April 2015 – Page 2 – Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)

Oklahoma Reserve Officer Kills Black Suspect

In yet another case of police brutality, a Tulsa, Oklahoma reserve deputy sheriff officer shot and killed an African-American after mistaking his taser gun with his firearm. The Oklahoma reserve deputy Robert Bates is an insurance salesman who performs such reserve functions.

Eric Harris, 44, was reportedly attempting to flee officers during an undercover sting operation in which he was filmed apparently trying to sell an illegal weapon. He was killed by Robert Bates, who has been charged with manslaughter.

The Tulsa World reported that supervisors in the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office were ordered to falsify training records for Robert Bates, to give Bates credit for field training he never took and firearms certifications he should not have received. So when our police are instructed to falsify records in one area, who is also to know whether they are falsifying other records?

We need to operate a trust basis for the law enforcement with whom we entrust the authority to act as the public’s representative in enforcing the law.

Pakistan: Christian Child Set on Fire Dies – Thousands Mourn

A very sad update to this horrific story of an attack on a young Pakistan Christian boy, Nauman Masih, died of his injuries, after being set on fire. News reports and human rights groups have recorded a video declaration by this 14 year old boy as being attacked for his faith. In a video statement made while the child was in the hospital, the now dead boy Nauman Masih stated: “I work at a tailor shop. I was returning from the shop when two men on motorbikes stopped me and asked about my religion. When I told them I am a Christian, they started calling me names.” “When I asked them not to abuse me, one man poured kerosene on me and lit a match. I ran toward a heap of sand and lay down. A few people from the community put out the fire by putting sand on me. After that I fell unconscious.”

His funeral was held at the St Ignatius Catholic Church in Shera Kot, a district of Lahore, and was reportedly led Father Samson Dilawar and a number of other Christian leaders also attended. Christianity Today reports that 2,000 attended his funeral.

BPCA chairman Wilson Chowdhry issued a statement that “Nouman was brave throughout his pain and spoke of forgiveness for his attackers. He dies a martyr and will no doubt be with the Lord today.” “Please pray for his family who have had to endure 5 days of extreme heartache and can expect little justice.”

Nauman Masih - 14 year old Christian Boy Dies from Burns — Nauman Masih – 14 year old Christian Boy Dies from Burns

The Catholic Herald reports that: “Nasir Saeed, director of CLAAS-UK, said: ‘The perpetrators must be brought to justice for lessons to be learned and to act as deterrents. Other people, and if necessary the government, must introduce some stringent punishment.’

Another link to his video testimony is provided below.

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Other media in Pakistan have sought to promote a different story.

Those who support our universal human rights know that in every instance, the death of a 14 year old child is disgraceful and a shame to our responsibility to keep our young people safe from such harm. Every person of every faith knows what the moral consequences for burning a child to death will be.

In Lahore, Pakistan, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) originally reported of the attack which took place Friday, April 10, 2015. He was reportedly set on fire by two unidentified men on motor bikes, who threw kerosene oil on him and ran away after setting him on fire, after first asking him if he was a Christian or a Muslim. After he replied that he was a Christian, he was attacked. The child was admitted in Mayo Hospital Lahore for treatment.

Such a contemptible crime against the universal human rights of our children must be condemned by all people of human decency and all faiths. We urge their support in ending such vicious attacks on children in Pakistan.

We have learned that the Pakistan Christian Post has also reported on this horrific attack, where they have identified the child attacked, and has also provided reference to a report on this by The Voice Society. The Voice Society has provided a detailed report on the attack on this child, and The Voice Society reported that this child had burns over 55 percent of his body. Dr. Nazir S Bhatti, President of Pakistan Christian Congress (PCC) raised a question “where is Chief Minister of Punjab Mian Shahbaz Sharif and Interior Minister of government of Pakistan Chowdhry Nisar Ali” when such attacks on Christian children are happening.

We urge support for our universal human rights, including security and religion for all people, and we call upon the government of Pakistan to end the oppression of Pakistan Christians in their country and use its law enforcement to punish these attackers.

