{"id":1918,"date":"2018-09-15T21:51:56","date_gmt":"2018-09-16T01:51:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/?p=1918"},"modified":"2018-09-15T21:51:56","modified_gmt":"2018-09-16T01:51:56","slug":"christophobia-not-islamophobia-kills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2018\/09\/christophobia-not-islamophobia-kills.html","title":{"rendered":"It Is Christophobia, NOT Islamophobia, that KILLS"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 17th<\/sup> anniversary of September 11, 2001 is upon us and the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) at Ripon College had been planning a 9\/11 project.<\/p>\n

Evidently, the school\u2019s \u201cBias Protocol Board\u201d is not too enthused<\/a> over it.<\/p>\n

YAF\u2019s \u201c9\/11: Never Forget Project,\u201d which began 15 years ago, consists of 2,977 flags representing each life that was extinguished on that day of infamy, as well as a poster featuring multiple images and photographs of the Islamic terrorists who murdered them.<\/p>\n

According to YAF, its members were informed that the project, particularly the poster, is objectionable because it \u201crelentlessly\u201d targets \u201cone religious organization, one religious group, one religious identity [.]\u201d As such, it gives rise to an environment within which \u201cstudents from a Muslim background would feel singled out and\/or harassed.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson from Ripon said that school officials merely offered student representatives of YAF \u201csuggestions as to how to have a discussion about 9\/11 this year with our entire <\/em>campus and community\u201d (emphasis mine).<\/p>\n

Presumably, YAF\u2019s project as such is insufficiently inclusive.<\/p>\n

Of course, the idea that there is something \u201cIslamophobic\u201d about remembering 9\/11, or about doing so with explicit reference to the Islamic terrorists who were responsible for it, has been circulating for quite some time. \u00a0\u00a0Three years ago, for example, The Daily Beast<\/a><\/em>\u2014<\/em>hardly a conservative or right-wing publication\u2014confirmed that students at the University of Minnesota \u201ckilled a proposed moment of silence for 9\/11 victims due to concerns\u2026that Muslim students would be offended.\u201d\u00a0 To its credit, the author of the Beast <\/em>essay recognizes these \u201cconcerns\u201d as \u201cinsulting\u201d and \u201cchildish.\u201d<\/p>\n

Notice, in the American and European worlds of the 21st<\/sup> century, non-Muslims who, despite repeated assurances via words and deeds that they harbor no ill-will toward Muslims generally, are nevertheless deemed guilty of \u201cIslamophobia\u201d for daring to notice the reality that the Muslims who they\u2019ve generously allowed into their lands are disproportionately represented among the terrorists that seek to kill them.<\/p>\n

To repeat, in decrying \u201cIslamophobia,\u201d the Western media is virtually always decrying nothing more or less than the fact that Westerners, especially Americans, have chosen to, well, never forget. <\/em><\/p>\n

However, while \u201cIslamophobia\u201d springs effortlessly and regularly from the lips of Western commentators, journalists, and activists, the term \u201cChristophobia\u201d is never uttered\u2014even though Christians around the world are made to suffer real <\/em>persecution for their faith.<\/p>\n

Moreover\u2014and this no doubt accounts in part for why the self-styled enemies of \u201cIslamophobia\u201d aren\u2019t interested in commenting on the persecution of Christians\u2014most (but not all) of the most egregious oppressors of Christians are\u2026Muslims. <\/em><\/p>\n

Take, for example, Pakistan<\/a>.\u00a0 Last month, a group of Christian men, women, and<\/em> children <\/em>were set upon and beaten by a mob of Muslims. The Christians were attempting to protect their church property from being stolen in the town of Kasur, a city near Lahore.\u00a0 Bashir Masih, one of the victims, gave his account to International Christian Concern (ICC) that the attackers numbered \u201cover 50 Muslim men\u201d who were \u201cled by Mukhtar Ahmad, a local Muslim\u201d and \u201ca local landlord\u201d with whom the \u201clocal Christians\u201d have had a dispute over property \u201cfor years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though a \u201clower court\u201d had issued a \u201cstay-order\u201d for the property \u201cfor both parties,\u201d Ahmad\u2019s \u201cMuslim family wanted to grab the church property using their social and religious pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n

St. Mathew\u2019s Catholic Church serves approximately 40 families.\u00a0 The local Christians built it with their own money.<\/p>\n

Masih explained that when Ahmad \u201ctried to cultivate a piece of land with a tractor that belongs to the church,\u201d the Christians urged him \u201cnot to violate court orders.\u201d He not only ignored them; Ahmad made \u201cderogatory remarks,\u201d saying that it is \u201cnonsense\u201d to \u201cbuild a church.\u201d<\/p>\n

Almost immediately, Ahmad\u2019s \u201carmed companions attacked the Christian men, women, and children with arms and sticks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two people, an 18 year-old woman and a ten year-old boy, were \u201cseverely injured during the attack,\u201d according to ICC.<\/p>\n

The woman, Anand Masih, required eight stitches in her lips.\u00a0 The boy, Sagar Masih, had his left arm broken.<\/p>\n

ICC found out by speaking with community leaders that while the police were aware of what had occurred, police officials ordered the Christian victims to \u201ckeep quiet and avoid mentioning it as a religious issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shamoun Qaiser, a former legislator, shared her thoughts with ICC:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government officials think that religious freedom means celebrating Christmas and Easter eves only, however it\u2019s much more than going to churches and celebrating events.\u201d<\/p>\n

The problem is that over the last so many decades, \u201cour social fabric has been torn in such a way that the space for religious minorities has been reduced.\u201d Qaiser notes that \u201ckids in schools face discrimination on the basis of religion\u201d and church property, including cemeteries that have been built on that property, is \u201coften grabbed with impunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Qaiser adds that these attacks on \u201cpoor and downtrodden segments of the society should be condemned\u201d\u2014but are not.<\/p>\n

This most recent attack fits a pattern of anti-Christian oppression in Pakistan stretching back quite some time. \u00a0During just this year alone, ICC has documented numerous instances of anti-Christian hostility.\u00a0 Some of these instances include allegations of \u201cblasphemy,\u201d \u201ckidnappings, rape, forced conversions to Islam, and religiously-motivated murders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet the left in America is more concerned about Muslims in the United States feeling<\/em> discomfort when, every September 11, the country recalls the most horrific attack that its sons and daughters have ever experienced.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 17th anniversary of September 11, 2001 is upon us and the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) at Ripon College had been planning a 9\/11 project. Evidently, the school\u2019s \u201cBias Protocol Board\u201d is not too enthused over it. YAF\u2019s \u201c9\/11: Never Forget Project,\u201d which began 15 years ago, consists of 2,977 flags representing each life…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":399,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nIt Is Christophobia, NOT Islamophobia, that KILLS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2018\/09\/christophobia-not-islamophobia-kills.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"It Is Christophobia, NOT Islamophobia, that KILLS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The 17th anniversary of September 11, 2001 is upon us and the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) at Ripon College had been planning a 9\/11 project. 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