Is There A Muslim Crusade Against Christianity?

There has been heated debate and protest by some Muslim groups about their treatment here in the United States. However this debate and the media attention surrounding it has cast a huge shadow over the war being waged by extremist Muslims against Christians in various hot spots around the world. The church bombing over the weekend in Alexandria Egypt is just the latest in a string of attacks targeting Christians. In September a suicide bomber attacked a Catholic Syrian Church in Baghdad killing 58. Iraq’s Christian population has dwindled; once numbering anywhere between 800,000 and 1.4 million, at least half are thought to have emigrated since 2003. There were two bombings of churches in Pakistan over the past three months resulting in 2 deaths and 10 wounded. As far away as the Philippines there has been terrorism directed at Christians, such as the bombing of a church on the predominantly Muslim Island of Jolo. Terrorist group Abu Sayyaf is suspected in the attack.

The Christian population of Muslim countries has been in steady decline over the last century. Maronite Catholics of Lebanon -who once made up 17% of the population- now make up 10%. There has also been long simmering tensions between Muslims and Christians in Nigeria resulting in thousands of deaths. The most egregious of the atrocities committed against Christians are in the Darfur region of Sudan by the hand of the Muslim dominated north. The worlds religious violence has a very distinct pattern. In the middle east it's Muslim vs Jew. In the Kashmir region of India it's Muslim vs Hindu, In Africa, it's Muslim vs Christian. Nowhere in the world are non Muslims mired in conflict with one another. Ironically, the overwhelming majority of the violence directed at Muslims is committed by.... Muslims! The aforementioned Kurds are the largest group of Muslims in the Middle East without a homeland. They have been subjugated in Iraq, Syria and Turkey. The most noted act of violence against the Kurds was the Iraqi village of Halabja 1986. Using poison gas, Saddam Hussein's regime murdered 5,000 Kurds. According to various human rights groups, approximately 200,000 Kurds in total were ultimately killed by Saddam. The lack of fanfare and media attention is due in large part to their lack of global terrorist activity. There have been no Kurdish orchestrated kidnappings of Olympic athletes or the hijacking of airplanes and flying them into buildings. There are also no charismatic Kurdish leaders or Hollywood celebrities to take up their cause. I guess it's not cool to be a Kurd.

It's painfully evident we're being distracted by Islamic leaders calling for tolerance and understanding of Muslims on the part of westerners. Where are those same calls for tolerance and understanding of the part of Muslims? Doesn't charity begin at home? Based on the current treatment of non Muslims in the Middle East can we ask the obvious question: Can Islam coexist peacefully with other religions in Muslim countries? It does not appear to be the case. Who can forget the Al Qaeda coordinated bombings of Churches in Indonesia in 2000 which left 18 dead and dozens wounded. In the US and Canada for instance there are Churches, Mosque and Synagogues virtually side by side. However in many Muslim countries the building of churches are discouraged-by denial of building permits or bombs. Building a synagogue would be a delusion at best given the insane levels of anti-semitism amongst many Muslims. In Saudi Arabia, expatriate Christians working in the country are not allowed to practice their religion openly. Instead they resort to secret worship sessions in the homes of colleagues and friends.

Haven't we seen this movie before? It was about 1,000 years ago when a few radical youngsters came through Europe from North Africa and gave Christians and Jews a real clear choice: convert or be killed! I don't think the rest of the world will pick up on the fact that Muslim extremist are still at war with it. I once heard an articulate young girl who survived the Rwandan genocide say, "history doesn't repeat itself, we repeat history".