Officials at Iowa State University decided the business management class would include too much religion for a public university

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Hated for His Name’s Sake

“Then shall they deliver•Strongs 3860: paradidomi, par-ad-id´-o-mee; from 3844 and 1325; to surrender, i.e yield up, intrust, transmit:—betray, bring forth, cast, commit, deliver (up), give (over, up), hazard, put in prison, recommend. you up to be afflicted•Strongs 2347: thlipsis, thlip´-sis; from 2346; pressure (literally or figuratively):—afflicted(-tion), anguish, burdened, persecution, tribulation, trouble., and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated•Strongs 3404: miseo, mis-eh´-o; from a primary, misos (hatred); to detest (especially to persecute); by extension, to love less: — hate(-ful). of all nations for my name’s sake.”
—Matthew 24:9

Shortly before the start of the spring semester, Iowa State University cancelled an independent study course designed to teach students about how biblical principles can be applied to business management.

School officials, who initially approved the course, cancelled it after several professors from the education and religious studies departments, along with the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, complained that the subject matter violated the Constitution’s Establishment Clause, which sets out what is generally referred to as the separation of church and state.

Rick Dark, chair of the university’s accounting and finance departments, told the Iowa State Daily, the student newspaper, that he eventually decided Professor Roger Stover’s course had too much religious content for a public university.

“In reality, the course was too much on the religious side and not enough on the management side,” Dark said.

But David Cortman, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, said Supreme Court rulings have upheld the right to study the Bible objectively in public schools and universities.

“It is a shame that certain academics and groups on the left, such as the ACLU, would rather engage in educational censorship than allow true academic freedom,” Cortman said in a prepared statement. “Any objections to the method of teaching the course could have been addressed without canceling the entire course.”

Dark did not respond to repeated requests for comment for this story.

In letters sent to Dark and Labh Hira, dean of the College of Business, the two professors who led the effort to cancel the course said their main objection was to what they described as its apparent lack of objectivity.

Warren Blumenfeld, a professor in the department of curriculum and instruction, said the course sounded like it was intended to promote the Bible and compared the class to attending Sunday School.

Blumenfeld and Hector Avalos, a professor of philosophy and religious studies, took particular issue with the book Stover planned to use – “How to Run Your Business by The Book: A Biblical Blueprint to Bless Your Business” by Dave Anderson.

In a prepared statement issued late Wednesday, Stover insisted the book dealt with business management principles, not theology. And he noted that he didn’t agree with all of the book’s prescription’s, which was the whole point of the planned course.

“My intention was to have the students study academic management literature on the topics of the book and use that background to evaluate whether the author’s suggestions have any merit,” said Stover, who has taught at the university since 1979. “This form of inquiry is what business school faculty do all the time. Given the growth of interest in the role of spirituality in business management, our students may well be exposed to this in their career. I feel it is incumbent on us to prepare them for such exposure.”

In his written response to Dark addressing the criticism of the course, Stover pointed to similar classes covering spirituality and business at other universities, including at Princeton and Yale. He also noted that Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-A, both successful businesses, were known for applying biblical principles in the workplace.

Cortman also argued that the Bible’s ability to offer insight into effective business management was a well-accepted concept.

“The excuse that the Establishment Clause prohibits any objective teaching about the Bible grows tiresome,” he said.

The Supreme Court will not intervene in a controversy over Christian prayers delivered before commission meetings in Forsyth County, North Carolina. The North Carolina chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State praised the decision as a victory for the First Amendment.

