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Be Alert! - April 30, 2007
Shalom in Christ Jesus,
The Dragon (Satanic Persecution) and the Serpent (Satanic Deception)
PRAYER REQUEST ALERT!
From David Royle, Moriel Pastor and Missionary in South Africa:
Tonight 7 of our missionaries were highjacked at gunpoint. Praise the Lord no one was hurt although they hit Salvador with a pistol and used a cattle prod on my son Chris and Dianne from New Zealand.
They stole credit cards, cash and cell phones along with the car. Needless to say life is more important.
Pray for our guys because I am sure the shock of this will come out in the next few days.
They're all OK, just a little shocked, but they are overcoming it. A bit of a wake up call. The more you are here the more relaxed about security you get. The place where it happened was very low security and people didn't use their eyes and ears.
In Jesus
Dave
Revelation 6:9-11
When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.
Revelation 12:12
"For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time."
1 John 2:18
Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.
Joel 2:31
"The sun will be turned into darkness And the moon into blood Before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.
Daniel 7:21-22
"I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom.
Isaiah 43:10-13
"You are My witnesses," declares the LORD, "And My servant whom I have chosen, So that you may know and believe Me And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, And there will be none after Me. "I, even I, am the LORD, And there is no savior besides Me. "It is I who have declared and saved and proclaimed, And there was no strange god among you; So you are My witnesses," declares the LORD, "And I am God. "Even from eternity I am He, And there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?"
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1) Germany: Homeschooler flees state custody
Melissa Busekros surprises parents at 3 a.m.
WORLDNETDAILY - By Bob Unruh - April 23, 2007
Melissa Busekros, the schoolgirl taken by police and placed in a psychiatric hospital because she was diagnosed with a "school phobia" and was being homeschooled, has fled state custody to make a midnight trip back to her own family, according to Joel Thornton, president of The International Human Rights Group.
"At 3 a.m., in Erlangen, Germany, Melissa reached her home to the surprise of her entire family," Thornton told WND. "Earlier in the morning Melissa left a note with the foster family where she was being held and began the journey to her family. She left of her own volition."
Thornton said April 23 is Melissa's birthday, and on turning 16, "this gives her broader rights than it does in America. It gives her more of a voice in her own custody. So, she decided to return home."
"In fact, if the state police come for her again she is prepared to refuse to go on the advice of her attorney," Thornton said.
He reported Melissa was in contact with her legal adviser, Johannes Hildebrandt, to let him know she had returned home, and he is preparing to be at the family home in Erlangen if needed.
"Our director of European Operations, Richard Guenther, spoke with the family this morning and told them that it was imperative that they contact Dr. Hildebrandt to let him know that she has returned home," Thornton said.
"I spoke with Gudrun, Melissa's mother, just after midnight [EDT]. I conveyed our congratulations on having their daughter home. Gudrun was relieved to have her entire family back together," Thornton said.
He said the work continues in the legal forum, too.
"A week or so ago, Melissa was evaluated by a professor of psychology who is the director of the institution that oversaw Melissa's care while she was being held in state custody," Thornton said. "This new evaluation revealed that Melissa does not suffer from 'school phobia.' She is healthy and has made it through this traumatic ordeal remarkably well."
Thornton said the family's lawyer already has asked a higher German court to recognize the findings of the new evaluation. - - - -
See Also from WorldNetDaily:
Homeschooler's case to be 'de- escalated'
Social workers say teen can remain with family during 'dialogue'
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2) Turkey: Widow of slain Christian: 'Forgive them'
Editor's Note: This report contains a graphic description of the martyrdom of three Christian men.
WORLDNETDAILY - By Bob Unruh - April 28, 2007
In an act that hit the front pages of the largest newspapers in Turkey, the widow of a martyred Christian told reporters she did not want revenge against the Muslims who killed her husband and two others, according to a new report from Voice of the Martyrs.
"Oh God, forgive them for they know not what they do," she said, agreeing with the words of Christ on Calvary (Luke 23.34), according to a letter Christians in Turkey have written to the worldwide church, a letter released through Voice of the Martyrs.
