Pope Francis: Isis violence against minorities in Iraq must be stopped

Vatican says world must halt attacks against Christians and others, as Francis sends emissary to Iraq

 

• John Hooper in Rome
• The Guardian, Monday 11 August 2014 07.31 AEST

Pope Francis prays at St Peter's Square, Vatican City, on 10 August. Photograph: Alessandro Di Meo/EPA

Pope Francis used unusually strong language to condemn the actions of Islamists in their continuing campaign against minorities in Iraq on Sunday and called for an end to violence in the name of God. A high-ranking special Vatican envoy is due to leave for northern Iraq on Monday.

In his traditional Sunday blessing, Francis said the news from the country had left him "in dismay and disbelief". Without referring by name to the Islamic State (Isis), whose jihadists are largely responsible for the persecution, the pope deplored reports of "thousands of people, including many Christians, driven from their homes in a brutal manner; children dying of thirst and hunger in their flight; women kidnapped; people massacred; [and] violence of every kind."

He added: "All this gravely offends God and humanity. Hatred is not to be carried in the name of God. War is not to be waged in the name of God."

Iraqi authorities have reported that Isis has kidnapped hundreds of women and girls from the Yazidi religious minority after seizing the north-western town of Sinjar. Up to 100,000 Christians are thought to have fled for their lives towards Iraqi Kurdistan.

In an apparent reference to the US-led air campaign to deliver relief to the civilians fleeing Isis, Francis said: "I thank those who, with courage, are bringing succour to these brothers and sisters, and I am confident that an effective political solution on both the international and the local levels may be found to stop these crimes and re-establish [the rule of] law."

On Friday, the pope named Cardinal Fernando Filoni as his personal envoy to Iraq. Plans are also being made for a meeting in Rome, probably in September, of all the Vatican's diplomatic representatives in the region. The aim is to organise support for those who have been forced to flee the jihadists.

The 68-year-old Filoni is a Vatican heavyweight who was considered a candidate for the papacy in the runup to the election last year at which Francis was chosen.

At an earlier stage in his career, he served for six years as the Holy See's ambassador to Jordan and Iraq during the final stages of Saddam Hussein's regime.

Filoni was among the few foreign diplomats to remain in Baghdad during the bombing of the city by US-led forces in 2003.

The pope's spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, said the cardinal would travel to Iraqi Kurdistan, where the majority of Christian refugees are sheltering.

In an interview published in Avvenire, the daily of the Italian bishops' conference, Filoni appeared to blame the deterioration of the situation in Iraq on the US-led invasion 11 years ago. "Since 2003, the situation has never improved," he was quoted as saying.

"I believe [Pope] John Paul II was right when he warned the political leaders at that time to rediscover the paths of a peace that was not [found] and for [the lack of which] we are suffering these consequences today."

The pope also discussed the fighting in Gaza, which he described as "a war that cuts down innocent victims and does nothing but worsen the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians".

He also mentioned the battle against Ebola, which has killed close to 1,000 people in west Africa, calling on his followers to "pray for the victims of the Ebola virus and for those who are fighting to stop it".

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Taken from: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/10/pope-francis-iraq-isis-islamic-state-religious-minorities-violence

Sudanese woman spared death for apostasy meets Pope Francis

Pope Francis meets Meriam Ibrahim at the Vatican. Photograph: AP

Meriam Ibrahim was sentenced to death for apostasy in May, sparking an international campaign to save her life

Mark Tran and Lizzy Davies in Rome

• theguardian.com, Thursday 24 July 2014 23.03 AEST

Meriam Ibrahim, a Christian Sudanese woman spared a death sentence for apostasy after an international outcry, has met Pope Francis after arriving in Italy.

The 27-year-old and her family were received at the pontiff’s guesthouse for just under 30 minutes in an atmosphere “of serenity and tenderness”, the Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said in a statement.

“The pope thanked Meriam and her family for their courageous demonstration of constancy of faith. Meriam gave thanks for the great support and comfort which she received from the prayers of the pope and of many other people who believe and are of good will.”

Francis, 77, also wanted the meeting to have a symbolic aspect, Lombardi said. “With this gesture the pope wished also to show his closeness, attention and prayer for all those who suffer because of their faith and in particular Christians who suffer persecution or restriction to their freedom of religion.”

Earlier on Thursday, Italian television showed Ibrahim leaving the aircraft at Ciampino airport in Rome accompanied by her husband, two children and Italy’s vice-minister for foreign affairs, Lapo Pistelli.

Ibrahim was sentenced to 100 lashes for adultery and to death for apostasy in May, sparking an international campaign to lift the death sentence. More than a million people backed an Amnesty International campaign to get her released, with David Cameron, the British prime minister, and the US civil rights activist Jesse Jackson among world leaders who clamoured for her release.

While on death row, Ibrahim, a graduate of Sudan University’s school of medicine, gave birth in shackles in May. It was a difficult birth as her legs were in chains and Ibrahim is worried that the girl may need support to walk.

Ibrahim was told that her death sentence would be deferred for two years to allow her to nurse the baby.

Under the Sudanese penal code, Muslims are forbidden from changing faith, and Muslim women are not permitted to marry Christian men.

During her trial in Khartoum, she told the court that she had been brought up as a Christian, and refused to renounce her faith. She and Daniel Wani – an American citizen – married in 2011. The court ruled that the union was invalid and that Ibrahim was guilty of adultery.

Her convictions, sentences and detention in Omdurman women’s prison while heavily pregnant and with her toddler son incarcerated alongside her caused international outrage. After an appeal court overturned the death sentence, Ibrahim, Wani, and their two children tried to leave last month, but were turned back. The Sudanese government accused her of trying to leave the country with false papers, preventing her departure for the US.

