U.S. "Chose to Stay Silent" on Muslim Persecution of Christians: November 2013

Here's Raymond Abrahim's latest update on the global Islamic persecution of Christians.

FROM GATESTONEINSTITUE.ORG:

U.S. "Chose to Stay Silent" on Muslim Persecution of Christians: November 2013

by Raymond Ibrahim
February 12, 2014 at 4:30 am

    A Christian college professor in India was finally acquitted of all blasphemy charges, although is still missing an arm -- cut off by a group of men, following accusations that some of his exams contained offensive questions about Islam's prophet Muhammad.

    According to the founder of the Maspero Union, an activist movement in Egypt, targeting Christians in the context of seizing their money and their property is seen "as a religious duty."

The rise of endemic Christian persecution in the Middle East was noted in November when Roman Catholic Pope Francis declared "We will not resign ourselves to imagining a Middle East without Christians" and stressed the importance of "the universal right to lead a dignified life and freely practice one's own faith" after meeting with patriarchs from Syria, Iran, and Iraq -- all countries where Christian minorities are under attack.

Powers best placed to do something about the plight of Mideast Christians, however —namely, the U.S. administration—made it clear that they would do nothing, even when well-leveraged to do so.

In November, the wife of American Pastor Saeed Abedini, who has been imprisoned in Iran for over a year for practicing Christianity, said she and her family were devastated after learning that the Obama administration did not even try to secure the release of her husband as part of the newly signed deal on Iran's nuclear program.

"The talks over Iran's nuclear program were seen by his [Abedini's] family and those representing them as one of the most promising avenues yet for securing his release," said Fox News. "But the White House confirmed over the weekend that Abedini's status was not on the table during those talks."

"I don't think we have any more leverage," said Abedini's wife. "We now have to consider other avenues and having other countries speak out because our country, when we could have used our leverage, chose to stay silent."

The rest of November's roundup of Muslim persecution of Christians around the world includes (but is not limited to) the following accounts, listed by theme and country in alphabetical order, not necessarily according to severity:

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