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American Women’s Constitutional Rights and Extremist Attacks on Their Lives

In our support for the Constitutional rights of American women, we support the Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.) as an urgent and necessary protection for American women. Many of the reasons for such protection have been well documented: sexual discrimination against women, inconsistently enforced oppression and violence against women, the denial of equal rights and opportunity in the workplace, the disparate laws across the United States of America, which provides inconsistency in the protection of women’s rights.

But one other aspect to having a culture where there is a shared understanding of women’s rights and equality UNDER THE LAW is in the repeated cases we have seen on extremist attacks on American women.

Such extremists who seek to attack, threaten, oppress, injure, or kill women, based on some extremist ideology would now be held to a higher standard. If local courts did not ensure the protection of such women and the enforcement of the law, federal protection of women’s equal rights would.

One instance would be in cases of so-called “honor killings” by extremists, which are enforced differently in states around the nation. Only when there is interstate issues of travel or kidnapping do federal authorities get involved. Our American justice system should set a standard for consistency in Constitutional equality for women, as the LAW of the land, where all people coming to the United States of America will know that crimes against women – are crimes against this great United States of America itself.

We have seen such crimes against women, where a Constitutional amendment to enforce such women’s equality might have made the difference in protecting not only women’s rights, but also women’s lives.

Amina and Sarah Said in Dallas, Texas: sisters aged 17 and 18, murdered for dating non-Islamic boyfriends and developing “Westernized” ways. They were shot 11 times by their father Yaser Abdel Said, who remains at large.

Amina and Sarah Said - Victims of "Honor Killings" in Texas — Amina and Sarah Said – Victims of “Honor Killings” in Dallas, Texas

Methal Dayem in Cleveland, Ohio: shot four times with three bullets hitting her legs and torso, with the fourth going through her neck and she suffocated on her own blood. Cleveland prosecutors sought to bring charges against men believed in an “honor killing” against her, but her murderer(s) have never been punished. Her mother left the American court, sobbing that “You will not get away from Allah. Allah will punish you.”

Methal Dayem - Victim of "Honor Killing" in Cleveland, Ohio — Methal Dayem – Victim of “Honor Killing” in Cleveland, Ohio

Noor Almaleki in Peoria, Arizona: 20 year old woman murdered by her extremist father Faleh Almalek, who used his Jeep Cherokee to run over his daughter and another woman. He sought to commit an “honor killing” because her daughter was “too Westernized” and left an arranged marriage.

20 Year Old Noor Almaleki - American Girl Murdered for an "Honor Killing" — Noor Almaleki – American Girl Murdered for an “Honor Killing” in Peoria, Arizona

Aasiya Zubair Hassan in Buffalo, New York: 37 year-old woman beheaded by her husband Muzzammil Hassan in an “honor killing;” Ms. Hassan was a spokeswoman for a Muslim television program, “Bridges.” A Buffalo National Organization of Woman (NOW) representative was criticized for challenging an ideological view which believed that women were subordinate to men.

Aasiya Zubair Hassan - Suspected Victim of "Honor Killing" in Buffalo, NY — Aasiya Zubair Hassan – Victim of Suspected “Honor Killing” in Buffalo, NY

Sandeela Kanwal in Jonesboro, Georgia: 25 year-old woman strangled to death and beaten with an iron in a “honor killing” by her father Chaudhry Rashid, because she wanted to get out of an arranged marriage.

Sandeela Kanwa - Victim of "Honor Killing" in Georgia — Sandeela Kanwa – Victim of “Honor Killing” in Georgia

Tina Isa in Indianapolis, Indiana: 16 year-old child was stabbed to death 13 times by father in an “honor killing” for causing “dishonor”to her family for applying for a job at Wendy’s restaurant and seeing a black friend from school.

