UPDATE (Below)

According to a Canadian school, a Jesus shirt is ‘hate speech’ and wearing one can get you in trouble and even suspended.

Here’s the story by Todd Starnes of Fox News:

William Swinimer, a student at Forest Heights Community School in Nova Scotia, was punished for wearing a shirt that read, “Life is wasted without Jesus.” The shirt is a reference to a passage of Scripture from the New Testament.

Swinimer told Fox News that he was told the shirt was a form of “hate talk.”

“I’ve been told by my principal that it is hate talk and is disrespectful to other people’s religions,” Swinimer said. “She said it (the shirt) cannot be in school because people would get offended.”

The school board superintendent, Nancy Pynch-Worthylake says that the shirt is “problematic..” since it seems to target unbelievers:

“If I have an expression that says, ‘My life is enhanced with Jesus,’ then there’s no issue with that, everybody is able to quickly understand that that’s my opinion about my own belief,” she told the newspaper. “If the shirt were to say, ‘Without Jesus, your life is a complete waste,’ then that’s clear that it is an opinion aimed at somebody else’s belief.”

However, Swimimer believes that there is really an underlying bias against Christianity and Christians by the school authorities:

“I’ve found that they have dissed Christianity quite a bit,” he said. “I do not want to be disrespectful of anybody else’s religions. I don’t want to put down anybody’s opinions. All I want to do is stand up for rights and freedoms of Canadians.”

“They treat other religions differently than they do Christianity,” he said. “The staff and principal and school board have been very hostile toward Christianity.”

But, he said, they promote other religions in the school.

“If they can pick on Christians in this school, what can they pick next?” he wondered. “Christianity in that school is not being treated the same way. I’m being discriminated against because of my religion.”

The school does not have an official dress code and according to William Swinimer students there wear a variety of t-shirts with different messages but his Christian shirts seem to be singled out and get him sent to the office.

Response: In this case, it is the designation of Jesus shirts as ‘hate speech’ which is really offensive. Are Christian shirts actual ‘hate speech’? Hardly. The wearers are actually demonstrating their concern for the destiny of all those around them in this life and the life to come. There is no intention to offend anyone only to get folks thinking and maybe to create a dialog in which one can share their faith.

Only diehard secularists are ever really offended. Most who disagree with t-shirt messages in the real world just laugh them off. For instance, when I see young people today wearing a ‘Mao’ or  ‘Che Guevara’ shirt it causes me to chuckle to myself about how little they really must know about their supposed ‘hero.’ However, many academicians do not seem to live in the real world but in a PC facsimile and reality of their own making. 

While the school in this story is in Canada, many districts in the USA have dress codes that restrict the wearing of t-shirts with messages. I have come across a number of instances here where ‘Jesus’ shirts were included on the list of forbidden wear.

For me, the problem comes when Christian shirts are singled out as contraband while other religious and philosophical shirts continue to be allowed. I really wonder what these folks in Nova Scotia would do if a Muslim student wore a t-shirt proclaiming ‘Allah is the one true God and Muhammad is his prophet’? I’m sure they would let it stand in the name of toleration and combating so-called ‘Islamophobia.’

What really bothers me is situations where Christians like this student are singled out for actual persecution. When sharing ones Christian faith is now considered ‘hate speech’ in the minds of secular academicians who have created some sort of alternate reality. Where Christianity is designated as ‘offensive’ while everything else gets a pass in the name of PC toleration.

*UPDATE:  “Nova Scotia school backs down after suspending teen over ‘Jesus’ t-shirt”

*Top

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A reporter for the Raleigh N.C. News and Observer criticized the Republican candidate for Lt. Governor for having a Bible clearly visible behind him on a bookshelf in a campaign ad.

The accused- Dan Forest commented on the supposed MSM controversy:

(the newspaper) “ridiculed my recent television commercial because I had a Bible on the shelf behind me in the camera shot.”

“I am not ashamed of my faith, nor should I be. I did have a Bible in clear view of the camera in my television ad, and in the ad I openly profess my belief in Judeo-Christian values. I stand by that decision because that is who I am.”

<Read the article>

Response: Now Bibles are controversial? Really? It is amazing where the political correctness of the MSM has taken us. So many now in the main stream media are secularists and over sensitive to any hints of religious display –especially Christian. Remember a few years ago a Mike Huckabee ad was criticized because the bookcase seem to look like a cross in the background of one his ads. If a book on Darwin was on the self presumably no one from the media would have been offended and said a thing.

There isn’t supposed to be a religious ‘test’ for offices in America according to the US Constitution but to many in the MSM ones faith should not even be mentioned or displayed? In fact it is getting to be rather obvious that serious Christians really bother many in the press and that prejudice definitely shows up in their treatment of candidates. The time may come in America when sadly being a Christian may be a political liability? But that time is not now no matter what the PC MSM may think.           *Top

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(Image: Christian Post)

We  often read the comments of radical Muslims in the Middle East and we hear the defiance of the Israeli’s but seldom have the opportunity to receive the testimony of a Palestinian Christian pastor in the midst of it all in Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

Steven Khoury, a Jerusalem-born pastor, could be bitter and radical considering all of the persecution he and his Palestinian Christian congregation has endured. Can you imagine going to Sunday services in a church that routinely has buckets of water in the aisles in order to put out any Molotov cocktails that a Muslim radical may happen to decide to throw into the congregation during worship?

