Christians Pushing Back In Nigeria

[Annie]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060221...zlvaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--

Anti-Muslim Riot in Nigeria Turns Deadly

By DULUE MBACHU, Associated Press Writer 51 minutes ago

Christian mobs rampaged through a southern Nigerian city Tuesday, burning mosques and killing several people in an outbreak of anti-Muslim violence that followed deadly protests against caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad over the weekend.

Residents and witnesses in the southern, predominantly Christian city of Onitsha said several Muslims with origins in the north were beaten to death by mobs which also burned two mosques there.

"The mosque at the main market has been burnt and I've counted at least six dead bodies on the streets," Izzy Uzor, an Onitsha resident and businessman, told The Associated Press by telephone. "The whole town is in a frenzy and people are running in all directions."

The violence appeared to be in reprisal for anti-Christian violence Saturday in the mostly Muslim northern city of Maiduguri in which thousands of Muslims protesting caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad attacked Christians and burned churches, killing at least 18 people.

Another Onitsha resident, Isotonu Achor, said one badly beaten Muslim man ran into his office from the streets to escape the violence.

"There is blood all over him and I'm scared they'll come for him here. If he doesn't get urgent treatment he will die," Achor said.

Police and government officials were not immediately available for comment.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous country of more than 130 million people, is roughly divided between a predominantly Muslim north and a mainly Christian south. Thousands of people have died in religious violence in Nigeria since 2000.

Saturday's protest over the cartoons of Prophet Muhammad in Maiduguri marked the first violent demonstrations over the issue in Nigeria. Police say at least 18 people, most of them Christians, died, and 30 churches were burned down. The Christian Association of Nigeria said at least 50 people were killed in the violence.

The cartoons, which first appeared in a Danish newspaper in September, have set off sometimes violent protests around the world. One caricature shows Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban with an ignited fuse.

Islam widely holds that representations of Muhammad are banned for fear they could lead to idolatry.

A Danish newspaper first printed the caricatures in September. Other newspapers, mostly in Europe, have reprinted the pictures, asserting their news value and the right to freedom of expression.

 

[USMCDevilDog]

Is it wrong of me to say, wahoo? Good for them...

 

[trobinett]

I was hoping this "backlash" kind of deal WOULDN`T happen.

Oh well........

 

[5stringJeff]

I was hoping this "backlash" kind of deal WOULDN`T happen.

Oh well........

Agreed.

 

[Abbey Normal]

Agreed.

That makes three of us.

 

[dilloduck]

That makes three of us.

Understood---yet are they not protecting themselves much like the United States is defending itself against enemies that would kill us?

 

[USViking]

Is it wrong of me to say, wahoo? Good for them...

Yes it would be wrong of you, obviously.

One is always entitled to self-defence;
one is never entitled to slaughtering
innocent people as an act of vengance
against other, guilty people.

 

[5stringJeff]

Understood---yet are they not protecting themselves much like the United States is defending itself against enemies that would kill us?

From a Christian perspective, mobs burning down mosques and killing innocents is never morally justified, regardless of what those mosque-goers might have done to you. That's significantly different from the US fighting against terrorism in general.

 

[ThomasPaine]

From a Christian perspective, mobs burning down mosques and killing innocents is never morally justified, regardless of what those mosque-goers might have done to you. That's significantly different from the US fighting against terrorism in general.

for a tooth.(Exodus 21:22-27) I certainly don't believe Jesus would recommend turning the other cheek when murder is involved.(You have heard that it was said, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth". But I say to you, do not resist an evildoer. If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. Matthew 5:38-39,) However, this is no face striking this is murder. Innocents were obviously killed on both sides... Nigeria may be headed for civil war. Bad news for the US as we import a hell of alot of oil from them.

 

[trobinett]

We are SO addicted to oil.

Hope it doesn`t become our "undoing". :usa:

 

[Bonnie]

All I can say how sad that it's come to this. But where was the protection for Christians when they were being hacked to death in their sleep?

 

[5stringJeff]

I'm not so sure you are correct on this one. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.(Exodus 21:22-27) I certainly don't believe Jesus would recommend turning the other cheek when murder is involved.(You have heard that it was said, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth". But I say to you, do not resist an evildoer. If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. Matthew 5:38-39,) However, this is no face striking this is murder. Innocents were obviously killed on both sides... Nigeria may be headed for civil war. Bad news for the US as we import a hell of alot of oil from them.

