Dutch Jesuit priest Frans van der Lugt, killed in Syria last week just shy of his 76th birthday, personified the best of the missionary spirit in Catholicism. He spent 50 years in his adopted country, humbly serving poor and disabled persons regardless of their race or religion.
Whenever a Syrian came to his door seeking help, van der Lugt told a friend, “I don’t see Muslims or Christians, only human beings.”
At the time of his death, van der Lugt was the last Westerner in the bitterly contested city of Homs. On Monday morning, a still-unidentified assailant dragged him into the street outside his Jesuit residence, beat him, and then shot him twice in the head.
Most observers believe the killer was an Islamic radical, though a few suspect the Assad regime may have orchestrated the murder in order to blame the rebels.
Related:
"The killing of Father Francis Van Der Lugt — a Jesuit, the same order as Pope Francis — underscored fears among many of Syria’s Christian and Muslim minorities for the fate of their communities as Islamic extremists gain influence among rebels seeking to topple President Bashar Assad."
Looks like a U.S.-supported CIA-Duh killing to me. Cui bono? The false flag promoting paper fingering an Assad false flag? Just one more reason not to believe the inference.
For the last several years, van der Lugt served at a small center for mentally and physically disabled people. A Muslim charity would give him around nine pounds of flour every week, which he turned into bread, giving half a loaf to the 30 neediest people he knew.
“I try to help the mentally ill,” van der Lugt said in a recent interview, “not by analyzing their problems, as the problems are obvious and there’s no solution for them here. I listen to them and give as much food as I can.”
Because van der Lugt was a Westerner and part of a high-profile international religious order, his death made headlines. Many similar tragedies, however, never do.
Earlier this month, a 25-year-old Coptic Christian woman in Egypt named Mary Sameh George was hauled from her car near a church in Cairo, mauled to such an extent that portions of her scalp were torn off, and then killed when her throat was slit.
The assailants reportedly were supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood. In Vietnam, a Catholic convert and human rights activist named Dinh Dang Dinh died April 4 of untreated stomach cancer in prison, having been jailed in 2012 for “antistate propaganda.”
In that context, van der Lugt’s death has to be seen as part of a dramatic, and often untold, religion story of the early 21st century — the global war on Christians.
Begun by George Bush with his foray into Iraq.
To be sure, Christians are not the only group experiencing hardship, nor do they always have clean hands themselves.
No, theirs are some of the bloodiest.
Christians can be oppressors just as easily as they can suffer oppression.
Like the CIA teams running loose in the Central African Republic.
In many circumstances, the motives for anti-Christian violence are mixed, having as much to do with politics, ethnicity, and struggles for material resources as religion.
Meaning it really isn't about being Christian at all. The religion is a fig leaf for ruler violence.
Also, alarmist rhetoric about a “war on religion” in places such as the United States is sometimes stretched past the breaking point, applied not to actual violence and oppression but to policy debates about which reasonable people draw differing conclusions.
That said, the scope and scale of real anti-Christian violence around the world is nonetheless staggering.
In North Korea and Eritrea, tens of thousands of Christians languish in what amounts to concentration camps for religious prisoners.
And the imagery that entails.
In Nigeria, Christians face a growing menace from the radical Boko Haram movement.
Islamic extremists = western covert intelligence operation.
In Iraq, a once-thriving Christian community that can trace its roots back to the early centuries of the faith has been decimated.
Thank you, George W. Bush (and others).
In India, poor Christians who often belong to the “untouchables” in the old caste system are routinely harassed by radical Hindus, suffering a violent attack at a rate of once every other day.
No big deal though because India is a bulwark against China and Pakistan.
The high-end estimate for the number of Christians killed for their faith each year is around 100,000, while the low end is a few hundred. That works out to somewhere between one new Christian martyr every hour, if the higher figure is to believed, and one every day.
