South Sudanese Christian Pastors Could Face Death

South Sudan is primarily Christian, North Sudan is mostly hardline Muslim with the ruthless dictator Omar al-Bashir leading the country. Bashir wants the whole of Sudan to be Muslim and follow Sharia law, which is unfortunate for the Christians who live there.

As is the norm in Muslim-majority Sharia enforced countries, Christians are terribly persecuted. Muslims who convert to Christianity face the death penalty for apostasy. Now two Christian pastors from the south could lose their lives because of trumped up charges. The two were charged with spying, and their trial commenced this week,

Yat Michael Ruot and Peter Yein Reith, both Presbyterian pastors from the breakaway Christian nation of South Sudan, are being held by Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Services on charges of undermining the constitution and espionage. Their supporters say their arrest and pending trial is just the latest effort by the militant Islamist government in Khartoum to stamp out Christianity.

[snip]

The pair also was charged with “inciting organized groups” and “offending Islamic beliefs,” which call for imprisonment.

The trial was set to begin Tuesday, but was postponed to May 31.

Ruot, who is from Juba, the capital city of South Sudan, was arrested Dec. 21 after he delivered a Sunday sermon in Omdurman, a Sudanese city across the Nile from Khartoum. Reith, who, like Ruot, is from the Presbyterian Evangelical Church, was arrested Jan. 11 when he was called in by security services and taken into custody. His supporters believe his arrest was prompted by a letter he wrote to the Office of Religious Affairs in Khartoum inquiring about Ruot.

You might remember this is the same country that sentenced a pregnant Christian woman, Meriam Ibrahim, to death. She was later released, but only after worldwide condemnation.

More here.

Typically, churches have been destroyed in that country, and new ones are not allowed to be built. Muslims in the West are fortunate they do not have to face what Christians are subjected to in Islamic countries.

Muslim Group Allowed To Cut Off Crosses From NY Church

A Muslim group purchased a century-old Catholic church in Syracuse, NY and are converting it into a mosque/learning center.  What has some people upset is the decision to remove 6 crosses from the roof of the historic Gothic church. Now I understand why Muslims wouldn't want crosses on their mosque, but not for the reason given by the center's director, Yusuf Soule.  He claims that Islam forbids the worship of symbols and idols, hence the need for removal; as if the Muslim congregants would be actually worshiping a cross.  But if this is the case, then why is it okay to have a crescent moon perched on top of the spires of most mosques?  Is that not a symbol?

A city board on Thursday gave a Muslim group the go-ahead to remove six crosses from the roof and spires of a century-old former Catholic church so the now-vacant Gothic structure can be used as a mosque.

More than 200 people had signed an online petition calling on the Syracuse Landmark Preservation Board to deny an application by North Side Learning Center, the church's new owner, to remove the crosses and build a six-foot chain-link fence.

Before the vote to allow the church alterations, Chairman Don Radke said the board cannot interfere with a decision that involves religious freedom.

More on the story here.

Couldn't they have found another building for their mosque, rather than defacing a landmark Christian structure?

I wonder how Muslims would react to a Christian group removing the crescent moon from atop one of their mosques.

Christmas Is Offensive- Says Kuwaiti MP

Bah humbug to Hamdan al-Azmi, a Kuwaiti MP, who said the Christmas celebrations are a "mockery" and "offensive" to Islamic culture and religious teachings. So he wants a crackdown on Christmas festivities.

“Allowing activities that promote occasions that are strange to our Islamic society is ridiculous and an offence to our religious teachings,” he said in a statement made available to the press on Sunday.

He further urged the Deputy Premier Sheikh Mohammad al-Khalid al-Sabah to monitor activities in camps and chalets, claiming youths in the country were planning to host Christmas parties in those locations.

Al-Azmi added that celebrating such events was “inappropriate” in an Islamic state and cautioned the authorities to bar anyone from profiting from such activities, local media reported.

He also had problems with Halloween, calling anything Halloween-related as  "signs of Satanism."

Apparently, nothing has been done about cracking down on the sale of Christmas products, but ex-pats are being warned about sticking to the rules of the land, most notably those dealing with alcohol. Watch out for that spiked egg nog.

Imagine if politicians in Christian-majority countries were to tell Muslims they shouldn't celebrate EID.

Source: Al-Arabiya

UK Islamic School Forcing Hijab On teachers Is Shut Down

Remember Al-Madinah, the state-funded Islamic school that was forcing Muslim and non-Muslim teachers to wear the hijab, one of whom quit shortly thereafter? It was shut down last week, at least for now.

The school was shutdown abruptly on Wednesday after a visit by Ofsted’s team, the British official body for inspecting schools.

Undetailed “health and safety” reasons were cited by Ofsted as the reason behind closure.
“We can confirm that Ofsted is currently undertaking a two-day inspection of the Al-Madinah school in Derby,” it said, in a statement carried by The Guardian.

“As a result of findings that our inspectors have shared with the principal during the first day of the inspection, we understand that he has written to parents informing them that the school will be closed to children.

“We have also informed the Department for Education and the local authority of our initial findings. As the inspection is in progress, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”

The move comes less than two weeks after a teacher quit her job at the school, claiming that in addition to the headscarf rule, all girls were being made to sit at the back of classrooms, separate from male students, the newspaper added.

Oops.

The school also seems to think that everyone, including non-Muslims, should aspire to Islamic principles.

The school’s online prospectus states that: “our school will be underpinned by the principles of the Islamic faith, which we believe to be universal principles that all should aspire to whether they are Muslims, of other faiths or none.”

Go for it, if you are a private school. Which they are not.

No doubt, it will reopen.

More here.

UK School Forcing Non-Muslim Teachers To Wear Hijab

Apparently non-Muslim school teachers are being forced to sign a contract agreeing to wear Islamic headscarves while on school property at the Al-Madinah school in northern England.  Had this been a private Muslim school I would say, those are the rules live with it- if you choose to teach at a Muslim school you abide by the rules. However, it is not a private institution, it is state-funded, and initially was "launched as based on Muslim principles and not as a Muslim school.” At least that's what Sue Arguile of the Derby National Union of Teachers claims.

Arguile is also concerned about the segregation of genders.

“There are worries over practices concerning the discrimination between male and female pupils in the school, with the girls being told to sit at the back of the class regardless of whether they can see the board properly." 

The 200 hundred students, ranging from four 4 to 16, are also fed halal-only meals, and teachers and staff are not allowed to bring any non-halal foods on campus.

Imagine the reverse, a Muslim school teacher refusing to remove her hijab at a non-Muslim school, or at a corporation that has a specific dress code. In the U.S. the Council on American-Islamic relations (CAIR) would step in, and she'd get to wear her veil. Happens all the time. I'd support the school's right to dictate what  staff members wear, IF the school was privately owned and funded.  But it's not.
At some point in the future (it's a brand spanking new facility), the school is meant to allow those of other faiths to attend classes, but what non-Muslim parent would send their daughter to a school that forces her to wear a hijab and sit at the back of the classroom?

Ironically, plastered on the front of the school website is this:

"We seek to inculcate in our pupils the core universal principles of equality, fairness, peace, tolerance and respect for all people"

Equality?  Girls forced to the back of the classroom is equality?  Fairness is forcing someone of another faith to wear a veil? Right.

The Department of Education is looking into the Derbyshire school matter.

Sources: Telegraph UK, Al Arabiya