Churches torched by Islamic extremists
<a href="http://www.csw.org.uk/CSWnews.asp?item=199"; target="_blank">http://www.csw.org.uk/CSWnews.asp?item=199</a>;
Churches torched by Islamic extremists in Malaysia in reaction against war in Afghanistan
Christian churches in Malaysia have been under attack as extremist Islamic groups reacted to the U.S.-led military attacks on Afghanistan.
The latest of a series of arson attempts on Christian churches took place on October 27, when extremists set ablaze the Christ Community Centre Church in Subang Jaya.
A fortnight before this, extremists attempted to torch the Catholic Church of Christ the King in Sungai Petani, a city about 190 miles northwest of Kuala Lumpur in the northern state of Kedah, the home state of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
In a separate attack, Molotov cocktails were thrown at St Philip?s Catholic Centre on October 14 in Segamat in the southern state of Johore. Fortunately, most of the Molotov cocktails failed to explode and only the door was damaged.
The Marthoma Christian Community Centre, also in Sungai Petani, was set ablaze by suspected Muslim extremists in July. Damage to the Center was estimated at £55,000 and police believe members of the Malaysian Mujahideen Group (Kumpulan Militan Malaysia), were responsible for the fire.
The KMM, whose members were reportedly trained in Afghanistan, have been accused of a series of crimes, including the bombing of a church and a Hindu temple.
The Christian community is concerned that these types of attacks could become more frequent if Islamic fundamentalism is allowed to grow unchecked.
Many militant Islamic groups are linking up with separatists in the south of the country. It is believed that militant Islam in Malaysia is influenced by extremist groups in surrounding nations such as Indonesia?s Laskar Jihad.
Fears of growing Islamic extremism are shared by neighbouring countries like Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines. Using religion to ignite hatred, the growing Islamic militants could potentially destabilise the whole region.
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has previously warned of a network of extremists in the region that is bent on establishing a union of Islamic governments in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Malaysia is a multi-ethnic federation consisting of Malays, Chinese, Indians and indigenous tribes. Around 58 percent of the population of 22 million are Muslim and Christians comprise about eight percent.
Islam is the state religion with all Malays legally considered Muslim. The Federal government follows a policy of religious tolerance, but in practice, other faiths are increasingly discriminated against at state level following the rise of Islamism in Malaysia. Legal restrictions exist prohibiting propagation of other faiths among the Muslim community whereas Muslim missionaries receive state support to spread Islam.
The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Sikhism has highlighted the discrimination non-Muslim faiths face, such as difficulties in obtaining permission to build places of worship, restrictions on sharing their faiths and unequal access to media outlets.
At the same time Islamists continue to lobby the government to adopt stricter punishments for apostasy and to implement Sharia Law throughout the country.
Mervyn Thomas, Chief Executive of Christian Solidarity Worldwide, said: ?We utterly condemn these attacks on the Christian community and call on the Government to give much better protection to minority faiths including Christians.
?Christians in Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia are increasingly under threat from militant Islamic extremists and we call on all their governments to protect not only the lives of their subjects of a minority faith, but also their freedom to worship.?
---
mika.
Churches torched by Islamic extremists in Malaysia in reaction against war in Afghanistan
Christian churches in Malaysia have been under attack as extremist Islamic groups reacted to the U.S.-led military attacks on Afghanistan.
The latest of a series of arson attempts on Christian churches took place on October 27, when extremists set ablaze the Christ Community Centre Church in Subang Jaya.
A fortnight before this, extremists attempted to torch the Catholic Church of Christ the King in Sungai Petani, a city about 190 miles northwest of Kuala Lumpur in the northern state of Kedah, the home state of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
In a separate attack, Molotov cocktails were thrown at St Philip?s Catholic Centre on October 14 in Segamat in the southern state of Johore. Fortunately, most of the Molotov cocktails failed to explode and only the door was damaged.
