International Christian Concern Condemns Iraq Church Bombings

ICC condemns Iraq Church bombings and calls on Muslim leaders to condemn attacks as well.

(PRWEB) August 4, 2004 -- You are free to disseminate the following news. We request that you reference ICC (International Christian Concern) and include our web address www.persecution.org.

(8/2/04) The Washington-DC based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC) www.persecution.org strongly condemns the Christian Church bombings in Iraq yesterday that killed 11, and injured as many as 50.

The attacks are thought to be the work of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his radical Islamists and should be seen as an attempt to drive Christians out of Iraq. The mindset/worldview of the radical Islamists in Iraq, is known as locally as the Black Mind".

As one Iraqi said,
"This is the problem! This is our enemy! It is this "black mind" that is the cause of all our troubles. It is the "black mind" that wants to destroy everything! It is the religious teachers that cause the "black mind", the mind in which everything is backwards - it is good to kill, women are no good, beat your child . . . this is all crazy! It is the religious teachers that are the enemies of Iraq. They block progress for one simple reason - they depend on the "black mind" to stay in power. They create it by keeping people uneducated and under their control. Can you imagine any religious leader that would teach you to kill your son if he does not believe like you? Can you imagine any religious leader that would say a woman is worth only a 10th of a man? Can you imagine any religious leader that would ignore all Sadaam did for 35 years of terror and condemn those who came to liberate us? It is crazy!"
from ICCs (free) July newsletter Concern"

As we have reported in the past, this is part of a coordinated effort in Iraq and should not be seen as a single incident, but rather part of an ongoing campaign of harassment and murder. These attacks are born out of a radical Islamic mindset and are consistent with the actions of radical Islamists towards Christians all over the globe.

In Pakistan, Christians are targeted and murdered on a regular basis as a result of radical Islams well known zero tolerance policy towards other religions. In Indonesia, a Christian pastor was assassinated in the middle of her service, just last week.

These kinds of attacks must be condemned by Islamic leaders publicly as well as in their pulpits. ICC applauds Iraqs Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistanis condemnation of the attacks and his call for tolerance as well as CAIRs (Council on American Islamic Relations) condemnation of the attacks.

ICC urges American Christians to pray for the Christians of Iraq as well as their persecuted brethren around the globe.

ICC is a Washington-DC based human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide. ICC delivers humanitarian aid, trains and supports persecuted pastors, raises awareness in the US regarding the problem of persecution, and is an advocate for the persecuted on Capitol Hill and the State Department. For additional information or for an interview, contact ICC at 800-422-5441.