Linking Christianophobia

Posting up a few links this morning on Christianophobia, which I have the feeling will be called by other names soon.

Intolerance Against Christians is a European site, which chronicles (well, obviously) Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe.

“Beauty must be understood in its original meaning: as the glow of the true and the good irradiating from every ordered state of being.” Josef Pieper – Catholic, Thomistic, Philosopher

Explaining the terminology. Basically, it’s an irrational fear of Christians, which leads to contempt and discrimination; it’s not persecution however, yet at least, which is systemic.

An online handbook called Exiting a Dead End Road, for purchese, which details how to respond to anti-Christian rhetoric in conversations or discourse.

Kairos PUblishing

A typical story, or case, is: Police Visited Christian Cafe for Display of Bible Passages in which the article is presented, with links to the original source material via several reporting outlets.

The
Christian Institute’s site is packed with articles on Christian issues.

All of this led to a publishing house,

Kairos Publishing, which bills itself as a platform for crucial ideas, and which publishes ‘Exiting a Dead End Road’, mentioned above in the Christian discrimination in Europe site.

And speaking of philosophy, not that any one was of course, I came across a quote by
Josef Pieper, who is always good to read.

A brief bio on Peiper

Josef Pieper was born on May 4th, 1904, in the small Westphalian village of Elte, Germany. At that time not even a local train connected the isolated spot in the middle of the heath with other towns of Westphalia; whoever wanted to reach the next station had to cross a river in a small ferry-boat. Pieper’s father was the only teacher at the only school of this village. Josef Pieper went to the Gymnasium Paulinum in Münster, one of the oldest German schools, which has existed for more than eleven hundred years. His son took up that tradition as a pupil of that old institution, the buildings of which, however, were completely destroyed during World War II.

A teacher at the Gymnasium Paulinum, a priest, convinced Pieper to read the works of Thomas Aquinas. “At that time,” Pieper wrote, “I was foolishly fond of Kierkegaard, whom we used to devour, my friends and I, naturally without quite understanding him; and it was this paternal friend and teacher, who directed me – with a sort of violent, ironical, and humorous intensity – to St. Thomas’ Commentary to the Prologue of St. John’s Gospel. Being a youngster of eighteen, I set about reading this work and, in fact, finished it, of course, again without understanding it perfectly. But from that moment the work of St. Thomas has accompanied me through life.” Years later he translated this Commentary to the Prologue of St. John’s Gospel into German.

It’s back to Church for me, but these are good sites to look through at some point.

Christianophobia

Supreme Court
I was reading through Lisa Graas’s blog the other day and she had some excellent material regarding Christianophobia. While I’m of course aware of it, being a Catholic Priest, I was unaware it was being addressed and called what it is to such a large degree in the international community.

I’m such a homebody at times.

Here’s a small sampling of articles on Christianophobia:

We can always start with one of the many articles on Pastor Youcef Naderkhani, the Iranian Pastor who converted to Christianity and refuses to convert back to Islam, and so is set to be executed.

On the world stage as he is, one would doubt Iran would be so dumb as to go ahead and execute him. But one never knows, hence the drama.

Anti-Christian Sentiment from Wikipedia, which is not always the best source, but one can always edit it oneself, or join in the conversation.

This also leads to Anti-Catholicism.

From Reuters in 2010, we havePope Benedict Decries Growing Christianophobia in Europe.

“I also express my hope that in the West, and especially in Europe, there will be an end to hostility and prejudice against Christians because they are resolved to orient their lives in a way consistent with the values and principles expressed in the Gospel,” he said in the message. “May Europe rather be reconciled to its own Christian roots, which are fundamental for understanding its past, present and future role in history.”

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Americans are among the most tolerant of peoples. No one demands that any dissenting adult or child be made to say the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag, or join in Christmas caroling, or be forced to say a prayer before class, or go to church at Christmas. The Christian majority only asks that they be free to be themselves, to exercise their freedom to express their love of their Savior as the First Amendment has always guaranteed.

But what are we to make of Maplewood, N.J., where the Columbus High School brass ensemble was ordered not to play a single Christmas carol at their holiday concert, not even an instrumental version. Parents and students were outraged. “This is censorship at its most basic level,” said student Ryan Dahn. Correct, Ryan.

Does Egypt bomb blast signal rising ‘Christianophobia?’

Islamophobia, a sadly familiar term, and now has a parallel — “Christianophobia”

The bomb attack that killed 21 Christians leaving Mass in Egypt “offends God and all of humanity,” says Pope Benedict XVI, who is painfully aware of and dismayed by attacks on Christians around the globe.

An example might be this What’s at Stake in Religious Liberty iHosanna/Tabori Case which is saying that the Dapartment of Justice is stating that the religious exemption should not exist at all…

If, as the EEOC [via DOJ] urges, the Supreme Court decides the ministerial exception should not exist at all, the floodgates open for lawsuits claiming all sorts of “discrimination” by religious institutions that heretofore had been accepted as a legitimate form of religious expression.

(In other words, the Catholic Church could be sued by women for not hiring women as Pastors.)

Here’s an article expounding upon a rational and healthy fear of Islam

Is fear of terrorists inspired by Islam irrational? There have been 17,800 terrorist attacks carried out by Muslims in the name of Allah since 9/11. Is it unreasonable to be concerned that 30,000 shoulder-ready surface-to-air missiles have recently gone missing in the Muslim nation of Libya, where both government and rebels support the Islamic jihad against America and the West?

Would not a reasonable person be concerned about the attacks plotted and carried out by Muslims in the United States who claim to be inspired by the Koran and who regard themselves as holy warriors in the jihad declared by Osama bin Laden and other Muslim fanatics? These Muslim attacks include the successful massacre of unarmed American soldiers at Fort Hood by Nidal Hassan, a self-declared Muslim warrior whose anti-infidel rantings were ignored by the military brass.

The Rev. Kenneth Allen