Robert Spencer and Raymond Ibrahim on Islamic Persecution of Christians

Tsarnaev Brothers Planned to Detonate Remaining Explosives in Times Square

I live in New York, and I'm usually in Manhattan three or four times per week. The "Terrorist Brothers" planned to kill more random people in Times Square, so the victims could have easily been my children. Yet somehow, it would be racist, Islamophobic, and bigoted to examine the ideology that led the Tsarnaev brothers to head to Times Square. We live in a strange, strange world my friends.

CNN--Three days after the marathon attack, and hours after authorities released images of the two suspects, they spontaneously decided to go to New York's Times Square to blow up their six remaining explosives, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told investigators.

But a botched carjacking spoiled the impromptu road trip, said Tsarnaev, whose account was outlined by New York's police commissioner.

Before forcing their way into a vehicle the night of April 18, the brothers fatally shot a campus police officer at MIT, police said.

The vehicle they subsequently hijacked, a Mercedes sport utility vehicle, ran low on fuel, and they stopped at a service station, where the vehicle's owner escaped. Shortly thereafter, police picked up the trail of the SUV and pursued it. Authorities say the men threw bombs out the vehicle's window at them. The gun battle and Tamerlan Tsarnaev's death followed. (Continue Reading.)

Inside Britain's Sharia Courts

Zubeidat Tsarnaev: "I Don't Care if My Sons Are Killed . . . Allahu Akbar!"

Zubeidat Tsarnaev is the mother of Boston Marathon bombers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. In a chilling phone interview with CNN, she first seemed distraught over the death of Tamerlan and the potential death of Dzhokhar. However, her theology soon got the better of her. How can two sons die better deaths than waging Jihad against the infidel?

Jay Smith on the Boston Marathon Bombing

Is the Father the Only God?

Muslims often cite certain verses of the New Testament in an attempt to show that, according to Jesus, the Father alone is God. This objection would, of course, pose a problem for Islam, because Allah is not the Father (Qur'an 5:18; 19:88-93; 21:26). Nevertheless, Muslims use these verses to show that the Bible denies the Trinity. But what happens when we examine the passages more carefully? Sam Shamoun explains:

Speaking in Orlando This Thursday

For those in the Orlando, FL, area, I'll be speaking this Thursday for the Orlando Chapter of ACT! for America. We'll begin with some videos at 6:30 P.M., followed by a presentation at 7:00 ("Five Reasons the Qur'an Cannot Be the Word of God"). For more information, contact mskubiak@aol.com.

Chiheb Esseghaier and Raed Jaser Arrested in Canadian Terror Plot

Muhammad commanded his followers to violently subjugate non-Muslims (Qur'an 9:29) and to kill those who cause problems in Muslim lands (5:33). Fortunately, most Muslims don't obey his commands. But some do.

FoxNews--Canadian authorities announced Monday they have broken up an Al Qaeda-linked terror plot to attack a passenger train as it crossed over a bridge in the Toronto area.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Monday that two suspects have been arrested on terrorism charges. Chiheb Esseghaier and Raed Jaser, who live in greater Montreal and Toronto -- were conspiring to carry out an Al Qaeda-supported attack against Via Rail, but posed no immediate threat to the public.

"It was definitely in the planning stage but not imminent," RCMP chief superintendent Jennifer Strachan told reporters at a news conference.

The six-month investigation, called “Project Smooth,” was coordinated with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, CBC said. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement the operation was coordinated by a multi-agency team comprised of the national police, Canadian Security Intelligence Services, the Canada Border Service Agency and other law enforcement and national security partners in Montreal and Toronto, Canada's two largest cities.

The plot is unrelated to the Boston Marathon attack, U.S. Justice Department sources said. (Continue Reading.)

To understand Jihad, watch this:

Epic Showdown: The Islamophobia Industry vs. the New Atheists

I've been wondering for years when this showdown would take place. In one corner, we have the "New Atheists," who maintain that the greatest threat to civilization is religion. In the other corner, we have the Islamophobia Industry, which maintains that the greatest threat to civilization is fear of Islam. Both camps heap abuse and insults on their opponents; both camps claim the moral high ground.