Yet what is the message that he wants to convey to Western Christians? It is time to get back to the Bible and the teachings of Jesus and reflect God’s love to everyone.

<Read the entire article in Christian Post>

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              (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

From a Fox News article by Todd Starnes:

As many as 100 high school students walked out of a national journalism conference after an anti-bullying speaker began cursing, attacked the Bible and reportedly called those who refused to listen to his rant “pansy a–ed.”

The speaker was Dan Savage, founder of the “It Gets Better” project, an anti-bullying campaign that has reached more than 40 million viewers with contributors ranging from President Obama to Hollywood stars. …

Savage was supposed to be delivering a speech about anti-bullying at the National High School Journalism Conference sponsored by the Journalism Education Association and the National Scholastic Press Association. But it turned into an episode of Christian-bashing.

Here’s one reaction from a school advisor, Rick Tuttle, who was there:

“I thought this would be about anti-bullying. It turned into a pointed attack on Christian beliefs.”

“It became hostile. It felt hostile as we were sitting in the audience – especially towards Christians who espouse beliefs that he was literally taking on.” …

“There were Christian schools who went to the conference. To have this happen was disappointing and shocking.”

And for some of his students – they felt like the anti-bullying activist was in fact – the bully.

<Read the whole article>

Response: This exposes one of the new Gay agenda narratives that blames Biblical Christianity for bullying. In the process of  this event, the anti-bullying activist bashed Christian students and obviously became a bully himself. 

This is the second time I have run across a gay attack on Christianity in the name of bullying. Recently a play in San Francisco was filmed in order to supposedly combat bullying- “Corpus Christi: Playing With Redemption.” The play and documentary depicts Jesus and his apostles in homosexual relationships.

Here’s another reaction to this event from Candi Cushman of  CitizenLink:

“Using profanity to deride the bible – and then mocking the Christian students after they left the room — is obviously a form of bullying and name-calling. This illustrates perfectly what we’ve been saying all along: Too many times in the name of ‘tolerance,’ Christian students find their faith being openly mocked and belittled in educational environments.”

So here’s the new narrative- Biblical Christianity as an evil that needs to be overcome in order to get rid of bullying. Only problem, most of the kids that are bullied are not homosexual and very few if any of the bullies are committed Christians. 

Christians need to combat this new narrative/dictum before it becomes an official part of the current culture of political correctness.           *Top

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Over the last the last five or six years I have noted on this blog a myriad of instances where the Western main stream media (MSM) either ignored stories of Christians being persecuted by Muslims or distorted the facts to make it look like the victims were just as much at fault as the perpetrators. Most of the time for clarity I have had to go foreign sources closer to the action in order to get all of the unvarnished and undiluted facts.

Many times major stories of persecution were completely ignored until they were picked up by the blogosphere. Then the events were dismissed as ‘sectarian strife’ and colored by a moral equivalency that blurred the lines between the victims and the aggressors. Usually the narrative is guided by a PC over concern by the MSM of a supposedly growing problem of ‘Islamophobia’ in America and other Western nations.

Here’s a link to a fine article by Raymond Ibrahim of Middle East Forum exposing some of the ‘anti-Islamophobic’ moral equivalent MSM strategies in the context of recent events:

“How the Media Whitewashes Muslim Persecution of Christians”

Response: One of the more interesting facts pointed out by Ibrahim is the official US government responses to what is going on in Nigeria. American official statements seem to parallel the MSM narrative and continue to blame poverty, politics, and lack of opportunity for the major causes of ‘sectarian’ strife in spite of the very pointed statements made by the radical Islamists themselves.

Also, there is an incredible NY Times reference to the violence of the Boko Haram calling their goals "senseless" and an even more ignorant response by the AFP claiming that the Boko Haram’s “goals remain largely unclear.” What really isn’t ‘unclear’ is that the Boko Haram continues to issue statements warning Christians to leave Northern Nigeria or else along with their continued demands for autonomy and full on Islamic sharia law.

This leaves one to conclude that either the MSM reporters are totally incompetent or the truth does not easily fit into the current PC non-Islamophobic play book and narrative.           *Top

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                     (Image via Wikipedia)

In 2007 I ran across an interview on Al-Jazeerah with Sheikh Ahmad Al Katani  lamenting the fact that over 6 million Muslims were being converted to Christianity in Africa every year.

Since that time, Muslim leaders have substantially failed in the arena of ideas and persuasion and have increasingly turned to violence and persecution against Christians in order to stem the growth of Christianity in Africa.

