"While no one ever accused the Assad kleptocracy of being humanitarians, they were concerned with the aggrandizement of wealth and power. They didn’t particularly care what you believed so long as it didn’t threaten the regime. The Syrian Christian community was not persecuted under Assad though, to be honest, it was severely circumscribed in its practices. For instance, it was not allowed to accept converts from Islam or to proselytize in general.
As the civil war has progressed, the ranks of the Syrian rebels have become increasingly dominated by Islamists if not by outright al Qaeda elements.
Jamil [an elderly man] lived in a village near Idlib where 30 Christian families had always lived peacefully alongside some 200 Sunni families. That changed dramatically in the summer of 2012. One Friday trucks appeared in the village with heavily armed and bearded strangers who did not know anyone in the village. They began to drive through the village with a loud speaker broadcasting the message that their village was now part of an Islamic emirate and Muslim women were henceforth to dress in accordance with the provisions of the Islamic Shariah. Christians were given four choices. They could convert to Islam and renounce their ‘idolatry.’ If they refused they were allowed to remain on condition that they pay the jizya. This is a special tax that non-Muslims under Islamic law must pay for ‘protection.’ For Christians who refused there remained two choices: they could leave behind all their property or they would be slain. The word that was used for the latter in Arabic (dhabaha) refers to the ritual slaughter of sacrificial animals.
Bishops and priests have been kidnapped. Priests and church leaders have been slaughtered. The jihadis haven’t been all that squeamish about documenting their atrocities either. You can watch the beheadings of three Catholics, apparently a priest and two lay members, here.
The Christian community in Syria faces enough challenges to its survival. The Obama administration aiding the rebels who are bent on destroying it is just another example of the moral blindness in the White House." RedState
As the civil war has progressed, the ranks of the Syrian rebels have become increasingly dominated by Islamists if not by outright al Qaeda elements.
Jamil [an elderly man] lived in a village near Idlib where 30 Christian families had always lived peacefully alongside some 200 Sunni families. That changed dramatically in the summer of 2012. One Friday trucks appeared in the village with heavily armed and bearded strangers who did not know anyone in the village. They began to drive through the village with a loud speaker broadcasting the message that their village was now part of an Islamic emirate and Muslim women were henceforth to dress in accordance with the provisions of the Islamic Shariah. Christians were given four choices. They could convert to Islam and renounce their ‘idolatry.’ If they refused they were allowed to remain on condition that they pay the jizya. This is a special tax that non-Muslims under Islamic law must pay for ‘protection.’ For Christians who refused there remained two choices: they could leave behind all their property or they would be slain. The word that was used for the latter in Arabic (dhabaha) refers to the ritual slaughter of sacrificial animals.
Bishops and priests have been kidnapped. Priests and church leaders have been slaughtered. The jihadis haven’t been all that squeamish about documenting their atrocities either. You can watch the beheadings of three Catholics, apparently a priest and two lay members, here.
The Christian community in Syria faces enough challenges to its survival. The Obama administration aiding the rebels who are bent on destroying it is just another example of the moral blindness in the White House." RedState
And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars:
see that ye be not troubled:
for all these things must come to pass,
but the end is not yet.
Matthew 24:6