The Islamophobia Industry (CAIR, ISNA, news networks, most politicians, etc.) might have let the New Atheists (Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, etc.) proceed unchecked, if only the latter hadn't crossed a certain line. If the New Atheists had contented themselves with mocking all religions equally, the showdown may have been avoided. After all, one of the core tenets of the Islamophobia Industry is that Islam is no different from other religions (except, perhaps, in that it is to be exempt from all criticism). Hence, so long as the New Atheists were treating all religions as equally bad, Islam was under no particular scrutiny, and this was fine with Islam's defenders.

But the New Atheists dared to point out the obvious: All religions are not equal. Consider Bill Maher, who recently blasted Brian Levin, one of the Islamophobia Industry's champions:

Maher was simply continuing a long trend among the New Atheists, whose semi-official position now is that, while all religions are bad, Islam is worse. This, of course, is too much for the Islamophobia Industry to bear, and Salon's Nathan Lean has declared war:

Until 9/11, Islam didn’t figure in the New Atheists’ attacks in a prominent way. As a phenomenon with its roots in Europe, atheism has traditionally been the archenemy of Christianity, though Jews and Judaism have also slipped into the mix. But emboldened by their newfound fervor in the wake of the terrorist attacks, the New Atheists joined a growing chorus of Muslim-haters, mixing their abhorrence of religion in general with a specific distaste for Islam (In 2009, Hitchens published a book called “God Is Not Great,” a direct smack at Muslims who commonly recite the Arabic refrain Allah Akbar, meaning “God is great”). Conversations about the practical impossibility of God’s existence and the science-based irrationality of an afterlife slid seamlessly into xenophobia over Muslim immigration or the practice of veiling. The New Atheists became the new Islamophobes, their invectives against Muslims resembling the rowdy, uneducated ramblings of backwoods racists rather than appraisals based on intellect, rationality and reason. “Islam, more than any other religion human beings have devised, has all the makings of a thoroughgoing cult of death,” writes Harris, whose nonprofit foundation Project Reason ironically aims to “erode the influence of bigotry in our world.”

For Harris, the ankle-biter version of the Rottweiler Dawkins, suicide bombers and terrorists are not aberrations. They are the norm. They have not distorted their faith by interpreting it wrongly. They have lived out their faith by understanding it rightly. “The idea that Islam is a ‘peaceful religion hijacked by extremists’ is a fantasy, and is now a particularly dangerous fantasy for Muslims to indulge,” he writes in “Letter to a Christian Nation.”

That may sound like the psychobabble of Pamela Geller. But Harris’s crude departure from scholarly decorum is at least peppered with references to the Quran, a book he cites time and again, before suggesting it be “flushed down the toilet without fear of violent reprisal.”

Dawkins, in a recent rant on Twitter, admitted that he had not ever read the Quran, but was sufficiently expert in the topic to denounce Islam as the main culprit of all the world’s evil: “Haven’t read Koran so couldn’t quote chapter and verse like I can for Bible. But [I] often say Islam [is the] greatest force for evil today.” How’s that for a scientific dose of proof that God does not exist?

A few days later, on March 25, there was this: “Of course you can have an opinion about Islam without having read the Qur’an. You don’t have to read “Mein Kampf” to have an opinion about Nazism.”

It’s an extraordinary feat for an Oxford scholar to admit that he hasn’t done the research to substantiate his belief, but what’s more extraordinary is that he continues to believe the unsupported claim. That backwards equation — insisting on a conclusion before even launching an initial investigation — defines the New Atheists’ approach to Islam. It’s a pompousness that only someone who believes they have proven, scientifically, the nonexistence of God can possess. (Continue Reading.)

Who will come out on top in this epic battle of critics and complainers? The Islamophobia Industry certainly has greater media resources at their disposal, with all major news networks thoroughly terrified of offending Muslims. The New Atheists, however, may gather support from unlikely allies, e.g. Christians, Jews, and others, who, although generally incensed at the abuse heaped on them by Dawkins & Co., at least respect the New Atheists for not lumping all ideologies together with Islam.