Her lawyer, Mohaned Mostafa, said he had not been told of her departure on Thursday.

“I don’t know anything about such news but so far the complaint that was filed against Meriam and which prevents her from travelling from Sudan has not been cancelled,” Mostafa told Reuters.

Ibrahim and her family had been staying at the US embassy in Khartoum.

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Taken from: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/24/sudan-woman

More on the Christian sentenced to die for her faith

 

May 21, 2014 By Gene Veith ....

More details about the Sudanese woman we blogged about who was sentenced to hang because she would not renounce her faith is married to an American. Her father was a Muslim, so her conversion constitutes apostasy. Also, marrying a Christian constitutes adultery, for which she was sentenced to 100 lashes. Since she is pregnant, the flogging and the hanging will not take place for two years, until the child is born and weaned. The new development is the information that her husband is an American. As would be her child. She has another child, Martin, who is 18 months old and who is being imprisoned with her. Both children would also be Americans citizens.
 

From Michael Avramovich, Sudanese Christian Sentenced to Death – Mere Comments.

Mariam Ibrahim Yahia, a pregnant woman of 27, was sentenced last week to death by hanging in Khartoum, Sudan, for converting to Christianity. Mrs. Ibrahim was also convicted of adultery for having married a Christian man. Her husband, Daniel Wani, is an American citizen. (Yes, you read that correctly.) The sentence for her “adultery” will be 100 lashes.
The Honorable Judge Abbas al Khalifa asked Mrs. Ibrahim whether she would return to Islam. She replied that “I am a Christian,” upon which Judge al Khalifa handed down his death sentence. In response to the verdict, the embassies of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands have issued a joint statement expressing “deep concern” about the case, and urged Sudan to respect the right to freedom of religion. Sudan, however, follows Islamic sharia law. . .
Reportedly, Mrs. Ibrahim’s father was Moslem, but abandoned the family during her childhood, and she was raised by her mother, an Orthodox Christian from Ethiopia. She was given several days to recant her Christian faith in order to escape the death sentence. However, when she declared that she is a Christian, she was sentenced to death. Mrs. Ibrahim and her husband were married in a church wedding in 2011, and have an 18-month-old son, Martin, who, of course, is eligible for American citizenship, and is now with her in jail.

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Taken from: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/geneveith/2014/05/more-on-the-christian-sentenced-to-die-for-her-faith/

Has political Islam failed?

Last updated: 21 Mar 2014 20:03

For video, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=cpmsqABAmCo

Islamic intellectual Tariq Ramadan discusses Islamism and the rise and fall of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Has the Arab Spring turned into an Islamist winter?

Mehdi Hasan challenges Islamic intellectual Tariq Ramadan on the principles and practice of political Islam.

Together they dissect the Arab revolts, focusing on Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood’s rise and demise, and the subsequent military coup.

So, has political Islam failed in Egypt? Did the Muslim Brotherhood miss its chance? And should the West be wary of Islamism?

Joining the discussion are: Anas Altikriti, a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood and president and founder of the Cordoba Foundation; Yasmin Alibhai Brown, a journalist and the founder of British Muslims for Secular Democracy; and Professor Alan Johnson, from the pro-Israeli lobby group, BICOM.

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Taken from:
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/headtohead/2014/03/political-islam-failed-20143814278619177.html

"Under the Sun" and the Rule of Time



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One of the fascinating things about the developing Covenant Creation model of Genesis creation is how theologians from virtually every background and tradition confirm, in various ways, the Covenant Creation approach.

The following excerpt is from an article published in the Catholic Biblical Quarterly (CBQ) in 2008. Consider how the author, Gerald Janzen, recognizes that “under the sun” in Ecclesiastes draws on Genesis 1 to describe “the sun’s delegated rule over time.” Of course, those who view the prophecy of Isaiah 60 (and Revelation 22) as fulfilled will recognize a covenant context that relates directly to Genesis 1. What is most remarkable is that this connection seems to be explicitly assumed by the author.

We think students of Covenant Creation will appreciate the following citation:

“It is as though God has revoked the rule over time that in Genesis 1 was delegated to the sun and the moon. While ‘darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples’ (v. 2), Israel is to dwell in the “everlasting light” of God’s direct rule over Israel’s times. One is reminded again of how, in Deut 32:8-9, God had delegated rule over the other nations to the gods whom those nations worshiped; how, in Psalm 82, that delegated rule is revoked as God assumes direct rule over the whole world; and then again, how the geopolitical arrangements in place for so long in the ancient Near East are brought to judgment in the cosmic trial scenes in Second Isaiah. That the image in Isa 60:19-20, in which God replaces the sun as Israel’s light, remains alive as an eschatological trope is evident from its reappearance in Rev 22:5, which says, ‘Night shall be no more; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they shall reign for ever and ever.’”

-- Gerald Jansen

(Editor's Note: An interesting parallel passage to consider is Jeremiah 31:35-36.)

 

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Taken from: http://beyondcreationscience.com/index.php?pr=Under_the_Sun

Jesus Christ “divided all human history into two, into “B.C.” and “A.D.”"



Philosophy of Jesus, The

Kreeft, Peter

Amazingly, no one ever seems to have looked at Jesus as a philosopher, or his teaching as philosophy. Yet no one in history has ever had a more radically new philosophy, or made more of a difference to philosophy, than Jesus. He divided all human history into two, into "B.C." and "A.D."; and the history of philosophy is crucial to human history, since philosophy is crucial to man; so how could He not also divide philosophy?

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Taken from: http://www.staugustine.net/our-books/books/the-philosophy-of-jesus/