Not sure this is an equitable barter situation.. more an eye for an eye really.
From Mere Comments:
Incoming late last night:
Summary: ISTANBUL, December 15 (Compass Direct News) – In response to a Swiss vote banning the construction of new mosque minarets, a group of Muslims this month went into a church building in eastern Turkey and threatened to kill a priest unless he tore down its bell tower, according to an advocacy group. Three Muslims on Dec. 4 entered the Meryem Ana Church, a Syriac Orthodox church in Diyarbakir, and confronted the Rev. Yusuf Akbulut. They told him that unless the bell tower was destroyed in one week, they would kill him. “If Switzerland is demolishing our minarets, we will demolish your bell towers too,” one of the men told Akbulut. The threats came in reaction to a Nov. 29 referendum in Switzerland in which 57 percent voted in favor of banning the construction of new minarets in the country. The Swiss ban, widely viewed around the world as a breach of religious freedom, is likely to face legal challenges in Switzerland and in the European Court of Human Rights. Fikri Aygur, vice president of the European Syriac Union, said that Akbulut has contacted police but has otherwise remained defiant in the face of the threats. “He has contacted the police, and they gave him guards,” he said. “I talked with him two days ago, and he said, ‘It is my job to protect the church, so I will stand here and leave it in God’s hands.’”
If the "Syriac Orthodox church in Diyarbakir" referenced above doesn't mean anything to you, then read the Touchstone feature article, "The Return of the Suriani: A Visit to a Christian Minority in Turkey That Refuses to Die," by Joel Carillet (March 2006). In this case, the local priest is willing to die.
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Nobody cares about Christians in Turkey. If they kill the priest will the Swiss declare war on Turkey? I think not. I am so sick of all this political correctness on one hand and religious fanaticism on the other. Everybody is offended and I am offended at everyone getting offended. The world is becoming a bad joke that needs to be put out of its misery.
ReplyDeleteWhat about Saudi Arabia?. Are Christian Churches allowed there!?.
ReplyDeleteThere is no attempting to find some equity here. It is the definition of a double standard.
ReplyDeleteI visited this church in June 2006. It dates to the late 4th century, I believe. Diyarbakir is the center of Kurdish nationalist agitation in Turkey, and the only place in the country I ever felt unsafe. The church's situation is precarious. Though behind a walled compound, it is completely surrounded by a dense warren of alleyways in the old city. I wrote of it at the time, here: http://notesfromacommonplacebook.blogspot.com/2006/08/travels-with-st-ephraim.html
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