Tina Isa - Victim of "Honor Killing" in Indianapolis — Tina Isa – Victim of “Honor Killing” in Indianapolis

Amina Ajmal in Brooklyn, New York: 23 year-old woman told a court of her father “honor killing” threats and plots, after she was forced into an arranged marriage and allegedly gunned down her true love’s father and sister after she ran away

and another child threatened with an “honor killing” for seeking freedom of religion…

Rifqa Bary in Columbus, Ohio: teenage girl who stated her parents threatened to kill her for changing her religion and converting to Christianity.

Columbus, Ohio: Christian Convert Rifqa Bary – Stated She Was Threatened with “Honor Killing” Death

And these are just the ones we KNOW about.

These murder and attacks by those with an extremist ideology are an affront to the women’s human rights. They did not take place in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran, or another extremist nation.

These attacks and threats happened in:
— Dallas, Texas
— Cleveland, Ohio
— Peoria, Arizona
— Buffalo, New York
— Jonesboro, Georgia
— Indianapolis, Indiana
— Brooklyn, New York
— Columbus, Ohio

They happened in AMERICA – from Arizona to Buffalo. Your country.

The same America, where the failure to set an expectation of full Constitutional equality for women has led people to believe that women in this nation can be treated as subservient to men, who if they fail to obey, such extremist men think they have the right to murder such women.

The same America, where women still in this 21st century, don’t have guaranteed Constitutional equality in this nation, where such crimes can be investigated (or not) based on each city or each state’s laws.

The same America, where some politicians question, if we need an Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.)?

But I have some first hand insight on this, coming from another city in Chicago, Illinois. It was a heart-chilling sight for those who respect American equality. In Chicago, I witnessed a public meeting of the extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir in a Chicago hotel venue to promote the same Caliphate that ISIS seeks. The women in that venue were instructed that they had to be seated in the back of the room, where their “male masters” felt they belonged. In our nation. In the 21st century.

Hizb ut-Tahrir Instructs Women to Sit in Back of Conference Room

(This is the same Hizb ut-Tahrir organization, which had an anti-women’s rights event in the United Kingdom in March 2015, to deny that women’s equality was a universal human right, and the same group that had previously scheduled an event “Honor Killings are Morally Justified.”)

HT-and-Women — Scene for Hizb ut-Tahrir’s Anti-Women’s Rights Event – where Women are NOT Equal to Men (Source: YouTube)

This didn’t happen in a Middle East extremist nation. This happened in America – in YOUR HOME – that your children will inherit. Is this the America you want to bequeath to them?

But some politicians still don’t think we need an Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.)?

More than ever in our nation’s history and its place in the role, the United States of America truly needs the Equal Rights Amendment (E.R.A.). America needs to make stand without question, without caveat, that in the LAW of this land – women and men are partners with full Constitution rights in this great nation.

We need to show once again we are a nation – responsible for equality and liberty – for ALL.

South Carolina Man Walter Scott Shot in Back by Police Officer

On April 4, 2015, a 50 year old African-American Walter Scott was shot to death in the back by a white police officer Michael Slager, in North Charleston, South Carolina, following a daytime traffic stop for a nonfunctioning brake light. Mr. Slager reportedly gave a false police report, and he was arrested for murder after a witness posted a video of Mr. Slager shooting Walter Scott in the back while he was fleeing. The case is to be investigated bu the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED). The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the U.S. Attorney in South Carolina, and the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division will conduct their own investigations.

In the police reports, it was reported that officers performed CPR on Scott, but no such action is visible on the video. The video shows that, after shooting Mr. Scott, Mr. Slager ran back toward where the initial scuffle occurred and picked something up off the ground. Moments later, he dropped the object, possibly the Taser, beside Scott’s body.

Shooting of Walter Scott by White Police Officer Michael Slager - Charged with Murder (Source YouTube) — Shooting of Walter Scott by White Police Officer Michael Slager – Charged with Murder (Source YouTube)

Walter Scott, gunned down in the back, by accused murder, police officer Michael Slager

The Guardian also reported that accused murderer, police officer Michael Slager, laughed off his murder of Walter Scott, shortly after other police arrived.

