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In this mailing:
* Raymond Ibrahim: 'Killing Christians Takes Us to Paradise': The Persecution of Christians, July 2023
* Amir Taheri: Brexit: Lottery as Politics


** 'Killing Christians Takes Us to Paradise': The Persecution of Christians, July 2023 ([link removed])
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by Raymond Ibrahim • August 20, 2023 at 5:00 am
* "The Taliban are working to completely erase Christianity or any religious minority from the country, even stating that there are no Christians in Afghanistan, an obviously false claim. Many Christians have gone underground to avoid being kidnapped by the Taliban 'courts.' The rising starvation rates and increasing poverty in Afghanistan create an even higher security threat to these believers since now the Taliban are offering financial compensation to anyone who reports on Christians... and Afghans are desperate, further heightening the security risk [to Christians.] Unless ransomed by their families, Christians captured by the 'courts' face brutal torture and even death. If redeemed, the survivors and their families, often bankrupt from the exorbitant ransom demands, must flee their homes to avoid repeated kidnappings from the various Taliban gangs. Because of the persecution, many Christians escape to Pakistan and risk capture and death by the Taliban. Even if they make it to
Pakistan, they must conceal their faith for fear of receiving worse treatment in already poor conditions. Some Christian refugees decide to return to Afghanistan, deciding they have a better chance of survival under the Taliban than in Pakistan." — Report by International Christian Concern, July 13, 2023, Afghanistan.
* Arguing that churches should never exist in Muslim-majority regions, on Sunday, July 2, Muslims broke up a Christian worship service even as police stood by looking on. — Morning Star News, July 17, 2023, Indonesia.
* She was heard yelling, "You the minorities should not always ask to be respected!" — Morning Star News, July 17, 2023, Indonesia.
* This video captures some of the most recent damage of beheadings and desecrations. The report concludes by saying the motivation of the "unknown vandals" remains "a mystery to police." — Kronen Zeitung, Austria.
* "Blasphemy laws are often used as a weapon of revenge against both Muslims and non-Muslims to settle personal scores or to resolve disputes over money, property or business. A mere allegation is enough to provoke a mob to riot and lynch falsely accused suspects in Pakistan. At least 1,949 persons were accused under the blasphemy laws between 1987 and 2021, according to the Center for Social Justice. A large number of these blasphemy cases are still awaiting justice." — Morning Star News, July 12, 2023, Pakistan.
* These laws are, moreover, becoming more, not less, severe....
* "The... situation became tense after the Friday prayers when announcements were made from mosque loudspeakers asking people to gather for a protest." — Tahir Naveed Chaudhry, a Christian and former lawmaker, Morning Star News, July 4, 2023, Pakistan.
* "The blasphemy charge against Shahzad stems from personal grudges against him by the complainant, Ullah ... [who] had engaged in legal battles with Shahzad over a piece of land allotted by the government for constructing a church building." If found guilty, [he] faces up to ten years in prison. — Morning Star News, July 4, 2023, Pakistan.

"Blasphemy laws are often used as a weapon of revenge against both Muslims and non-Muslims to settle personal scores or to resolve disputes over money, property or business. A mere allegation is enough to provoke a mob to riot and lynch falsely accused suspects in Pakistan," according to Morning Star News. Pictured: Thousands of people in Karachi, Pakistan, demand the execution of Asia Bibi, on November 21, 2018. Bibi, a Christian woman, spent 8 years on death row in Pakistan because of a false accusation of blasphemy, before being released and exiled. (Photo by Asif Hassan/AFP via Getty Images)

The following are among the murders and abuses inflicted on Christians by Muslims throughout the month of July 2023.

The Muslim Slaughter of Christians

Uganda: On July 9, a Muslim man murdered his wife, a mother of three, hours after she became Christian. Ten days earlier, Amina Nanfuka, 31, while being treated for medical complications, had gone to stay with a relative. During her stay, a pastor visited and prayed for her recovery. According to the relative (name withheld), who had become Christian prior to Amina's visit:

"I shared the saving power of Jesus, and she showed a desire to accept and to believe in Jesus but requested waiting for the day that the doctor in Kampala had given her for a check-up and thereafter attend the church."

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** Brexit: Lottery as Politics ([link removed])
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by Amir Taheri • August 20, 2023 at 4:00 am
* It depends on what we mean by Brexit....If we go by its simplest meaning, that is to say ceasing to be a member of the European Union, Brexit has succeeded.
* Leaving aside control of borders and curbing immigration, Brexit became a vehicle for all sorts of fantasies. The UK was to regain its imperial role as leader of the Commonwealth, albeit in the service of world peace and prosperity. Creative trade agreements were to be signed with the United States, China, Japan and any other nation that recognized the advantages of having the UK as partner.
* Needless to say, that hasn't happened.
* In the UK today, more than 25 percent of children have foreign mothers. (In London it is 52 percent). Of every ten British children, one is a Muslim-born citizen. In a decade or two, "little Englanders" may even be a minority as a new globalized society takes shape.

(Image source: iStock)

"Brexit has failed!" This is what Nigel Farage, the politician who was the cheerleader for Britain leaving the European Union, said in a television interview in May.

This month, it was the turn of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the man who railroaded Brexit through the parliament, to echo Farage. In his newspaper column, he wrote, "we are still being held in the gravitational pull of the EU."

For a brief moment, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak seemed to amplify that echo with a tweet that implied the UK was still part of the EU. (Needless to say the tweet was hastily corrected.)

Well, has Brexit failed?

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