"In a country where blood-for-blood revenge is as normal as breathing, many many reports have come to the attention of the church of how this comment of Susanne Tilman has changed lives," the letter said. "One columnist wrote of her comment, 'She said in one sentence what 1,000 missionaries in 1,000 years could never do.'"
She is the widow of Tilman Geske, a German citizen who along with two Turkish Christians were martyred recently - allegedly by five Muslims who met the three victims at a Christian publishing company for a Bible study.
Authorities have taken several suspects into custody, and their cases remain pending.
The letter titled "A letter to the Global Church from The Protestant Church of Smyrna" was received by VOM shortly after the slayings, and the ministry organization that works with the Persecuted Church worldwide is publicizing it.
"The Voice of the Martyrs has already been actively involved in assisting the families of these courageous Christians. We encourage you to pray for them as they grieve, and to pray that this will be a significant turning point for the gospel in Turkey," the organization said.
VOM noted that 2,000 years earlier, this location of Christians was addressed in Rev. 2:8-11: "And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write - 'Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation 10 days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.'"
The letter describes the work Geske, 46, was doing on a new Turkish Study Bible. That morning, he went to the offices of Zirve Publishing, which produces and distributes Christian literature to Malatya and other parts of eastern Turkey, for a Bible study. Pastor Necati Aydin, the father of two, also left for the same office, as did Ugur Yuksel.
"None of these three men knew that what awaited them at the Bible study was the ultimate testing and application of their faith, which would conclude with their entrance into glory to receive their crown of righteousness from Christ," the letter said.
Also heading to the Bible study were five men thought to be "seekers" who had been guests of Pastor Necati at an invitation-only evangelistic service earlier.
"No one knows what happened in the hearts of those men as they listened to the gospel. Were they touched by the Holy Spirit? Were they convicted of sin? Did they hear the gospel in their heart of hearts? Today we only have the beginning of their story," the letter said.
"The young men got guns, bread knives, ropes and towels ready for their final act of service to Allah. They knew there would be a lot of blood. They arrived in time for the Bible study, around 10 o'clock," the letter said. "Reportedly, after Necati read a chapter from the Bible the assault began. The boys tied Ugur, Necati, and Tilman's hands and feet to chairs and as they videoed their work on their cellphones, they tortured our brothers for almost three hours."
The letter included the following graphic details of the torture:
"Tilman was stabbed 156 times, Necati 99 times and Ugur's stabs were too numerous to count. They were disemboweled, and their intestines sliced up in front of their eyes. They were emasculated and watched as those body parts were destroyed. Fingers were chopped off, their noses and mouths and anuses were sliced open. Possibly the worst part was watching as their brothers were likewise tortured. Finally, their throats were sliced from ear to ear, heads practically decapitated."
The letter released by Voice of the Martyrs said neighbors thought the noise was a domestic argument so they did not respond.
Another believer, Gokhan, arrived about 12:30, but couldn't get in, so he called.
"Ugur answered his phone. 'We are not at the office. Go to the hotel meeting. We are there. We will come there,' he said cryptically. As Ugur spoke Gokhan heard in the telephone's background weeping and a strange snarling sound," the letter said. He called police.
When officers entered, they found, "Tilman and Necati had been slaughtered, practically decapitated with their necks slit from ear to ear. Ugur's throat was likewise slit and he was barely alive," the letter said.
Several assailants were caught in the room, and two nearby, including one who apparently tried to jump out a window to flee and was seriously hurt.
The letter said persecution of Christians - bombings, physical attacks, verbal and written abuse as well as media propaganda -- moved into the intense range following a decision in 2001 by the National Security Council of Turkey to consider Christians a threat to national security on the same level as al-Qaida.
The letter described cameras in churches to promote fear and antagonism towards Christians.
What Turkey witnessed from its Christians was something else. "Hundreds of believers and dozens of pastors flew in as fast as they could to stand by the small church of Malatya and encourage the believers, take care of legal issues, and represent Christians to the media," the letter said.
When Susanne Tilman desired to bury her husband in Malatya, the local officials spread rumors it was a sin to dig a grave for a Christian, so volunteers from the church in Adana dug the grave in an untended 100- year-old Armenian graveyard, the letter said.