South Carolina Police Office Michael Slager Charged with Murder of Walter Scott

Responsible for Equality And Liberty defends the right of equal justice for all people, and rejects the use of authority as a tool of oppression to belittle and deny justice to people in the United States of America, and anywhere in the world.

Human Rights for Oppressed Christians: Love Means Action

Christian human rights matter, as Christians as oppressed around the world, a call to love one another is a call to action for human rights.

Christians worship and pray on Friday, known as “Good Friday” to the Christian community, as they remember the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. As they do so, there is no greater time for Christians to remember this sacrifice of love and take such action to demonstrate their love for one another by actively supporting the oppressed people around the world, including their Christian brothers and sisters.

Across the nation and the world in churches on Easter Sunday, there will be Christian pastors and worshipers who will rejoice in their eternal salvation through Jesus, which is truly the point of the Christian faith.

On this Good Friday, Christians can also remember Jesus’s painful, brutal sacrifice of his life on Earth for humanity, as well as the commandment he gave his followers. In John 13:34-35, Jesus is quoted as with this new commandment “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” This was a command, not a suggestion, and it is an imperative for the billions in the Christian community.

The commandment to love one another must be more than social pleasantry. Christians are right to offer kindness and friendship in their community and fellow human beings are the world. Love is an active verb seeking more than pleasant thoughts, and it calls for action to help those in need. The command to love one another means giving our outstretched hand to our brothers and sisters in humanity around the world, suffering from oppression, poverty, abuse, and despair. As a Christian myself, surely our hearts are big enough that when we love one another, we can reach out to help one another. That is what people who love one another do.

The Christian ethic requires that we reach out and love one another of every identity group, religion, ethnic background around the world, including our defense of rights of our fellow human beings, who we are taught to love.

Certainly this outreach must also include love and support for their fellow Christians who face oppression and violence. With 2.2 billion Christians in the world, the commandment to love one another should produce group the largest human rights activists in the world. Instead, there are small, but determined groups of human rights activists, missionaries, and asylum supporters, whose courage and persistence provide an example for the entire community. Their impact and influence of these activists far outweighs their limited numbers. The Christian community of 2.2 billion can do much more and must coordinate more of their efforts in defending the human rights of oppressed people around the world, including our own Christian brothers and sisters.

As a starting point, let us assume that if we love one another, we believe that our fellow human lives’ matter. The eternal lives of Christians have always been our priority, as it must be in the Christian faith. But our love for one another should also include a commitment to work for the rights and security of our fellow Christians, rather than abandon them around the world to be hunted down, tortured, imprisoned, and killed. Our loved ones deserve that we care for their well-being. All of the lives of our fellow human beings matter; Christian lives matter as well.

Yet in many churches around the world, the oppression of our fellow human beings and of our fellow Christians will be not the topic of sermons in weeks and months to come. Many are uncomfortable discussing such issues, and billions of Christians are uninformed by their religious leaders. Christian churches are for prayer and honoring God, not for politics. But following the command to love one another is not a political issue; it is a moral issue of responsibility to love one another, and to care for each other’s well-being.

The oppression of Christians around the world is every bit of an evil as the historic bondage and slavery that we have challenged for generations for Christians and others around the world. Within the Christian community, we need a new generation of abolitionists, who seek the abolition of oppression of our Christian brothers and sisters. They need to be freed from the slavery of oppression, torture, and murder; they need to be freed from prisons where they are enslaved for their faith. If we love one another, surely the injustice to them must be a cause for our action.

We can do more in defending the human rights of oppressed Christians around the world, who are regularly being tortured, raped, murdered, and imprisoned. We Christians must pray. But we must also reach out our hands, open our hearts, and open our lives to our brothers and sisters who need help. There must be more than us shaking our heads and stating “isn’t that a shame.” If we are commanded to love one another, that command calls for us to do something to help our loved ones in times of need. As we remember the sacrifice for us, surely we can sacrifice for those we are commanded to demonstrate our love.

