#persecution

[alethianightsong]

"The prince with a thousand enemies" quote hits different when you're marginalized

The full quote is like 80% despair and 20% hope. Basically, God says to the semi-divine Prince of Rabbits "everything in this world wants to catch and kill you. But while you are powerless, you are not helpless. Run fast, hide well, warn and help others like you and you will never be erased from this earth." El-ahrairah is not given weapons but tools to help him and his people survive (claws to dig havens, ears to listen, legs to run, feet to thump and warn). And despite how hard it is for him to survive, despite all his enemies, he is still noble, admirable and possessing dignity. He is a Prince.

[dougielombax]

So.

Today marks 36 years since the beginning of the Anfal Genocide in Iraq where Saddam Hussein’s regime slaughtered hundreds and thousands of Kurds, Yazidis, Assyrians, Mandaeans and Shabaks.

Around 100,000 people at the least would be killed.

It would last from February to September of 1988. During the late stages of the Iran-Iraq war.

Largely consisting of mass killings, chemical attacks and forced displacement.

Many in Iraq sadly continue to deny it to this day. Predictably. As do Saddam Hussein’s many idiot apologists on the internet.

I’ll leave some sources from this year and the last few years here for additional information.

Some sources also focus on the Assyrian victims too.

Above: A monument dedicated to the memory of the Assyrian victims of the Anfal genocide in the village of Gonda Kosa.

Just to remind any idiots who think Saddam and his cronies were kind to the Assyrians. They were certainly not!

Feel free to reblog.

Reblog the shit out of this!

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

Ronald Seth - In The Name Of The Devil - Tower - 1969

[apenitentialprayer]

You know, I like the "My brother in Christ, who killed them?" jokes about Anglican veneration of Catholics martyred during the English Reformation as much as the next guy, but...

... you know, there is something to be said about a church that can look at the ugliness of its past and go "You know, those people we oppressed were actually vindicated. We were wrong to do that." And that's not to say that Catholics never do that (John of the Cross and Joan of Arc come to mind), but. I don't know.

[frank-o-meter]

[odinsblog]

Russia first occupied the southern Ukrainian city of Melitopol in early March 2022. And Russian Secret Services, after persecuting pro-Ukrainian activists, former government officials and human rights defenders, have since targeted the churches and their pastors and congregants.

All across Russian-occupied Ukraine, soldiers are shutting down places of worship that don't fit the world Vladimir Putin wants to build.

(continue reading)

[greater-than-the-sword]

For those of you who are aware of David Wood, you know of course that he and his equally famous friend Nabeel Qureshi are no longer on YouTube, first because Nabeel passed away, and 2ndly because David Wood had become primarily interested in evangelizing to Muslims, and YouTube decided to pull down and censor a lot of his videos for being critical of Islam. David Wood's videos are now on a privately hosted website.

His former channel, however, with its massive follower count, was turned over to another colleague of his named Hatun Tash. Ms. Tash is also an evangelist to Muslims. Her channel claims she has, "in a 3-year period, brought 1,000 Muslims to Jesus Christ, including 17 imams." She has survived 2 attempts on her life by certain radical muslims who seem dedicated to trying to assassinate her.

On December 21st, the Youtube channel Hatun Tash DCCI Ministries livestreamed a video. The man on this video, as you can clearly see, is not Ms. Tash, but her friend Dr. Jay Smith who reports that Hatun Tash has been missing for over a month and has not contacted anyone, even her own team.

For some reason, the police keep shutting down missing persons reports on her.

They are now asking people, especially in the UK, to help find her since the police are of no use and also put political pressure on the authorities to investigate. She was last seen in the UK (apparently in London?) on November 19th.