Ugur was buried with "his believing fiancée watching from the shadows as his family and friends refused to accept in death the faith Ugur had so long professed and died for," the letter said.
"Necati's funeral took place in his hometown of Izmir, the city where he came to faith. The darkness does not understand the light. Though the churches expressed their forgiveness for the event, Christians were not to be trusted. Before they would load the coffin onto the plane from Malatya, it went through two separate X-ray exams to make sure it was not loaded with explosives," the letter said. "Necati's funeral was a beautiful event. Like a glimpse of heaven, thousands of Turkish Christians and missionaries came to show their love for Christ, and their honor for this man chosen to die for Christ. Necati's wife Shemsa told the world, 'His death was full of meaning, because he died for Christ and he lived for Christ - Necati was a gift from God. I feel honored that he was in my life, I feel crowned with honor. I want to be worthy of that honor.'"
Then Susanne Tilman expressed her forgiveness in a television interview that was reported on front pages across Turkey.
The letter said the Malatya missionaries most likely will move, as they've been identified as targets in that hostile city, and the remaining 10 believers have gone into hiding.
"What will happen to this church, this light in the darkness? Most likely it will go underground. Pray for wisdom, that Turkish brothers from other cities will go to lead the leadership church," the letter said.
"Please pray for the Church in Turkey," wrote Pastor Fikret Bocek. "Don't pray against persecution, pray for perseverance."
"This we know. Christ Jesus was there when our brothers were giving their lives for Him. He was there, like He was when Stephen was being stoned in the sight of Saul of Tarsus," the letter said. "Someday the video of the deaths of our brothers may reveal more to us about the strength that we know Christ gave them to endure their last cross, about the peace the Spirit of God endowed them with to suffer for their beloved Savior. But we know He did not leave their side."
"We pray - and urge you to pray - that someday at least one of those five boys will come to faith because of the testimony in death of Tilman Geske, who gave his life as a missionary to his beloved Turks, and the testimonies in death of Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel, the first martyrs for Christ out of the Turkish Church," the letter said.
Susanne said she planned to remain in Turkey with her children, Michal Janina, 13, Lukas, 10, and Miriam, 8. - - - -
See This Letter Posted in Full on the Be Alert! Blog
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3) Israel: Bible Society office bombed in Gaza
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL - April 23, 2007
A bomb severely damaged the Palestinian Bible Society building April 15 in Gaza City. The building, located in the city center, housed the Teacher's Bookshop, Gaza's only Christian bookstore, said Baptist World Alliance.
The building also includes a library and a community development center and is headquarters for one of the largest relief agencies in the Gaza Strip.
Hanna Massad, Gaza Baptist Church pastor, said the massive explosion occurred around 2 a.m., causing damage much worse than that caused by an explosion a year ago. Before setting the bomb, masked gunmen kidnapped the store security guard, beat him and left him in a deserted area near the city, Massad said. The guard is in stable condition and there were no other reported injuries, Associated Baptist Press reported Friday.
A Bible Society press release stated that gunmen abducted the security guard and placed the bomb at the door an hour later. Similar attacks on Gaza Internet cafes and music stores occurred the same day.
In February 2006, terrorists placed two pipe bombs that detonated in front of the shop. Following that attack, Christianity Today reported, the workers received a letter demanding the shop close, but the store reopened five weeks later.
No groups have claimed responsibility for the bombing, but a group called "The Sword of Islam" carried out similar bombings in Internet cafes. Christianity Today reported that Palestinian officials are investigating the Bible Society incident as part of other attacks.
The Society, which has operated in Gaza since 1999, reportedly enjoys a good relationship with nearby Muslims. The society said Muslim neighbors helped clean up after the blast.
Founded in 1998, the Teacher's Bookshop sells Bibles and Christian books, offers public computer classes, and works in refugee camps, micro- enterprises and development projects. - - - -
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4) US: Christians in bull's-eye in new 'hate crimes' plan
WORLDNETDAILY - By Bob Unruh - April 26, 2007
A fast-tracked congressional plan to add special protections for homosexuals to federal law would turn "thoughts, feelings, and beliefs" into criminal offenses and put Christians in the bull's-eye, according to opponents.
