Scores of Churches Destroyed in Charlie Hebdo Protests in Niger

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.
Angela53510

Angela53510

Senior Member
#1
Jan 24, 2011
11,780
2,943
113
#1
This is TRUE persecution of the Christian church. And for all of you who supported Charlie Hebdo and the "right" to free speech, the outcome is that Christians all over the world are now being threatened and killed, even though Hebdo was not a Christian in any way, shape or form.

" Less than a week after Niger's president marched alongside dozens of world leaders in Paris following the Charlie Hebdo shooting, Muslim protests in Niger have claimed the lives of 10 people and destroyed more than 70 Christian churches in the desert nation's two largest cities.Niger, long praised for its secular government and relative tolerance towards Christians (more than 98 percent of its population are Muslim), has seen growing radicalization in recent years. In 2012, several churches in the country’s second-largest city, Zinder, were vandalized by mobs in response to a provocative video, The Innocence of Muslims. This led Open Doors to add Niger to its 2013 ranking of the 50 countries where it's most difficult to be a Christian. (Niger was removed from this year's World Watch List, although persecution levels remain virtually the same.)
Image: Open Doors International
A Baptist church burned over Charlie Hebdo protests in Niamey.

The weekend protests started in Zinder on Friday (Jan. 16) and spread to surrounding areas before reaching the capital, Niamey, on Saturday.
Nigerien police say 10 people died and 45 churches burned down in the two days of violence. (Religion News Servicereports the "targeted churches were mainly of the evangelical denominations built on the left bank of Niamey.")
But information gathered by World Watch Monitor (WWM) reveals that more than 70 churches have been destroyed, along with numerous Christian schools and organisations, including an orphanage. The 40 children of “The Good Samaritan,’’ run by the Assembly of God Church, are currently in ‘‘disarray’’ under the care of police.
Over 30 Christian homes were believed to be looted and burnt down. Those affected say the violence has left them with “only the clothes on our backs.”

Scores of Churches Destroyed by Charlie Hebdo Pro... | Christianity Today
 
P

psychomom

Guest
#2
#2
Gracious Father, thank You that Your hand is ever on Your people.
thank You for the precious promise You gave us to never leave us or forsake us.
show us how to help, Lord, how to be Your hands and feet to these, Your dear children.
may these in Niger and around the world who suffer for Jesus' sake be always in our prayers.

♥
 
p_rehbein

p_rehbein

Senior Member
#3
Sep 4, 2013
30,196
6,538
113
#3
Just imagine if we Christians were to destroy all of their places of worship when they say a word against Christianity.........

Truly we are under the Covenant of Grace.
 
Desdichado

Desdichado

Senior Member
#4
Feb 9, 2014
8,768
838
113
#4
Angela53510 said:
This is TRUE persecution of the Christian church. And for all of you who supported Charlie Hebdo and the "right" to free speech, the outcome is that Christians all over the world are now being threatened and killed, even though Hebdo was not a Christian in any way, shape or form.
Click to expand...
This isn't very fair to the Hebdo supporters. No, these atrocities are on the heads of the people who commit them. It would be one thing if people were marching in favor of some dictator that wanted to lay waste to the Muslim faith. But no, they marched in protest of an atrocity that claimed the life of people who worked for a cartoon magazine. The attack in Paris is unacceptable in the civilized world; the President of Niger was both brave and correct for doing what he did.

That these Muslims destroyed Christian churches in response highlights the barbarism and savagery of their own culture, not the ignorance or vindictiveness of people who supported Charlie Hebdo's right to publish what they would like without fear 7.62 rounds tearing them apart.
 
Angela53510

Angela53510

Senior Member
#5
Jan 24, 2011
11,780
2,943
113
#5
You obviously did not see the cartoons, Desdichado! They were vile and inappropriate by any standard. And so sad that such French rationalism and atheism is now being laid at the door of Christians.

If only Christians had said, "Those cartoons were vile smut, and we are offended with Muslims for their content. BUT, we do not approve of the violent revenge given by the Yemeni murderers."

