Global attack On Religion (page 2)

LoveUniHateExams

yet in the UAE , Saudi Arabia , Oman and Kuwait the Christian populations are growing

Please provide evidence for this.

Simon

I think any growth is likely to be because of people being displaced from other areas in the region.

LoveUniHateExams

In addition to other posters' criticisms of the article, two further points caught my attention:

1. Islamic State was described as a non-state actor.

ISIS isn't recognized by the UN or by any country, but describing it as non-state actor is disingenuous. It functions exactly like a state. It has its own laws based on Sharia, it has a police force and an army, it has its own school curriculum, it has a national health service called the ISHS, it collects taxes from citizens living in it area.

2. The Syriac priest blamed the Iraqi war (2003) for allowing the rise of the precursor to ISIS.

I've read in an article that the precursor group was formed much earlier, in 1999, by a terrorist named Abu Musab al-Zarqarwi. This group was called Jama'at al-Tawhid wal Jihad, and, after several name changes, would become known as ISIS.

http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/uploads/Documents/pubs/ResearchNote_20_Zelin.pdf

jhine

Yes , Simon , some of the growth can be attributed to population shift but many of the migrants act as missionaries and underground churches exist in these areas . The situation is complicated , there are reports from Western Christian aid workers in these areas that Muslims are converting to Christianity because of a discontent with the violence of Muslims there .No I cannot give figures or substantiate that , but have no reason to doubt it either . As to the general growth of Christianity in the Middle East just Googling the subject gives lots of charts and projections .

I only meant to help to burst the WT bubble with my post . They look for the end of " Christendom " and perhaps see this as the beginning of the end .

Jan

LoveUniHateExams

Good answer, jhine.

But I feel any Christian growth in UAE, KSA, Oman, and Kuwait is totally insignificant in the scheme of things - the fact that any growth has happened underground supports this conclusion.

If the Saudi religious police ever discovered your alleged growth in their country, we all know that certain people would be peacefully beheaded

Actigall Ur

Being a current active JW myself, I know that JWs love to take every piece of bad news from the world and pass it around as "the end is near!"

I'm in a few circles of email chains and the things I get are absurd. "Pope Visits Philadelphia-- this is clearly a sign that Jehovah is speeding up things in these last days. Unprecedented. The END IS NEAR!!!"

Actigall Ur

@jhine- Exactly. Christianity is spreading in the MENA area. Too bad for the Governing Body that 99% of that growth is NOT from their cult!

jhine

LoveUni , yes you are right any conversions are secret , for obvious reasons . If the stories about a backlash against Muslim violence are true , and I this is very possible and as I said I have no reason to doubt them , then it means that persecution is counterproductive .

This happened in China , which is now set to have more Church goers than America .

By the way haven't you finished those exams yet ?

LoveUniHateExams

@jhine

Although I'm generally against all religion, I'm somehow glad that Saudi and Gulf State citizens are converting to Christianity. It must mean that they're thinking and making their own choices. Hopefully more are becoming atheist and agnostic, too.

By the way haven't you finished those exams yet ? - yes, I graduated last July. Perhaps I should change my username to LovedUniPassedExams

JWdaughter

In the MENA areas, the oil, gas and other industries are bringing in foreign workers of all faiths from India, the west, far east, Africa. Orthodox Christians are well represented in these areas particularly,

There are millions working and living there with no or very little restriction, although evangelism, wtbts or lds style would be unacceptable in many places, it definitively happens. I was evangelized more than once. No one was harmed, jailed or otherwise narked on, though there were lively conversations in mixed groups of Muslims and Christians.

Global attack On Religion

Share this