Now every where you turn in reading news coming out of Africa you find one story after another about Muslim extremists Attacking Christians and burning churches. Here’s just the latest sample:

1. Egypt: Muslims Burn Christian Homes and Shops, Attack Church

(AINA) — A Muslim mob attacked Copts today in the Upper Egyptian village of Rahmaniya-Kebly, Nag Hammadi, Qena province, destroying and torching their homes, straw huts and shops, while chanting Allahu Akbar. No one was reported killed or injured. According to reports, security forces were present but did not intervene and the fire brigade arrived 90 minutes late.  …

In another incident today, a large number of Salafis and members of the Muslim Brotherhood entered the Abu Makka church, in Bahteem, Shubra-el-Khayma, Qaliubia province, and informed the congregation that the church has no licence and no one should pray in it. One Muslim said the 1300 square meter church would be suitable for a mosque and a hospital.

Response: As usual the attacks come after Muslim Friday services. According to the reports, the attacks were made by Salafists (Islamic radicals) in order to keep the Coptic Christians from voting in the parliamentary elections on Friday. So much for a new ‘democratic’ Egypt. Notice that the Egyptian security forces refused to protect the Christians.

2. Nigeria: Death Toll Climbs in Islamist Attacks in the Northeast

Members of the Boko Haram group continue their attacks on Christians. This week alone, 9 Christians were killed in Gombe, Nigeria while worshipping in a revival meeting. Also, at least 21 Christians were killed in the neighboring Adamawa state.

Response: Violence against Christians in Nigeria is a daily occurrence. This is just what happen this week. Typically the Nigerian army cannot be counted upon to keep the peace since Muslim members of the forces many times refuse to protect the Christian community.  

3.  Zanzibar: Radical Muslims Burn Two Churches

Muslim extremists destroyed two church buildings on the island of Zanzibar. Meanwhile the government is not doing anything to stop violence against Christians or the destruction of churches on the island. According to Bishop Fabian Obedi of the Pentecostal Evangelical Church of Zanzibar:

“The Muslims are burning our church buildings quite frequently here in Zanzibar, but the government is not speaking against this kind of destruction of our church premises.”

Response: Again this is a situation where the Muslim dominated government authorities are doing nothing even though the churches were legally built and approved.

4.  Sudan: Church Leaders are Threatened

Sudan President Omar al-Bashir told cheering crowds on Jan. 3:

“We are an Islamic nation with sharia as the basis of our constitution. We will base our constitution on Islamic laws.”

His government recently ordered all church leaders to register the names and contact information of all of their leaders in Sudan, sources said. They were also warned not to participate in any evangelistic activities.

Hamid Yousif Adam, undersecretary of the Ministry of Guidance and Religious Endowment, recently sent threatening letters to church leaders warning them:

“We will take legal procedures against pastors who are involved in preaching or evangelistic activities.”. “We have all legal rights to take them to court.”

Response: Thousands of Muslims had converted to Christianity but nearly all of them have fled to breakaway South Sudan as the persecution of Christians has increased in the north.          

Conclusion: The point is that Muslim violence against Christians is on the rise in Africa and very few of these stories are in any way carried by the Western media who are overly concerned with the PC claims of Islamophobia.

These are just a few prominent stories of recent Muslim persecution of Christians. The fact is that there are many other incidences that go unreported.  Literally you can now find stories like these every week on the Internet with very little effort.

One thing for sure, the violence against Christians will not stop Christianity from increasing in Africa nor will it force converts back to Islam. The new Christians have found the reality of a relationship with a loving God and a community of believers who care for one another. No amount of force or violence will convince them otherwise.

I am however concerned about the Coptic Christians in Egypt who now seem to be facing new rounds of persecution. Also, thanks to the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ they now have a very bleak future under the domination of a future Islamic extremist government run by the Muslim Brotherhood and even more radical Salafist party. Already with the tide of change on the horizon, the Egyptian Security forces are refusing to protect them.           *Top

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Open Doors’ 2012 ‘World Watch List’ ranks countries where Christians suffered the most in 2011. The vast majority of the worst 50 are countries with a Muslim majority. Then comes the old Communist standbys with North Korea in its usual #1 position along with Vietnam (#19) and China (#21) as countries among those where Christians are persecuted the most.

Open Doors provides the list with the hope and suggestion that Christians pick some of these countries to remember in their daily prayers.

According to a cover article, Sudan, Nigeria, and Egypt saw the greatest increases in persecution of Christians in 2011.

World Watch List:

Follow the link for each country for details:

1. North Korea
2. Afghanistan
3. Saudi Arabia
4. Somalia
5. Iran
6. Maldives
7. Uzbekistan
8. Yemen
9. Iraq
10. Pakistan
11. Eritrea
12. Laos
13. Nigeria
14. Mauritania
15. Egypt
16. Sudan
17. Bhutan
18. Turkmenistan
19. Vietnam
20. Chechnya
21. China
22. Qatar
23.  Algeria
24. Comoros
25. Azerbaijan
Read 26-50                *Top

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