In the UK last year, there were 2,823 victims of 'honour-based' violence, a figure revealed by (limited) UK police statistics for 2011 obtained by the Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation through a freedom of information request: about a dozen killings happen every year.

Apologists wish us to lump honour killings in with domestic violence, to avoid having to ask any awkward questions about other people's values, but they are, in fact, very separate. In domestic violence, an individual (mostly men) batters or murders another individual. Honour killings and honour violence are a family matter.

These crimes are under-reported but annually the killings run into many, many thousands worldwide. From an in-depth academic study of 172 honour killings, based on information obtained from English-language media world wide, here are some striking statistics and conclusions.

Yes, it's a cultural rather than a religious thing, stemming from some nasty tribal customs of South Asia and the Middle East, but though Hindus, Sikhs and the odd Christian might be perpetrators, the blunt truth is that honour killings are mainly Muslim-on-Muslim (91 per cent worldwide, 84 per cent North America, 96 per cent Europe).

Worldwide, two-thirds of victims (93 per cent women) were killed by their families of origin: 49 per cent in North America, 66 per cent in Europe and 72 per cent in Muslim countries. More than half the victims died in agony, having been either gang-raped or burned or stoned or beheaded or stabbed many times.

Being 'too Western' did for 58 per cent: this includes being insufficiently subservient, rejecting Islamic dress, wanting a career, having non-Muslim friends or boyfriends, rejecting an arranged marriage or leaving an abusive husband. This criterion covers 91 per cent of North American murders, 71 per cent of European and 43 per cent in the Muslim world. Offences against sexual propriety (eg being raped or accused of adultery) were the justification for the other murders.

Read here

Girls as young as nine are being forced to marry in mosques in Islington, according to the findings of a leading women’s rights group.

The Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation (IKWRO) has reported that at least 30 forced marriages took place in the borough in 2010, involving at least three 11-year old and two 9-year old girls.

Similarly, the Ministry of Justice revealed details of over 30 applications for Forced Marriage Protection Orders in 2011, of which “five or fewer” were made to protect children aged 9 to 11.

IKWRO has warned that child marriages in Britain could be on the increase, with hundreds of Muslim girls facing physical, sexual and emotional abuse as a result.

Dianna Nammi, director of IKWRO said:

“They are still attending schools in Islington, struggling to do their primary school homework, and at the same time being practically raped by a middle-aged man regularly and being abused by their families. So they are a wife, but in a primary school uniform.

Read here

A jury has convicted three members of the Shafia family — father, mother and son of an Afghan family living in Ontario — of murder in what has become Canada’s most notorious “honor killings” case. There has been some great crime and court reporting in the Shafia case, and the articles in the major newspapers are really quite good.

Children & Families Minister Tim Loughton MP has said that he is not convinced there is any need to regulate Britain's madrassas, despite clear evidence of abuse.

The Minister was responding to concerns expressed by the National Secular Society about child protection in Islamic schools. This followed a BBC investigation which revealed that over 400 allegations of physical abuse (and 30 of sexual abuse) were made at Britain's madrassas in the last three years. Only 10 cases went to court, and of these only two apparently led to convictions.

A senior prosecutor has suggested that these figures were likely to represent only the 'tip of an iceberg'. Nazir Afzal, the chief crown prosecutor for the North West of England, has commented that the figures represent "a significant underestimate".

UK madrassas are attended by more than 250,000 children from Muslim backgrounds every day for lessons on the Quran and Islamic culture.

Read here

Latest research on the numbers of Christians in the world by the Pew Centre (December 2011) finds that there are 2.18 billion Christians of all ages around the world, representing nearly a third of the estimated 2010 global population of 6.9 billion. Christians are also geographically widespread – so far-flung, in fact, that no single continent or region can indisputably claim to be the centre of global Christianity.

A century ago, this was not the case. In 1910, about two-thirds of the world’s Christians lived in Europe, where the bulk of Christians had been for a millennium, according to historical estimates by the Center for the Study of Global Christianity.2 Today, only about a quarter of all Christians live in Europe (26%). More than a third are in the Americas (37%). About one in every four Christians lives in sub-Saharan Africa (24%), and about one-in-eight is found in Asia and the Pacific (13%).

Of those who live in Sub-Saharan Africa, 80 million, that is 3.7 per cent of the world’s 2.18 billion Christians live in Nigeria, the country with the worlds sixth largest Christian population who account for half the population.  There are twice as many Protestants in Nigeria as there are in Germany.

Muslims make up one quarter of the world’s population. It has long been remarked that a line starting in Nigeria and working its way in a crescent shape through Africa up to the Nile and then around the Middle East to Turkey represents the front line between the Christian Faith and Islam.

On that fault line many dangers exist.

