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IRAQI CHURCHES BOMBED: LINK WITH DANISH CARTOONS?
From the Barnabas Fund
A spate of car bombs exploded outside churches in Iraq last Sunday 29th January in what appears to have been a coordinated attack. The explosions occurred within a half hour period, apparently chosen to coincide with the time at which Christians would be going to church.
Two churches in the northern city of Kirkuk and at least two others in the capital Baghdad were targeted. At least three people, including a 13-year-old boy, were killed and an estimated 16-20 people injured. According to some reports as many as seven churches were bombed.
The bombings were condemned by some Muslim political leaders including Ali al-Adeeb (Shi'a) and Naweer al-Ani (Sunni).
A similar incident of near-simultaneous explosions at Iraqi churches happened on Sunday 1st August 2004 during the time of the evening service. Four churches in Baghdad and one in Mosul were bombed on that occasion, with some 15 fatalities.
LINKS WITH DANISH CARTOONS?
Many Christians in Iraq are connecting this week's church bombings with the growing furore across the Muslim world caused by the publication of some cartoons caricaturing Muhammad in a Danish newspaper on 30th September 2005.
These cartoons have been republished this week by newspapers in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland.
IRAQI CHRISTIAN STUDENTS BEATEN UP FOR DANISH CARTOONS
On the same day, 29th January, Christian students at Mosul University were beaten up by Muslim students. Some days earlier a number of fatwas had been issued by sheikhs in Mosul, acting in reponse to pressure from Islamic militias in the city. The fatwas called for their followers to "expel the crusaders and infidels from the streets, schools and institutions because they insulted the person of the prophet in Denmark".
FATWA FOR KILLING OF THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR CARTOONS
Yesterday, 1st February, a Kuwaiti newspaper reporting on the Danish cartoons stated that Islamic cleric Sheikh Nazem Mesbah had issued a fatwa calling for the killing of people who insulted Muhammad in this way. Other Islamic clerics rejected this fatwa citing the need to comply with the realities of the modern era.
PALESTINIAN CHRISTIANS TO BE SCAPEGOATS FOR DANISH CARTOONISTS?
Gunmen from Islamic Jihad and Fatah announced their intention yesterday of attacking churches in Gaza in protest against the cartoons of Muhammad published in Denmark last September. But the newly elected armed Islamist group Hamas publicly rejected the targeting of churches over this issue, even offering to provide military protection for one church building.
A growing movement of Muslim protest around the world since the cartoons appeared has gained strength this week as the cartoons were republished in six other European countries and Jordan. Amidst economic boycotts, demonstrations outside embassies, burning of the Danish flag and calls for a "Day of Anger", Christian minorities in Muslim countries have begun to be targeted. The threats to Palestinian church buildings follow attacks on Iraqi Christian students and bombs outside Iraqi churches last Sunday. These attacks were seen as retaliation for the Danish cartoons, not least because of recent explicit fatwas in Iraq to expel Christians "from streets, schools and institutions" because of events in Denmark.
Muslims seem to have little hesitation in insulting Christian images, for example trampling on the cross as depicted on the Danish flag. For a recent Al-Jazeera picture of this happening in Iraq see link [1].
MUSLIM FEELINGS VS. NON-MUSLIM LIVES
Yesterday King Abdullah of Jordan addressed the National Prayer Breakfast Leadership Luncheon in Washington. The king is generally considered a voice of moderation in the Muslim world. He condemned Sunday's bombing of the Iraqi churches, but went on to criticise the publication of caricatures of Muhammad.
"Why should the hurting of Muslim feelings be equated with the injury and destruction of non-Muslim persons and property?" asks Dr Patrick Sookhdeo, International Director of Barnabas Fund. "This gross injustice has gone unremarked. Christian minorities in Muslim countries strive continually to demonstrate that they are loyal citizens of their homelands, yet over and over again they are punished for the deeds of people they do not know in "Christian" countries far away. They are desperately vulnerable, knowing that few would dare to come to their aid or to seek to bring their attackers to justice."
PRAYER ITEMS
* Pray that Christian minorities in Iraq, Gaza and elsewhere will not be victimised by Muslims who have been angered by the actions of other people far away in Europe.
RELATED NEWS ITEMS
[a] - http://www.barnabasfund.org/archivenews/article.php?ID_news_items=124
LINKS
[1] - http://www.aljazeera.net/nr/exeres/97afe806-9e2f-4416-bd71-ca4a8cf58fb8.htm