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Hated for His Name’s Sake

“Then shall they deliver•Strongs 3860: paradidomi, par-ad-id´-o-mee; from 3844 and 1325; to surrender, i.e yield up, intrust, transmit:—betray, bring forth, cast, commit, deliver (up), give (over, up), hazard, put in prison, recommend. you up to be afflicted•Strongs 2347: thlipsis, thlip´-sis; from 2346; pressure (literally or figuratively):—afflicted(-tion), anguish, burdened, persecution, tribulation, trouble., and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated•Strongs 3404: miseo, mis-eh´-o; from a primary, misos (hatred); to detest (especially to persecute); by extension, to love less: — hate(-ful). of all nations for my name’s sake.”
—Matthew 24:9

“Marvel not, my brethren, if the world•Strongs 2889: kosmos, kos´-mos; probably from the base of 2865; orderly arrangement, i.e. decoration; by implication, the world (in a wide or narrow sense, including its inhabitants, literally or figuratively (morally)): — adorning, world. hate you.”
—1 John 3:13

The high court’s decision leaves in place a federal appeals court ruling that held that the predominantly Christian prayers at the start of commission meetings violated the First Amendment’s alleged ban on government endorsement of a particular religion.
The court found that more than three-quarters of the 33 invocations given before meetings between May 2007 and December 2008 referred to “Jesus,” “Jesus Christ,” “Christ,” or “Savior.”
That, according to the court was a problem.
“Faith is as deeply important as it is deeply personal,” Judge J. Harvey Wilkinson wrote in the July 29th appellate court ruling. “and the government should not appear to suggest that some faiths have it wrong and others got it right.”
Americans United Executive Director Barry Lynn hailed the Supreme Court’s decision not to consider the case. His organization was one of the groups sponsoring the lawsuit.
“When government meetings are opened regularly with Christian prayer, it sends the unmistakable message that non-Christians are second-class citizens in their own community,” Lynn said in a statement. “That’s unconstitutional, and it’s just plain wrong.”
But David Cortman, an attorney representing Forsyth County, said the ruling makes Christians second-class citizens.
“That’s what this case shows,” said Cortman, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund. “We believe the Supreme Court has missed an opportunity to clear up the differing opinions among the various circuit courts. It really is disappointing.”
The decision means prayers are still allowed, but the county must police the words to make sure one faith group is not represented over another faith group.
“America’s founders never shied away from referencing the God to whom they were praying when offering public invocations; the citizens of Forsyth County should have this same opportunity,” Cortman wrote in a statement. “No federal court has ruled that prayers cannot be offered before public meetings.”
With reporting from the Associated Press

Members of a radical Muslim sect attacked a church in northeast Nigeria during a worship service Saturday, the latest in a series of assaults against a predominantly Christian ethnic group.

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Hated for His Name’s Sake

“Then shall they deliver•Strongs 3860: paradidomi, par-ad-id´-o-mee; from 3844 and 1325; to surrender, i.e yield up, intrust, transmit:—betray, bring forth, cast, commit, deliver (up), give (over, up), hazard, put in prison, recommend. you up to be afflicted•Strongs 2347: thlipsis, thlip´-sis; from 2346; pressure (literally or figuratively):—afflicted(-tion), anguish, burdened, persecution, tribulation, trouble., and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated•Strongs 3404: miseo, mis-eh´-o; from a primary, misos (hatred); to detest (especially to persecute); by extension, to love less: — hate(-ful). of all nations for my name’s sake.”
—Matthew 24:9

Authorities said Saturday’s church shooting killed at least 15, according to the Associated Press. The attack came after gunmen Friday night stormed a shopkeepers’ meeting in the northeast, killing at least 20 people in violence that appeared to stem from the radical militia’s ultimatum to kill Christians if they fail to leave the country’s largely Muslim north.

The attacks against Christians pose new challenges to President Goodluck Jonathan’s government. Under his rule, religious violence has surged again in Africa’s most populous nation, whose population is roughly split between Christians and Muslims. The re-election of Mr. Jonathan, a Christian southerner, inspired anti-southerner riots in the north in April that killed more than 800.

Underscoring the pressure on Mr. Jonathan—and contrasting with Friday’s deadly Kalashnikov attack on the shopkeepers—Muslims and Christians in several Nigerian cities also banded together in a rare demonstration of interfaith unity to protest the government’s elimination of a popular subsidy on gasoline.