They erupted on April 18 in Northern Nigeria after a Christian named Goodluck Jonathan won the national presidential election. In a report for the Barnabas Fund following a visit there in November 2011 the chairman Robert de Berry wrote that: “Bishop Musa Mwin Tula of Bauchi listed seven churches that were completely burnt, two churches vandalised and looted, seven vicarages burnt and looted, ten clergy properties looted and burnt. They have lost everything.”

“All these attacks in different parts of Northern Nigeria were pre-planned and happened on April 18th – the presidential results having been announced on the 17th….The District headquarters of the Evangelical Church of West Africa at Malumfashi were destroyed on the 18th… church offices, medical clinic, two schools and a large church…..The Bishop of Ikara diocese met us at the village of Karu which had been destroyed on April 18th – all the possessions, including clothing of the villagers was stolen, piled up in the church, and along with the church, burnt. Three of the villagers were killed. The well was rendered unusable.”

Robert's report is limited to the areas he visited, but only reflects a fraction of what has happened to Christians in Northern Nigeria over recent years.

Archbishop Ben Kwashi, Bishop of Jos wrote in May: “ We are now faced with destruction of lives, property, infrastructure, wreaking havoc to political stability, economic growth and development. Over the years successive governments have either refused to arrest and punish the perpetrators, or have been accomplices."

Bishop Markus Modogo of Kafanchan felt that media correspondents often distorted the facts when it comes to the persecution of Christians

The violence continues unabated. Damaturu was attacked in early November 2011 by members of the Islamist Group Boko Haran which means “No western education.”  Nine churches were torched and banks and police stations were attacked resulting in many people being killed. The Bishop Abiodun Ogunnyemi escaped by hiding in the bush for two days. His wife and children were elsewhere.  He was able to escape in his 4×4 but the cars behind him were caught in the sand dunes and their occupants killed.

Anglican International Development and Barnabas Fund are launching an appeal in early 2012 to provide funds through the Anglican Primate of Nigeria’s office to assist these persecuted Christians from a range of denominations rebuild their churches, schools and clinics.  Details will be available on www.interanglicanaid.com and www.barnabasfund.org.uk

Chris Sugden is secretary of Anglican International Development

A Pentecostal preacher who has converted thousands of Muslims to Christianity was disfigured when men shouting “God is great” in Arabic threw acid in his face in a Christmas Eve attack that has stoked religious tensions here.

The victim, Umar Mulinde, is a Muslim convert to Christianity and now a vocal critic of Islam. He is also a key figure in opposing the establishment of Islamic civil courts in this majority Christian country.

Christians say the attack on Mr. Mulinde is symbolic of the government’s failure to protect Christians from Muslim extremists, even in a country whose population is 85 percent Christian. They say Muslims refuse to accept the concept of religious freedom, especially the right to choose how one worships.

Mainstream Muslims say they practice a tolerant version of Islam and that violent thugs like the ones who attacked Mr. Mulinde do not represent them.

Read here

Open Doors have again done the world a great service with the 2012 publication of their World Watch List. It is compiled from a qualitative questionnaire which covers various aspects of religious freedom in each country. Points are ascribed to permit a quantitative assessment of the liberty or oppression experienced by Christians.

[...]  While the oppressive, atheist-communist regime of North Korea is (again) the worst persecutor of Christians in the world, it must be observed that the rest of the Top 10 are Islamic. In fact, 38 of worst 50 countries persecuting Christians are predominantly Muslim.

While His Grace doesn’t wish to cause offence, he’d very much like to know what is to be made of the appalling statistic that 76 per cent of the world’s fiercest oppressors and persecutors of Christians are culturally, politically and religiously Islamic? Have they all misunderstood the Religion of Peace? Are they torturing and murdering their cousins – the People of the Book – in error and in contravention of quranic precepts? How could so many be so wrong in their interpretation of the sharia? Or misapplication of sharias? What does Allah think of it? Would Mohammed approve of the systematic persecution, imprisonment, torture and slaughter of those who follow the prophet Isa?

Read here

“Don’t take care, take risks,” is the advice that Canon Andrew White has for Christians in Britain.

In the latest Twurch of England podcast, the Vicar of Baghdad warns of a precarious future for Iraq’s dwindling Christian population.

“I don’t think [the future] is very positive,” he said.

“I think it’s very, very fragile, and I think without supporting the church there, there is no chance of the church continuing.”

Canon White leads St George’s church, the only Anglican church in Iraq and home to one of the country’s largest relief operations, providing food, financial assistance and healthcare.

The clinic alone serves 150 people a day, including the local Muslim communities, and its stem cell centre is one of the foremost in the world, having treated more than 3,500 patients.

With the withdrawal of US troops, there are fears of more conflict as political factions remain fiercely at odds with one another.

Read here

Sadakat Kadri said religious courts such as the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal, could serve the community as a whole

A leading barrister has called for the UK to become more sharia-literate, while arguing that Islamic law can be compatible with the toughest human rights legislation.