"H.R. 1592 is a discriminatory measure that criminalizes thoughts, feelings, and beliefs [and] has the potential of interfering with religious liberty and freedom of speech," according to a white paper submitted by Glen Lavy, of the Alliance Defense Fund.
"As James Jacobs and Kimberly Potter observed in Hate Crimes, Criminal Law, and Identity Politics, 'It would appear that the only additional purpose [for enhancing punishment of bias crimes] is to provide extra punishment based on the offender's politically incorrect opinions and viewpoints,'" said Lavy.
The proposal has been endorsed by majority Democrats on the committee, and already has 137 sponsors in the full House, making it possible it could be voted on in a matter of days or weeks. - - -
Rev. Louis Sheldon, director of the Traditional Values Coalition, which represents 43,000 churches across the nation, told WND that the Democrats sponsoring and supporting the issue "have sold out to the homosexual agenda."
He said churches need to awaken to the dangers of having pastors, lay leaders, or even those sitting in the pews sent to jail for their biblical views. "When they [realize they] could go to jail for preaching the Word of God, they'll be concerned," he told WND.
Sheldon's organization is releasing a poster showing Jesus as a wanted fugitive, for "crimes" under the planned "hate crimes" legislation. - - - -
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5) US: 'Pagan morality' to go before voters?
Lawmakers advance 'gay' marriage, mandatory 'attitude' adjustments
WORLDNETDAILY - By Bob Unruh - April 19, 2007
A referendum may be needed to allow voters to make the final judgment on the "pagan morality" endorsed by the Oregon Legislature's approval of one plan to create "gay" marriage and another to grant homosexuals civil rights minority protections, pro- family groups say.
David Crowe, of the Restore America ministry said the referendum is one option being considered following the votes in the state House approving the two plans. The votes were 34-26 in favor of "gay" marriage in the state and 35-25 on Senate Bill 2 in favor of granting homosexuals the protected status as a civil rights minority.
"So one option is a referendum that would put the issues before voters, he said. "I don't think we can allow this not to happen," he said. "I think the people are outraged. For us as Christians to roll over when there's still another stop to go isn't right."
Vernon M. Marks, superintendent of the Oregon Assemblies of God churches, has said the more than 30,000 members of those churches want the plans rejected. He said they would "violate the very moral and ethical foundations of our culture."
He also said the legislation would "disregard fundamental biblical guidelines for the sanctity of traditional family" as well has ignore the state's "overwhelming" vote to preserve traditional marriage. The legislation itself would create discrimination against parents caring for handicapped adult children as well as parental moral values and convictions.
Lastly, it would "infringe on the constitutional protection of the free exercise of religion," he said.
Crowe said Christian leaders from around the state, including many who worked on the campaign three years ago through which voters decided to limit marriage in the state to one man and one woman, are planning a meeting to discuss the next steps.
"I have to do something," he told WND. "Someone has to do it, or the Christian community is sending the signal we'll put sandbags around the church but the rest of you are on your own and we'll just watch this moral freefall.
"That's not really loving your neighbor," he said. "We have the opportunity to clarify to the public what is moral and what is not.
"We can communicate that we Christians are not stupid and we are concerned about others. These plans affect everybody's free speech, family and religious rights," he said.
While more than 55,000 signatures of registered voters would be needed to take that step, Crowe said he collected 12,000 signatures on a petition against the state's Senate Bill 2 in just a short period of time.
A total of about 500 pastors from across the state have gathered to express to the Legislature the opposition of the tens of thousands of Oregonians in their churches to the plans. - - - -
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6) Los Angeles: Artist opens 'Christ Killa' exhibit
Invites audience to shoot hordes of 'homicidal Jesus' figures
WORLDNETDAILY - April 14, 2007
A Los Angeles artist opened an exhibit this week called "Christ Killa" in which the audience is invited to participate in a video game and shoot hordes of "homicidal Jesus Christs."