Too close to call as far as I can tell. Any thoughts?

Islam, Paradoxes, Dialectical Tensions and Squaring Circles

“At the center of Christianity are theological conundrums such as the Trinity and the hypostatic union. Islam knows nothing of such conceptual muddles; Islam’s message is pure, clear, and coherent, no paradoxical preservatives added.”

  

I recently saw a statement like the above for the umpteenth time in connection with Hamza Yusuf, who was being touted as someone who converted from Christianity to Islam because the Christian God is so unlike anything in human experience that he couldn’t wrap his mind around Him.

That the Islamic view of God is one that is simple and clear is a claim Muslims never tire of repeating, and many seem to think that the more they say this and get others to mindlessly chant it with them, that it will, somehow, magically become true; hence the reason some witty fellow coined the term dawaganda.

I don’t know if Hamza Yusuf is still repeating this old canard, but I can say for sure that he no longer has any excuse for doing so after finding out on his own that attempts to make sense out of the teachings of Islam amount to attempts to square a circle. According to Hamza Yusuf, when one looks at questions like the relationship of Allah’s essence to his attributes, as well as a number of other issues that have been fiercely debated by Muslims throughout the centuries, Islamic theology must be defined or described as:

“…a mental activity by nature and often involves paradoxes, in which seemingly insoluble problems…are dialectically entertained in the mind of the theologian, who then attempts to reconcile them, using sacred scripture and intellect—a combination made volatile and dangerous in the absence of a devout piety that would otherwise illuminate both the effort and the outcome. For this reason, true theology is, to a certain degree, the squaring of a circle within an enlightened mind.” The Creed of Imam Al-Tahawi, Translated, Introduced, and Annotated by Hamza Yusuf (Zaytuna Institute, 2007), p. 13.

This gives rise to another paradox: Muslims pretending on the one hand that God has to be so simple that a simpleton could have him all figured out, and Muslims who cling on the other hand to a theology that is admittedly fraught with mind-bending and logic-straining doctrines. Maybe someone characterized by "devout piety" and who has an "enlightened mind" could explain this paradox to us. 

For more on this theme, see the following video:   

Just Passed 12,000 Subscribers on YouTube!

Understanding the Islamic Bombing of the Boston Marathon

In response to the Islamic bombing of the Boston Marathon, the "Why Islam?" campaign sent out a Tweet on one of history's most deliberately misrepresented verses.

Since the same verse has been ripped out of context by Fox News, CNN, the Washington Post, and President Obama, it's time for a careful analysis of the text.

Muslim Brothers Djohar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev Bombed Boston Marathon

Muhammad commanded his followers to violently subjugate non-Muslims (Qur'an 9:29), and to kill those who "make mischief" in a Muslim land (5:33). Also, according to Muhammad, those who financially support soldiers are equally responsibility for the deeds of the soldiers (Sunan Ibn Majah 2759). Since U.S. tax payers financially support the U.S. soldiers who are fighting in Muslim lands (e.g., Afghanistan), U.S. citizens are viable targets for terrorists. Hence, by blowing up spectators at the Boston Marathon, Muslim brothers Djohar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev were simply following the teachings of Muhammad.

Here is Djohar's VK social media page, where he identifies himself as a Muslim.

For more on Jihad, see the following video:

Sam Shamoun: Is Jesus a Creature of God?

PART ONE

PART TWO

Douglas Murray on the Myth of Islamophobia

Selling Sharia

A Muslim explains how to "sell" Sharia to non-Muslims.

Turkish Composer Fazil Say Convicted of Blasphemy over Twitter Comments

Muslim groups like CAIR and ISNA constantly assure us that there is no conflict between Western values and Sharia. However, a brief look at even the most "moderate" Islamic countries shows that Sharia undermines basic Western freedoms, especially the freedom of speech.

Composer/Pianist Fazil Say

The Guardian--A Turkish court has convicted pianist and composer Fazil Say of blasphemy and inciting hatred over a series of comments he made on Twitter last year.

