Report: Islamic State Turning Churches Into Torture Chambers In Iraq & Syria

[big_dog]

Source: Jerusalem Post

The Islamic State (IS) is turning Christian churches in Syria and Iraq into torture chambers and selling stolen holy artifacts on the black market in the process, according to recent reports. IS has been utilizing routes for moving oil and weapons to smuggle stolen ancient relics from churches into their “caliphate,” and then sell them on the black market for profit.

These stolen church artifacts and antiques are sold to western collectors to help fund the terrorist organization. IS has collected 23 million pounds from the sale of pilfered artifacts from churches in Nabaq, according to a report by The Christian Post. Experts also believe that the militants have converted the ransacked churches in Qaraqosh into torture chambers for local Christians. The members of the Islamic State who now run the churches are holding the Christians prisoner and forcing them to convert to Islam.

Although it is unclear what church items have been stolen by the militant terrorist organization, IS has made clear that they intend to destroy any religious group that does not agree with their interpretation of Islam. “ISIS has a stated goal to wipe out Christianity,” Jay Sekulow, of the American Center for Law and Justice said. “This is why they are crucifying Christians — which includes children — destroying churches and selling artifacts. The reality is, this group will stop at practically nothing to raise funds for its terrorist mission.”

Islamic militants have conquered and destroyed churches and Christian sites in the past, most notably, this summer when they destroyed the tomb of Jonah in Mosul. Islamic State militants believe that they must destroy the non-believers who do not subscribe to their sect of Sunni Islam.

Read more: http://www.jpost.com/Christian-News/ISIS-is-turning-churches-into-torture-chambers-in-Iraq-and-Syria-385511?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

[nichomachus]

1. Have they started pulling babies out of incubators yet? n/t

[TwilightGardener]

2. You doubt reports of their brutality?

[nichomachus]

3. From the Jerusalem post?

Hmmmmm.

[TwilightGardener]

6. You can probably find similar reporting from other sources.

I think ISIS has been shown, thus far, to be as awful as they initially appeared.

[Fred Sanders]

11. I think the point was about THIS very specific allegation.

[azurnoir]

15. yes a quick Google search came up with Fox and World Net Daily

impeccable sources if ever there were

[840high]

13. Other sources have it, too.

[starroute]

7. I wouldn't take Jay Sekulow's word for anything

And the American Center for Law and Justice is kind of a right-wing mockery of the ACLU.

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/religious-right-freedom-and-liberty-group-aclj-backed-russian-gay-propaganda-and-blasphemy-b

The American Center for Law and Justice, the group founded by televangelist Pat Robertson to be a right-wing counter to the American Civil Liberties Union, bills itself as a champion of the “ongoing viability of freedom and liberty in the United States and around the world.”

But the ACLJ – which has joined in the Religious Right chorus claiming that progressive policies are causing American Christians to lose their religious freedom – has never been so keen on the civil liberties of those with whom they disagree, especially in its work overseas. As we’ve noted in the past, the ACLJ led the fight to block the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” in Manhattan and through its African affiliate has backed efforts to prevent legalized abortion in Kenya and to keep homosexuality illegal in Zimbabwe.

And in recent years, the ACLJ’s European and Russian branches have also supported key parts of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s crackdown on gay rights and civil liberties, even as the group has served as a watchdog for Russia’s evangelical minority in the face of government persecution.

Both the European Center for Law and Justice (ECLJ) and the Slavic Center for Law and Justice (SCLJ) affiliates voiced support for Russia’s 2013 gag order on gay-rights advocacy. In addition, following the 2012 Pussy Riot protest, the SCLJ called for a law criminalizing religious blasphemy. One of its leading attorneys then helped draft one proposed version of the law.

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/pat-robertson-prosecuting-bob-mcdonnell-corruption-destroying-nation

Is Bob McDonnell the latest Religious Right “victim” of President Obama’s purported persecution of conservatives?

