Not only is the Islamic State (ISIS) persecuting Christians but so are the U.S.-supported "rebel" forces in Syria, which the Obama administration assures are "moderate." According to a recent National Public Radio (NPR) report, "With backing from U.S. allies, like Turkey and Saudi Arabia, this [U.S. supported] rebel coalition fights both the Syrian regime and the so-called Islamic State, or ISIS. But the coalition has extremists in its own ranks who have mistreated Christians and forced them out of their homes"—just as ISIS has done. In response, Mideast Christian leaders have made clear that, far from expecting the West to intervene on their behalf, they merely wish that the West would stop arming, supporting, or even facilitating the Islamic terrorists who are making their lives a living hell. The crisis was spelled out in an article in Christian Today, entitled, "Syrian Christian leader tells West: 'Stop arming terror groups who are massacring our people.'" According to the Patriarch of Antioch, Moran Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, "If the West wants to do something about the present crisis, the most effective thing would be to support local governments, which need sufficient armies and forces to maintain security and defend respective populations against attacks. State institutions need to be strengthened and stabilized. Instead, what we see is their forced dismemberment being fueled from the outside." Another Christian leader had another message to the West. According to Iraqi priest, Fr. Douglas Bazi, once a torture victim who now takes care of thousands of refugees forced to flee Mosul since the Islamic State took over the city last year, the West needs to "Wake up!" During celebrations of St. Peter and St. Paul, the Iraqi priest further reflected that, "We cannot celebrate the feast of two martyrs without remembering the living martyrs of our time." These martyrs are not limited to the Middle East. Among the many Christians slaughtered in Nigeria in July was a young girl who was stoned to death for refusing to renounce Christ and convert to Islam. Pastor Mark lost his daughter, Monica, in the Chibok abduction, in which almost 300 predominantly Christian girls were kidnapped at the hands of the Islamic organization, Boko Haram. He was told that his daughter refused to change her religion, so she was buried from the neck down, and then stoned to death. The rest of July's roundup of Muslim persecution of Christians around the world includes, but is not limited to, the following accounts, listed by theme.