On Thursday and Friday, hundreds of residents, politicians and religious leaders protested the Monday move, which more than doubled gas prices, from about 65 naira a liter ($1.55 a gallon).

Officials say the 1.2 trillion naira ($7.4 billion) in savings—an amount representing a quarter of all government spending in the 2012 budget—would be reinvested into infrastructure. Protesters say the move disproportionately squeezes Nigeria’s poor, and say the government should instead cut spending to the powerful military, or fight what they say is widespread official graft.

On Friday, a presidential aide said the government was considering measures to reduce the cost of mass transit. Officials have argued that the subsidy was a source of corruption, as much of the gas was resold at a higher cost in neighboring countries.

The protests carried echoes of recent antigovernment uprisings in northern Africa and beyond. “We will treat you as Gadhafi,” read one protester’s sign, in an image carried on local media.

Gas prices “are unifying the nation,” said activist and onetime vice presidential candidate Yunusa Tanko, who said some 1,000 people turned out Thursday in the northern city of Kaduna. “Muslims were praying and Christians were protecting them during our protest march.”

The protests have the potential to be “very dramatic,” as Nigerians put aside differences to take on what they see as state corruption, said John Campbell, a former U.S. ambassador to Nigeria. He cited reports of Muslim-Christian demonstrations in Kano, where anti-Christian riots broke out in April. “This is in a city which is a byword for religious hatred and Islamic radicalism,” he said.

Friday’s killings provided the latest reminder of the violence that has riven the country since even before its 1960 independence from Britain. Much of the recent violence has been attributed to a militia in the northeast, Boko Haram—a group whose name loosely translates as “Western Education is sin,” and is believed to have killed hundreds of people last year.

On Sunday, Boko Haram’s spokesman gave Nigeria’s Christians three days to stage an exodus out of the north or risk reprisals. On Thursday, gunmen raided a church in the northeastern town of Gombe during evening prayers, killing six people.

Most of Friday’s 20 fatalities were shopkeepers, as well as Igbos, members of a predominantly Christian ethnic group from Nigeria’s south. A witness at the meeting, Okey Raymond, 48, said he had survived by hiding under a table before slipping out a back door, the Associated Press reported. “We started hearing many gunshots through the windows,” Mr. Raymond told the AP. “Everyone scampered for safety, but the gunmen chanted: ‘God is Great, God is Great,’ while shooting at us.”

No group has taken responsibility for this week’s attacks.

The government didn’t comment on the attacks. Nigeria’s national security adviser and a presidential spokesman didn’t respond to requests to comment.

On Dec. 31, President Jonathan declared a state of emergency throughout much of the northeast, which permits police to conduct searches and arrests without warrants. Tanks continue to patrol hard-hit towns, but the moves have so far failed to curb Boko Haram’s escalating violence.

The apparent futility of the government’s efforts inspired threats, this week, of retaliation by militants in the Christian-dominated south. Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, a onetime oil militant who set aside arms after being dismissed from a 2007 treason charge, told reporters on Wednesday that his former militia was “seconds away” from reprisals against Muslims living in Nigeria’s south.

Combined, the death threats and overtures of counterattacks have spurred fears that violence could spread southward.

“If this kind of language continues, then yes, there are bound to be revenge attacks,” said Liz Donnelly, a Nigeria analyst at London-based research group Chatham House. “It just takes a couple of small groups here and there with a few guns, of which there are ample in Nigeria.”

The increased violence from Boko Haram and the swelling protests, could undermine the country’s economic growth, analysts said. Africa’s top oil exporter, Nigeria is expected to grow 8.5% in 2012, according to an International Monetary Fund forecast.

“This is a sensitive moment,” said Gordon Bottomley, a research associate at the New York-based risk consultancy Ergo. “[Nigeria]‘s chance for real rapid economic growth, its chance to double its oil production, its chance to become a real, global economic player—all that is very much in jeopardy.”

Hated for His Name’s Sake

“Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.”
—Matthew 24:9

Charges of anti-Muslim discrimination at Catholic University in D.C. has presidential candidate Newt Gingrich up in arms.