The musician was given a suspended 10-month jail term. His lawyer, Meltem Akyol, said his clienthe would have to serve the term if he committed a similar offense within the next five years.

Say, who was not present at the hearing, issued a statement calling the verdict "a sad one for Turkey". He denied the charges, saying they were politically motivated.

The 43-year-old went on trial in October accused of denigrating Islam in a series of tweets earlier last year. In one message he retweeted a verse from a poem by Omar Khayyám in which the 11th-century Persian poet attacks pious hypocrisy: "You say rivers of wine flow in heaven, is heaven a tavern to you? You say two huris [companions] await each believer there, is heaven a brothel to you?" In other tweets, he made fun of a muezzin (a caller to prayer) and certain religious practices.

Artists and intellectuals have repeatedly been targeted in Turkey for voicing their opinions, and Say's case has renewed concerns about the Turkish government's stance towards freedom of expression. The composer has been a vocal critic of the ruling AK party and Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Erdogan and his government have been accused of wanting to dismantle Turkish secularism and of curbing freedom of expression. In a report published at the end of last month, Amnesty International called the lack of freedom of speech in Turkey one of the country's "most entrenched human rights problems". (Continue Reading.)

An Open Message to Rabbi Jerome Davidson (and Other Critics of Pamela Geller)

My wife and I were looking forward to hearing Pamela Geller speak at Great Neck Synagogue this Sunday. Unfortunately, her speech was canceled due to a relentless campaign of intimidation by an "interfaith" coalition that included not only Muslims, but Jews and Christians as well. We can only wonder why these Jews and Christians, who find Pamela's speech unacceptable, have no objection to the hate-filled claims we read in the Qur'an and Hadith.

If you happen to be in the New York area, Sunday's events have been rescheduled elsewhere.

For those who would like to know what the Muslim sources say about unbelievers, here you go:

Qur’an 3:32—Say: Obey Allah and the Apostle; but if they turn back, then surely Allah does not love the unbelievers.

Qur’an 5:51—O you who believe! do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people.

Qur’an 9:29—Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the Religion of Truth, from among the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizyah with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.

Qur’an 9:30—And the Jews say: Uzair is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!

Qur’an 9:73—O Prophet! strive hard against the unbelievers and the hypocrites and be unyielding to them; and their abode is hell, and evil is the destination.

Qur’an 9:111—Surely Allah has bought of the believers their persons and their property for this, that they shall have the garden; they fight in Allah's way, so they slay and are slain; a promise which is binding on Him in the Taurat and the Injeel and the Quran; and who is more faithful to his covenant than Allah? Rejoice therefore in the pledge which you have made; and that is the mighty achievement.

Qur’an 9:123—O you who believe! fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness; and know that Allah is with those who guard (against evil).

Qur’an 47:35—Be not weary and fainthearted, crying for peace, when ye should be uppermost: for Allah is with you, and will never put you in loss for your (good) deeds.

Qur’an 48:29—Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and those who are with him are severe against disbelievers, and merciful among themselves.

Qur’an 98:6—Verily, those who disbelieve (in the religion of Islam, the Qur'an and Prophet Muhammad) from among the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) and Al-Mushrikun will abide in the Fire of Hell. They are the worst of creatures.

Sahih Muslim 33—It has been narrated on the authority of Abdullah b. Umar that the Messenger of Allah said: I have been commanded to fight against people till they testify that there is no god but Allah, that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, and they establish prayer, and pay Zakat and if they do it, their blood and property are guaranteed protection on my behalf except when justified by law, and their affairs rest with Allah.

Sahih Muslim 4366—It has been narrated by ‘Umar b. al-Khattab that he heard the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) say: I will expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula and will not leave any but Muslim.

Al-Bukhari, Al-Adab al-Mufrad 1103—Abu Hurayra reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Do not give the People of the Book the greeting first. Force them to the narrowest part of the road.”

Sahih al-Bukhari, Ch. 88—Narrated Ibn Umar that the Prophet said, “My livelihood is under the shade of my spear, and he who disobeys my orders will be humiliated by paying Jizya.”

