Congressman proposes law to protect persecuted Christians
February 8, 2011
Elizabeth Delaney — The Examiner
One place that has notoriously been the worst for persecuting Christians is the 10/40 window. This particular area spans the width extending from Africa’s west coast to the eastern most cost of China, and its height is 10 to 40 degrees north of the equator. While the Christians who live there are in the minority, some of the worst human rights violations occur there.
In Egypt, for example, a Tuesday www.onenewsnow.com article reports that Muslims associated with the revolution have attacked two Christians and left eleven dead. And it is U.S. Congressman Frank Wolf’s opinion that this is eleven too many. The Republican Virginianis proposing a bill that would “call for a special envoy to protect Christians.”
Realizing that the government might need a bit of inspiration from the Church regarding getting this proposed legislation passed, Wolf stated that, “I also think it’s important for the Church in the West to advocate for the Christian minorities in the Middle East,” and he is calling on Christians to “contact their congressmen and contact their senators and urge them to support this effort to create a special envoy in our government so there’s somebody who can advocate…within our government; [so] there will be somebody at the table. But also, [so] there will be somebody who can advocate with regard to the foreign governments.”
Another place in which Christians are apparently faced with persecution would be in our military. The White House’s unfriendly stance toward U.S. military men and women who are Christians was brought out in another One News Now article on Tuesday. There have reportedly been concerns regarding potential violations toward Christian military men and women regarding their freedom to practice their religious beliefs and be free of harassment. Former Navy Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt who was discharged back in 2007 for praying in Jesus’ name goes into quite a bit of detail at his website https://prayinjesusname.org/
But getting back to Egypt, a senior Muslim Brotherhood member named Esam el- Erian told www.csmonitor.com on Mondaythat while they want Egypt’s President Mubarak to step down because the outlawed organization feels he is “illegitimate”, they are also willing to enter into negotiations with Vice President Suleiman since he has apparently promised some Constitutional reform.
Muslim Brotherhood guidance council member Mohamed Saad El-Katatnicommented that, “We wanted the president to step down, but for now we accept this arrangement. It’s safer that the president stays until he makes these amendments to speed things up because of the constitutional powers he holds.”
The article also notes that, “An influential Brotherhood member of the reform camp” then went to Al Jazeera and denied that any such compromise occurred, adding that the Muslim Brotherhood would not back down until Mubarak resigned.
The attitude in and near Tahrir Square is one of suspicion from a different angle: “A suspicious member of state intelligence stopped two journalists as they left (Tahrir Square). As he flipped through all 400 pictures on one of their cameras, he gestured towards the thousands of Egyptians massed yards away. ‘Those people aren’t Egyptians. They’re with foreigners sent here to destroy our country for money. The real Egyptians hate them,’ he says.”
A member of a community watch group noted that many who were once a part of the revolution are apparently being influenced by what they are seeing on state television and are returning to work. He added that, “They think all foreigners are spies now, and that the protesters are being used to destabilize Egypt. I can’t guarantee your safety or mine if you come over here.”
However, an AP article on Tuesday reported that the revolution has received fresh fire because of the release of anti-government leader Wael Ghonim who had been in detention, and that he is apparently well known among most of the crowd as, “the 30-year-old Google Inc. marketing manager who was a key organizer of the online campaign that sparked the first protest on Jan. 25 to demand the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.” When he arrived at Tahrir Square, the revolutionary crowd had reportedly swelled to its largest size since the start of the revolution. The renewed enthusiasm apparently came from his Monday night television interview that included his claim that the riots were, “the revolution of the youth of the Internet.”
The article also notes that, “Ghonim has emerged as a rallying point for protesters, who reject a group of traditional Egyptian opposition groups that have met with the government amid the most sweeping concessions the regime has made in its three decades in power.”
The Muslim Brotherhood made it known last week that if they gain power, that they will be ending the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. In addition, The Jerusalem Post noted the Muslim Brotherhood’s plans to close the Suez Canal and prepare Egypt for war if they can gain political control of Egypt.
Meanwhile, Israel’s outgoing Chief of Staff Ashkenazi admonished that the remaking of the Middle East is something that Israel’s military needs to watch closely, according to Ynet News and that“The connection between the different players requires us to contend with more than one theater. Because of this spectrum, we must prepare for a conventional war…it would be a mistake to prepare for non-conventional war or limited conflicts and then expect that overnight the forces will operate in an all-out-war.”
FAX Petiton 535 Congressmen to protect our troops from homosexual aggression