Bombs targeting Christians on Christmas Day kill 49 in Baghdad

[News_Editor]

BAGHDAD, IRAQ (BNO NEWS) -- At least 49 people were killed and nearly 90 others were injured when bombs exploded outside a church and near a crowded outdoor market in Christian areas of Baghdad, police and medics said Wednesday as Christmas festivities took place in the Iraqi capital.

The first attack happened when two bombs exploded at a popular Assyrian market in Dora district, a mostly Christian neighborhood in southern Baghdad. The powerful explosions, which destroyed and damaged a number of shops at the crowded market, killed at least 35 people and injured 56 others.

The attack on the outdoor market was followed minutes later by an explosion that happened outside the nearby Maria church as worshippers were leaving after finishing prayers. "The blast was caused by a parked car that was loaded with explosives," a police official said, putting the number of casualties at 14 dead and 31 injured.

Other Christmas festivities in the capital took place without incident, but at least thirteen people were killed in three other attacks that did not appear to target Christians. One of those attacks happened south of Tikrit in Salah ad Din province when a motorcycle bomb exploded near a playground, killing four police officers and two civilians.

The Church of England's spiritual leader, during his annual Christmas sermon, said Christian communities in the Middle East were "ever more seriously" threatened and made reference to Wednesday's attacks in Baghdad. He also condemned "injustices" in the Palestinian territories, Israel, and South Sudan.

"Even this morning, a church in Baghdad, where there have been Christians since the 1st century, was bombed and [14] more people testified to their faith with their lives," the Archbishop of Canterbury said. "Christians in the region are attacked and massacred, driven into exile from an area in which their presence has always been central, undoubted, essential, richly contributing, and faithful."

The deadliest attack against Christians since the Iraq war happened in October 2010 when a group of gunmen attacked the Our Lady of Salvation Church in the Karrada District of Baghdad, killing 58 people and injuring 78 others. The attack was claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), an armed insurgent group affiliated with al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), that considers Christians to be "infidels" and a legitimate target in their Jihad.

Violence in Iraq has declined dramatically since its peak in 2006 and 2007, but political turmoil and sectarian violence has been on the rise following the pullout of the last U.S. soldiers in mid-December 2011. At least 7,225 people are known to have died in violence across Iraq so far this year.

(Copyright 2013 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: [email protected].)

[Steely Dan]

Par for the course, Christians are being systematically eradicated from the Middle East, yet almost nobody dares comment on this inconvenient truth, and those that do are condemned as fringe nutcases.

http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/robert-spencer/the-jihadist-cleansing-of-christianity-from-the-holy-land/

Fox News reported that in Iraq, “Christians are afraid to put up a Christmas tree or other decorations, according to one Christian pastor in Iraq. Such displays of faith in an increasingly extremist nation can bring threats and violence, say human rights groups.

Edited December 27, 2013 by Steely Dan

[Credo]

Depending on the area, it's not such a good idea to be a Sunni or a Shia either.

[PiPiFFS]

Can anyone honestly tell me that Iraq is a safer, better place since the West decide to remove Saddam and bring so called freedom and democracy to the country ? None of the other countries the West has helped to democracy since have fared any better either. Don't politicians learn anything from their failed efforts ?

A time that is supposed to be about kindness and goodwill to others and so mush needless slaughter all in the name of a so called God.

So much for peace and goodwill to ALL men

[Credo]

Well, yes, some parts of Iraq are safer. The Kurdish area is relatively peaceful and is well managed. When Saddam was around he managed to kill over 100,000 in just 9 months. He destroyed nearly all the rural villages and the remainder of the population was put in collective cities. Take a look at some pictures of what happened in Halabja.

No doubt the west's involvement has been a little less than stunning, but the start of Saddam's downfall was with his little misadventure in Kuwait.

For the Christians, however, this particular event does not bode well.

[sirineou]

Religion poisons everything

[F430murci]

Religion poisons everything

No. Crazy, violent loser lunatics poisin everything. Religiion or no religion, normal people don't act this way.

[sirineou]

Religion poisons everything

No. Crazy, violent loser lunatics poisin everything. Religiion or no religion, normal people don't act this way.

I don't want to turn this thread in to a debate about religion, but the sectarian violence exhibited in Iraq and around the world can not!! only attributed craziness, perhaps it was the craziness that led to religious beliefs, but it certainly was the religion that justified the bombing as a moral action in the mind of the believer.

The late Christopher Hitchens said it best when he set the following challenge:

"name me a moral action committed by a believer or an ethical statement uttered by one, that could not have been made by a non-believer?'