The Open Doors organization estimates 100 million Christians face persecution, and according to the International Society for Human Rights, up to 80% of acts of persecution are directed at people of the Christian faith. If we seek to act to love one another, we must also work to help our brothers and sisters suffering around the world. It is not pleasant to see this suffering or to recount it. Perhaps some leaders view the problem of our oppressed brothers and sisters too unpleasant to discuss. But the Christian community must come together to understand the magnitude of the oppression of Christians today. This is a global problem, and it requires context of the global issue for the resources of the billions of Christians to work together.

There is no crime, no abuse of human rights, no murder that cannot be committed against Christians around the world – without apparent impunity. The billions of Christians need to become aware of this and develop a voice of love for one another, where we seek the protection of our loved ones. Our love for one another must be a challenge to those who oppress Christians around the world, and to reject the policies of Dechristianization by extremists in nation after nation. The universal human rights of all people include the freedom of religion for Christians.

In Pakistan, we have seen attacks on three churches in the past two weeks, and we have seen the continuing institutional abuses of Christian minorities. On March 15, two Christian churches were attacked during Sunday prayer services in the Youhanabad neighborhood of Lahore, with 15 killed that day and nearly 80 injured. Another three more Christians died from the attack, including a six year old girl, bringing the death toll from that attack alone to 18, and the situation has continued to worsen with arrests of hundreds of Christians. Days later, another Christian church was targeted for an attack in Pakistan. Pakistan Christians have long been a target of attack, abuse, mob murder, violence, and oppression. This has included use of the Pakistan “blasphemy” law to rationalize oppression, imprisonment, and violence against Christians. Mobs have previously destroyed Christian villages in Gojra, burned to death a Christian husband and wife in Kasur district, and have made numerous attacks on Christians. The Pakistan “blasphemy” law is also used to imprison Christians such as Pakistan woman Asia Bibi, based on hatred and grudges from non-Christians against them; Asia Bibi has been given the death sentence for trumped up and false charges of blasphemy and remains in a Pakistani prison.

In Thailand, Pakistan Christian refugees have been seeking asylum, and 300 have recently been arrested and placed in Immigration Detention Centers, while the UNHCR reviews their status in applying for asylum in fleeing from the oppression of Pakistan. We continue to reach out to the Kingdom of Thailand government, the UNHCR, and United States government to provide some mercy for these refugees seeking asylum from oppression due to their faith.

In Kenya, the latest crime against Christian human rights took place on Thursday in the attacks by the terrorist group Al-Shabaab killing 147 and wounding 79 at the Garissa University College. Christians were hunted down and hand-picked for execution by the terrorist group. The terrorist group has previously targeted Christians in a December 2014, killing 36 in the village of Kormey. The Al-Shabaab group has made numerous other attacks in Niger and Kenya – attacking churches, Christian shops, and pastor’s homes.

In India, an elderly nun was recently raped in West Bengal’s Ranaghat at the Convent of Jesus and Mary at Ranaghat, Nadia District. A rash of recent anti-Christian attacks in India has including an attack on a church under construction in the Haryana’s Hisar district. Reuters India has reported that Christians feel “under siege” in India as a result of recent attacks on them.

In Libya in February 2015, 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians were marched on their knees to a bloody beheading filmed by the ISIS terrorist organization, with the beaches of Libya covered with their blood. The ISIS terror group was proud of its grisly accomplishment and shared the video of their terrorist atrocity which it called as “a message signed with blood to the nation of the cross.” Egyptian Copts have protested the outrageous murder of Christians by this terrorist group.

In Syria, ISIS terrorists recently kidnapped over 200 Christians, thousands of Christians have been forced from their homes, and according to the BBC, Syrian Christians have been ordered to convert to Islam, pay jizya (a religious levy), or face death.

In Egypt on March 27, 2015, a Coptic Christian church being built in Al Our village in the Minya governorate being built to honor the 21 Christians beheaded by ISIS in Libya, was attacked by an angry mob with Molotov cocktails, injuring seven people and burning a Christian worshiper’s car.