Today on “The 700 Club,” Pat Robertson and Jay Sekulow did their best to paint the former Republican governor of Virginia as the victim of a “political prosecution,” decrying his corruption trial as a “political witch hunt” spearheaded by Attorney General Eric Holder.

[Fred Sanders]

10. Totally unreliable source, but tales of terrifying monsters is the way some folks rock.

[bulloney]

12. Do you remember some of the propaganda that pulled us into the first Iraq war?

Poppy Bush was expressing outrage over Saddam raiding hospitals and pulling the plug on incubators and leaving babies to die. That turned out to be a lie (like a lot of other stuff associated with our invasions of Iraq). That was a whiff of the button-pushing of Americans' emotions that sucked us into the first war in Iraq.

[TwilightGardener]

14. I've yet to see any report or analysis, from any source, that indicates

that ISIS' brutality and violence has been exaggerated or overblown. That's not to say that all stories about them are necessarily true, but I don't see a "gin up a war" effort going on here, the way the incubator-babies played out. I think this group is really and truly committing a number of atrocities against whomever resists them.

[jwirr]

20. I tend to agree but we need more reliable sources. This bunch of rwers has a vested interest in

this.

[bulloney]

23. And it's being filtered via our warmonger-complicit media.

Some of these media have a vested interest in ginning up wars because they're owned by companies that also own some of the largest weapons manufacturers in the world. Example: NBC and General Electric.

Between our intelligence agencies, the Pentagon and the U.S. media, there's about zero credibility between them in my books. Call me jaded, but I've lived almost my entire life with these three parties bullshitting us into spending our country into bankruptcy and unnecessarily killing millions of people. And all these parties care about is increasing their corporate profits.

There's a thing called credibility, and once you've lost it, it's very difficult to get back.

[KansDem]

5. !!

Thanks! I'd forgotten about that one!

[cosmicone]

4. Another evidence that some want respect from other cultures

but are never going to give the other cultures the same respect as they demand for themselves.

PS: Read between the lines. I don't want this post hidden i.e. censored by a concerted effort of sympathizers just because the perps belong to the same sub-domain.

[closeupready]

8. Physician, heal thyself.

And if you need help understanding that reference, look it up.

[cosmicone]

16. Not gonna alert as usual eh? n/t

[closeupready]

17. Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas, hon!

[cosmicone]

18. Same to you -- enjoy the season

and may you get all the gifts you ever wanted

[cigsandcoffee]

21. We have no right to judge because we're bad, too? n/t

[closeupready]

22. You obviously know little about DU's board history, and

the member to whom I was directing that remark.

Setting that aside, you have a right to do whatever you want, say whatever you want, make all the judgments you'd like. But if you do make judgments, then don't later complain that people are making judgments about you and your thoughts.

[Scootaloo]

27. "Sympathizers"?

Cosmicone, here's an idea - if you don't like having posts hidden, maybe stop saying awful shit.

[cosmicone]

29. I never say awful shit

I state the truth and in most cases my posts are hidden by a margin of 4-3 with three people obviously siding with me. In my opinion, it is censorship in its purest form and ones sees a lot of it in a couple of specific topics on DU.

[Fred Sanders]

9. Remember the report about ISIS eating babies? No? Well, I am sure there is one.....and it must

be true, I heard it on the Internet.

[Marrah_G]

24. No- but they do rape and sell women as slaves

These are bad people , like Boku Haram... I hope both the middle East and Africa both get their shit together to stop these forces.

[mwrguy]

19. Israelis shouldn't point fingers

when it comes to theft and torture.

[Odin2005]

25. This is so obvious BS propaganda it's pathetic.

[underpants]

26. It's a Christmas miracle for Dick Cheney

[Scootaloo]

28. The "American Center for Law and Justice" is a vanity outlet for Pat Robertson

Yes, Pat Robertson as in "The 700 Club."