Hated for His Name’s Sake

“Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.”
—Matthew 24:9

“I look at the things that are going on in this country that make no sense to me,” he said to a crowd of about 400 South Carolinians gathered at a pig roast fundraiser organized by the Myrtle Beach Tea Party. “We now have a lawsuit apparently by some Muslim students at Catholic University who are offended being at a Catholic university. Now my first answer to them is ‘Fine, don’t go to a Catholic university.’”

His comments drew applause. Gingrich was referring to allegations that Catholic University of America is illegally discriminating against Muslim students by “denying them access to benefits that other student groups enjoy,” and, in particular, not providing space for daily prayers so that they have to pray in classrooms or campus chapels where they are surrounded by Catholic symbols. The charges are currently being reviewed by the District of Columbia Office of Human Rights.

Gingrich challenged the “people who filed the lawsuit,” asking rhetorically, “Are you prepared to sponsor a Christian missionary in Mecca? Because if you’re not prepared to sponsor religious liberty in Saudi Arabia, don’t come and nag us with some hypocritical baloney. So I think we need to be prepared to stand firm for genuine religious liberty, not for something that’s anti-Christian.”

The former House speaker brought up the story after being asked a question from the audience on the persecution of Coptic Christians in the Middle East, which he related to what he sees as a global picture of anti-Christian sentiment.

Gingrich answered, “What I would do is I would actively try to defend religious liberty across the planet, including in Egypt, in Iraq. Look, the number of Christians left in Iraq dropped from a million 200 thousand to five hundred thousand after we liberated the country.”

He blasted U.S. strategy in the Middle East as a “totally grotesque area.”

“People say, well isn’t this great, we’re having an Arab Spring. Well I don’t know, I think we may in fact be having an anti-Christian spring. I think people should actually be taking this pretty soberly.”

A former student at a high school in Southern California recently filed a lawsuit against the school district after he had been suspended for sharing his faith.

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Hated for His Name’s Sake

“Marvel not, my brethren, if the world•Strongs 2889: kosmos, kos´-mos; probably from the base of 2865; orderly arrangement, i.e. decoration; by implication, the world (in a wide or narrow sense, including its inhabitants, literally or figuratively (morally)): — adorning, world. hate you.”
—1 John 3:13

About a year ago, Kenneth Dominguez, 16, was disciplined by Gateway East High School in San Diego County and was prevented from bringing his Bible to campus.

The lawsuit was filed after the Grossmont Union High School District refused to acknowledge any wrongdoing, according to Brad Dacus, president and founder of Pacific Justice Institute, which is representing Dominguez.

Dominguez is a new believer. He surrendered his life to the Lord during Christmas break in the 2009-2010 school year.

When he returned to school in January, he began to tell his peers about his Christian faith.

He was “on fire” and “excited about his faith,” sharing “what happened to him and what God had done,” Dacus explained to The Christian Post.

But his grace sharing period came to a halt when an administrator reprimanded him. The school official told Dominguez that he was not allowed to share his faith because of the “separation of church and state.”

According to Dacus, Dominguez had not created any disruption when he was testifying about his faith to fellow students. He didn’t shout or preach out loud and he limited his talk to lunch breaks and the hallways, and not the classroom.

Additionally, there has been no record of any student or anyone else complaining, Dacus noted.

After being warned by the administrator, Dominguez continued to discuss his faith and bring his Bible to school. He was then told that he could not bring his Bible to campus either. A two-day suspension soon followed.

Defending the student, attorney Michael J. Peffer, who heads PJI’s Southern California office, contended, “No student should be forced to leave his faith and Bible at the gate when he enters school grounds. We are looking forward to this opportunity to vindicate Mr. Dominguez and protect students throughout California.”

The incident doesn’t come as a surprise to PJI attorneys. Among the 4,000 requests for legal assistance received last year alone, Dacus said many of them dealt with public school religious freedom issues.