I did not know how bad and offensive the cartoons were until my DIL showed them to me. Then I found out they had done the same thing to Christ.

This is a case of bad, turning to worse, and then resulting in the death of Christians and damage to their churches and property.

Besides, where is the world wide protest for the 10 people killed in these pogroms in Niger? Only a few less people han France, but I do not see parades, and bumper stickers defending the innocent Christians massacred by angered Muslims.

That is pure hypocrisy, and this entire support of supposed "free" speech rights of the Charlie Hebdo magazine is as vile as the material they churn out. In fact, it has been huge publicity for their magazine and the garbage they produce.

So my question to you, Desdichado, do you think people should be allowed to produce and publish pornography, in the name of free speech??

Because those cartoons were pornography, without respect for anyone. Typical French rationalism. And we all know how that turned out! Between the guillotine and the logical consequence of Napoleon to fill the vacuum!
 
Desdichado

Desdichado

Senior Member
#6
Feb 9, 2014
8,768
838
113
#6
Angela53510 said:
You obviously did not see the cartoons, Desdichado! They were vile and inappropriate by any standard. And so sad that such French rationalism and atheism is now being laid at the door of Christians.

If only Christians had said, "Those cartoons were vile smut, and we are offended with Muslims for their content. BUT, we do not approve of the violent revenge given by the Yemeni murderers."

I did not know how bad and offensive the cartoons were until my DIL showed them to me. Then I found out they had done the same thing to Christ.

This is a case of bad, turning to worse, and then resulting in the death of Christians and damage to their churches and property.

Besides, where is the world wide protest for the 10 people killed in these pogroms in Niger? Only a few less people han France, but I do not see parades, and bumper stickers defending the innocent Christians massacred by angered Muslims.

That is pure hypocrisy, and this entire support of supposed "free" speech rights of the Charlie Hebdo magazine is as vile as the material they churn out. In fact, it has been huge publicity for their magazine and the garbage they produce.

So my question to you, Desdichado, do you think people should be allowed to produce and publish pornography, in the name of free speech??

Because those cartoons were pornography, without respect for anyone. Typical French rationalism. And we all know how that turned out! Between the guillotine and the logical consequence of Napoleon to fill the vacuum!
Click to expand...
Whether the production of pornography should or should not be legal is an important question, but I think it kind of misses the point of what happened at Charlie Hebdo and what the West's reaction should be.

The real question is this: how should the free world react when their citizens are slaughtered.

The cartoons were smut. A healthy culture wouldn't have produced them, but the cartoonists have a right to exist. Unless the West and other, more civilized, countries make it very clear that killing their citizens is unacceptable, I guarantee that we will see more attacks on active Christians, Jews, and people who have never said a thing considered offensive in polite society.
 
H

Human

Banned
#7
Oct 30, 2014
1,150
7
0
#7
Desdichado said:
Whether the production of pornography should or should not be legal is an important question, but I think it kind of misses the point of what happened at Charlie Hebdo and what the West's reaction should be.

The real question is this: how should the free world react when their citizens are slaughtered.

The cartoons were smut. A healthy culture wouldn't have produced them, but the cartoonists have a right to exist. Unless the West and other, more civilized, countries make it very clear that killing their citizens is unacceptable, I guarantee that we will see more attacks on active Christians, Jews, and people who have never said a thing considered offensive in polite society.
Click to expand...
If the cartoonists and the cartoons (consisting of unwarranted and aggravating content towards Muslims) have a right to exist in a multicultural society wherein those Muslims will be offended to the point of extreme anger, then the bombers, whose actions were atrocious, absolutely unwarranted and which offended the West to a similar if not further degree than the cartoons, also have the right to exist, because while we place value on ''US'' being rightly offended and flatly ''right'', those who carried out the attacks probably think similarly. It's not just a matter of 'free speech is our right'', it's a matter of ''but how shall we use it responsibly'', and it's not just a matter of ''it's a free world, and we should be able to say and do as we like without threat'', it's a matter of ''that's not how it really works''.

