“Political Islam replaces the laws or interprets them differently so that they restrict the practice of other religions. It also works to change the culture of society — which puts it under great pressure — so that it becomes more radical and extreme, not only toward other religions but also toward other Islamic sects.” — catholicnewsagency.com, 2023, Libya.
Canada, not unlike much of the United States, was a very different place just a short time ago. Most Canadians used to believe in basic civil liberties. They could watch hockey games without being lectured about radical gender theory by teams donning pride-themed jerseys. Denouncing people for the color of their skin was seen as vicious, not virtuous.
But perhaps the most troubling of all changes to occur in recent years is the country’s open and growing hostility toward Christianity and, in particular, the Catholic faith.
The Iraq war in particular has been devastating to the region’s religious minorities
Religious persecution is a global constant, and no one is exempt. The most conspicuous threats to religious liberty arise in authoritarian and Muslim-majority states; however, Middle Eastern Christians point to an even greater threat: the United States.
At an international conference a couple weeks ago, a beleaguered Christian activist admitted to me what he was reluctant to state publicly: the US poses the most serious danger to his community. American political and military intervention fueled the destructive persecution that was driving Christianity from its geographic birthplace.
RCMP investigating ‘suspicious’ fire at church in eastern Alberta hamlet
A church in the Alberta hamlet of Cherry Grove went up in flames early Friday morning and RCMP are calling the fire suspicious.
Cold Lake RCMP were sent to the hamlet, about 10 kilometres east of Cold Lake, and found the church “fully engulfed.”
RCMP said the fire is considered “suspicious,” based on their early investigation.
That’s OK Junior says it’s understandable.
Now imagine someone suggesting kristallnacht was “wrong” but understandable.
The Christians of Iraq and Syria have for decades suffered from persecution and instability caused by oppression by the Ba’ath regimes, the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, the outbreak of Sunni-Shiite fighting in 2006, al-Qaeda terrorism, the 2014 genocide by ISIS, ongoing Turkish airstrikes on Iraq and Syria, and in many cases, pressures and harassment at the hands of their Muslim neighbors. All this persecution has forced many of them to leave their home countries and seek asylum elsewhere.
January through March of 2023 has seen a “significant increase in acts of hostility” against churches compared to the same time frame last year, according to an April report from the Family Research Council.
Let’s try a thought experiment: A public school board votes for a policy that bans a certain group of people — say, teachers who are LGBTQ+ — from teaching in its school system because, it fears, one or more of those teachers might make students feel uncomfortable.
Why Christianity is a threat to our technocratic elites.
Missouri Senator Josh Hawley last week persistently questioned Attorney General Merrick Garland about the FBI’s over-reaction last September in its heavily armed arrest of pro-life Catholic Mark Houck at his home––for an alleged assault that local law enforcement had already declined to prosecute. Houck was tried, and a jury acquitted him in just an hour.
The Dobbs decision brought to the surface the anti-Catholicism of woke progressives.
Back in 2017, when Amy Coney Barrett was undergoing confirmation hearings for her nomination to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein expressed concern about Judge Barrett’s devotion to her Catholic faith. “The dogma lives loudly within you,” Feinstein said. Two years later, Brian Buescher, a nominee to the federal bench in Ohio, faced criticism from Democratic Sens. Kamala Harris and Mazie Hirono for his membership in the Knights of Columbus. Then, an article in the Atlantic magazine argued that the Catholic rosary symbolized religious radicalism and had become a “weapon” for those dangerous white Christian nationalists. The author of the article, Daniel Panneton, wrote that “rosary beads have been woven into a conspiratorial politics and absolutist gun culture.” Most recently, a former FBI special agent produced an internal memo from the FBI’s Richmond office that characterized as a domestic threat “Radical Traditionalist Catholic ideology.” The memo even created a new acronym for this threat group — RTC (Radical Traditional Catholics). To paraphrase Martin Niemoller, they are coming for traditional Catholics.
In 2022, 5,621 Christian around the world were “killed for faith related reasons.” Another 4,542 Christians were illegally detained or arrested, and 2,110 churches were attacked, many destroyed. Overall, the global persecution of Christians remains higher than ever, with 360 million believers suffering high levels of discrimination and violence.
These are among some of the findings of the World Watch List 2023, recently published by the international humanitarian organization, Open Doors. Each year, the World Watch List ranks the top 50 nations where Christians are most persecuted for their faith by using data from approximately 4,000 field workers and external experts to analyze the persecution worldwide.
“Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” reads Christ’s eighth beatitude in the Gospel of Matthew. It is perhaps the beatitude most often viewed as a remnant of the ancient world among modern Americans, as persecution of the faithful has been remarkably absent in this country. Every now and then, though, a news story reminds us Christ’s proclamation is just as important as ever.
In the wake of a church-burning on New Year’s Eve in rural Alberta, The Epoch Times followed up with police on the status of investigations into the fire as well as the torching of multiple churches in Canada in the summer of 2021.
The fire investigator has determined that arson was the cause of a blaze that destroyed St. Joseph Lutheran Church near the village of Hay Lakes, just north of Camrose and about 50 kilometres southeast of Edmonton, late on Dec. 31, burning it to the ground.
Camrose RCMP Cpl. Kevin Krebs says plain-clothes officers are doing interviews and collecting witness statements.
In the liturgical calendar, Christmas Day is immediately followed by the feast of St. Stephen, the very first martyr of the church. Two days after that is the feast of the Holy Innocents, honoring those children under the age of 2 who were murdered by the brutal tyrant Herod. As many wiser than I have observed, our celebration of the birth of the Christ Child is marred by man’s sinful desire to stamp him out, as well as those associated with him.
They’re picking up the pieces from disproportionate restrictions.
Americans are increasingly coming to the conclusion that Democrats irreversibly damaged the nation through their pandemic restrictions.
Nowhere is this more true than in the decline of American churches, which were gutted by onerous rules and outright bans that stretched for months on end. In many instances, such restrictions remained in place much longer than those on shopping malls and movie productions, driving questions about why Democrats were incommensurately tough on churches.
IN THE Middle Ages there were no nation states. Instead, there were competing and interlocked feudal power blocs ruled by upper classes identifying with each other. The elite spoke the same language, had the same interests, shared the same culture. The peasants and serfs they ruled were of no account.
