Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Douglas Alexander: Christians left by the world to suffer

la conversione sulla via di Damasco del Labour :-)
 
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/10531964/Christians-left-by-the-world-to-suffer.html
 
 
Douglas Alexander: Christians left by the world to suffer
The Government must do more to address the threat to Christians abroad
 
By Douglas Alexander5:34PM GMT 21 Dec 2013
 
Across the world this week, hundreds of millions of us will be singing 
of that “silent night, holy night” in the town of Bethlehem.
But as Christmas approaches, with its beguiling promise of “peace on 
earth and mercy mild”, how many of us will reflect on the words of our 
great Christmas carols and be reminded that Christianity was a faith 
born in the East? How many of us are aware that, while the first 
Christmas took place in the Middle East, there today that same faith is 
under threat?
Last week, the leader of the Catholic Church, His Holiness Pope Francis, 
chose to cast light on this dark story of persecution by taking to 
Twitter to warn that we “cannot resign ourselves to think of a Middle 
East without Christians”.
Later in the week, Prince Charles warned that “Christians in the Middle 
East are, increasingly, being deliberately attacked by fundamentalist 
Islamist militants. Christianity was, literally, born in the Middle East 
and we must not forget our Middle Eastern brothers and sisters in Christ”.
These were expressions of a growing concern that Christians are being 
deliberately targeted and attacked because of their faith. But why, when 
popes and princes are speaking up, have so many politicians here in the 
UK forsaken speaking out?
 
Across the Middle East, Christians have lived for almost two millennia 
in the place their faith was born, and since thrived within communities 
in Iraq, Syria, Egypt and elsewhere.
Indeed, the Ottoman Empire, which spanned much of today’s modern Middle 
East, was a multicultural state, with Christians cohabiting alongside 
Shia, Sunni, Jews, Alawites and Druze.
Yet today, the conflicts raging across the region – in Syria most 
acutely – are taking on an increasingly sectarian character. Since the 
start of the conflict in March 2011, more than 450,000 Christians have 
fled the country.
In Egypt, the plight of the Coptic Christians is of growing concern, 
with Amnesty International reporting that, this year, 207 churches were 
attacked and 43 Orthodox churches completely destroyed.
Christian persecution is growing across the Middle East, but tragically, 
the plight of Christians is global and not regional.
Research by the Pew Centre suggests that Christians are reportedly the 
most widely persecuted religious group in the world. Their evidence 
shows that, in 2011, religious groups faced harassment in 160 countries, 
and that Christians were harassed in the largest number of countries.
In Nigeria, Boko Haram, the militant Islamist group, are waging their 
bloody conflict and targeting church leaders. This month, there were 
reports of hundreds of houses being burnt down when members of the Boko 
Haram attacked Arboko village in Borno State, said to be inhabited by a 
small Christian community.
And in one brutal attack in Pakistan, in September this year, 81 
Christians were killed when their church in Peshawar was targeted by 
suicide bombers, causing the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, to 
describe the victims as Christian “martyrs”.
Members of my own denomination, the Church of Scotland, felt that same 
tragedy very personally when one of our number, Rev Aftab Gohar, 
minister in Abbotsgrange Church in Grangemouth, discovered that his 
79-year-old mother, nephew, niece, two uncles and other friends and 
relatives were among 122 killed in the attack.
Rev Gohar is blessed with a strength of faith that enables him to offer 
forgiveness to those who have killed his family members – a powerful 
statement, bearing testimony to the enduring capacity of faith to 
nurture reconciliation.
But for such reconciliation to fully take root in our communities, we 
must first recognise and acknowledge the depth and extent of the 
divisions that need to be healed.
Thankfully, some politicians have begun to speak up. Last month, 
Baroness Warsi gave an important and under-reported speech in the United 
States warning that a “mass exodus is taking place, on a biblical scale. 
In some places, there is a real danger that Christianity will become 
extinct”. And, earlier this month, the DUP MP Jim Shannon secured a 
debate in the House of Commons on the persecution of Christians.
But why, given the scale of the suffering, are these still such lone voices?
Across the world, there will be Christians this week for whom attending 
a church service this Christmas is not an act of faithful witness, but 
an act of life-risking bravery.
That cannot be right, and we need the courage to say so.
In the UK today, perhaps through a misplaced sense of political 
correctness, or some sense of embarrassment at “doing God” in an age 
when secularism is more common, too many politicians seem to fear 
discussing any matters related to faith.
So the growing persecution of Christians around the world remains a 
story that goes largely untold, as does proper discussion of its complex 
roots and causes.
In some countries, this persecution is perpetrated in the name of a 
secular ideology, while in others it has its roots in religious intolerance.
So the perpetrators’ motivation is not the primary issue of concern, nor 
can it be a reason for ignoring the consequences; our neighbours are 
being attacked for their faith, and that can never be acceptable or 
justified, whatever the reason given.
People of all faiths and none should be horrified by this persecution. 
We cannot, and we must not, stand by on the other side in silence for 
fear of offence.
Of course, Christianity’s long history has had its bloodstained 
chapters, and of course other religious groups are today subject to 
persecution.
It is simply wrong for any faith to be persecuted. And yet, across the 
world, religious groups, of any faith, are being attacked for their 
beliefs. So, just like anti-Semitism or Islamophobia, anti-Christian 
persecution must be named for the evil that it is, and challenged 
systematically by people of faith and of no faith. To do so is not to 
support one faith over another – it is to say that persecution and 
oppression of our fellow human beings in the name of any god or ideology 
is never acceptable and is morally repugnant.
In this 21st century, we should be supporting the building of societies 
that respect human rights and the rule of law, and make clear that 
freedom of religion or belief is a universal concern. It is time to 
acknowledge this issue and speak up and stand with those who are 
suffering because of their beliefs.
Sixty-five years ago this month, the UN adopted the Universal 
Declaration of Human Rights.
Article 18 of that declaration states: “Everyone has the right to 
freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom 
… to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and 
observance.”
This coming year, in March, the UK will assume its place on the UN Human 
Rights Council.
As part of that body, the UK Government will have a unique and timely 
opportunity to use this platform to speak up for religious freedom as a 
fundamental human right and speak out against the persecution of Christians.
Acknowledging this wrong is the surest basis on which to begin the 
journey to reconciliation shown to be possible by Rev Gohar’s 
faithfulness and hope.
And if the UK government does so, we, as the Opposition, will support them.
 
Douglas Alexander MP is shadow foreign secretary

 la conversione sulla via di Damasco del Labour :-)
 
e questo sarebbe il risultato del segretario ebraico? Un partito di bizzoche che frignano di persecuzioni anticristiane?

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da un lato ci sono le elezioni quindi propaganda per portare via voti ai 
conservatori, dall'altro � una critica al governo sul sostegno ai 
ribelli siriani a vantaggio della posizione obamiana che cerca nel 
Labour sponda


 
Che sia per via dei cannibali islamo/occidentali di Siria?
 
Stanno battendo le SS in diverse specialita'.
 
- Cannibalismo di propaganda
- Uso dei gas
- Sgozzamento di donne e bambini.
 
 
Certo che la NATO si e' messa in una pozza di percolato e sangue che toglie 
il fiato. 
 
 


la caritï¿œ cristiana si esercita meglio trovando convergenze diplomatiche 
fra i cristiani siriani e l'opposizione moderata piuttosto che scrivere 
vaghi sermoni pre-elettorali ad uso della stampa conservatrice