As happens at Christmas every year throughout the Muslim world, Christians and their churches were especially targeted—from jihadi terror strikes killing worshippers, to measures by Muslim authorities restricting Christmas celebrations.
In Denmark, Christmas Eve witnessed Islamic demonstrations and cries of "Allahu Akbar" ("Allah is greater," meaning: than anything.).
In Iraq, according to the Associated Press [AP], "Militants targeted Christians in three separate Christmas Day bombings in Baghdad, killing at least 37 people, officials said Wednesday. In one attack, a car bomb went off near a church in the capital's southern Dora neighborhood, killing at least 26 people and wounding 38, a police officer said. Earlier, two bombs ripped through a nearby outdoor market simultaneously in the Christian section of Athorien, killing 11 people and wounding 21."
In Iran, five Muslim converts to Christianity were arrested in a house-church during a Christmas celebration. Plainclothes Iranian security authorities raided a house where, according to Mohabat News, "a group of Christians had gathered to celebrate Christmas on Tuesday, December 24." Before arresting the five apostates, authorities "insulted and searched those in attendance, and seized all Christian books, CDs, and laptops they found. They also took the Satellite TV receiver."
In Indonesia, Muslims in the Aceh province protested against Christmas and New Year celebrations and called on authorities to ban them. Days earlier, an influential Islamic clerical organization, the Ulema Consultative Assembly, issued a fatwa, or opinion, "prohibiting Muslims from offering Christmas wishes or celebrating on New Year's Eve," the AP reported.
In Kenya, "Youths threw petrol bombs at two Kenyan churches on Christmas day ... in the latest bout of violence against Christians on the country's predominantly Muslim coast," according to Reuters. The attacks occurred "in the early hours of December 25 after churchgoers held services to usher in Christmas." One church was "completely destroyed."
In Somalia, the "moderate" government—as it is often portrayed in comparison to the Al Shabaab ("The Youth") opposition—banned Christmas celebrations. Hours before Christmas day, the Ministry of Justice and Religious Affairs released a directive banning any Christian festivities. In the words of one ministry official: "We alert fellow Muslims in Somalia that some festivities to mark Christian Days will take place around the world in this week. It is prohibited to celebrate those days in this country." All security and law enforcement agencies were instructed to quash any Christian celebrations.
In Pakistan, during Christmas Eve services, "Heavy contingents of police were deployed around the churches to thwart any untoward incident." In some regions, "prayer service at major churches focused on remembering the Pakistani Christians who lost their lives in terror attacks." Three months earlier, for instance, Islamic suicide bombers entered the All Saints Church compound in Peshawar after Sunday mass and blew themselves amidst approximately 550 congregants. They killed 130 worshippers, including many Sunday-school children, women, and choir members, and injuring nearly 200 others.
Syria's Greek-Catholic Church declared that it had three "true martyrs"—men from the small town of Ma'loula, an ancient Christian site for over two thousand years. According to Asia News, "When the town fell [in September, to al-Qaeda linked rebels], a climate of fear was imposed... When three men refused to repudiate their religion, they were summarily executed in public, and six more were taken hostage. This was followed by a failed attempt by Syrian government forces to retake the town." In the words of Patriarch Gregorios III to Pope Francis in a meeting: "Holy Father, they are true martyrs. Ordered to give up their faith, they proudly refused. Three others however gave in and were forced to declare themselves Muslim, but later returned to the faith of their ancestors." According to the families who fled from Ma'loula, "some of their Muslim neighbors took part in the attack that devastated this historic village where people still speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus. Muslims are approximately one third of the population of the village..."
The rest of December's roundup of Muslim persecution of Christians around the world includes (but is not limited to) the following accounts, listed by theme and country in alphabetical order, not necessarily according to severity.
Islamic Attacks on Christian Places of Worship
Indonesia: Five more churches were closed by authorities, leaving thousands of Christians without a place of worship. Claiming that the existence of a Protestant church in North Sumatra was illegal, hundreds of Muslims belonging to the Islamic Defenders Front attacked and disrupted its Sunday services. The police had to escort the Christians home. Then, two new churches—one in West Java, the other in South Sulawesi—were sealed off. The Sulawesi church was subsequently demolished by authorities. A few days later, two more churches near Jakarta were forced to stop holding services. According to International Christian Concern: "The reason behind this month's rash of church closures, especially after seven months of relative quiet, is not exactly clear. It may be that the coming Christmas holiday has ignited always simmering anti-Christian sentiment among radical groups. In 2000, 16 were killed by bomb attacks on churches over the Christmas holiday."
