'It Is the Church that Is Under Attack': The Persecution of Christians, October 2023
by Raymond Ibrahim • November 24, 2023 at 5:00 am
"These rapes are unfortunately customary and serve a specific purpose. It is believed that once no longer a virgin, a girl would become unsuitable for marriage, even if she belongs to a religious minority, and her only choice would be to marry one of her captors. Mishal was then forcibly converted to Islam and married to one of the kidnappers." – bitterwinter.org, October 24, 2023, Pakistan.
"Some cases do land in courts. But it is not easy for the victims to win them. Sometimes, the victims are treated as if they were the perpetrators...." -- bitterwinter.org, October 24, 2023, Pakistan.
"As we returned back to our grass-thatched roof house, we found some of the debris around the house. On entering the house, we found there was a threatening message, 'Today if we find you around, we shall destroy you with the house. You have become an embarrassment to our Muslim family by joining a wrong religion.'" – morningstarnews.org, October 4, 2023, Uganda.
Regrettably, this scenario—a fire claims Christian lives, only for Muslim authorities to say it was "accidental"—has played out many times in the Middle East.
The following are among the abuses and murders inflicted on Christians by Muslims throughout the month of October 2023.
The Sexual Abuse and Forced Conversion of Christians
Pakistan: Three Muslim men abducted and violently gang-raped a 16-year-old Christian girl, Persis Masih, on her way to Sunday church service. The girl's father, a pastor, and most of the family had left early for church, while Persis continued to get ready. She never appeared at church and was not home when they returned. After immediately filing a report with police, "the family spent a sleepless night contacting relatives in the hope of finding Persis," according to the Oct. 1 report. Eventually,
