Pope calls Christians the most persecuted

Pope calls Christians the most persecuted

www.washingtonpost.com

Pope Benedict XVI says Christians are the religious group that suffers most from persecution.

He expresses his worry in the Vatican's annual World Peace Day message for the new year. He laments that this year was again marked by "terrible acts of violence and religious intolerance."

Benedict said he is especially thinking of Christians in Iraq, where an attack on a Catholic cathedral in Baghdad in October killed two priests and more than 50 other faithful.

Benedict also decries what he calls "sophisticated forms of hostility to religion," including rejection of religious symbol

(visit the link for the full news article)

Well firstly I do not at all agree with him
Persecution is a strong word
However I do feel that Christians are being thrown in too much of a PC world
No more merry xmas but happy holidays, that's a bunch of BS

This is in the western world though
In other parts of the world yes, they are an oppressed bunch, I will admit that
In areas where they do not hold a majority they are "bullied" let's say

But let's keep in mind though, christian countries are not being bombed left and right
there's not a massive amount of civilian casualties in any christian country

But then again christians are losing a sense of comfort in their place of living in the western world.

It's a complicated painting isn't it.
Muslim countries are being bombed and occupied around the world and here in the western world there are initiatives to appease to them.
Appeasing to them while sacrificing the freedoms and lifestyle comforts of christians and even atheists and people of other faiths or non-faiths.

This should make for an interesting discussion

Thoughts ATS?

www.washingtonpost.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Until the day that politicians have to hide their Christian faith, Christians aren't persecuted at all.

Sorry, but Christian persecution is a myth in this day and age. I can understand in places like Iraq or other Muslim countries, where persecution might exist, but not in western countries.

I don't think that including jews, buddists, atheists, muslims, and others in a pagan holiday formerly cornered by christians = persecution...thats just marketing and being inclusive.

I suspect the pope was talking about persecution..you know...as he said..aka, we kill you for this belief, which I agree, is happening alot around the non-western world.

I think people comparing the slaughter of people trying to practice their faith to being grumpy about merry christmas being changed to happy holidays or seasons greetings are doing a serious injustice towards the actual problem and walks a dangerous line of minimizing the actual persecution into little more than a bunch of crybabies.

BS the Christians are finally getting a taste of their own medicine. They persecuted and killed, raped and tortured thousands in the name of God. Innocents were destroyed, being laughed at and insulted is nothing Suck it up, you have it easy.

reply to post by whatukno


From the office that divided the new world up (some 60 million dead injuns), and who only recently admitted the earth goes around the sun, (ops sorry Galileo, scientists and witches deserve what ever they get for messin with god)
that's what I want in a religion: a pontif who pontificates like he has a knitting needle through his frontal lobe and who has a doctrin of infalibility...
then fails

Sorry to all you real honest Christians out there

I'm half indian and after what the church did regarding residential schools in Canada which is considered one of the 5 worst genocides ever, I'll never have sympathy for the vatican bank or the mafia that runs it.
Catholics relax too please, because the Protestants did one third of those schools..
according to our PM who appologized for them a couple of years ago.
( of course he did, in his religion those churches aren't considered real christians they didn't walk with dinosaurs).

I can understand what he's saying. For everyone who thinks this is about Christians being laughed at in the West or not being allowed to place a nativity scene at the White House need to read the article a bit better. He's clearly not even referring to such thing but the more serious things taking place in the Middle East and East against Christians such as murder, torture, rape, imprisonment, etc.

The only Western issue he briefly alludes to in the sense of 'Western PC persecution' is the banning of crucifixes which was really just a side note at the end of the article. But for the most part, what he is addressing is very real and very serious.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. We live in a bubble in the west where many are ignorant to what Christians endure in the East. It's not really a laughing or eye rolling manner. It is way beyond a teacher not being allowed to wear a crucifix at school (which is stupid enough it itself). But he seems to be addressing the physical and brutal persecution. And yes it does happen.