The Marthoma Christian Community Centre, also in Sungai Petani, was set ablaze by suspected Muslim extremists in July. Damage to the Center was estimated at £55,000 and police believe members of the Malaysian Mujahideen Group (Kumpulan Militan Malaysia), were responsible for the fire.
The KMM, whose members were reportedly trained in Afghanistan, have been accused of a series of crimes, including the bombing of a church and a Hindu temple.
The Christian community is concerned that these types of attacks could become more frequent if Islamic fundamentalism is allowed to grow unchecked.
Many militant Islamic groups are linking up with separatists in the south of the country. It is believed that militant Islam in Malaysia is influenced by extremist groups in surrounding nations such as Indonesia?s Laskar Jihad.
Fears of growing Islamic extremism are shared by neighbouring countries like Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines. Using religion to ignite hatred, the growing Islamic militants could potentially destabilise the whole region.
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has previously warned of a network of extremists in the region that is bent on establishing a union of Islamic governments in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Malaysia is a multi-ethnic federation consisting of Malays, Chinese, Indians and indigenous tribes. Around 58 percent of the population of 22 million are Muslim and Christians comprise about eight percent.
Islam is the state religion with all Malays legally considered Muslim. The Federal government follows a policy of religious tolerance, but in practice, other faiths are increasingly discriminated against at state level following the rise of Islamism in Malaysia. Legal restrictions exist prohibiting propagation of other faiths among the Muslim community whereas Muslim missionaries receive state support to spread Islam.
The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Sikhism has highlighted the discrimination non-Muslim faiths face, such as difficulties in obtaining permission to build places of worship, restrictions on sharing their faiths and unequal access to media outlets.
At the same time Islamists continue to lobby the government to adopt stricter punishments for apostasy and to implement Sharia Law throughout the country.
Mervyn Thomas, Chief Executive of Christian Solidarity Worldwide, said: ?We utterly condemn these attacks on the Christian community and call on the Government to give much better protection to minority faiths including Christians.
?Christians in Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia are increasingly under threat from militant Islamic extremists and we call on all their governments to protect not only the lives of their subjects of a minority faith, but also their freedom to worship.?
---
mika.
Comments
It IS in response to this:
[quote]Originally posted by Hassan i-Sabbah:
<strong>You're funny.
I'll keep sucking on my 'tit' of pretty even-handed, reputable propaganda, you carry right on with your factually incorrect speculative present-horseshit-and-conjecture-as-god's-own-truth internet-only hate-disseminating propaganda. Cool?
Cool.
PS: I still think that ethnic cleansing is bad, and I rather fancy that all the Jews that died in the shoa did too.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I promised 3 posts daily, and that I?ll deliver. Until I'll get an apology from that fascist Islamic apologist.
mika.
[ 07-07-2002: Message edited by: PC^KILLA ]</p>
The latest of a series of arson attempts on Christian churches took place on October 27...
<hr></blockquote>
October 27th? Why are you posting this now?
[ 07-07-2002: Message edited by: torifile ]</p>
<strong>Nah, not really, Pdoc
It IS in response to this:
I promised 3 posts daily, and that I?ll deliver. Until I'll get an apology from that fascist Islamic apologist.
mika.
[ 07-07-2002: Message edited by: PC^KILLA ]</strong><hr></blockquote>
I'm not sure what in that post makes you call him a fascist. Care to explain?
<strong>
I'm not sure what in that post makes you call him a fascist. Care to explain?</strong><hr></blockquote>
I really believe that statement stands on its own without need of explanation. Anyhow, I think any apologist for these Islamists and their fascist ideology should in turn be considered a fascist. If you see it differently, I?d be interested to hear your argument.
mika.