See the linked video and video description for more information

[weirdlookindog]

Persecution (1974) - Italian poster

[staticoath]

hatred

i know you hate me

i can see it in your eyes

i know you hate me

it shines through your so called disguise

i know you hate me

despite all the sugar coated lies

i know you hate me

you just await my demise

i know you hate me

and yet i can't leave your side

[christianshorts]

How to handle persecution

[queerism1969]

𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙤 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙨𝙪𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙. 𝙎𝙤 𝙢𝙪𝙘𝙝. 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚'𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧. 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙥𝙖𝙞𝙣, 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙜𝙤 𝙖𝙬𝙖𝙮, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨𝙣'𝙩? 𝙉𝙤. 𝙉𝙤, 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙪𝙨 𝙤𝙛𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙠. 𝙒𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝 𝙨𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙨𝙡𝙞𝙥 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙤𝙢𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙥𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙖𝙬𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙬𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙩. 𝙒𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙩𝙤𝙡𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙬𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚, "𝙂𝙤𝙙 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨." 𝙇𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚'𝙨 𝙖 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙣? 𝙇𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙜𝙤𝙤𝙙'𝙨 𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙞𝙩?

𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙛𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙡𝙚𝙩𝙨 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙮, 𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙪𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙙𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙙𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙖 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙪𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙗𝙚 𝙖 𝙜𝙞𝙛𝙩 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙂𝙤𝙙. 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖 𝙢𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙖, 𝙁𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧.

[dougielombax]

You can’t deny a people their right to nationhood and self determination.

(This applies in all cases. Palestinians, Israelis, Assyrians, Kurds, Maronites, Chuvash, Tatars, Circassians, Basques, Uyghurs, Tibetans, and others)

To do so is stupid and evil behaviour.

Like some rogue state kind of shit.

End it.

[purpleweredragon]

"The panic over the Russell’s viper has grown, partly due to rumours over the snake’s expanding presence but also because of exaggerated media reports and misinformation on social media.

It has led to open season on snakes in the country, including Burmese pythons, which are not venomous. Social media has been flooded with photos and videos of slain snakes.

Mahfuzur Rahman, founder of Bangladesh’s Deep Ecology and Snake Conservation Foundation, says: “We have observed both national online and print media spreading misinformation with headlines such as ‘Russell’s vipers looming’ or ‘killing-machine Russell’s vipers’.

“One particular post went viral, claiming that Russell’s viper bite has only a 20% survival rate due to its mix of different types of venoms, and falsely stating this snake chases down people. Misinformation of this magnitude turned the Russell’s viper into a national villain."

[racefortheironthrone]

Did ancient peoples (such as the Romans, Greeks) believe their Gods were the gods of all men (ala Christianity/Islam) or just specifically THEIR gods? Might a Roman except that Zeus is real but far away and foreign?

Yes and no.

On the one hand, the ancient Mediterranean world could get very local - this is the god of this river, this is the goddess of this forest, this is the patron diety of this polis and there's the temple where they live. One interesting example of this attitude was the Roman tradition of evocatio deorum, a prayer that the Romans would make to the god(s) of a foreign city that they were besieging. In this prayer, they would promise to build a bigger temple in Rome than the one in the diety's home city if they would abandon the defenders for Team Rome:

"Thee too, Queen Juno, who now dwellest in Veii, I beseech, that thou wouldst follow us, after our victory, to the City which is ours and which will soon be thine, where a temple worthy of thy majesty will receive thee."

Likewise, the Romans could get really into gods who they saw as cool and exotic -Isis was a big hit, so was Cebele, so was Mithras, and so forth. As the quote above indicates, to a significant extent, the Roman attitude was that the inclusion of foreign gods made Rome spiritually stronger.

On the other hand, classical paganism had a strong tendency to syncretism. And while this could lead to a more tolerant attitude to foreign gods ("hey, they're just like us!"), it could also lead to an oddly colonialist attitude in which people would translate foreign gods that had the same or similar jobs to their own, erasing some real differences between them:

hence the Romans borrowed the Greek Pantheon but insisted that Ares is actually Mars, Zeus is actually Jupiter, Hera is actually Juno.

the Romans wouldn't stop saying that the Germans worshipped Jupiter (Odin) and Mars (Thor) and Venus (Freya).

the Greeks got into it too, with Herodotus constantly calling Thoth Hermes, and so forth.

On yet a third hand, the Romans could get extremely insistent that everyone in the Empire partake in religious rituals of the Imperial cult, which they saw as spiritually necessary for the prosperity and security of the Roman Empire - which frequently led to violent conflict with monotheistic cultures. Whether in the case of the Jewish-Roman Wars or the persecution of early Christians or the Manicheans in the eastern Empire, the Roman army could go from zero to cultural genocide very fast indeed.

[angeltreasure]

Nigerian seminarian burned alive in attack on rectory