“Particularly in a state like California where the teachers union has such great control over what goes on in public schools, we see a lot of hostility and bigotry against Christian students, sometimes under the cloak of ‘tolerance,’” he lamented.

Catherine Martin, spokeswoman for the Grossmont Union High School District, was unable to comment because of pending litigation.

[UPDATE] 3-31 7:12 p.m.

The Grossmont Union High School District released a statement today in response to the lawsuit:

The Grossmont Union High School District Governing Board and Administration fully supports and defends the Constitution of the United States, particularly the First Amendment provisions protecting the free exercise of religion and freedom of speech. It is also the firm commitment of the Grossmont Union High School District (GUHSD) to provide a safe and orderly learning environment for all students and staff that is free of disruption to the educational process on each of its campuses.

Police have threatened a Christian cafe owner with arrest –for displaying passages from the Bible on a TV screen.

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Hated for His Name’s Sake

“Then shall they deliver•Strongs 3860: paradidomi, par-ad-id´-o-mee; from 3844 and 1325; to surrender, i.e yield up, intrust, transmit:—betray, bring forth, cast, commit, deliver (up), give (over, up), hazard, put in prison, recommend. you up to be afflicted•Strongs 2347: thlipsis, thlip´-sis; from 2346; pressure (literally or figuratively):—afflicted(-tion), anguish, burdened, persecution, tribulation, trouble., and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated•Strongs 3404: miseo, mis-eh´-o; from a primary, misos (hatred); to detest (especially to persecute); by extension, to love less: — hate(-ful). of all nations for my name’s sake.”
—Matthew 24:9

Jamie Murray was warned by two police officers to stop playing DVDs of the New Testament in his cafe following a complaint from a customer that it was inciting hatred against homosexuals.
Mr Murray, 31, was left shocked after he was questioned for nearly an hour by the officers, who arrived unannounced at the premises.
He said he had turned off the Bible DVD after an ‘aggressive inquisition’ during which he thought he was going to be arrested and ‘frog-marched out of the cafe like a criminal’.
But he added: ‘I have now checked on my rights and I am not going to be bullied by the police and the PC lobby out of playing the Bible silently in my cafe. It’s crazy. Christians have to stand up for what they believe in.’
The Salt and Light cafe in Blackpool has for years repeatedly played the entire 26-hour-long Watchword Bible, a 15-DVD set produced in America in which a narrator reads the whole of the New Testament, on a small flatscreen TV on the back wall.

Homosexual critics of biblical view of family trigger PayPal ‘investigation’

Hated for His Name’s Sake

“Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.”
—Matthew 24:9

A formal investigation of several Christian organizations has been launched by PayPal, the huge money-transfer company, because of an online campaign of “hate” against them by homosexuals, according to one of the targets.

The notices of the investigation were sent to Julio Severo’s Last Days Watchman blog and Peter LaBarbera’s “Americans for Truth,” among others.

Both websites are unabashedly Christian, and both advocate the biblical perspective of homosexuality.

The demands from PayPal came in the form of a questionnaire that required the site operators to explain the PayPal button on their site and “the purpose … of collecting these donations.”

PayPal, which returned a WND request for comment on the “hate” campaign against the Christian organizations but said it did not have a statement prepared, also wanted to know how PayPal would be used as a payment provider and whether the organization has “registered” tax-exempt status.

Severo explained to PayPal that his Christian ministry, through his Portuguese, English, Spanish and German blogs, aims to “inform people about controversial issues, including euthanasia, abortion, homosexuality, etc.”

“I noticed that your message came to me after a hate campaign against me and other Christian ministries,” he told PayPal, citing the AllOut.org website.

That online campaign criticizes “anti-LGBT extremists” who are using PayPal to raise money for “their dangerous cause.”

It specifically puts bull’s-eyes on Severo and LaBarbera as well as Abiding Truth Ministries, New Generation Ministries, Noua Dreapta of Romania, Truth in Action Ministries, Dove World Outreach, Faith Word Baptist Church, Family Research Institute and American Society for the Defense of Traditional Family.