One thing i have come to learn is this: Christians believe they can get away with killing half of earths population and all they have to do is ask for forgiveness. Oh and if they continue and ask for forgiveness again, apparently forgiveness is still granted then. This is something some hold dear to their hearts and it makes no sense. Organized religion like Christianity is a disease that needs to be abolished. The leaders of this organization need to come forth and disclose themselves for what they truly are. They need to come out and talk about the massive amount of oppression that has been laid out over the decades.

There are good people out there! They distant themselves from others who believe in the same GOD as they do and just because they don't believe in organized religion they are labeled demonic. Religion is the Anti-Christ because it separates us all from the source. The funny thing is... Jesus did all these incredible things like revive folks, heal them, blah blah, stuff of WITCHES... but apparently the only person who gets away with doing this without being demonic is Jesus himself.

I recently lost a good friend because she thought Astral Projecting, Meditating, Remote Viewing, Healing, was completely demonic and out of place. This is the heartache i have to deal with at a local level thanks to SCUM liars from across the sea.

Christians are going to suffer now... and i can see it. Thanks to this old man's complaints i know he's fearing loss of power.

reply to post by AshleyD


That's all well and good but, the Church allowed the inquisition, which killed many. As Danbones said residential schools in Canada were horrible. The Christians, did exactly what is being done to them. Its horrible, it truly is but saying they are the most persecuted is a lie.

Random double post....

Good golly miss dolly.

Is the Pope still playing victim?

How Vatican of him.

reply to post by Xiamara

That's all well and good but, the Church allowed the inquisition, which killed many.

Yes it did and that historical stain will haunt them forever. It was a dark time indeed and I'm glad I didn't live during that time. It must have been terrifying and I cringe while thinking about the brutality the church committed.

But Christians living in Saudi Arabia had nothing to do with that and you know it. Should we just snicker if a white man gets beaten because of what Western whites did 300 years ago?

You mention the word 'innocent.' Which I wholly agree with you. But Christians that get dragged out of their house and murdered in the streets are 'innocent' and had nothing to do with the crimes of the inquisition centuries ago.

reply to post by AshleyD


I think that is truly awful, I really do its horrible its happening I'm just saying the pope has no right to say they are the most persecuted.

Again double post sorry my computer must be glitching.

reply to post by AshleyD


There were quite a lot of christians in Iraq when the US invaded
the were persecuted but not so much by Iraqis...
militants could be the SAS dressed up as Iraqis again to create strife for all we know.

On Sunday, October 31, when a group of militants seized a church in Baghdad, killing and wounding scores of Iraqi Christians, it signaled yet another episode of unimaginable horror in the country since the US invasion of March 2003. Every group of Iraqis has faced terrible devastation as a result of this war, the magnitude of which is only now beginning to be discovered.

True, the situation in Iraq was difficult prior to the war. Having visited the country in 1999, I can testify to this. But the hardship suffered by many Iraqis, especially political dissidents, was in some way typical characteristic of authoritarian and dictatorial regimes. Iraq could, at that time, be easily contrasted with other countries living under similar hardships. But what has happened since the war can barely be compared to any other country or any other wars since World War II. Even putting aside the devastating death toll, the sheer scale of internal displacement and forced emigration is terrifying. This is a nation that had more or less maintained a consistent level of demographic cohesion for many generations. It was this cohesion that made Iraq what it was.

Iraqi Christians communities had co-existed alongside their Muslim neighbors for hundreds of years. The churches of the two main Christian groups, the Assyrians and Chaldeans are dated back to the years A.D. 33 and 34 respectively. A recent editorial in an Arab newspaper was entitled “Arab Christians should feel at home.” As moving as the article was, the fact is, the fact remains that Arab Christians should not have to feel at home – they already are at home. Their roots dates back to the days of Jesus Christ, and since then they have maintained a unique identity and proud history under the most difficult of circumstances.

londonprogressivejournal.com...

Before leaving her country she described her experiences in Iraq as a member of a minority that dates back to the earliest days of Christianity.