Part of the reason for these stunning statistics is because there are more Christians than anyone else. There are 2.3 billion Christians in the world, one-third of the total population. As a result, the raw numbers of Christian victims are bound to be higher.
Also, Christianity’s greatest growth is coming outside its traditional strongholds, in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin America, parts of the Middle East. Those Christians are often poor, and they’re often members of ethnic, linguistic, and cultural minorities. They’re also targets of convenience for anyone angry at the West.
Why isn’t this global war on Christians more of a cause célèbre?
Fundamentally, the silence is the result of a bogus narrative about religion in the West.
Related(?):
Six Zionist Companies Own 96% of the World's Media
Declassified: Massive Israeli manipulation of US media exposed
Operation Mockingbird
Why Am I No Longer Reading the Newspaper?
I think that could also be part of it.
Most Americans and Europeans are in the habit of thinking about Christianity as a rich, powerful, socially dominant institution, which makes it hard to grasp that Christians can actually be victims of persecution.
Of course, the rich, powerful, socially dominant institution of Zionism (so strong you don't even know it is there unless you know it is there) seems to have no problem getting you to grasp the idea of persecution.
Frans van der Lugt’s death undercuts that lazy assumption, as do scores of other Christian victims whose stories are never told.
Pope Francis on Tuesday expressed “profound pain” upon hearing of the death of his fellow Jesuit, and Cardinal Willem Eijk of Utrecht in the Netherlands has referred to van der Lugt as a “martyr.”
Perhaps van der Lugt can become a new patron saint for all Christians at risk, because God knows they could use one.
--more--"
I'm not surprised he missed this spot where Christians are also persecuted:
"Thousands of Christians flock to Jerusalem for Easter holy fire ceremony" by Ian Deitch | Associated Press April 20, 2014
JERUSALEM — The dark hall inside Christianity’s holiest shrine was illuminated with the flames from thousands of candles Saturday as worshipers participated in the holy fire ceremony, a momentous spiritual event in Orthodox Easter rites.
Christian tradition holds that Jesus was crucified, buried, and resurrected at the site where the Church of the Holy Sepulcher now stands in the Old City of Jerusalem.
I think part of the peace deal should be that shrine remaining under Palestinian control -- especially since there ARE Palestinian CHRISTIANS that live there. Who better to watch over it and guarantee its place in the capital of Palestine? Just a proposal is all.
While the source of the holy fire is a closely guarded secret, many believers say the flame appears spontaneously from his tomb on the day before Easter to show Jesus has not forgotten his followers.
In Vatican City, tens of thousands of Roman Catholic pilgrims, tourists, and Romans flocked to St. Peter’s Basilica and other holy sites for observances of Easter and Holy Week.
On Saturday, Pope Francis presided over an Easter vigil in St. Peter’s Basilica, during which he baptized 10 people.
The vigil is among the most solemn on the church calendar, with Francis entering the darkened church with a single candle, sharing the flame with others to slowly illuminate the church. The pope will officiate at Easter Mass on Sunday morning
The holy fire ritual in Jerusalem dates back at least 1,200 years.
Thousands of Christians waited outside the church for it to open Saturday morning.
Custody of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is shared by a number of denominations that guard their responsibilities under a fragile network of agreements forged out over two millenniums.
In accordance with tradition, the church’s doors were unlocked by a member of a Muslim family who for centuries has been the keeper of the ancient key that is passed on from generation to generation.
Once inside, clergy from the various Orthodox denominations in robes and hoods jostled for space with local worshipers and pilgrims from around the world.
Top Orthodox clergy descended into the small chamber marking the site of Jesus’ tomb as worshipers eagerly waited in the dim church clutching bundles of unlighted candles and torches.
After a while, candles emerged lighted with ‘‘holy fire’’ — said to have been lighted by a miracle as a message to the faithful from heaven.
Bells rang as worshipers rushed to use the flames to ignite their own candles.