Russia: In December, it was revealed that a total of seven Christian churches were torched in 2013. In Tatarstan, a Muslim-majority republic in Russia, according to Asia News: "Churches burned, attacks foiled and increased pressure on Christians to convert to Islam. In Tatarstan—autonomous republic of the Russian Federation, with a Muslim majority—the extremism alarm is increasing." Although the culprits setting fire to churches are "unidentified extremists," Father Dmitri Sizov, pastor of Pestrechinsky, said that "the whole community knows that it is the work of the Wahhabis [Islamic literalists]" who "roam, inviting the faithful to convert to Islam." But "the priests remain silent because they are afraid of being accused of incitement to religious hatred," added Fr. Dmitri.
Syria: In the southern province of Daraa, Islamic rebel forces firing mortar shells on a church succeeded in killing 12 people and injuring many others, including church volunteers who were there distributing charity aid. Separately, five young children were killed when rebels fired two rockets at a Christian school. According to the Patriarch of the Church of Antioch, more than 450,000 Christian Syrians have been displaced by the conflict, and more than a thousand have been killed.
Islamic Attacks on Christian Freedom: Apostasy, Proselytizing, and Dhimmitude
Egypt: "The nation's most well-known convert from Islam" to Christianity -- Bishoy Armia Boulous, 31—popularly known by his former Muslim name, Muhammad Hegazy— was arrested in a café for allegedly inciting "sectarian strife," among other charges, according to Morning News; he "is likely being tortured." Authorities claim he was working with a Coptic satellite station to create a "false image" of violence against Christians in Minya, Upper Egypt, where attacks on Copts are common. Human rights activists close to Bishoy, however, say "his arrest had nothing to do with any reporting work but constituted retaliation for becoming a Christian" and possibly for evangelizing to Muslims.
Iran: The Islamic republic's secret police assaulted the wife and children of jailed evangelical Pastor Behnam Irani while raiding their home. According to a source assisting the family with advocacy, "They confiscated her laptop computer and Christian materials... While the secret police were in her home they were yelling at her and doing their best to scare her. This really frightened the children, Rebekah and Adriel," and was apparently meant to create enough "fear to silence them." The raid came after the imprisoned evangelical leader—a former Muslim—was told by a court to remain behind bars because he "did not change."
Syria: The anti-Christian strictures of Sharia, or Islamic law, continued to be applied to Christians by Islamic rebels. According to Agenzia Fides, "Kanaye [a Christian region] has been invaded by Islamist militants that terrorize the population, threaten a massacre and have imposed the Islamic law… This has become a pattern that …in recent weeks has focused on a number of Christian villages: armed guerrillas penetrate into the village, terrorize civilians, commit kidnappings, kill, sow destruction." Father George Louis of the village of Qara, which has been devastated and burned, explained: "Macular, Sednaya, Sadad, Qara and Deir Atieh, Nebek: armed jihadists target a village, they invade it, kill people, burn and devastate it."
Turkmenistan: Police and secret police agents in Dashoguz, a northern city, raided a group of believers of the Church of the Light of the East, a Protestant community. Forces raiding two houses of prayer seized religious materials, including Bibles. An official of the Department of Religious Affairs, who is also an imam at the local mosque, went on to inform the pastor that his faith "is wrong" and warned him to convert to Islam. He added that "Christianity is a mistake ... it's not a religion, but a myth." Christians practicing hymns for Sunday service were told by officers that "the songs of praise to God are banned here." Adds Asia News: "Meanwhile, an increasing number of people are being incarcerated for crimes of opinion and defense of religious freedom."
Carnage of Christians
Nigeria: Islamic Fulani herdsmen killed at least 205 Christian farmers in the latter half of 2013, while ten thousand more Christians were displaced and many churches destroyed or closed. Christian leaders, according to Morning Star News, "had no doubt the Muslim assailants aimed to demoralize and destroy Christians." Several of the attackers appear to be mercenaries from outside the area. "Life has become unbearable for our church members who have survived these attacks, and they are making worship services impossible," said a Roman Catholic bishop. Another area Christian leader said that, "Many of our Christian brethren have been killed. The Muslim gunmen that are attacking our Christian communities are numerous; they are so many that we can't count them. They are spread across all the communities and unleashing terror on our people without any security resistance."
About this Series
While not all, or even most, Muslims are involved, persecution of Christians is expanding. "Muslim Persecution of Christians" was developed to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of persecution that surface each month.
It documents what the mainstream media often fails to report.
It posits that such persecution is not random but systematic, and takes place in all languages ethnicities and locations.
