It is
becoming increasingly difficult to tell:
With each new day the support of the Red County/State MAGA types for
Jews and the nation-state of Israel continues to grow more fanatical and
irrational:
Trump
vows harsh punishments for antisemites
US
Senators threaten ICC with sanctions if members try to arrest Netanyahu
But
something is strange about all of this.
There is a hyperfocus on Jews and their wellbeing by ‘Christian America,’
yet there has never been a comparable outpouring of concern for the horrible
persecution of Christians around the world.
Here is a summary
for 2023:
More than 365 million (one in seven) Christians face high levels of
persecution for their faith – and persecution is becoming dangerously violent
in countries on the World Watch List.
Attacks on churches and Christian properties sky-rocketed in 2023, as
more Christians than ever recorded faced violent attacks.
Political instability, war and extremism has created a perilous
situation for Christians in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Amid lawlessness, jihadist groups like al-Qaeda and Boko Haram have
thrived. Weak governments fail to stop them. And militants attack Christian
communities and churches with impunity.
Most Christians murdered for their faith in 2023 were killed in
Sub-Saharan Africa. Nigeria accounted for nine out of 10 religiously-motivated
murders. Christians were also killed in Congo (DRC), Burkina Faso, Cameroon and
the Central African Republic (CAR).
Many more Christians have also been forced from their homes. Of 34.5
million displaced people across Sub-Saharan Africa, around 16.2 million are
Christians.
More than 14,700 churches or Christian properties such as schools and
hospitals were targeted in 2023. It marked a six-fold increase compared with
attacks recorded the previous year.
. . . 4,998 Christians murdered
Thirteen
Christians a day were killed for their faith in 2023, on average. Nigeria remains the deadliest place to follow Jesus . . . .
Nigerian
Christians suffered more than any others in 2023. But violence in Nigeria against Christians
has been the norm
for decades, with little more than a yawn from most conservatives when
contrasted with the attention paid to Israel:
Since
2000, 62,000 Christians in Nigeria have been murdered in genocide perpetrated by Islamist
jihadist groups including Boko Haram, Islamic State West Africa Province
(ISWAP), and Fulani militias. The International Committee for Nigeria refers to
this genocide as the “Silent Slaughter.”
In
June 2022, more than 50 parishioners at St. Francis Xavier Church in Owo were massacred. The
Nigerian government blamed the massacre on ISWAP, while local eyewitnesses
attributed the slaughter to Fulani militias.
Aid to the Church in Need reports that in 2022, four Catholic priests were murdered in Nigeria. 23 priests and one seminarian were kidnapped and held in captivity in 2022.
In
April 2023, the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law
(Intersociety) reported that 18,000 Christian churches and 2,200 Christian
schools have been deliberately set on fire. 34,000 moderate Muslims were also
murdered by Islamist jihadists.
Leah
Sharibu, one of 110 school girls who were abducted by ISWAP terrorists in
2018, is still in captivity because
she refuses to renounce her Catholic faith.
At
Christmas in December 2023, at least 140 Nigerian Christians were
massacred in attacks near
Jos. Fulani jihadist militias targeted Christian farming communities in 26
villages across Plateau State. Local media reports indicate a death toll of 200. Numerous villagers sought refuge in the bush to escape the
assailants. Many are still missing.
However, not
only do we have the unseemly picture of US Christians ignoring Christian
persecution around the world, but we also have added to this their grotesque
support of the brutal Israeli war in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands
(many of them innocent women and children) and destroyed homes, churches, and
critical infrastructure. Here, for
instance, is US Sen. Mitch McConnell justifying the continued
supply of US arms for Israel’s war on the Gazans:
McConnell
acknowledged that "war is hell" and "innocent noncombatants
suffer," but still, "civilized nations hold themselves to the highest
standards and take deliberate care to minimize harm to civilians."
Israel, he added,
goes to "great lengths" to avoid civilian casualties, including
accepting "great risk" to its soldiers to avoid endangering innocent
civilians.
Is Sen.
McConnell, like most US Christians, ignorant of what Jewish leaders have said
about Palestinians over the years? Or is
he simply doing what comes naturally these days for politicians in nearly every
State – lying? Here is a sampling of what
Jewish
leaders have said, which doesn’t quite square with Sen. McConnell’s
statement:
“We shall try to spirit the penniless
(Palestinian) population across the border…while denying it any employment in
our own country… expropriation and the removal of the poor must be carried out
discreetly and circumspectly.” —Theodor Herzl, founding father
of Zionism, 1895
“I support compulsory transfer. I
don’t see anything immoral in it” (1938). “Now a transfer of a completely
different scope will have to be carried out. In many parts of the country new settlement
will not be possible without transferring the Arab fellahin (Palestinian
peasant farmers)….….Jewish
power [in Palestine], which grows steadily, will also increase our
possibilities to carry out this transfer on a large scale.”
—David
Ben-Gurion, first Israeli Prime Minister, 1948
. . .
The rest is
at https://orthodoxreflections.com/are-the-united-states-christian-or-jewish/.
--
Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us
sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!
Anathema to the Union!
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