"but if you were asked to name an evil action preformed or a vile statement made by someone attributable only to their religion or faith, no one would hesitate, you already thought of a few"

[F430murci]

Religion poisons everything

No. Crazy, violent loser lunatics poisin everything. Religiion or no religion, normal people don't act this way.

I don't want to turn this thread in to a debate about religion, but the sectarian violence exhibited in Iraq and around the world can not!! only attributed craziness, perhaps it was the craziness that led to religious beliefs, but it certainly was the religion that justified the bombing as a moral action in the mind of the believer.

The late Christopher Hitchens said it best when he set the following challenge:

"name me a moral action committed by a believer or an ethical statement uttered by one, that could not have been made by a non-believer?'

"but if you were asked to name an evil action preformed or a vile statement made by someone attributable only to their religion or faith, no one would hesitate, you already thought of a few"

Vile people acting vile and using bs excuses for their vile behavior. Love it when people commit vile and atrocious acts and blame everything and everyone, except themselves, for their vileness. Losers is putting it too nicely for both them and the vile people that make excuses for them.

[F430murci]

Just another example of patheticness.

-----

BEIRUT - The former Lebanese ambassador to the United States was killed early Friday by a bomb explosion close to the government headquarters in central Beirut that also killed at least four others.

Mohammad Chatah, who was a senior aide to former prime minister Saad Hariri, was attending a meeting of senior leaders of the March 14 political party. The party is staunchly opposed to the regime of Bashar Assad in neighboring Syria and critical of Shiite militia and political party Hezbollah inside of Lebanon.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/27/22067065-ex-ambassador-to-us-killed-in-lebanon-bomb-blast-four-others-slain?lite

[sirineou]

Just another example of patheticness.

-----

BEIRUT - The former Lebanese ambassador to the United States was killed early Friday by a bomb explosion close to the government headquarters in central Beirut that also killed at least four others.

Mohammad Chatah, who was a senior aide to former prime minister Saad Hariri, was attending a meeting of senior leaders of the March 14 political party. The party is staunchly opposed to the regime of Bashar Assad in neighboring Syria and critical of Shiite militia and political party Hezbollah inside of Lebanon.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/27/22067065-ex-ambassador-to-us-killed-in-lebanon-bomb-blast-four-others-slain?lite

Again more religious sectarian conflict,

History ofLebanon :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Lebanon#Sectarian_conflict:_European_Powers_begin_to_intervene

Please pay special attention to Section 5.4 titled Sectarian conflict: European powers intervene

Druze, Maronite Christians, Shias, Sunni, they all have being killing each other on the name of the one true God, for centuries.

Religion takes ordinary people and makes then do extraordinarily evil things

Religion poisons everything

[F430murci]

Just another example of patheticness.

-----

BEIRUT - The former Lebanese ambassador to the United States was killed early Friday by a bomb explosion close to the government headquarters in central Beirut that also killed at least four others.

Mohammad Chatah, who was a senior aide to former prime minister Saad Hariri, was attending a meeting of senior leaders of the March 14 political party. The party is staunchly opposed to the regime of Bashar Assad in neighboring Syria and critical of Shiite militia and political party Hezbollah inside of Lebanon.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/27/22067065-ex-ambassador-to-us-killed-in-lebanon-bomb-blast-four-others-slain?lite

Again more religious sectarian conflict,

History ofLebanon :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Lebanon#Sectarian_conflict:_European_Powers_begin_to_intervene

Please pay special attention to Section 5.4 titled Sectarian conflict: European powers intervene

Druze, Maronite Christians, Shias, Sunni, they all have being killing each other on the name of the one true God, for centuries.

Religion takes ordinary people and makes then do extraordinarily evil things

Religion poisons everything

Religion makes no one do nothing. Crazy pathetic people that would kill even if there was no religion would still terrorize and kill and then find some reason to rationalize their heinous conduct. People kill because they are killers. Only the weak pathetic killers use bs excuses for their actions.

[Steely Dan]

True in part, but if you have a set menu of evil psychotic behavior excused with religious babble, which furthermore promised a hereafter of carnal pleasure then what? I would suggest a 'justification' for the common and garden psychopath. Check how man treats their fellow man in highly religious Countries if you need further evidence.

[Tchooptip]

Can anyone honestly tell me that Iraq is a safer, better place since the West decide to remove Saddam and bring so called freedom and democracy to the country ? None of the other countries the West has helped to democracy since have fared any better either. Don't politicians learn anything from their failed efforts ?

A time that is supposed to be about kindness and goodwill to others and so mush needless slaughter all in the name of a so called God.