WE, the West, idealize free speech to the extreme, stand up for it even when its context is utterly repulsive, and even Christians do this, and when that right gets abused and there is provocation and attack, most say ''well we deserve our free speech regardless of who it offends''. And I would agree, yes, you do, but you also should learn how to use it with responsibility and tact before you open your mouth to use it at all, then the problem mightn't so much exist.

It's easy to say ''but we shouldn't have to be restrained, we are the civilized ones, they are barbarians, we bring them civilization'', but our civilization, or unrestrained free speech, our invasions, these things are NOT what these people want. Perhaps we are in some peoples' eyes truly civilized, if you ignore the plethora of civilians the West kill day-in day-out, but to think ourselves better and try to force our customs, our free speech, and to mock people abroad like that presents another problem; this is a globalized society, and what we say matters abroad. This is also a current society in which America and the West have taken from the British the role of ''the great civilizer'', and like history repeating itself, most of those apparently ''uncivilized countries'' want to stick a metaphorical middle-finger up to the invaders and get them the hell out of their countries.

Couple that with a multi trillion dollor propaganda machine run by an Anti-Islamic media magnate in bed with the oil companies that benefit from these invasions and you have a country of 350 million people with an extraordinarily military overkill seemingly chanting ''Kill all Muslims'' like one giant mob, who just so happen to be able to drop bombs from several thousand feet with remote controls.

I know not all Americans say ''Kill all the Muslims', but seeing American news, it certainly would come across that way to anybody in the Middle East who can afford a television, and of course to the hundreds of thousands of people whose families have witnessed them being slaughtered.

I don't condone the actions of either side, but I sure as hell don't think ''we'', the West, have absolutely no part in creating the growing pile of bodies and the aura of hatred that have come to exist.
 
Last edited:
K

Kencore

Guest
#8
#8
Ok let me get this straight. Magazines are something someone needs to subscribe to, right? These weren't given out at public events they were something that someone had to look for and purchase. Why can't the muslim community just ignore them? At any rate even when you tell the truth from the koran. Like muhammed was a pedophile, mohammed was a murderer, mohammed subjugated women and people that were not of his revelation as written in the muslim holy books. The muslims still think it's offensive, why? If the muslims still think the truth is offensive then maybe they should even talk about mohammed in their mosques.
 
H

Human

Banned
#9
Oct 30, 2014
1,150
7
0
#9
Kencore said:
Ok let me get this straight. Magazines are something someone needs to subscribe to, right? These weren't given out at public events they were something that someone had to look for and purchase. Why can't the muslim community just ignore them? At any rate even when you tell the truth from the koran. Like muhammed was a pedophile, mohammed was a murderer, mohammed subjugated women and people that were not of his revelation as written in the muslim holy books. The muslims still think it's offensive, why? If the muslims still think the truth is offensive then maybe they should even talk about mohammed in their mosques.
Click to expand...
And maybe, by that logic, Christians shouldn't talk about pretty much all the prophets before Jesus, or most of the ''holy'' bible characters who took to murdering, raping or enslaving people.
 
K

Kencore

Guest
#10
#10
Why what they actually prophesied is coming true. That is what a true prophet from YAHUA does as written in the Torah. What did mohammed ever prophesy? I mean if he was a prophet.
 
p_rehbein

p_rehbein

Senior Member
#11
Sep 4, 2013
30,196
6,538
113
#11
Human said:
And maybe, by that logic, Christians shouldn't talk about pretty much all the prophets before Jesus, or most of the ''holy'' bible characters who took to murdering, raping or enslaving people.
Click to expand...
non Christians mayhaps should stick to talking about their unbelief?
 
K

kaylagrl

Guest
#12
#12
Angela53510 said:
You obviously did not see the cartoons, Desdichado! They were vile and inappropriate by any standard. And so sad that such French rationalism and atheism is now being laid at the door of Christians.

If only Christians had said, "Those cartoons were vile smut, and we are offended with Muslims for their content. BUT, we do not approve of the violent revenge given by the Yemeni murderers."

I did not know how bad and offensive the cartoons were until my DIL showed them to me. Then I found out they had done the same thing to Christ.