AllOut alleges those groups promote “hate.”

But Severo insisted exactly the opposite is true.

“I want you to know that we Christians love homosexuals, but we disagree with their immoral lifestyles,” he told PayPal.

A response to Severo from PayPal noted, “We appreciate your information. Your account has been noted accordingly. We will investigate your account and give you response as soon as possible. Your patience on this case is highly appreciated.”

Severo said AllOut also is working on Facebook, Twitter and through emails to pressure PayPal to censor his religious beliefs.

“Differently from gay activists that receive huge government grants, I receive no government money,” Severo said.

“I spend much time preparing and writing articles to post in my blogs. My blogs and their messages are my voluntary contributions and my personal sacrifice to help inform you. Pray against gay campaigns aimed at isolating financially me and my family. If they are successfully, we as a family … will not be able to survive.”

He told PayPal, “I will be waiting your answer, and also a public answer regarding the hate campaign aimed at me. All the accusations of this hate campaign against me are false. I have never, as a Christian, preached any violence against other people. I can present hundreds of witnesses that will confirm what I am saying.”

LifeSiteNews.com already has created an online petition in support of the Christian websites and ministries that says, “I protest the attack by homosexual organizations on Christian activists Julio Severo, Americans for Truth About Homosexualty (AFTAH), and Tradition, Family, and Property (TFP). I encourage PayPal to affirm the right of pro-family organizations to use its service and to reject attacks on the Christian faith and other religions that uphold sexual morality and defend family values.”

According to LaBarbera, the issue is that homosexual activists no longer are willing merely to pursue their own lifestyle; they now are demanding that people with biblical perspectives with which they disagree be shut down.

“They want dominance even if it means smearing pro-family people as ‘haters’ and destroying our cherished religious freedoms,” he said.

WND reported earlier when Severo reported his website had been under surveillance by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

WND also reported when a similar series of attacks were generated against online ministries and groups that discuss the danger of Islam.

PayPal reportedly cut off several accounts because of concerns about their message of truth about Islam, then restored them a short time later.

Popular activist, author and blogger Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs, who has also helped found the Freedom Defense Initiative and Stop Islamization of America, reported getting intimidating letters from PayPal that claimed the websites “promote hate” and “racial intolerance.”

According to Geller, PayPal sent her letters explaining the websites had violated the company’s policy, which bans use of PayPal for items that “promote hate, violence, racial intolerance or the financial exploitation of a crime.”

In order to comply, Geller reported, she was required to remove PayPal as a payment option from her websites, as well as all references to the company, its logo and shopping-cart features.

She later reported an executive with the company called and explained the decision was in error and that financial services to the websites could resume.

WND also reported when the Charitable Give Back Group, formerly known as the Christian Values Network, said activists were working online to gather signatures and scare customers away because of the Christian message.

Dozens of Chinese Christians were arrested on Sunday when police prevented an evangelical Protestant church from holding its Easter Sunday service, as the state continued its attack on protests against one-party rule.

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Hated for His Name’s Sake

“Then shall they deliver•Strongs 3860: paradidomi, par-ad-id´-o-mee; from 3844 and 1325; to surrender, i.e yield up, intrust, transmit:—betray, bring forth, cast, commit, deliver (up), give (over, up), hazard, put in prison, recommend. you up to be afflicted•Strongs 2347: thlipsis, thlip´-sis; from 2346; pressure (literally or figuratively):—afflicted(-tion), anguish, burdened, persecution, tribulation, trouble., and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated•Strongs 3404: miseo, mis-eh´-o; from a primary, misos (hatred); to detest (especially to persecute); by extension, to love less: — hate(-ful). of all nations for my name’s sake.”
—Matthew 24:9