In mere seconds, the bursts of light spread throughout the cavernous church as flames jumped from one candle to another.
Clouds of smoke wafted through the crammed hall as flashes from cameras and mobile phones documented what is for many, the spiritual event of a lifetime.
Some held light from the ‘‘holy fire’’ to their faces to bask in the glow while others dripped wax on their bodies. Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri said tens of thousands of worshipers participated in the ceremony.
Many couldn’t fit inside the church and the narrow winding streets of the Old City were lined with pilgrims.
The ‘‘holy fire’’ was passed among worshipers outside the church and then taken to the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, where tradition holds Jesus was born, and from there to other Christian communities in Israel and the West Bank.
Later it is taken aboard special flights to Athens and other cities, linking many of the 200 million Orthodox worldwide.
--more--"
At least they skipped insults today unlike in past years.
NEXT DAY UPDATE:
"In Easter address, pope pleads for peace; 150,000 attend Mass offered in St. Peter’s Square" by Frances D’Emilio | Associated Press April 21, 2014
VATICAN CITY — Marking Christianity’s most hopeful day, Pope Francis made an Easter plea for peace and dialogue in Ukraine and Syria, for an end to terrorist attacks against Christians in Nigeria, and for more attention to the hungry and neediest close to home.
I like to follow the e$capades of the elite.
More than 150,000 tourists — Romans and pilgrims, young and old — turned out for the Mass that Francis celebrated at an altar set up under a canopy on the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica.
So great were their numbers that they overflowed from sprawling St. Peter’s Square, which was bedecked with row after row of potted daffodils, sprays of blue hyacinths, and bunches of white roses.
Waving flags from the pope’s native Argentina as well as from Brazil, Mexico, Britain, Poland, and many other countries, they also filled the broad boulevard leading from the square to the Tiber River.
Easter is the culmination of Holy Week and marks Christian belief that Jesus rose from the dead after his crucifixion.
Francis noted that this year the Catholic Church’s celebration of Easter coincided with that of Orthodox churches, which have many followers in Ukraine.
Francis prayed that God would ‘‘enlighten and inspire the initiatives that promote peace in Ukraine, so that all those involved, with the support of the international community, will make every effort to prevent violence.’’
If only U.S. empire builders would quit mucking around in other nations.
In eastern Ukraine, the holiday was marred by a deadly shooting Sunday fueled by tensions between pro-Russian supporters in the east and those loyal to an interim government in Kiev. The clash appeared to defy an international agreement reached last week aimed at ending months of unrest.
Exhibit A.
Francis also prayed that all sides in Syria will be moved to ‘‘boldly negotiate the peace long awaited and long overdue.’’ Syria has been wracked by a three-year civil war that has cost 150,000 lives and forced millions to flee the country.
Exhibit B.
The Vatican this week is preparing for a historic double canonization next Sunday, in which Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII will be declared saints. Pope Benedict XVI is expected to join Francis at the ceremony.
Thousands of pilgrims from around the world marked Easter in the Holy Land. Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal led Mass on Sunday at the Holy Sepulcher church in Jerusalem, the site is where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried, and resurrected.
In the West Bank town of Bethlehem, worshipers prayed and lit candles at the Church of the Nativity, traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus. Easter was also celebrated in Gaza where less than 3,000 Christians live among about 1.7 million Muslims.
What?
I mean I recognize the quality of the only and ratio disparity, but it makes the point I have made all these years. Both of those religions are being manipulated by a third to accomplish other goals of world domination and regional hegemony while fomenting genocides.
Israeli police entered the compound of the Temple Mount, Jerusalem’s holiest site, to disperse Palestinians who were throwing rocks at them Sunday. Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police arrested 16 masked Palestinians who threw rocks and firecrackers as the site was opened to tourists. Two officers were hurt, he said.
So what is that, the second week in a row Israel has initiated provocations there?
Palestinians no strangers to persecution.
--more--"
Tough way to end Easter.
