Friday, September 10, 2010

The fires of religious fury are easily lit but hard to put out



Christian communities in the Muslim world that date back 2,000 years are finally being extinguished

By Patrick Cockburn

"In the Pakistani town of Gojra in Punjab just over a year ago word spread among Muslims that a local Christian had burned a copy of the Koran. It was untrue, but within hours a mob had started setting fire to Christian houses in Gojra. In one of them, a man, a woman and four children were burned to death.

The persecution of Christian communities across the Muslim world has escalated rapidly since the start of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Christians are often seen as the natural allies of western occupiers and, as a minority, are highly vulnerable to retaliation....


Incidents like this are not unheard of, but the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001, and the consequent pervasive anti-Americanism in the Muslim world, has strengthened Jihadi Islam and made it more dangerous to be a Christian. "

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