For more on Jihad, click here.

Charles Jacobs and Robert Spencer Discuss Muslim Persecution of Christians

Egyptian Muslims Attack Christian Girl in Broad Daylight

According to the Qur'an, Christians and Jews are the "worst of creatures":

Qur'an 98:6—Verily, those who disbelieve (in the religion of Islam, the Qur'an and Prophet Muhammad) from among the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) and Al-Mushrikun will abide in the Fire of Hell. They are the worst of creatures.

The Qur'an also says that Allah has no love for unbelievers:

Qur’an 3:32—Say: Obey Allah and the Apostle; but if they turn back, then surely Allah does not love the unbelievers.

Muslims are even commanded to violently subjugate Christians and Jews:

Qur’an 9:29—Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the Religion of Truth, from among the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizyah with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.

In the process of violently subjugating unbelievers, Muslims are allowed to rape their female captives:

Qur'an 4:24—Also (forbidden are) women already married, except those (captives and slaves) whom your right hands possess.

(Click here for the historical context of 4:24, which shows that this verse was revealed in order to allow Muslims to rape even married captives.)

In the following video, we see the fruit of Muhammad's teachings, as Egyptian Muslims notice a Christian girl and begin yelling "Nasara!" ("Christians!"). The Muslims then proceed to tear her clothes off in broad daylight, while shouting "Allahu Akbar!" The cameraman is pushed away, so we don't see what happened to the poor girl.

One Killed, 66 Injured as Egyptian Muslims Attack Mourning Christians after Funeral Service

I don't see how this can end well. Now that the Muslim Brotherhood is in power, it's open season on the Copts. But the Copts are trying to defend themselves, and every act of self-defense will be seen as justification for further attacks.

This is exactly what we'll soon be seeing in Syria, after we help put another Islamist regime in power.

Egypt (NBC News)--One person was killed and 66 others were wounded during clashes that erupted in Cairo on Sunday following a funeral service at the city’s main cathedral for four Coptic Christians killed during sectarian violence on Friday, NBC News has confirmed.

Mobs reportedly attacked mourners leaving St. Mark’s Cathedral after a ceremony honoring Christians killed during the latest wave of ethnic tensions to grip the most populous Arab state.

Witnesses told local TV stations that the riot broke out after a throng of people lobbed rocks and petrol bombs at the mourners. Funeral-goers reportedly counterattacked by throwing stones at the mobs, BBC reported.

Riot police deployed around the cathedral sprayed tear gas into the teeming crowd to break up the violence.

At least 66 people were hurt in the melee, including one police officer, Reuters reported.

Mahrous Hana Ibrahim, 30, a Christian, was killed during the bloody clashes, NBC News has confirmed. (Continue Reading.

)

Robert Spencer and David Wood on Sharia Blasphemy Laws

The OIC and many other Muslim organizations are calling for blasphemy laws that would prevent people from criticizing Islam. But if we're going to start banning speech that might hurt someone's feelings, shouldn't the Qur'an be the first book banned?

U.S. Diplomat Anne Smedinghoff Killed in Suicide Attack in Afghanistan

According to the Qur'an, the penalty for "making mischief" in a Muslim country is death:

Qur'an 5:33—The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His apostle and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement.

By interfering in Muslim affairs in Afghanistan, U.S. Diplomat Anne Smedinghoff was, according to Islam, "making mischief."

U.S. Diplomat Anne Smedinghoff

(CNN) -- Anne Smedinghoff lived inside a heavily secured compound.

But the public diplomacy officer for the U.S. Embassy in Kabul was always pushing to get out.

"She particularly enjoyed the opportunity to work directly with the Afghan people," her parents said in a statement, "and was always looking for opportunities to reach out and help make a difference in the lives of those living in a country ravaged by war."

This weekend, the 25-year-old was trying to do just that -- delivering books to a school in southern Afghanistan -- when a suicide bomber smashed into her convoy Saturday. She is believed to be the first U.S. diplomat killed since the September attack in Benghazi, Libya.

Her death was a grim reminder of the risks and importance of pushing for change in "one of the toughest places on earth," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday.