Security forces clashed with followers of a growing underground Protestant movement that was blocked from moving into a new meeting hall near Beijing, leading to three weeks of confrontation with the communist authorities.
Worshippers from the Shouwang, or “watch tower”, church were taken away in buses, some defiantly singing hymns. Church leaders had issued a “fire and brimstone” cry for the congregation to worship outside the building even if it meant arrest and prosecution.
“The devil Satan has taken advantage of the authority God has granted to the national government and is seeking to destroy God’s church,” Pastor Jin Tianming wrote. “His devil’s claws have finally been revealed. Satan get thee behind me!”
Up to 500 members of the Protestant house church movement, unregistered assemblies of worshippers that the government bans to prevent the rise of opposition, have been detained in recent weeks. Yesterday’s arrests were a continuation of the authorities’ increase in repression of dissenters to stop any chance of a revolution such as those seen in North Africa and the Middle-East.
“Between 20 and 30 followers were taken away,” said Pastor Jin by telephone from his home, where he has been under house arrest for the past two weeks.

Christians are free to worship in China if they register with the state-approved churches, but millions of evangelical Protestants refuse to submit to government control. Estimates put the number of underground Christians at 40 million, with some claiming there are as many as 80 million. Shouwang church was founded in a flat in 1993 but now has 1,500 members. It claims to have been blocked from taking possession of a £2.5 million building it bought in 2009.
Activists warn that the repression could raise support for the protests that China is seeking to suppress. “The Chinese government are playing a very dangerous game,” said Mark Shan, a spokesman for ChinaAid, a US-based Christian rights group. “They are pushing the church into a corner and other Christians, when they see how Shouwang have been treated, may react in the same defiant way.”

CAIRO—Egyptian authorities on Sunday rounded up people for questioning in connection with a weekend bombing that killed 21 outside a church in the northern port city of Alexandria.

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Hated for His Name’s Sake

“Then shall they deliver•Strongs 3860: paradidomi, par-ad-id´-o-mee; from 3844 and 1325; to surrender, i.e yield up, intrust, transmit:—betray, bring forth, cast, commit, deliver (up), give (over, up), hazard, put in prison, recommend. you up to be afflicted•Strongs 2347: thlipsis, thlip´-sis; from 2346; pressure (literally or figuratively):—afflicted(-tion), anguish, burdened, persecution, tribulation, trouble., and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated•Strongs 3404: miseo, mis-eh´-o; from a primary, misos (hatred); to detest (especially to persecute); by extension, to love less: — hate(-ful). of all nations for my name’s sake.”
—Matthew 24:9

Ishmael•FYI: Ishmael is the son of Abraham through Hagar, the maid of Abraham’s wife Sarah.
Ishmael is the Biblical father of the Arab nations.
•From these nations came Mohammad, who in approximately 632 a.d founded the Religion of Islam.
•The Religion is divided into two main groups, The Sunni’s and The Shiite’s. These two are engaged in a battle to gain control of the religion.
•The Shiite branch claims its right to control because Ali, its founder, was the nephew of Mohammad.
•While the Sunni branch claims its right to control because its founders were the generals in-charge when Mohammad died.
•The battle continues to this very day.
•The verse below is speaking directly concerning Ishmael and the nations that would come from this direct descendent of Abraham.

“And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”
—Genesis 16:12

The attack struck Christian worshippers as they were leaving midnight Mass early Saturday morning at the Church of Two Saints in Alexandria. Nearly 100 were injured.

On Sunday, government officials said they were still unsure whether the attack was a car bombing or was carried out by a suicide bomber with hand-carried explosives. It was the worst incident of sectarian violence in the country since 21 Christians were killed in a gunfight in the village of Al Kosheh in 2000.

The government blamed “foreign elements” for the attack, according to the interior ministry’s website Saturday.

It wasn’t clear how many were arrested. Reuters, quoting people in the security services, said seven had been held for questioning, and 10 others were briefly detained and released. The Associated Press said security officials said 25 people have been detained for questioning, but none was thought to be linked to the attack.

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Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images
Christians held a blood-stained portrait of Jesus Christ as they protested Sunday in Alexandria.

An Iraqi affiliate of al Qaeda has targeted Christians in Iraq and has called for attacks on Egypt’s Coptic Christian community.