This is a case of bad, turning to worse, and then resulting in the death of Christians and damage to their churches and property.

Besides, where is the world wide protest for the 10 people killed in these pogroms in Niger? Only a few less people han France, but I do not see parades, and bumper stickers defending the innocent Christians massacred by angered Muslims.

That is pure hypocrisy, and this entire support of supposed "free" speech rights of the Charlie Hebdo magazine is as vile as the material they churn out. In fact, it has been huge publicity for their magazine and the garbage they produce.

So my question to you, Desdichado, do you think people should be allowed to produce and publish pornography, in the name of free speech??

Because those cartoons were pornography, without respect for anyone. Typical French rationalism. And we all know how that turned out! Between the guillotine and the logical consequence of Napoleon to fill the vacuum!
Click to expand...

Once again the point is being missed.We can stand outside the doors of Charlie Hebdo and protest their cartoons day and night.People in the US protest strip clubs in communities and adult bookstores etc. We dont agree with what they produce so we protest.Great,do it all day,every day.But because I dont like what Hefner produces doesn't give me the right,no matter how indignant I am to go in and murder 12 people in cold blood.There is no way in the world to justify it.Just because someone is offended does not give them the right to murder and shoot people like a dog in the streets.Because if you justify that then you will have to justify it when they walk into your church and shoot 12 people in the head because your preaching Jesus is the only way instead of their muhammed.That is an offense to them.Ask Salman Rushdie how easy it is to get on their black list.What if I murdered everyone who says something about Christianity that offends me? They are provoking me to anger.talk Well all the late night guys would be dead right off the bat,most of the daytime shows,most of Hollywood for that matter.See the issue is the murder of people because you dont like what they are saying about you or your god.If we let them kill indiscriminately it will soon come to our door.Unless you're planning to convert...What people dont understand with the Muslim faith is you are one of them or you are an infidel.That makes you the enemy.And anyone who disagrees with them.Hey you want to murder everyone in your country that ticks you off I guess we cant stop you.Do it outside your boarders and we have the right to stop you.
 
H

Human

Banned
#13
Oct 30, 2014
1,150
7
0
#13
p_rehbein said:
non Christians mayhaps should stick to talking about their unbelief?
Click to expand...
Non Christian isn't synonymous with 'ignorant of the bible''. I probably know more about it than you do, seeing as I studied it for five years!
 
K

kaylagrl

Guest
#14
#14
Human said:
Non Christian isn't synonymous with 'ignorant of the bible''. I probably know more about it than you do, seeing as I studied it for five years!
Click to expand...

But why study something you think is a fairy tale?
 
H

Human

Banned
#17
Oct 30, 2014
1,150
7
0
#17
kaylagrl said:
But why study something you think is a fairy tale?
Click to expand...
People study tales all the time. People study society, people study many things. People study Carroll's ''Alice in Wonderland'' and Disney's ''Snow White'', and people study the bible. It's pertinent to have studied the bible on a Christian Forum, it's also pertinent to have studied the bible in a world where there are close to 2 billion Christians who believe it.

Being one thing (non-Christian, for instance)does not bar someone from studying another. Being a Christian doesn't bar you from studying Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection.

Religious education was also compulsory when I was at school.
 
K

Kencore

Guest
#18
#18
Gee human, your so smart!
 
M

Mitspa

Guest
#19
#19
Again blame the victim....its not really these criminals that need to be rebuked and hunted down, its law-abiding citizens and Christians who believe in free-speech?
 
K

kaylagrl

Guest
#20
#20
Human said:
People study tales all the time. People study society, people study many things. People study Carroll's ''Alice in Wonderland'' and Disney's ''Snow White'', and people study the bible. It's pertinent to have studied the bible on a Christian Forum, it's also pertinent to have studied the bible in a world where there are close to 2 billion Christians who believe it.

Being one thing (non-Christian, for instance)does not bar someone from studying another. Being a Christian doesn't bar you from studying Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection.

Religious education was also compulsory when I was at school.
Click to expand...
So would you consider it a fairy tale made of whole cloth or do you find anything redeeming in it?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.