"Once again, the month of Christmas witnessed some of the most barbaric attacks on Christians throughout the Islamic world.
After Andrew White, an Anglican priest known as the "Vicar of Baghdad," told of how the Islamic State "chopped [Christian] children in half; they chopped their heads off," he offered the following anecdote:
IS turned up and they said to the [Christian] children, "You say the words [the shehada, to convert to Islam], that you will follow Muhammad." And the children, all under 15, four of them, they said, "No, we love Jesus [Yesua]. We have always loved Jesus. We have always followed Jesus. Jesus has always been with us." They [IS] said, "Say the words!" They [children] said, "No, we can't." [White starts sobbing] They chopped all their heads off. How do you respond to that? You just cry. They're my children. That is what we have been going through. That is what we are going through.
Christmas celebrations were, as usual, tense and sometimes bloody:
Somalia: Islamic terrorists boasted of successfully slaughtering Christians while "they were celebrating Christmas." Eight Islamic gunmen infiltrated the main African Union base in Mogadishu and killed three peacekeepers and a civilian contractor. Later, the Islamic group Al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack; it announced it had killed 14 peacekeepers whom it described as "Christian enemies": "We targeted the enemies at a time they were celebrating Christmas," said Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, spokesman for Al Shabaab. Western diplomats who were celebrating Christmas in Mogadishu were evacuated to safety bunkers until the raid was over. Witnesses reported hearing bomb blasts and volleys of gunfire throughout the day.
Iraq: In mid-December, as people in the West were doing their last minute Christmas shopping, churches under IS authority were turned into torture chambers for Christians. According to a witness, "churches are being used as prisons and for torture. Three of the Christian prisoners died because they were sick and nobody cared for them." The witness, known as Abu Aasi, said that Christian prisoners in the churches are being forced to convert and that IS members have been "breaking all the crosses and statues of Mary." Other reports told of how Christian prisoners — blindfolded and handcuffed — were held at the ancient Chaldean Church of the Immaculate
Conception in eastern Mosul, and that St George's monastery was now a female prison.
Topic: Christians persecuted during (Read 429 times)