So much for peace and goodwill to ALL men

Can anyone honestly tell me that Iraq is a safer, better place since the West decide to remove Saddam

Why Are you scared to say since US decide to remove Saddam ?

[Somtamnication]

The war of civilizations is fast approaching. Where there is religion, there is war. Always was, always will be.

[Scott]

Off-topic post deleted.

[NeverSure]

Can anyone honestly tell me that Iraq is a safer, better place since the West decide to remove Saddam and bring so called freedom and democracy to the country ? None of the other countries the West has helped to democracy since have fared any better either. Don't politicians learn anything from their failed efforts ?

A time that is supposed to be about kindness and goodwill to others and so mush needless slaughter all in the name of a so called God.

So much for peace and goodwill to ALL men

Can anyone honestly tell me that Iraq is a safer, better place since the West decide to remove Saddam

Why Are you scared to say since US decide to remove Saddam ?

Maybe because there were 22 countries in that invasion. The UK provided about 1/3 of the troops. Thailand provided troops.

So wipe that smile off your face and get a more remorseful one.

[Scott]

Posts deleted along with replies. Please don't feed the troll.

[folium]

Can anyone honestly tell me that Iraq is a safer, better place since the West decide to remove Saddam and bring so called freedom and democracy to the country ? None of the other countries the West has helped to democracy since have fared any better either. Don't politicians learn anything from their failed efforts ?

A time that is supposed to be about kindness and goodwill to others and so mush needless slaughter all in the name of a so called God.

So much for peace and goodwill to ALL men

Can anyone honestly tell me that Iraq is a safer, better place since the West decide to remove Saddam

Why Are you scared to say since US decide to remove Saddam ?

Maybe because there were 22 countries in that invasion. The UK provided about 1/3 of the troops. Thailand provided troops.

So wipe that smile off your face and get a more remorseful one.

Only 4 countries had troops involved in the actual invasion of Iraq. USA, UK (providing about 20% of the force), Australia and a handful of Poles.

Thailand was among some 30 odd countries that provided troops to the MNF Iraq after the invasion. They stayed for a year losing 2 killed.

Sadly Gulf War 2 was a classic example of winning the war and losing the "peace". Net result, continuing carnage in Iraq and also by ignoring Afghan for that crucial period, that campaign was also let slip.

[harryfrompattaya]

Religion poisons everything

Yes we need pure people like Marx Hitler Stalin and Mao

Between these Religions People over 100 million died.

[sirineou]

Religion poisons everything

Yes we need pure people like Marx Hitler Stalin and Mao

Between these Religions People over 100 million died.

your point?

[folium]

The war of civilizations is fast approaching. Where there is religion, there is war. Always was, always will be.

Does not quite work with political extremists; Pol Pot, Stalin, Saddam, Idi Amin, Hitler etc.

The USA is one of the most religious countries on the planet. Don't see much warfare there..?

"Clash of civilizations" is just an excuse for neo-con adventurism, which has little to do with religion.

Care to name 3 wars that are/have been purely about religion in the last 50 years?

Boiling any conflict down to single causes is an uphill task. But of course does not stop people from trying....

[Naam]

Can anyone honestly tell me that Iraq is a safer, better place since the West decide to remove Saddam and bring so called freedom and democracy to the country ? None of the other countries the West has helped to democracy since have fared any better either. Don't politicians learn anything from their failed efforts ?

A time that is supposed to be about kindness and goodwill to others and so mush needless slaughter all in the name of a so called God.

So much for peace and goodwill to ALL men

Can anyone honestly tell me that Iraq is a safer, better place since the West decide to remove Saddam

Why Are you scared to say since US decide to remove Saddam ?

Maybe because there were 22 countries in that invasion. The UK provided about 1/3 of the troops. Thailand provided troops.

So wipe that smile off your face and get a more remorseful one.

Only 4 countries had troops involved in the actual invasion of Iraq. USA, UK (providing about 20% of the force), Australia and a handful of Poles.

Thailand was among some 30 odd countries that provided troops to the MNF Iraq after the invasion. They stayed for a year losing 2 killed.

Sadly Gulf War 2 was a classic example of winning the war and losing the "peace". Net result, continuing carnage in Iraq and also by ignoring Afghan for that crucial period, that campaign was also let slip.

that only 4 countries had troops involved in the actual invasion is correct. but it is important to mention that Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy rendered moral support.

[folium]

Religion poisons everything

Yes we need pure people like Marx Hitler Stalin and Mao

Between these Religions People over 100 million died.

your point?

Probably quite a simple point...

