In our time, Christianity could be driven from some of the lands where it first took root. --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnPc38P6WbA
On Thursday, August 22, 2013 8:33:28 AM UTC-5, Travis wrote: > > > > > > > > http://cnsnews.com/commentary/terence-p-jeffrey/did-bush-obama-policies-begin-end-christianity-arab-lands > **** > > ** ** > Did Bush-Obama Policies Begin the End of Christianity in Arab Lands?**** > > *August 21, 2013 - 4:16 AM * > * > ------------------------------ > * > > * * > > *By Terence P. Jeffrey <http://cnsnews.com/source/terence-p-jeffrey>* > > When the despotic King Herod plotted to kill Jesus by sending his agents > to slaughter every boy under the age of 2 in and around Bethlehem, an angel > appeared to Joseph and told him, "Get up, take the child and his mother, > and escape to Egypt."**** > > That, says the Gospel of Matthew, fulfilled what God said through the > prophet Hosea: "Out of Egypt I called my son."**** > > Now, two millennia later, we may live in a time when Christians must flee > for their lives out of Egypt — not into it. They do not fear being > slaughtered by King Herod, but by the Muslim Brotherhood.**** > > When St. Paul was still persecuting Christians, Jesus struck him down with > a bolt of light as he was on the road to Damascus. Paul regained his sight > in that city and began his mission of spreading Christianity throughout the > world.**** > > Today, Christians fear being struck down on the roads of Syria not by > bolts of light, but by Islamist revolutionaries allied with al-Qaida.**** > > In Egypt last week, reports The Associated Press, Islamists attacked 63 > Christian churches. In Syria, rebels shot 11 people on the road between two > Christian villages.**** > > In our time, Christianity could be driven from some of the lands where it > first took root.**** > > If that dark and epochal moment comes, some of the blame for it must be > pinned on the messianic foreign policies pursued by our most recent two > presidents, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.**** > > After al-Qaida attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, this nation > had a just cause in punishing the perpetrators of those attacks and making > sure they could make no further assaults on our homeland. That, of course, > required military action in those places where al-Qaida took sanctuary — > particularly Afghanistan.**** > > But George W. Bush had a grander — and ill-advised — vision. He thought it > was his mission to make it America's mission to literally end tyranny in > the world and implant "democracy" everywhere.**** > > He expressed his evangelical zeal for this secular cause in his second > inaugural address. "So it is the policy of the United States to seek and > support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation > and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world," said > Bush.**** > > Obama did not reverse Bush's policy, but added another ill-advised element > to it. In promoting democracy in the Middle East, he portrayed the Muslim > majorities there as victims of Western colonialism and Cold War policies.* > *** > > "The relationship between Islam and the West includes centuries of > coexistence and cooperation, but also conflict and religious wars," Obama > said in a June 2009 speech in Cairo. "More recently, tension has been fed > by colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims, and a > Cold War in which Muslim-majority countries were too often treated as > proxies, without regard to their own aspirations."**** > > What has happened in the Middle East during the presidencies of Bush and > Obama? Bush went to war in Iraq and then tried to install a representative > government there through years of occupation. Obama supported rebellions in > Egypt, Libya and Syria.**** > > In Libya, some of the Islamists Obama helped liberate from Moammar Gadhafi > turned around and attacked a State Department mission and a CIA compound, > murdering four of our people. In Iraq, Syria and Egypt, Christians now face > potentially existential struggles.**** > > According to the 2013 report from the U.S. Commission on International > Religious Freedom, "The government of Iraq continues to tolerate > systematic, ongoing and egregious religious freedom violations, including > violent, religiously motivated attacks."**** > > Christians and other religious minorities, says the commission, "have fled > the country in recent years, threatening these communities' continued > existence in Iraq."**** > > The State Department's 2012 report on religious freedom said that "due to > emigration as Christian flee the country," Syria's Christians may have > dropped from 10 percent of that nation's population to about 8 percent.*** > * > > The Central Intelligence Agency estimates 10 percent of Egyptians are > Christians. But with their systematic attacks on Christian churches, > Egyptian Islamists are now sending a message to Christians who still live > in that land where Jesus once lived: Get out.**** > > The Bush-Obama policies were rooted in two great errors. Their job was not > to change other nations, but to protect the liberty, security and > prosperity of this nation. And the greatness of this nation has ultimately > been rooted not merely in the admittedly felicitous form of our government, > but in the popular embrace of moral truths — expressly taught by millennia > of Judeo-Christian tradition — that make all freedom possible.**** > > ** ** > > > __._,_.___ > > > > > > > __,_._,___ > > > -- -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PoliticalForum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