It was an "extraordinary harsh contradiction," Kerry said, to see an attacker kill "a young 25-year-old woman with all of the future ahead of her, believing in the possibilities of diplomacy, of changing people's lives, of making a difference, having an impact, who was taking knowledge in books to deliver them to a school."

Officials did not say who they believe was behind the blast. But Kerry offered a sharp condemnation of the violence as he spoke Sunday to U.S. diplomats stationed in Istanbul.

"The folks who want to kill people, and that's all they want to do, are scared of knowledge. And they want to shut the doors and they don't want people to make their choices about the future. For them, it's 'You do things my way and if you don't, we'll throw acid in your face. We'll put a bullet in your face,' to a young girl trying to learn," Kerry said. "So this is a huge challenge for us. It is a confrontation with modernity, with possibilities, and everything that our country stands for, everything we stand for, is embodied in what Anne Smedinghoff stood for." (Continue Reading.)

U.S. Military Lists Evangelical Christianity, Catholicism, and Islamophobia as Forms of Religious Extremism Alongside Terrorist Groups

Just when you thought our leaders couldn't possibly get any dumber or more cowardly . . .

FoxNews--The U.S. Army listed Evangelical Christianity and Catholicism as examples of religious extremism along with Al Qaeda and Hamas during a briefing with an Army Reserve unit based in Pennsylvania, Fox News has learned.

“We find this offensive to have Evangelical Christians and the Catholic Church to be listed among known terrorist groups,” said Ron Crews, executive director of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty. “It is dishonorable for any U.S. military entity to allow this type of wrongheaded characterization.”

The incident occurred during an Army Reserve Equal Opportunity training brief on extremism. Topping the list is Evangelical Christianity. Other organizations listed included Catholicism, Al Qaeda, Hamas, the Ku Klux Klan, Sunni Muslims, and Nation of Islam.

The military also listed “Islamophobia” as a form of religious extremism. (Source)

Muslim Bikini Model Maryam Basir Sees No Conflict Between Her Faith and Her Career

It seems that CNN is following a pattern. Whenever they post something that could put Islam in a negative light, they also post something to show how diverse, reformed, and Westernized Islam is. Yesterday, CNN posted an article and a video about a poor Afghan teenager named Gul Meena, whose brother tried to hack her to death in a brutal "honor" attack. CNN also immediately posted a video about a Muslim bikini model, who sees no conflict between her faith in Allah and her career as a bikini model. The takeaway message? "For everyone who feels like judging Islam because of all the girls getting hacked to death by their families, not so fast! Islam is diverse and tolerant, as the following video about a devout Muslim bikini model proves." Of course, the takeaway message requires us to ignore the obvious. Bikini model Maryam Basir's family disagrees with her career choice, but there's nothing they can do about it, because she lives in the United States. If a Muslim girl were to choose the same career in Afghanistan or Pakistan, her family would have her killed. In other words, Basir is only able to make her own choices because she lives in a country with a non-Islamic legal system.

Does anyone else ever wish that reporters would ask more interesting questions? For instance, wouldn't it have been interesting if Alina Cho had asked for Basir's interpretation of various Qur'an and Hadith passages concerning women? For more on women in Islam, click here.

Speaking in Houston This Monday Evening

For those of you in the Houston area, I'll be speaking for the Houston chapter of ACT! for America this Monday (April 8th) at 7:00 P.M. The topic is "Muhammad: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly." Send me an email if you'd like details.

More Than 150 Kidnappings Targeting Christians in Egypt's Minya Province over Past Two Years

According to the Qur'an, Christians are the "worst of creatures" and must be violently subjugated:

Qur’an 98:6—Verily, those who disbelieve (in the religion of Islam, the Qur'an and Prophet Muhammad) from among the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) and Al-Mushrikun will abide in the Fire of Hell. They are the worst of creatures.

Qur’an 9:29—Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the Religion of Truth, from among the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizyah with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.

Yet the media just can't seem to understand why, out of more than 150 kidnappings in Egypt's Minya province over the past two years, 100% have targeted Christians.

