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Reports coming out of Iran say persecution of Christians is only growing more bold and brazen, as Iranian authorities once again raided a house church \u2013 this time in Shiraz \u2013 and arrested between 6 to 10 members of the congregation.<\/p>\nReports coming out of Iran say persecution of Christians is only growing more bold and brazen, as Iranian authorities once again raided a house church \u2013 this time in Shiraz \u2013 and arrested between 6 to 10 members of the congregation.<\/p>\n
The detainees are being held in an undisclosed location.<\/p>\n
Jihad Watch publisher Robert Spencer says that the Iranians don\u2019t know that they\u2019re doing the very thing that will produce more Christians.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t know that Christianity grows amid persecution,\u201d Spencer said. \u201cIslam has expanded through violence and intimidation, so it isn\u2019t at all surprising that they\u2019d resort to it again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clare Lopez, a senior fellow with the Center for Security Policy agrees, speculating that if the Iranian mullahs know persecution grows the Christian church, they don\u2019t care. They\u2019re following their sworn duty as Muslims.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe issue has little to do with perceptions of how Christianity might respond,\u201d Lopez said, \u201cbut rather with the obligation under Islamic doctrine to put and keep dhimmis in their \u2018place\u2019 within Muslim society.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe forces of Shariah Islam are in the ascendant all over the Middle East these days,\u201d Lopez continued, \u201cand with the new-found sense of empowerment combined with what is perceived as Western complicity and weakness in the face of that situation, it is to be expected that all religious minorities, but especially Christians and Jews, increasingly will feel the brutality of Islamic supremecism.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lopez says Americans need to remember that Islam doesn\u2019t focus on \u201cWestern\u201d values and political ideas.<\/p>\n
\u201cRemember, pluralism and tolerance are totally Western ideas, completely foreign to Islam and certainly the Middle East,\u201d Lopez said. \u201cRecall that Persian history, aside from the brief interlude of the Pahlavi dynasty in the 20th Century, was one of dynasty, jihad and vicious anti-Semitism.<\/p>\n
\u201cIslam is supremacist, and whenever it feels the ability to dominate and suppress non-Muslims, that is what will occur,\u201d Lopez said, \u201cwhich is completely in accord with the Pact of Umar and Islamic law on treatment of \u2018People of the Book.\u2019 This is from Sura 9.29, the Sura of the Sword.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn reality, what we are seeing now is the \u2018default position\u2019 of Islam,\u201d Lopez added.<\/p>\n
\u201cIranian authorities know that Western Church authorities \u2013 whether Catholic, Protestant, or others \u2013 have not risen to the defense of Egyptian Copts or Iraqi Christians, whose situation has been far worse than what Iranian Christians have faced recently,\u201d Lopez said.<\/p>\n
Political Islam\u201d> President Bill Warner agrees, saying that for the most part, the Iranians feel no need for concern over what Western Christians think. Warner adds that any Western complaints are short-lived.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy should they care what the Christian world and the rest of the Kafir world think?\u201d Warner asked. \u201cWe never do anything, except for a few mentions in the media, which are temporary. We have no ability to bear a grievance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Warner also notes the number of Christians who die weekly.<\/p>\n
\u201cChristians die by the dozens each week from Egypt to Nigeria. What church has had a prayer service for the martyrs? No, they are not martyrs, just a denied statistic,\u201d Warner said.<\/p>\n
Warner\u2019s estimate is accurate. Voice of the Martyrs reports that since 2010, over 200 Nigerians have been killed by violent attacks from the Boko Haram terrorist group.<\/p>\n
VOM also reports that since the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak, attacks against Christians have become more frequent and more violent.<\/p>\n
Warner also notes an ironic reality between the media and the North American church.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn today\u2019s world, the media have higher morals than religious leaders,\u201d Warner said. \u201cThe media will mention it. The religious leaders will ignore it. Islam has a license to do whatever it wants.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lopez also notes that Iran may feel a slight degree of diplomatic pressure.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Iranian regime at one and the same time feels under assault itself (sanctions, nuclear program pressure, Sunni regional enmity and dominance) and still feels confident it can get away with what it\u2019s doing to these Christians,\u201d Lopez said. \u201cI think we will see this regime lashing out in various and expanding ways as the current Sunni-Shi\u2019ite power rivalry plays out across the Middle East chessboard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lopez notes that feeling of pressure, however, will easily disappear if the nuclear program continues to develop on schedule.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it is allowed to demonstrate a deliverable nuclear capability, its behavior will become completely impervious to outside influence,\u201d Lopez said. \u201cBut no one should expect Islamic authorities, who are bursting with confidence in the wake of their takeover of North Africa and with sights now set on Syria, Jordan, Yemen and more, to be responsive to anything but massive publicity combined with credible, serious pressure imposed by the international community.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy should they?\u201d she asked. \u201cThey think they are on an inexorable, inevitable rise, and they see the West, especially the U.S., actually aiding and supporting their rise to power on the one hand and on the other, falling all over themselves to appease them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey see Western-allied Middle Eastern regimes crumbling before them with no meaningful counter response to keep them in check. Even more so in Iran, which expects to be a bona fide nuclear power in the very near future,\u201d Lopez said.<\/p>\n
Warner also points to another inconsistency between the suffering church worldwide and the North American church: a desire for \u201creligious dialogue.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis week in a city near you, religious leaders and academics will be at dialog about the Abrahamic faiths,\u201d Warner said.<\/p>\n
Lopez says that she\u2019s not optimistic about the Western churches raising a voice in protest.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish I could say that the Western world once again would rise to the defense of Middle Eastern Christians and other oppressed minorities (don\u2019t forget the Iranian Baha\u2019is, who\u2019ve been brutally suppressed since at least 1979). And any publicity you can give the plight of these Iranian Christians will surely help,\u201d Lopez said.<\/p>\n
Source >> http:\/\/wnd.com\/<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"