Sectarian tensions between Muslims and Egypt’s Christian community, which represents about 10% of the population, aren’t uncommon. But deadly attacks are still relatively rare. That could make Saturday’s bombing—especially if it’s determined to have been planned or inspired by al Qaeda—a significant new challenge for President Hosni Mubarak, who faces a presidential race this fall.

Mr. Mubarak, 82 years old, cracked down hard on political opposition ahead of parliamentary polls that took place in November and December. The president’s National Democratic Party won nearly 90% of seats in those elections.

Saturday’s attack, which comes amid a recent uptick in sectarian tensions, could tarnish the NDP’s reputation for maintaining domestic stability, an accomplishment the president often touts as a hallmark of his 29-year rule.

The attack triggered angry demonstrations by Christians, who at one point stormed a mosque across the street from the church, according to an Associated Press photographer at the scene. Saturday afternoon, angry Christian youths faced off at the site with Egyptian security forces, who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets.

“Today’s attack is another reminder that this so-called stability that [Mubarak] achieved is extremely fragile, and that even this part of his legacy is not to be taken for granted,” said Hossam Bahgat, general director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, a Cairo-based advocacy organization.

Ruling-party officials played down the fallout from the attack. “In the immediate aftermath, some angry young Christian youth were angry and made some complaints,” said Ali El Din Helal, information secretary for the NDP. “This is natural.”

Following the Saturday morning attack, hundreds of protesters turned out to demonstrate in the largely Christian neighborhood of Shubra, outside the capital, Cairo. Another Christian demonstration was held Sunday afternoon in Moqattam, a suburb perched on the limestone bluffs outside Cairo. More protests are planned for this week.

In a show of defiance Sunday, hundreds of Christians returned to pray in the Church of Two Saints in Alexandria.

Some critics have accused the government of standing by as actions by hard-line Salafi Islamists, representing a conservative strain of Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia, have strained Muslim-Christian ties. Throughout the fall and winter, Salafis have gathered for weekly demonstrations in front of churches in Alexandria, demanding that Coptic authorities release two women the Salafis accuse the church of holding against their will. Islamists say the church is holding the women because they sought to convert to Islam—an accusation the Coptic church denies.

In September, a high-ranking Coptic bishop heightened tensions after he told a church gathering that Muslims were “guests” in Egypt, because the Christian presence in the country predates Islam by several hundred years.

In late October, an al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group in Iraq attacked a Christian church in Baghdad, killing dozens. Members of the militant group, the Islamic State of Iraq, held churchgoers hostage for several hours while demanding that Egypt’s Coptic church release the two women allegedly held against their will. The Iraqi group called on faithful Muslims to attack any Christians, who it said were “legitimate targets.”

Some critics blame the Egyptian government for the recent tension by allowing discrimination against Christians to go unchecked. They accuse government-run schools of teaching Islamic chauvinism and say state-owned newspapers propagate unfounded accusations against Christians. They have also said the government has been slow or ineffective in tracking down assailants in previous attacks on Christians.

“They are continuing to adopt these policies, which are dealing with non-Muslims as infidels,” said Emad Gad, a Christian and a political analyst at the state-funded Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo.

Salem Abdel Galil, Egypt’s deputy minister of Awqaf, or religious endowments, rejected accusations that the government cultivates or tolerates anti-Christian feelings among Egyptians.

“Undoubtedly, there is extremist sentiment, but this is very weak, and everyone is against it,” he said.

Nearly a year ago, three gunmen opened fire on parishioners as they left a mass for Coptic Christmas, which is celebrated in early January, at a church in the southern Egyptian city of Nag Hammadi. The drive-by shooting killed six Christians and a Muslim security guard. A ruling in the case against the three men has been delayed for more than a year, though the ruling is expected later this month.

In November, Christians rioted in a Cairo suburb after police intervened to stop construction of a new church building, citing a lack of proper permission. Two Copts were killed in the violence and state security authorities arrested 152 Coptic protesters.