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52 Christian hostages killed by Al Quaeda Baghdad church attack

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UPDATE: The number of victims who were killed is up to 52, now.

The SA Times Live reports on an Al Quaeda attack on a Christian church in Baghdad.

Excerpt:

Thirty-seven worshippers were killed and 56 wounded in a hostage drama at a Baghdad church, says an official.

“The latest toll is that 37 of the hostages were killed and 56 wounded,” an Iraqi interior ministry official said after Sunday’s attack on the church, claimed by an Al-Qaeda group.

He said that seven security forces personnel also were killed and 15 wounded, but did not specify if any were Americans.

Five attackers were killed and eight arrested, he said, adding there had been more than 100 worshippers at the Sayidat al-Nejat church in central Baghdad when the hostage-takers stormed in.

The SITE monitoring group said Monday that Al-Qaeda group The Islamic State of Iraq claimed its fighters were behind the attack

This story makes me think about some of my Christian co-workers who voted for Obama because they thought the Iraq war was too expensive. Christians need to care about other Christians in other countries, and we need to think about the most effective means for making their lives a little safer. Thank God that our forces were deployed so they could do something about this. To stop terrorists, you need good men armed with weapons. Talking doesn’t work.

12 thoughts on “52 Christian hostages killed by Al Quaeda Baghdad church attack”

  1. Among the wounded were a priest and a nun.

    But, hey! Lets come back to the US and complain about not enough federal dollars on birth control, and ignore the dead brown people. Only America is real, you know.

    (Pardon me, I’m going to go be ill.)

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  3. Actually, neither President Obama nor American forces are really responsible for the safety of the average Iraqi civilians. And, the last time I checked, there is no requirement in our Constitution that we have to protect other Christians in other countries. If you are going to talk Christianity, then you must admit that Father God Himself can only protect brothers and sisters in Christ. (We sure as heck haven’t done a fine job of that, so please don’t pin the responsibility to protect Iraqi Christians on our soldiers over there – God knows they have enough responsibility as it is). Actually, to stop terrorists, and change the world of Islam, you have absolutely no choice but to share Christ and His grace to a people who never heard of it. We already have good men and women armed to the teeth over there – do you see the terrorism taking a decline any? ? I thought not. Which leaves us with the (crazy) proposition that it’s Christ, or nothing. . .

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    1. So presumably you are indifferent to the practice slavery in other countries and abortion in other countries as well, since you are indifferent to people committing acts of terror against innocent people in other countries. The Bible is for reading, and church is for singing, and you can go to Heaven while ignoring the rights of others, right?

      My point is that when national security intersects with the goal of promoting religious liberty, we should do it.

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    2. Will:

      I agree that we should preach Christ to the unconverted and make it our priority, as Christ did. However, if you limit the scope of the Chritian mandate to that alone, your understanding of Christianity is far too narrow. We should preach the Gospel in words, but also demonstrate it in actions of love.

      Proverbs 24:
      11 Rescue those being led away to death;
      hold back those staggering toward slaughter.
      12 If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,”
      does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
      Does not he who guards your life know it?
      Will he not repay everyone according to what they have done?

      Proverbs 31:
      8 Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,
      for the rights of all who are destitute.
      9 Speak up and judge fairly;
      defend the rights of the poor and needy.

      Luke 6:
      31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.

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        1. James 1:
          22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

          26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

          James 2:
          14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

          18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”

          Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

          20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? 21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.

          25 In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

          John Calvin on the importance of the book of James to the canon of holy Scripture:
          “There are also at this day some who do not think it entitled to authority. I, however, am inclined to receive it without controversy because I see no just cause for rejecting it.”

          Calvin’s commentary on the book of James:
          http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom45.vi.iii.vii.html

          But I can see how, as a non-calvinist, you might be ignorant of Calvinist embrace of the teachings and book of James… [raises eyebrow]

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  4. And, “thank God our forces were deployed so they could do something about this?” They did NOTHING about this. They showed up two hours after the fact to help Iraqi police clean up!! As a matter of fact, the Iraqi police themselves did nothing about this. . .

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    1. Who trained and equipped the Iraqi Army? You and your church friends?

      Are you in favor of terrorism abroad? It sounds to me that as long as you are in a safe country enjoying your life, you don’t give a rip about anyone else – or about national security, for that matter. That sort of isolationism is what emboldened the terrorists to attack us on 9/11. Clinton’s indifference to the Cole bombing, the embassy bombing, etc. A whole whack of terror attacks were ignored and the terrorists just got bolder. Is appeasement and negligence your foreign policy? Or are you so busy memorizing Bible verses that you are ignorant of international security issues?

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