Egypt (CNN)--Ezzat Kromer's resistance to his kidnappers did not last long. One of the masked gunmen fired a round between his feet as he sat behind the wheel of his car and said with chilling calm, "The next one will go into your heart."

The Christian gynecologist says he was bundled into his abductors' vehicle, forced to lie under their feet in the back seat for a 45-minute ride, then dumped in a small cold room while his kidnappers contacted his family over a ransom.

For the next 27 hours, he endured beatings, insults and threats to his life, while blindfolded, a bandage sealing his mouth and cotton balls in his ears.

Kromer's case is part of a dramatic rise of kidnappings targeting Christians, including children, in Egypt's southern province of Minya, home to the country's largest concentration of Christians but also a heartland for Islamist hard-liners.

The kidnappings are mostly blamed on criminal gangs, which operate more freely amid Egypt's collapse in security since the 2011 fall of autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

Crime has risen in general across Egypt, hitting Muslims as well. But the wave of kidnappings in Minya has specifically targeted Christians, and victims, church leaders and rights activists ultimately blame the atmosphere created by the rising power of hard-line Islamists.

They contend criminals are influenced by the rhetoric of radical clerics depicting Egypt's Christian minority as second-class citizens and see Christians as fair game, with authorities less likely to investigate crimes against the community.

Over the past two years, there have been more than 150 reported kidnappings in the province — all of them targeting Christians, according to a top official at the Interior Ministry, which is in charge of the police.

Of those, 37 have been in the last several months alone, the official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information. (Continue Reading.)

Afghan Teenager Gul Meena Describes Brutal "Honor" Attack

To all the reporters and politicians working tirelessly to protect Islam from criticism: I hope you eventually realize what you're protecting. (For more on women in Islam, click here.)

Gul Meena

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- It's cold and raining in Kabul and the pothole-filled dirt roads have turned into a sea of mud. We drive up to the gateway of a high-walled compound. A soldier brandishing an AK-47 stands guard outside the building. We've come to a women's shelter to meet Gul Meena -- a 17-year-old girl from Pakistan who shouldn't be alive.

My crew and I are ushered into a room and sitting on a wooden chair slouched over is small, fragile Gul Meena. Her sullen eyes turn from the raindrops streaming down the window outside and towards us as we enter the room.

Gul's bright coloured headscarf is embroidered with blue, red and green flowers and covers most of her face. She nervously plays with it and gives us a glimpse of a frightened smile from underneath the fabric. Her guardian Anisa, from the shelter run by Women for Afghan Women, touches her head and gently moves the headscarf back. That's when we see the scars etched deeply into her face.

This Pakistani girl's life of misery and suffering began at the tender age of 12, when instead of going to school she was married to a man old enough to be her grandfather. She says: "My family married me off when I was 12 years old. My husband was 60. Every day he would beat me. I would cry and beg him stop. But he just kept on beating me." (Continue Reading.)

Pat Condell: I'm Offended by Islam

Here's the latest video by Pat Condell. He makes an absolutely essential point (which Robert Spencer and I made on ABN's "Jihad Watch" last night), namely, that if Islamic leaders expect the West to give in to their perpetual complaints (or, even worse, to criminalize criticism of Islam), why shouldn't these Islamic leaders give in to our complaints about Islam? Why is tolerance always a one-way street in Islam? And why are so many people offended by criticism of Islam, but not by Islam's violent, misogynistic, intolerant teachings?

When a Jihadist Calls

If you've tried leaving a message on my phone recently, you've probably heard an automated message saying my message box is full. Here's why.

Retiring from Debate and Apologetics

Hi Everyone,

I've been involved in debate and apologetics for a while now. What's the result? A lot of death threats and a lot of people angry at me. I've decided that my time may be better spent doing scholarly-level philosophy rather than apologetics. Hence, I won't be posting here again, though I'll leave the content up in case anyone needs something. If anyone would like to take over the site, let me know.

David

***UPDATE*** Happy April Fools' Day everyone! (My wife made me do it!) Just to clarify, yes, THIS POST WAS A PRANK.