I will miss Iraq. I was born here. My family comes from the north of the country, which isn’t like the rest of Iraq. Dohuk and Sulaimaniya, where most of the population is Kurdish and Christian, are like the Geneva of the Middle East. They are much more peaceful, they have everything that you want and the scenery is beautiful, with mountains and lakes. That I will miss very much, because I always missed going there. Especially at Christmas time.

But I will not miss them enough to pass up this adventure. I have always wanted to study in an American university. Somewhere I don’t have to beg and grovel to get a book out of a college, or where you can’t go to the library because it doesn’t have electricity.

I won’t miss Baghdad or my neighborhood. I hate my neighborhood. As Christians we kept to ourselves mostly after 2003, except for a very, very few liberal neighbors.

Just a few days ago I was beside a mosque. I could hear the preacher saying “It is your duty as a Muslim neighbor to show your other non-Muslim neighbors the light, you have to show them the right path.” This is just “in your face” offensive. They are taking it for granted that there won’t be any comeback, that we Christians
are harmless. Which we are most of the time. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t offended.

atwar.blogs.nytimes.com...
but when Christian proselytize to Muslims in Afghanistan its OK?
its persecution when the Muslims are offended?
this is what sets me off the double standard.
ps sorry for the long quotes

ok, seriously...I am feeling weird about starring ashley's posts and not those whom generally oppose the christian religion...

make more sense you lot! Persecution is persecution...stop demanding this is somehow justified because bad things happened long ago.

If you think its perfectly fine for christians to be persecuted for historical crimes, then you are ok for atheists to be persecuted also for historical crimes (Stalin, Mao, etc).

historical crimes is not an excuse to dismiss the seriousness of killing someone simply for their belief...now...get perspective.

And this article is not being politcally correct in the west..(which I find laughable incidently). That argument can be done with the argumentative hair splitting and jabfest...but when people start dying, then people need to immediate gain perspective.

So now we've got a tug of war going on between the Christians and the Jews - "We are the most persecuted", "No, we are".....the mind truly boggles. School yard trash or what! I think we are looking at single brain cells specimens masquerading as humans.

reply to post by SaturnFX


Residential schools and the sex crimes of the church are an on going thing
and not historical at all yet
The Jews are still howling about the persecution at the hands of the Christsian germans who were roughly half and half Protestant and Catholic...
again the double standard

That's sort of like saying that the most persecuted nation is the Chinese... well, seeing as more than a sixth of the world is chinese, if persecution was dealt out randomly, the most persecuted group overall would be... the Chinese

A third of the globe, unless I'm mistaken, is Christian. So when you're being mean to somebody, a third of the time, they'll be a christian. Which doesn't really leave much room for anyone else to be the most persecuted group.



Even besides that, Pope Benedict creeps me out. John Paul was much more tolerant, inclusive, and generally less creepy.

reply to post by ModernAcademia

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI singled out Christians as the religious group that suffers from the most persecution on Thursday, denouncing lack of freedom of worship as an "intolerable" threat to world security.
www.washingtonpost.com...

I disagree with the pope. Anecdotally, as apposed to statistically verified, I consider Shia Islam most persecuted.
Houthi in Yemen are being systematically eliminated through use of US supplied weapons and training provided to "combat Sunni Al Qaeda" yet sidetracked to kill Shia Houthi.
US weapons supplied to staunch Sunni Saudi ally also used to kill Houthi in Yemen.
Most of the bombings in Pakistan is against Shia gatherings and processions.
Recent Shia mosque attack in SE Iran perpetrated by formerly US equipped group just recently added to terrorist list.
The severe US sponsored embargo against Iran effects many Shia people.

When you compare actual death inflicted upon Shia with lack of ability to wear religious symbols by Christians in some European countries it puts it in perspective.

Before the US invasion of Iraq, the Christians there didn't have such events like the cathedral bombing. The invasion has left a state of strong killing the weak. I'll have to look around and see if the pope has ever made any statement regarding the pre-christian religion tribes in northern Iraq that have been disappeared since the US invasion.

Jesus indicated that the best worship is conducted by yourself in a closet. How hypocritical it is for the pope to consider the inability to go to a fine cathedral as persecution or wearing visible symbols!