The president's response appears to be United States policy. Evidence suggests that within the administration not only is there no passion for persecuted Christians under threat of genocide from the Islamic State, there is no room for them, period. In fact, despite ISIS' targeting of Iraqi Christians specifically because they are Christians, and, as such, stand in the way of a pure, Islamic Caliphate in the Middle East (and beyond), the U.S.
Read moreAngaelos described how his native Egypt had narrowly avoided such fates. ISIS had declared a caliphate in 2014, something that "could easily have happened in Egypt" given the plans of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) government that came to power in 2012. After Hosni Mubarak's 2011 overthrow, Egypt experienced a "near anarchic existence."
Read moreBorn in Pakistan, Nazir-Ali was Britain's first non-white diocesan bishop. Since stepping down from Rochester in 2009, he has served as president of the organisation Oxtrad, building up church leadership in countries where Christians are persecuted such as Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and Nigeria, as well as working in advocacy and human rights.
Read moreA series of images released on Twitter show ISIS militants destroying ancient artifacts and tearing down a large cross.
Islamic State (ISIS) militants have attacked an ancient church in northern Iraq, tearing down the cross and relacing it with their flag, new images have revealed.
Read moreIt is difficult to imagine such brutal persecution facing Christians in the twenty-first century. However, it is not surprising. Before going to the cross, Christ warned his disciples in John 16: "they will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me."This is exactly what happened in Libya.
Read moreHe was responding to comments by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who warned this week about being too quick to brand people with strong religious views 'extremists'.
Yesterday, more than 60 imams and leaders of Muslim groups signed an open letter to the Government accusing it of criminalising Islam.
They claimed the 'terror threat' was being exploited for political capital ahead of the election, as 'the big parties inevitably try to outdo each other in their nastiness'.
Read moreTo provide more understanding about the Islamic State, and how to pray against the demonic forces that control them, here described are four articles that you should read, along with my annotations!
1. "What ISIS Really Wants," Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, March 2015
"On Thursday evening, elements of the ISIS group detonated the Virgin Mary Church north of Mosul using improvised explosive devices," a source told IraqiNews.
"The ISIS elements used the church as their headquarters for leaders of European, Arab and East Asian nationalities to live there."
"The explosion destroyed the Church entirely," the source added.
Read morePaul Robinson, the CEO of Release, said the charity's thoughts were with the family of those who were murdered.
"Those they loved were kidnapped and slaughtered simply because of their Christian faith.
"This is the clearest evidence yet of the brutal religious cleansing of Christians by Islamist militants. The message of this propaganda video could not be more plain."
Read moreAs I noted in an earlier Patheos post, and as I suggested in my book American Christians and Islam,Christians have to strike a balance with regard to Islam. In the modern world, Islam does have a unique problem with large numbers of its (at least nominal) adherents believing that violence is a legitimate expression of religious devotion. Shocking numbers of Muslims in the Middle East and Central Asia sympathize with the work of terrorists.
Read more