Sadakat Kadri told the Guardian that so-called "sharia courts", such as the Muslim arbitration tribunal, could serve "the community as a whole" by putting Sharia on a transparent, public footing and should be more widely accessible to those who want to use them.

Kadri said they played a role in safeguarding human rights: "It's very important that they be acknowledged and allowed to exist. So long as they're voluntary, which is crucial, it's in everyone's interests these things be transparent and publicly accessible. If you don't have open tribunals, they're going to happen anyway, but behind closed doors."

In 2008, Rowan Williams, archbishop of Canterbury, sparked controversy when he appeared to suggest that sharia law should be more widely adopted.

Read here

Projecting Western ideas onto the Arab Spring seriously underestimates the danger of Islamism.

Last July Matthew Kaminski opined in the Wall Street Journal that the transition to democracy in the Middle East would be as easy as it was for the democracies that emerged after the fall of the Soviet empire. Alas, this was predictably not so, and has now been proven, as vote after vote has shown the strength of the Islamists, most particularly in Egypt, where they have won some 70 percent of the ballot. With his article on January 3, "Arab Democracy Is the Best Bet for a Muslim Reformation", Kaminski continues in this vein of false optimism, based upon his propensity to project Western conceptions and norms onto the Islamic world, where they are largely irrelevant.

Wishful thinking can be dangerous when it distorts reality. Here is a short list of misconceptions in his latest piece.

"The appeal of political Islam… grows when religiosity is repressed." Islamism is a reaction to modernity, not to repression. It would grow regardless. With the shackles off in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia, watch it grow even more. To think that it will diminish because it is not repressed is a dangerous fantasy. Thanks to the Arab Spring, it now has the opportunity to seize control, and most likely will do so. Democratic elections have simply revealed the strength of the view that "Islam is the answer."

Read here

Accusations of blasphemy, apostasy or insulting Islam are being increasingly used by governments and extremists in the Muslim world as a way of acquiring and consolidating power.

By Remi Adekoya, Guardian

• In Nigeria, "Islamic militants shouting "Allahu Akbar" carried out coordinated attacks on churches and police stations, including opening fire on a congregation of "mostly women and children," killing dozens";
• Also in Nigeria, "the Muslim militant group, Boko Haram, executed two children of an ex-terrorist and "murderer" because he converted to Christianity";
• In Ethiopia more than 500 Muslim students assisted by Muslim police burned down a church, while screaming "Allahu Akbar";
• In Algeria five Christians were jailed for "worshiping in an unregistered location";
• In Kashmir "Muslim police arrested and beat seven converts from Islam in an attempt to obtain a confession against the priest who baptized them";
• In Kenya, "suspected Islamic extremists, apparently angered at the use of wine during communion—Islam forbids alcohol—threw a grenade near a church compound killing two, including an 8-year-old girl, and critically wounding three others"…

The Palace of Westminster has rejected demands to serve halal meat in its restaurants.

Muslim MPs and peers have been told they cannot have meat slaughtered in line with Islamic tradition because the method – slitting an animal’s throat without first stunning it – is offensive to many of their non-Muslim colleagues.

The stance has infuriated some parliamentarians who have eaten meat in the Palace’s 23 restaurants and cafes, having been assured that it was halal.

Lord Ahmed of Rotherham said: ‘I did feel misled. I think a halal option should be made available.’

Read here

(AINA) — Bishop Kyrillos, the Coptic Orthodox bishop of Nag Hammadi, received last week several threats of attacks to be carried out on churches in Nag Hammadi, either on New Year's Eve or Christmas Eve on January 6. "I do not want another Nag Hammadi Massacre to happen again," he said in an interview on the Egyptian independent TV Channel Al Tahrir. On January 6, 2010 6 Copts were killed and more than 15 injured in a drive-by shooting of worshippers as they left church after celebrating the Coptic Orthodox Christmas Eve's mass, which falls on January 6 according to the Julian Calender (AINA 1-7-2010).

A principal and his wife have been sacked from a college whose stated aim is to promote multiculturalism because they are white Christians, they claim.

Professor Malory Nye, 47, says he was dismissed from the Al-Maktoum College of Higher Education in Dundee, Scotland, because his race and religion were seen by his superiors as a threat to its core Muslim values.

He says the college’s claims to pursuing multicultural values were a charade and that he was dismissed so he could be replaced by a Muslim.

His wife Isabel Campbell-Nye, 42, alleges she was forced from her position as head of the English language centre because she attracted too many students who were not Muslims or Arabs.

The independent college, whose patron is Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, the Deputy Ruler of Dubai, advertises itself as a research-led institution 'that promotes a greater understanding of different religions and cultures in a multicultural context, for the benefit of the wider community'.

The couple are taking the college to an employment tribunal claiming racial and religious discrimination, and unfair dismissal.

Read here