The Vatican has confirmed the cold-blooded murder of the Franciscan priest François Murad (49). He was beheaded in the public by radical Islamic terrorists on Sunday the 23th of June in northern Syria in the region of Gassanieh.

The neck of the pinioned priest was severed with a knife. Afterwards, the head was shown to the roaring crowd. The Catholic priest had sought refuge in the local Christian monastery, which was attacked by the terrorist group Jabhat al-Nusra.

This heinous act must bring to mind for every Christian in the world that these so-called rebels in Syria are cold-blooded killers and no freedom fighters and they are certainly not the guardians of Islam. They can shout “Allahu Akbar” while their slaughtering as loud as they want, this has absolutely nothing to do with God.

Anyone who takes the life of a man commits a mortal sin!   »»» SyriaNews

In the Qur’an, Allah tells us that there must be due process of law before anyone can be executed for those crimes for which God allows execution. Furthermore, Allah tells us that Christians, especially Christian priests and monks are people of high moral character:

“You will find the nearest in love to the believers (Muslims) are those who say: “We are Christians.” That is because amongst them are priests and monks, and they are not proud.” (Q. 5:82)

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I want to talk about the most serious religious crisis of our time. It is the rift that certain fundamentalists–Christians, Jews and Muslims–are trying to open between Christianity and Islam, the two largest religions on the planet. Sadly, some people are seeking to foster hatred and religious war on both sides. The sort of misinformation that is being disseminated among Christians and Jews is quite alarming and distressing. Some of it is outright falsehood.

For example, one thing you may hear today is that Muslims do not worship God, they worship something else called Allah. But Allah is simply the Arabic word for “God.” It is closely related to the word for God, Alaha, in Aramaic, the language that Jesus and his disciples spoke, a language still spoken in a few areas in the Middle East. If you are an Arab Christian, or Arabic speaking Jew or Muslim, you pray to Allah. To question that is like arguing that French speakers don’t worship God, they worship something else called “Dieu”. Muslims worship the God of Abraham, Moses and Jesus, and anyone who opens an English translation of the Qur’an will see that.

Jerry Vines, former head of the Southern Baptist Convention, has described the beloved Prophet of Islam, Muhammad, as a “demon-obsessed pedophile.” Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham, who also gave the invocation at President Bush’s inauguration, describes Islam as “a very evil and false religion.” Jon Hanna, an evangelical minister from Ohio who edits Connection Magazine in that state, also describes Islam as “false.” He cited the 1st epistle of St John (2: 21): “The one who denies that Jesus is the Christ, he is the liar. He is the Antichrist.” Mr Hanna then concluded: “The Muslim religion is an antichrist religion.”

Yet this is a barefaced lie. The Qur’an, or Recitation of the Angel Gabriel to the Prophet Muhammad, the holy book of Islam, always refers to Jesus as “the Messiah.” Christos or Christ is only a Greek translation of the Aramaic and Hebrew word, “messiah.” The Qur’an also refers to Jesus as the word of God and spirit from Him, born of the sinless virgin Mary, “purified above all women,” and it gives more space to Mary than the New Testament does. I have never heard, and never expect to hear, any Muslim insult the name of Jesus. It would be a rejection of what Islam has taught them, that he was the promised messiah, that he ascended to heaven, and that he will come again before the world ends.    »»» Misunderstanding Islam

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A Pakistani Christian girl who was falsely accused of blasphemy has fled to Canada with her family, a Christian organisation says.

Rimsha Masih, aged 14, was detained in a maximum security prison for several weeks in August 2012, accused of burning pages from the Koran.

The case attracted widespread international concern.

Although charges against Rimsha were dropped, she and her family were forced into hiding after death threats.

Rimsha, who is believed to have learning difficulties, was arrested in a Christian area of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, after a furious crowd demanded she be punished.

A local Muslim cleric has since been accused of framing her.   »»» BBC News

It is reported that concerning “dhimmis” (Christians and Jews) living in Muslim lands, the Prophet Muhammdad (peace be on him) said:

“If anyone hurts a dhimmi, I will be that dhimmi’s advocate, and I will plead for him on the Day of Resurrection.” “One who wrongs a dhimmi wrongs me, and whoever wrongs me, offends Allah.

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A leading Sunni institution in Egypt has said peaceful opposition to President Mohammed Morsi is not anti-Islam.

Ashraf Abdel-Moniem, a conservative preacher and a vocal supporter of Morsi, had declared that it was obligatory for Muslims to confront, even kill, anyone protesting against the government, the Christian Science Monitor reports.

The head of Al Azhar University, Egypt’s leading Sunni institution, disagreed and said that ‘peaceful opposition to the government is acceptable in Islam‘.   »»» newkerala.com

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Two prominent US bloggers have been banned from entering the UK, the Home Office has said.

Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer co-founded anti-Muslim group Stop Islamization of America.

They were due to speak at an English Defence League march in Woolwich, where Drummer Lee Rigby was killed.

A government spokesman said individuals whose presence “is not conducive to the public good” could be excluded by the home secretary.

