From:  <>
Newsgroups: aus.religion.christian,aus.religion,nz.soc.religion
Date: Wednesday, 10 March 1999 2:16
Subject: Re: News: Christian Students Harassed in Sudan


Andy Bearsley <> wrote:

>Ibrahim Dughlas-Gani wrote in message ...
>>On Thu, 18 Feb 1999, Rowland Croucher wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Christian Students Harassed in Sudan
>>>
>>> Islamists in Sudan are harassing Christian college students.
>>> Muslim students reportedly attacked an exhibition by the
>>> Association of Christian Students at the University of Khartoum
>>> recently. They burned 15,000 Bibles and religious books and threw
>>> cassette tapes and thousands of small crosses into the Nile
>>> River, World Evangelical Fellowship said. Officials urged the
>>May the peace, blessings and guidance of the One God be with you all,
>>
>>It is interesting how all articles on Sudan quote Christian missionary
>>organisations when discussing how bad/extremist the Sudanese government
>>is.  I would not say it is biase, but possibly a case of selective
>>reporting(the media theory concept of 'Gatekeeping')...
>
>
>Read the BBC and CNN versions of the reports,  and you'll see it's the
>christians in there being violent and pillaging just as much as the others.
>Wherever possible I think we should post the reports of the christian
>violence here to save the christians from becoming complacent about their
>religion.

Well I looked though the last 10 CNN reports on Sudan
and couldn't find any, although I'm sure you can find
some and prove me wrong.

But the real point is that these are instances of specifically
religious persecution, which the mainstream media often ignores.
Many Muslim nations practice very repressive forms of
religious persecution. Sudan, if the reports are to be believed,
is waging Holy War on the Christian/animist south in order
to convert them. Saudi Arabia executes converts. Pakistan
has a blasphemy carrying the death penalty. While there are
other sorts of persecution in the world, this is specifically
*religious* persecution which, thankfully, the "Christian"
countries have mostly left behind. (Recent religious laws in
Russia are an exception, but are still very mild compared to
the Muslim examples I've given).

Many Christians are involved in atrocities, no doubt about
it. But this is when they ignore their faith, not when they
act on it. But today, atrocities are committed in the *name* of
Islam (and Hinduism). That is the difference and that is why
it is particularly relevant to religious discussion.
I am not saying that Islam and Hinduism are inherently
violent religions, but today there exist violent forms
of these religions, and this deserves to be highlighted.

Peter Ballard
Adelaide, AUSTRALIA

http://www.ozemail.com.au/~pballard/
[personal opinions only]