Digital and video artist Eric Medine describes his work - a video game linked to projectors and TV monitors - as the "ultimate arbitration between politics and Christianity," notes bloggers Sondra K and Michelle Malkin.
The game landscape "is filled with Googled images of Christian propaganda posters, religious shrines such as St. Peter's in Rome, and clichéd representations of Christ who constantly mumbles messages of tolerance and compassion," says a news release.
"The audience is invited to participate in the carnage by playing the video game and watching short videos of the game in action."
The winner, with the most "Christ kills," will be awarded a trophy.
The exhibit, which began Thursday, runs until May 12 at the Niche.LA Video Art gallery in Los Angeles.
Medine's "artist's statement" on his work declares: "We all perceive the influence of political power in the fluctuations of culture, economics, and technology. The ebb and flow of religion can now be felt on the video game screen."
The artist says he received an undergraduate degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1996 and a Masters at the Otis School of Art and Design in Los Angeles in 2006. He has shown work in Southern California at the 2005 Los Angeles Juried Exhibition, the Angels Gate Art Center, the Greater L.A. MFA Exhibition in Long Beach and the Walled Cities Gallery in San Pedro.
Explaining further his latest work, Medine said:
Religion, historically associated with spiritual and ethical growth, has recently begun to incorporate the methods of political systems. This new form of religion is praised as leaner, more efficient, more streamlined, but what function does it provide? What happens when you remove the code of ethics, messages of love and community, and compassion from religion in order to implement a political agenda? This new hybrid takes the form of a dazzling distraction, a marketing strategy, aggressive competition, a worldview that divides everything into friend and enemy - all characteristics of modern video games. - - - -
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7) Australia: Bible-reading Muslim 'raped as punishment'
NATIONAL NINE NEWS - By ninemsn staff - April 17, 2007
An Iraqi Muslim man allegedly raped a Muslim woman in Sydney's southwest as "punishment" for her reading the Bible, The Daily Telegraph reports.
The Campbelltown District Court heard yesterday that Abdul Reda Al Shawany told the woman "Let your Jesus help you", and sexually assaulted her twice.
Al Shawany has pleaded not guilty to two counts of having sexual intercourse without consent between September 1 and 27, 2002.
Yesterday Crown prosecutor Michael O'Brien said the woman - a practising Muslim - had allegedly received threats from members of her faith for reading the Bible.
The woman claims she met Al Shawany, who she had known from overseas, at Warwick Farm railway station in September 2002 after he told her he had mail to deliver to her.
Al Shawany then allegedly took her to a Warwick Farm unit where he assaulted her.
"She was wearing a hijab. The accused grabbed the hijab, the veil, and pulled it tight across her mouth," O'Brien told the court.
"She fell to the floor and she couldn't scream because she had a hijab tight across her mouth."
After raping her, Al Shawany allegedly said: "Let your Jesus help you."
Al Shawany, 52, denied to police that he had sexual intercourse with the woman or threatened her.
"My client is not a zealot," his barrister Chris Pike told the court.
The woman is expected to return to the witness stand today when the second day of the week-long trial commences before Judge David Knox.
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8) US: Worker fired after posting picture of Jesus
Says manager told him 'God' not allowed on cubicle walls
WORLDNETDAILY - April 21, 2007
A call center employee says he has been dismissed from his job for posting an artist's rendition of the crucifixion during Easter week, even though other employees were allowed to post pictures and art as they chose in their cubicles.
Chris Romansky, a former employee of Barclays, told WND he was told there had been a complaint about the picture he put up to remind himself of Christ's sacrifice on the cross, a foundational belief in Christianity.
A company spokeswoman, Donna Sokolsky, told WND that the job termination "had nothing to do with anything religious whatsoever." But she said she was not permitted by human resources to know "more beyond that."
"What I CAN tell you is that Barclays has very strict policies around nondescrimination (sic), especially religious. I cannot speak for this particular individual's situation but I know that there was no religious descrimination. I do not think you have a story here."
She followed up several days later with a formal, unattributed statement, "We do not discriminate or take any action based on religious affiliation."
Barclays PLC, according to Sokolsky, is a large global financial service provider, offering banking, investment banking and investment management services. It operates in more than 60 countries and has 110,500 employees worldwide.