He added: “We condemn all those whose behaviours and views run counter to our shared values and will not stand for extremism in any form.”

Keith Vaz, chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, who had called for the bloggers to be banned from the UK, said: “I welcome the home secretary’s ban on Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer from entering the country. This is the right decision. The UK should never become a stage for inflammatory speakers who promote hate.”

Anti-fascism campaigners Hope Not Hate had campaigned for the pair to not be allowed into the UK.

A researcher with the organisation, Matthew Collins, said it was “delighted” with the decision.

“These two are among some of the most extreme anti-Muslim activists in the world. They’ve nothing to contribute to life in this country.

“They’re not here to contribute to good community relations. They only wanted to come here and help the EDL stir up more trouble. Britain doesn’t need more hate even just for a few days.”   »»» BBC News

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A hard-line Muslim cleric received an 11-year suspended sentence today for tearing up and burning a Christian Bible, Egypt’s official news agency said.

Cairo’s Nasr City court sentenced Ahmed Abdullah and his son was given a suspended sentence of eight years over the same incident, the Middle East News Agency reported.

The two were ordered to pay a fine of 5,000 Egyptian pounds (£446). The ruling can be appealed against.

Abdullah ripped up a Bible and burned it during a September 11 rally by ultraconservative Salafi Muslims in front of the US Embassy in Cairo, protesting against an anti-Islam film produced in the United States.

It was a rare prosecution over attacks on faiths other than Islam. Over the past two years, attacks by extremist Muslims against followers of other religions, mostly Christians, have been on the increase.

According to Egyptian law, showing contempt toward Christianity, Islam and Judaism known as “heavenly” religions is a crime.   »»» Egyptian Muslim cleric receives suspended sentence for burning Bible

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A Cairo court sentenced an Egyptian Muslim preacher to 11 years in jail for blasphemy on Sunday for burning a Christian Bible during a protest last year outside the U.S. embassy.

Convictions for insulting Islam are common in Egypt, ruled by Islamists after the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak in 2011, but more rare for cases involving the minority Christian faith.

Ahmed Mohamed Mahmoud, known as Abu Islam, who runs his own religious television channel, led a demonstration in September against a U.S.-made anti-Islam video posted on the Internet.

His son was sentenced to eight years in jail for the same offence. Both will remain at liberty pending appeal.   »»» FaithWorld

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“We sat and wept”, said the leader of the Somali Bravanese community to Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg of the New North London Synagogue after a fire burned to the ground the al-Rahma Islamic Centre that had been used for prayers, celebrations and educating children.

It is not just the Somali Bravanese Muslims of Muswell Hill who are the victims of this suspected hate crime, but all British Muslims who experience fear and intimidation when their religious community is the target of violence. Hate crimes also undermine the sense of safety, security and belonging of all racial and religious minorities, such as Sikhs, Hindus and Jews.

But in this particular case, fear was quickly replaced by calm. Abubakar Ali of the al-Rahma centre was overwhelmed by the support he received from the rest of the local community: “When it [the fire] started I was shocked. I was emotional. But when I saw the crowds yesterday I was relieved and I was happy. It gave me assurances I have family, friends, neighbours – everyone was behind us.”

The importance of this immediate support by local synagogues and Jewish groups cannot be overstated: it challenges popular assumptions of intractable tensions between British Muslims and Jews. It is important for Muslims and Jews to form alliances because as non-Christian monotheistic religious minorities they face similar forms of prejudice.   »»» guardian.co.uk

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An Islamic centre in north London has been destroyed by a fire in an apparent hate crime attack.

The Met Police said the fire, which happened at the Al-Rahma Islamic Centre in Muswell Hill in the early hours, is being treated as suspicious.

A spokesman said the letters EDL (English Defence League) were sprayed on to the building, used by the Somali Bravanese Welfare Association.

MP Theresa Villiers said: “This kind of hate crime is absolutely despicable.”

The Conservative MP for Chipping Barnet said: “This is not just an attack on the Muslim community it is an attack on all of us and our values.

“We are a highly diverse multi-ethnic borough with excellent community cohesion in Barnet. We should under no circumstances allow violent extremists to divide us with this kind of outrage.”

Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: “There is no place in an open, tolerant and diverse city like London for hate, for prejudice, for violence.”   »»» BBC News

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The fatal attack on soldier Lee Rigby was a betrayal of Islam and the Muslim community, the prime minister has said.

In his first Commons statement about last month’s killing in Woolwich, south London, David Cameron said it was important to learn lessons.

Those responsible tried to “justify their actions by an extremist ideology that perverts and warps Islam to… justify violence”, he said.

Mr Cameron said: “Just as we will not stand for those who pervert Islam to preach extremism, neither will we stand for groups like the English Defence League who try to demonise Islam and stoke up anti-Islam hatred by bringing violence and disorder to our towns and cities.

Labour Party leader Ed Miliband said extremists would fail to divide Britain because “British people know this attack did not represent the true values of any community, including Muslim communities who contribute so much to our country”.   »»» BBC News

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