In Nigeria, reports continually flow in about Christian churches being burned down in town after town. As of October 2014, Nigerian news reported that “185 churches have been razed and 190,545 people displaced.” This was after the global terror organization Boko Haram’s attack on Nigerian towns in Borno and Adamawa states. In November 2014, Fr. Gideon Obasogie, Head of Social Communications of the Diocese of Maiduguri, has provided news media with further updates on the destruction of Diocese of Maiduguri, with the fall of Mubi, with an estimated 2,500 Catholic Christians killed, 100,00 Catholics displaced, and over 50 churches destroyed. Christian churches and lives have been a target for destruction by the Boko Haram terrorist group, as well as terrorist attacks throughout northern Nigerian causing thousands of women and children to flee the country to neighboring nations.

In Communist China, on March 25, 2015, a Chinese Christian preacher Huang Yizi, who opposed an ongoing “anti-church” demolition campaign that saw hundreds of places of worship destroyed, has now been jailed on trumped-up charges of “gathering crowds to disturb social order.” The Communist Chinese Party (CCP) court sentenced him to one year in prison. The totalitarian CCP has long sought to oppress people of faith and conscience as part of oppression of universal human rights. Chinese Christian have regularly had prayer sessions to protect their houses of worship, but we have reported on numerous cases where the CCP authorities bully Chinese Christians and bulldoze their house of worship.

In the United States of America, African-Americans have been a target of abuse in major cities throughout the country. This has included Christian African-Americans in the city of Ferguson, Missouri. Christian leaders have come out of their pulpit to have a voice for human rights, dignity, and justice, but also to call for peace. As one woman pastor sought to keep the peace, she was shot in the stomach by a 60 caliber rubber bullet causing a bloody wound. But she stood back up and continued her commitment for peace and dignity.

As Christians worship during this Holy Week, in terms of rights, lives, and dignity of their fellow Christians and other fellow human beings, there is much that needs to be done. This is hardly a comprehensive list of the current oppression on Christians’ human rights, but the point is that this is a global problem, which needs a global solution.

The commandment for love is not only for quiet prayer, but also a call for acting in love. For our fellow Christians, it is a call to get our leaders to influence and change the views of nations where Christians are routinely oppressed, tortured, imprisoned, and killed. It is a call to work together to find ways to help, provide asylum, and find routes for Christians who flee such oppression to find a safe haven.

Americans had a history in addressing the disgrace of slavery for those fleeing such states where human rights and dignity were denied for African-Americans. They created a network of secret routes and safe houses for enslaved African-Americans to escape slave states and their oppressors. This commitment to their journey to freedom was a commitment to human rights. Just as Americans did in their history of providing safe haven (and continuing to fight for the rights) of African-Americans, so Christians around the world must come to the aid of those Christians seeking asylum from oppressive nations.

While we need long-term efforts to change the conditions where Christians are oppressed, we also need immediate action to help our fellow Christians in crisis. Groups such as the Pakistan Christian Congress, OpenDoors, Jubilee Campaign, ChinaAid, Christian Asylum Seekers, Iman Foundation Trust, Farrukh Saif Foundation, and others seek to work to help Christians in crisis, and they need your support.

To help Christians in crisis, we also need our own “underground railroad” to help oppressed Christians fleeing oppressor nations to find freedom. We need to work with our government agencies, United Nations refugee organizations, NGOs, and other refugee organizations to help oppressed Christians who are forced to flee their oppressors find a refuge in a free nation. Christian human rights organizations need to find ways to work more cohesively together for greater impact in human rights and safety of Christians around the world.

Open Doors reports that each month 322 Christians are killed for their faith, 214 churches and Christian properties are destroyed, and 772 forms of violence are committed against Christians. In Kenya alone, on Thursday, 147 people were killed, mostly Christian – in ONE DAY.

If we follow the commandment to love one another, and we respect the human rights of our fellow human beings, these global patterns of oppression must be unacceptable to the billions of Christians.

Love Means Action. Christian Lives Matter. All Lives Matter.