Romansky told WND his dismissal was effective April 13, and he has contacted state labor regulators about filing a complaint.
"We're actually allowed to hang up pictures on our cubes. I had a picture of my wife, and there's a cross in the background but that didn't seem to bother anybody," he said. He also had posted a couple of Internet clippings, but those generated no response either.
Then during the Easter season, he said, "I hung a picture of the crucifixion, actually it was before Easter. It was of the crucifixion of Jesus and it showed the Resurrection and it said 'Happy Easter.'"
"I came in on the following Tuesday, and it was face down on my desk, so I put it back up," he said. Then a team manager came and told him there had been a complaint that it was "offensive" and he had to take it back down.
The manager called him into her office. "She told me people were offended, and she told me anything with Jesus and God can't be up," Romansky told WND.
The manager told him to leave the building. "She took copies of the pictures," he said.
Several conversations with managers and the human resources department followed, Romansky said.
"She [the manager] then called me and told me they're going to have to let me go," he said. He said he'd never even been "corrected" before by the company, and she responded that he was being dismissed for insubordination. - - - -
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9) Iran: Government treats own citizens like POWs
Subjects Christians to harassment, threats, beatings
WORLDNETDAILY - April 13, 2007
British military service members recently released after they were kidnapped by Iran and held hostage for nearly two weeks are revealing stories of threats and terror they suffered during their captivity. Now the Christian ministry Voice of the Martyrs is confirming Iran treats its own citizens the same way - if they are Christian. - - -
Iran's pressure on the service members, and their manipulation for Iranian interests, continued when President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced plans to release them, as a "gift" to Britain.
Turney later told reporters she "felt like a traitor" when she complied with demands to write letters of confession that were used as propaganda on Iranian television. The service members reported they were constantly subjected to psychological pressure for the two-week period.
Voice of the Martyrs, however, said this is a regular routine for Iranians who refuse government demands to renounce Christianity.
Sources for the Christian organization say threats, interrogations, beatings and even malicious attacks are routine parts of attempts by the Iranian government to silence Christians who continue to spread the gospel of Jesus. - - - -
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12) Why some Evangelicals can't understand the true nature of Islam
BARNABAS FUND - Barnabas Communique - April 17, 2007
Some Christians seem to be bothered by Barnabas Fund exposing negative facts about Islam. These argue that we should not busy ourselves with trivial matters, but concentrate on the main issues of presenting Christ and loving all people.
We have received some criticism of our recent communique on Faye Turney, the British servicewoman held captive in Iran and recently released with the other fourteen captured servicemen. As we now know, she was not only forced to wear the oppressive hijab, but underwent intimidation, mental torture and cruel manipulation tactics: she was isolated and blindfolded; stripped down to her underwear and feared rape; was told her colleagues had been released and she was the only one left in captivity; was measured for what she thought was her coffin as she could hear the sound of sawing wood and nails being hammered outside her cell; and was threatened that she would face trial for spying if she did not co-operate with her captors' demands. This treatment was meted out by the Islamic Republic of Iran, that claims to believe in human rights, religious freedom and human dignity. We cannot understand why some Western Christians questioned our highlighting this story or even defended what was done to her. Can they justify inhumanity and injustice to a vulnerable woman?
Christians in the West face two converging threats: one from an increasingly secularised society, intolerant of public Christian expressions of their Biblical faith, and the other from an increasingly confident Islamic community bent on reshaping the West in its own image. These two naturally hostile forces have found a common agenda in ensuring that Christianity is diminished in its influence on Western society.
In the name of multiculturalism, tolerance and political correctness, this coalition is intent on eroding freedoms and liberties accepted as basic in Western societies, especially freedom of speech. Islam, as a religion antithetical to Christianity, is culturally accepted, while Christianity, especially evangelical Christianity, is maligned.
A variety of legislative and other measures, each apparently of small effect, are being introduced that have a progressive cumulative impact on long- cherished liberties and freedoms. This results in efforts to suppress any criticism of Islam, ignore unpleasant facts about it and institute what can only be called a censorship regime.
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