Iraqi Christians on Wednesday called off Christmas festivities across the country as al Qaeda insurgents threatened more attacks on a beleaguered community still terrified from a bloody siege at a Baghdad church two months earlier.
A council representing Christian denominations across Iraq advised its followers to cancel public Christmas celebrations out of concern over new terror attacks and as a show of mourning for the victims of the church siege and other violence.
Church officials in the northern cities of Kirkuk and Mosul, the southern city of Basra and in the capital confirmed they will not put up Christmas decorations or hold evening Mass and have urged worshippers to refrain from decorating their homes. Even an appearance by Santa Claus was called off.
"Nobody can ignore the threats of al Qaeda against Iraqi Christians," said Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako in Kirkuk. "We cannot find a single source of joy that makes us celebrate. The situation of the Christians is bleak."
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/dec/22/iraqi-churches-cancel-christmas-festivities/
Of course, according to the American mainstream media (which ignores these stories as best they can), this must be the fault of Judeo-Christian America's vicious Islamophobia.
No comments:
Post a Comment