1. I’m not going to spend a lot of time thinking about 50 Shades of Grey, Hollywood’s valentine this month to an already sickly culture, but this exists and that’s a shame.
NEW DELHI — A series of episodes at churches over the last two months has prompted Roman Catholics here to worry about a deliberate campaign of violence, and to call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak out against religious intimidation.
At least five Catholic churches in and around Delhi have reported various attacks, including suspected arson, burglary, vandalism and stone-throwing. The latest was discovered on Monday morning at St. Alphonsa’s Church in New Delhi, where a parish employee found the church’s front door broken open, ceremonial vessels missing, and communion wafers strewn about.
The episodes have caught the attention of human rights advocates, who have been alert to any new pressure on religious freedom in India since Mr. Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party swept to power inelections last May. But church leaders say that the authorities have not taken the attacks seriously enough.
3. Life under ISIS:
Teresa said several Christians are being held against their will throughout the region and that the church is trying to negotiate their release and has already paid IS money to set them free: “among them is a 3-year-old girl that IS has demanded thousands of dollars to release.”
She estimates about 40 Christians from Qaraqosh, Bartella and Karamles are still detained in an elderly care home in Mosul.
“When we were in Qaraqosh, IS used to beat us every day with their weapons or hands,” one of the elderly men told Teresa.
“They gave us little food. But when we were taken to Mosul, we were held in a hall with other people and there was another hall beside us too and we could hear more people there. They were rounded up and detained as well.”
He continued, “One day, a member from IS came and called some of our names and said ‘Stand up, we will call you soon!’ We thought that they will kill us, but later they took us and we asked them ‘When are you going to let us leave?’ An IS member replied – ‘Not without ransom’.”
“They had thrown us out from our villages and our homes, so they could occupy them and then we were all clumped together in a residence in Mosul. We managed to survive thanks to the assistance of some Muslim families, who brought us food and what we needed. Then, at some point, those of the Caliphate told us we could stay there only if we converted to Islam. I refused. If you want, send me away,” said one of the elders to Agenzia Fides.
3. Stop ignoring attacks on Christian women and girls.
4.
Sr.Gandini says trafficking victims live their shame & fear in silence, 'a silence that is deafening'
— Catholic News Service Rome (@CatholicNewsSvc) February 3, 2015
5. Yesterday I wrote, in part, about bad D.C. lawmaking, threatening religious freedom. The D.C. mayor is said to be looking to fix the problem. Once again, a fight to “accommodate” basic conscience rights. We should be more vigilant than this when it comes to our “first freedom.”
6. Ira Stoll on blogs (death talk is premature).
7. Chris Cillizza on Matt Drudge. (More powerful than ever.)
8. From the New York Times a few days ago:
“We are scared of death and I think that is in large part because we hide it away, out of sight and avoid it until we have to,” she wrote.
“I’ve gained a lot of perspective since my father died and no moment was wasted this past year with my mother.”
(Hat tip: Maria Grizetti.
9. Debating “three parent babies” in England.
10. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks on The Return of Anti-Semitism.
11. Simcha Fisher:
The idea that faith and reason are inevitably at odds with each other is one of the most persistent and least defensible myths of modern times. RIP, Charles Townes.
12. Belated, but, yes…
Katy Perry was awesome, but I feel like I just watched an Olympic opening ceremony in a country whose cartoons I don't understand.
— S.E. Cupp (@secupp) February 2, 2015
(Hat tip: David Scott.)
Plus: Five Catholic things.