<strong>
I really believe that statement stands on its own without need of explanation. Anyhow, I think any apologist for these Islamists and their fascist ideology should in turn be considered a fascist. If you see it differently, I?d be interested to hear your argument.
mika.</strong><hr></blockquote>
No, I'm serious, I don't understand what about the comments were fascist in nature. I guess I don't understand what fascism is. And why bring up this thing now when it occurred at least 8 months ago?
edit: Is it because of this:
[quote]
PS: I still think that ethnic cleansing is bad, and I rather fancy that all the Jews that died in the shoa did too.
<hr></blockquote>
It clearly says that the Jews who were killed in the shoa (I'm not sure what that is) probably agree that ethnic cleansing is a bad thing. Nothing out of the ordinary there. <img src="confused.gif" border="0">
[ 07-07-2002: Message edited by: torifile ]</p>
quote
And why bring up this thing now when it occurred at least 8 months ago?
Because I consider it newsworthy and because it helps illustrate a point I want to get across. Not many people are aware of these facts. And that?s because the ?mainstream? media outlets are deliberately downplaying, whitewashing, and often times concealing this information.
I believe there?s a vast conspiracy at play here. It is quite clear that the western ruling, business, and intellectual elites, have been busy placating the oil rich Islamic world, at the expense of minorites in these Muslim countries and their basic human rights. Millions of people have already died because of this callousness and many more millions are living in fear because of this deliberately manufactured disinterest to their welfare.
quote
No, I'm serious, I don't understand what about the comments were fascist in nature?
Hassan has been fairly clever to pay lip service to those victims of the holocaust. What?s interesting about Hassan is, that although he claims to be a non-religious Muslim, he without fail comes to the defense of these racist Islamicists. When I point out the evil of their ideology and their behavior, he will overlook these and make up all kind of silly arguments in their defense. So, I decided on a different approach. I began to argue that Israel should adopt a policy of economic sanctions against its Arab foes. Here's where is got interesting. Hassan, and his cheerleader Harald, began calling me a fascist for this suggestion and accused me of promoting a policy of ethnic cleansing. Of-course, the fact that the side for whom they have put such a vigorous defense, for years has been actively engaged in these practices and much worse (as evidenced by the articles I?ve posted), is completely unimportant to them and is totally ignored. All I was doing, in effect, was holding a mirror to them to highlight the duplicity and hypocrisy of their argument. And while my proposals were merely theoretical, they were defending people for whom these practices of ethnic/religious cleansing are a holly duty. This is supported in their scriptures, and is evidenced in historical fact.
I hope this clarifies things a little for you. If you still don?t understand, I suggest you follow the threads in which we converse. If there?s confusion it?s cause you come a little late to follow the conversion(s).
mika.
[ 07-08-2002: Message edited by: PC^KILLA ]</p>
He's an Israeli, not that it matters. But to say Mika is being disingenuous with his comments is putting it mildly.
My God, he wasn't "calling for economic sanctions against [Israel's] Arab foes." He was asking Israel to:
[quote]"aggressively use psychological, economic, and other pressures to disconnect these populations from its land" <hr></blockquote> ... meaning native-born Arab Israelis should be forced to leave the land of their birth. He later claimed that he'd like to adopt this policy because it might concentrate the Arabs on their wrongdoings.
When asked to confirm he was talking about ethnic cleansing, he on four occasions decided not to deny it (quite the opposite if you ]<a href="http://forums.appleinsider.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=6&t=001434&p=2"; target="_blank">look at this thread</a> ... take a peek at the bottom 4 posts.
It's not rhetoric, it's not insulting to the memory of the Holocaust victims, this guy says things and thinks things Hitler would have understood.
As for me being someone's cheerleader, well, I think for myself. But Hassan a FASCIST!? You must be having a laugh. And if I don't post "damn those Ragheads for torching a Church" I'm a hypocrite and duplicitous. I'm against ethnic cleansing WHOEVER does it (and I've been a victim of it) WHEREVER in the world. Muslims, Serbs, Hutus or Jews.
AND his hate-filled rants ARE GETTING BORING.