day)

I gather you can start a thread on violence against Muslims maybe over at Muslim forums.

 

[redleghunter]

Notice the attitude of some here in the USA, calling them Easter Worshipers, instead of Christians. The hatred is everywhere, people working against them and praising every hint of the reduction of numbers. Polarization continues; it is not fun, but it is good to know what side people are on. God keep us bold and honest.

I really thought posting information on a Christian site would be informative for fellow Christians. Instead it turns to Muslims, Buddhists and Trump. Standard data around here.

 

[redleghunter]

This is so true.

A lot of people have probably heard about the cathedral bombing that took place here in the Philippines back in January of this year, but what a lot of people don't know is how many times this particular Church had been targeted in the past. I'm in awe at the courage the attendees of this church have. It takes a tremendous amount of faith to continue worshiping at a church that is under a constant threat of attack. These Christians are an incredible witness to their faith.

Below is a list of attacks since the year 2000:

January 27, 2019, Twin bombings rock the Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. At least 21 people are killed and more than a hundred others injured.

August 14, 2013, Two people were hurt in a grenade explosion near a Catholic church in Jolo, Sulu Wednesday night. The injured victims were identified as 25-year-old Romano Saiwan and 16-year-old Saima Pacana. An unidentified person lobbed the grenade in front of the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Cathedral Church located in the center of Jolo town at about 7:30 p.m.

August 1, 2012, A grenade attack has rocked Jolo, the capital town of Sulu, and damaged the roof of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Cathedral Church, a military official disclosed Thursday. No one was killed nor injured in the grenade attack that took place around 6:30 p.m. The grenade exploded after an unidentified person lobbed it into the roof of Mount Carmel Cathedral Church located along Gen. Arolas Street in downtown Jolo.

January 10, 2010, A grenade explodes just outside Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Cathedral Church early Sunday morning, 20 minutes before the day's first Mass. No casualties were reported.

May 2010, A Fragmentation grenade exploded in front of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Cathedral Church in the island province of Sulu.

December 31, 2009, A grenade explodes in front of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Cathedral Church late night on New Year's Eve, wounding a soldier.

October 27, 2009, A grenade explodes just outside Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Cathedral Church before the lunch time rush. No one is injured in the attack, which leaves damaged properties.

July 2009, In Jolo on the southern Philippine island of Sulu. An improvised explosive device (IED) was placed inside a motorcycle. It detonated in downtown Jolo at 7:55 a.m. outside a hardware store, killing six people. The store's owner was one of the fatalities. Approximately forty people were injured in the explosion. It exploded about 100 metres (330 ft) from the Mount Carmel Church. Police discovered two more unexploded devices within a similar radius around the church.

March 27, 2006, Terrorists initially target the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Cathedral but eventually bombs the nearby multipurpose cooperative building. A Philippine Star report quoted police investigators as saying that the plan shifted because the store "serves both as a religious and commercial target." The blast leaves at least 5 dead and 17 wounded.

June 3, 2000, A grenade is thrown at the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Cathedral. The attack comes amid negotiations for the release of hostages taken by the terrorist group in Mindanao.

December 2000, Father Benjamin Inocencio, chancellor of Jolo vicariate in the Philippines, was shot dead Dec. 28 a few meters from the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Cathedral.

I knew of the cathedral attack but not the other details you listed. Thank you.

 

[Jamsie]

I gather you can start a thread on violence against Muslims maybe over at Muslim forums.

The information was in the article that you posted... I'm sure that one can find an article with a more narrow perspective to one's suiting...