Religion is not always a malign influence. If all religious people were "poisoned" then we would really be in trouble...

See below for a slightly more intelligent take on religion globally.

http://www.pewforum.org/2012/12/18/global-religious-landscape-exec/

[sirineou]

Religion poisons everything

Yes we need pure people like Marx Hitler Stalin and Mao

Between these Religions People over 100 million died.

your point?

Probably quite a simple point...

Religion is not always a malign influence. If all religious people were "poisoned" then we would really be in trouble...

See below for a slightly more intelligent take on religion globally.

http://www.pewforum.org/2012/12/18/global-religious-landscape-exec/

We are in trouble, deep shit trouble.

I never said that all religious people are poisoned, I said that religion poisons everything,

two different things

People are part of everything, and as such they are poisoned also,but they are not everything, they are poisoned with dogma, that allows them to disregard the evidence, and proceed on faith.

Religion poisons everything to the extend that it suspends reason and when reason is suspended there should be no surprise when unreasonable things occur. Such as the article on the bombings describes.

Edited December 28, 2013 by sirineou

[Steely Dan]

The war of civilizations is fast approaching. Where there is religion, there is war. Always was, always will be.

Does not quite work with political extremists; Pol Pot, Stalin, Saddam, Idi Amin, Hitler etc.

The USA is one of the most religious countries on the planet. Don't see much warfare there..?

"Clash of civilizations" is just an excuse for neo-con adventurism, which has little to do with religion.

Care to name 3 wars that are/have been purely about religion in the last 50 years?

Boiling any conflict down to single causes is an uphill task. But of course does not stop people from trying....

Try Iran or Pakistan (land of the pure) if you want to see the cesspit created by religious extremism, the USA is a misleading example as the constitution acts as a safeguard against many evils, including religion related ones.

Clash of civilizations? Just to take one sentence from it - 'Islam has bloody borders', I invite anyone to find a world map, check out the nations which border Islamic nations and draw their own conclusions, much as the left would like to discredit Samuel Huntington's theory it fits the facts overwhelmingly so.

Edited December 28, 2013 by Steely Dan

[folium]

The war of civilizations is fast approaching. Where there is religion, there is war. Always was, always will be.

Does not quite work with political extremists; Pol Pot, Stalin, Saddam, Idi Amin, Hitler etc.

The USA is one of the most religious countries on the planet. Don't see much warfare there..?

"Clash of civilizations" is just an excuse for neo-con adventurism, which has little to do with religion.

Care to name 3 wars that are/have been purely about religion in the last 50 years?

Boiling any conflict down to single causes is an uphill task. But of course does not stop people from trying....

Try Iran or Pakistan (land of the pure) if you want to see the cesspit created by religious extremism, the USA is a misleading example as the constitution acts as a safeguard against many evils, including religion related ones.

Clash of civilizations? Just to take one sentence from it - 'Islam has bloody borders', I invite anyone to find a world map, check out the nations which border Islamic nations and draw their own conclusions, much as the left would like to discredit Samuel Huntington's theory it fits the facts overwhelmingly so.

Are Iran and Pakistan "cesspits" purely due to religious extremism?

Are failed states such as DRC, S.Sudan, Chad, Haiti, Zimbabwe, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau etc due to religious extremism?

Simple answers are rarely correct ones.

Please spare us the Samuel Huntington love-in. Beloved bedtime reading for Bush, Cheney and other chickenhawks indeed but hardly the "gospel truth", to mix some metaphors.

No one with an ounce of grey matter denies that many Muslim majority countries are in a state of messy flux at present, but having failed to name a single war in the last 50 years let alone 3 that were due to religion alone, how about another little challenge? Name a single non majority Muslim country that has been taken over by Muslims, extremist or otherwise, in the last 100 years.

Your sad friends that populate Gates of Vienna " commemorate" in their GFE site the high tide of Muslim expansionism and conquest. Not much has happened since across borders to justify any clash of civilizations.

If Afghan and Iraq represent the Clash of Civilizations dogma put into practice, god help us all. Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and the disgraceful mess left behind in Iraq and likely to be replicated in Afghan once the bug-out is complete, hardly paints the coalition as the "civilized".

PS While being anti-Muslim doesn't necessarily make you racist, being anti extremist does not make one leftist either.

[Steely Dan]

Okay, Folium, here's a little list to work through - There may be local explanations for each of the following bloody borders, some may appear not to be Islam's fault, but if Countries were motorists wanting to put their neighbor Mr Islam onto their car insurance I think the premiums quoted would cause a swift change of mind.

