Thursday 14 February 2013

Persecution in Syria

Frontpagemag.com reports that no less than twenty churches have been destroyed, abandoned, or damaged, and one hundred Christians have been murdered, in Syria. Today, I managed to haul myself away from my computer in the spirit of Lent and went and got my haircut in the spiritual desert of Brighton that is London Road.

The owner of a small and humble barbers is from Syria and manages to scrape by a living with his hairdressing business. I saw that he had a rather beautiful icon of Our Lord in his shop and asked where he was from. Turns out he is from Syria. I asked if he has family over there and, of course, he does. Stupid question really. I asked if they are okay and he said, 'At the moment, yes, thank God.' I asked his opinion of what is going on in the middle East for Christians and in general.

He replied that, for the moment, in Syria, Assad is holding out against the terrorists. It is worthy of note that in this country, the fighters are portrayed as freedom fighters trying to usher in a new age of democracy. The hairdresser said, "Perhaps you can explain to me how it is that we are fighting 'Al Qaeda' in Mali and arming 'Al Qaeda' in Syria and Egypt?" He feels that the West is trying deliberately to destablise the region for its own purposes and doesn't have much thought for the carnage that takes place in its wake, but that wherever these uprisings take place, Christians are fleeing soon after and under attack from Muslim extremists. He hopes that the Government holds firm and that it is not toppled. He fears greatly for family still living in Syria.

Say a prayer for them, for the Christians of the middle East and especially in Syria.

4 comments:

Nosce te ipsum said...

Strangely, my music player randomly switched to 'Black Sabbath - War Pigs' as I was reading this post. Apt I would say.

It's pretty shocking that the government is supporting the Jihadists in Syria.

Lynda said...

Most people have been well-trained to believe all the propaganda put out by the MSM, whilst asking no questions nor looking for the truth. Not only the factual, but the moral, truth.

annely said...

Nosce, to me it isn't shocking,but it is insane,or evil.And it is sicken-ing! Please do pray! I am. Citizens of the west should stop putting up with these evil,sicken-ing policies of our governments!

Genty said...

It's shocking that western Governments have dabbled at all in the "Arab Spring" which was bound to have, at the very least, a negative impact on the Christian populations.
It may not be pc to say this but a Muslim majority is bad news for Christians. However much we apologise for the Crusades they were born of a realisation of the predilection of Muslims to conquer and enthral.
How is it that we, rightly, condemned the ethnic cleansing of Muslims in the Balkans conflict, but remain largely silent over the plight of Christians (in Pakistan, for instance)?
We hear wishy-washy bidding prayers for justice and peace but rarely specifically for beleaguered Christians.
We should be on our knees praying for the protection of the holy places in the Middle East where Christ trod from being overrun and obliterated.
After Syria the next target will be Jordan.


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