It's one thing to act in self defense. It's another thing to go mobbing. Nowhere did Jesus or any apostle instruct us to go burn down mosques in order to spread the Gospel. That is one area which clearly separates us from Islam.

 

[theim]

Just finally had enough and snapped I guess. I get the feeling there's more to come.

 

[Annie]

It's one thing to act in self defense. It's another thing to go mobbing. Nowhere did Jesus or any apostle instruct us to go burn down mosques in order to spread the Gospel. That is one area which clearly separates us from Islam.

No where. At the same time, when over the course of a couple days, 30+churches are burned and scores of Christians are killed on the streets, taking offense seems understandable, perhaps reasonable, definately an act to get the others to back off. Last I checked, it was called self-defense.

 

[5stringJeff]

No where. At the same time, when over the course of a couple days, 30+churches are burned and scores of Christians are killed on the streets, taking offense seems understandable, perhaps reasonable, definately an act to get the others to back off. Last I checked, it was called self-defense.

Defending a church or a family from attackers is one things. Burning down mosques in retribution is another. And yeah, it's certainly understandable to have that desire, but I don't think it's right for Christians to take retribution in this manner.

 

[USViking]

No where. At the same time, when over the course of a couple days, 30+churches are burned and scores of Christians are killed on the streets, taking offense seems understandable, perhaps reasonable, definately an act to get the others to back off. Last I checked, it was called self-defense.

Taking offense is reasonable, but the last I checked
killing innocent people was called murder, not
self-defence.

You are excusing the same behavior by Christians
that you condemn among Muslims, and who started
it is beside the point.

 

[NATO AIR]

Religious tensions have been rising in Nigeria for years now. This kind of violence is not rare, its just being widely reported by the media to discredit the Christians in the face of the Islamist riots.

It will end in civil war, with the US and EU having to intervene, and Nigeria becoming two, perhaps three to five different countries. Which is the natural, and to be honest, necessary solution to this problem. The Islamic north wants to revert to the Dark Ages, complete with an African version of the Taliban (with all the African trimmings of tribal mystics, witchcraft and tribal bloodlust).

The sooner this happens, the better for US security (as it allows us to have a clearly defined enemy, not a problematic province or two in a friendly country that leads to a bloody insurgency and counterinsurgency that we'd have to bankroll) and for Africa. The Christian countries (perhaps 1, or more likely, 2-3) that come out of this deal will be our allies, and will have a fresh chance to become effective nations. The Muslim ones will be our enemies, and we will have to deal with them at some point as they become havens for terrorists.

 

[Annie]

Defending a church or a family from attackers is one things. Burning down mosques in retribution is another. And yeah, it's certainly understandable to have that desire, but I don't think it's right for Christians to take retribution in this manner.

Jeff, I hear you and agree in theory. However, if it were my sons or daughter hacked to death, I guess my feelings would be along the lines of, 'Fine, war you want, war you get.' I KNOW I felt that way after 9/11 and I KNOW many innocents were killed in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as in NY, PA, and DC on 9/11.

 

[USViking]

Jeff, I hear you and agree in theory. However, if it were my sons or daughter hacked to death, I guess my feelings would be along the lines of, 'Fine, war you want, war you get.' I KNOW I felt that way after 9/11 and I KNOW many innocents were killed in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as in NY, PA, and DC on 9/11.

This is exactly the kind of argument used by lynch mobs.

What you are defending is lynch mob behavior,
and I do not believe you yourself would become
part of a lynch mob under any circumstances.

The Muslims in southern Nigeria were lynch mob
victims who had nothing to do with the atrocities
commited by their brethren in the North.

 

[NATO AIR]

Defending a church or a family from attackers is one things. Burning down mosques in retribution is another. And yeah, it's certainly understandable to have that desire, but I don't think it's right for Christians to take retribution in this manner.

I certainly agree. But this can be expected when ministers who have preached peace and coexistence with the Muslims were run out of town or murdered by Muslims. There are no more moderate voices. The last hope could have been an African or Asian Pope who's familiar with these issues and could have had the ear of the Protestants and Catholics of Nigeria, but the Catholics picked a German with no currency in the rest of the world.

Now there is a pre-hajj Malcolm X feel to Christians in Nigeria. They're sick and tired of being persecuted, threatened and killed by the Muslims. Now they will defend themselves, by any means necessary.