Uighurs vs. Han Chinese in China’s Xinjiang province

Moro Muslims vs. Christian Filipinos on Mindanao in the Philippines

Thai Buddhists vs Muslim separatists in Thailand's three most southerly provinces

Muslim Indonesia vs. Catholic East Timor

Muslims vs. Buddhists in Burma

Hindus vs. Muslims in India, Pakistan and Kashmir

Muslims vs. Jews in Israel-Palestine

Muslims vs. Coptic Christians in Egypt

Islamic militants go shopping in Kenya

Muslims vs. Christians and animists in South Sudan

Muslim Yoruba vs. Christian Ibo in Nigeria

Al Qaeda in the Islamic magreb in Mali

Muslim Bosniaks and Kosovars vs. Orthodox Christian Serbs in the Balkans

Turks vs. Armenians

Muslim Kurds and Arabs vs. Assyrian Christians in Iraq and

Chechnya vs Russia

P.S Anyone care to add to the list I'm sure I've missed some (Edit to add Kenya)

Edited December 28, 2013 by Steely Dan

[folium]

Okay, Folium, here's a little list to work through - There may be local explanations for each of the following bloody borders, some may appear not to be Islam's fault, but if Countries were motorists wanting to put their neighbor Mr Islam onto their car insurance I think the premiums quoted would cause a swift change of mind.

Uighurs vs. Han Chinese in Chinas Xinjiang province

Moro Muslims vs. Christian Filipinos on Mindanao in the Philippines

Thai Buddhists vs Muslim separatists in Thailand's three most southerly provinces

Muslim Indonesia vs. Catholic East Timor

Muslims vs. Buddhists in Burma

Hindus vs. Muslims in India, Pakistan and Kashmir

Muslims vs. Jews in Israel-Palestine

Muslims vs. Coptic Christians in Egypt

Islamic militants go shopping in Kenya

Muslims vs. Christians and animists in South Sudan

Muslim Yoruba vs. Christian Ibo in Nigeria

Al Qaeda in the Islamic magreb in Mali

Muslim Bosniaks and Kosovars vs. Orthodox Christian Serbs in the Balkans

Turks vs. Armenians

Muslim Kurds and Arabs vs. Assyrian Christians in Iraq and

Chechnya vs Russia

P.S Anyone care to add to the list I'm sure I've missed some (Edit to add Kenya)

Which of these qualify as a "war caused solely by religion in the last 50 years"?

If you want to talk about "bloody borders" almost every one of the conflicts you mention revolves around messy borders drawn by remote colonial powers with little consideration given for these lines of colonial convenience.

PS any luck on the conquest of a non Muslim majority country by your favourite cultural enrichers in the last 100 years?

Edited December 28, 2013 by folium

[Steely Dan]

Okay, Folium, here's a little list to work through - There may be local explanations for each of the following bloody borders, some may appear not to be Islam's fault, but if Countries were motorists wanting to put their neighbor Mr Islam onto their car insurance I think the premiums quoted would cause a swift change of mind.

Uighurs vs. Han Chinese in Chinas Xinjiang province

Moro Muslims vs. Christian Filipinos on Mindanao in the Philippines

Thai Buddhists vs Muslim separatists in Thailand's three most southerly provinces

Muslim Indonesia vs. Catholic East Timor

Muslims vs. Buddhists in Burma

Hindus vs. Muslims in India, Pakistan and Kashmir

Muslims vs. Jews in Israel-Palestine

Muslims vs. Coptic Christians in Egypt

Islamic militants go shopping in Kenya

Muslims vs. Christians and animists in South Sudan

Muslim Yoruba vs. Christian Ibo in Nigeria

Al Qaeda in the Islamic magreb in Mali

Muslim Bosniaks and Kosovars vs. Orthodox Christian Serbs in the Balkans

Turks vs. Armenians

Muslim Kurds and Arabs vs. Assyrian Christians in Iraq and

Chechnya vs Russia

P.S Anyone care to add to the list I'm sure I've missed some (Edit to add Kenya)

Which of these qualify as a "war caused solely by religion in the last 50 years"?

If you want to talk about "bloody borders" almost every one of the conflicts you mention revolves around messy borders drawn by remote colonial powers with little consideration given for these lines of colonial convenience.

PS any luck on the conquest of a non Muslim majority country by your favourite cultural enrichers in the last 100 years?

I see you refuse to play insurance underwriter, can't blame you for ducking that one. I would observe that Christians in Bethlehem are no longer the majority there and have been leaving in droves, indeed perhaps you can name me any middle eastern nation where the number of Christians has increased in the last 40 years, as oppose to a steep decline everywhere else in the region?

P.S There is one.