Paris suburb halt Muslim street prayers

Tensions brewing over Muslim street prayers north of Paris

Hundreds of Muslims pray on the street in Clichy la Garenne.
This is what has officials so upset

Local authorities and citizens of a French suburb took to the streets on Friday to stop Muslims from praying on the street, amid a constant challenge with regards to a lack of mosques in France.
Walking in line beneath a large banner reading "Stop Illegal Street Prayers," Mayor Remi Muzeau led over 100 demonstrators through the streets of Clichy-la-Garenne to demonstrate against the utilization of the town's market square for weekly Friday prayers.

"We'll do it every Friday when necessary," said Muzeau.

"I must assure the tranquillity and freedom of the people in my city," he said. "We must not allow this to happen in our country. Our nation, the French Republic is ruined."

Local Muslims seem to have been praying within square every Friday for months in a demonstration about the closing of a prayer room.

A small number of worshippers attempt to pray anyway but decided to stay away from confrontation with the protesters and retreated towards a less visible area. However, the key demonstrators pushed them toward a wood wall.

While the confrontation remained largely peaceful, both groups competed in chanting slogans. The worshippers, who numbered a few dozen, chanted "God is great" in Arabic, whilst the demonstrators loudly sang the French national anthem. Many of the protesters were seen waving French flags and crucifixes.

mayor of a Paris suburb tried to block the town’s Muslims
from praying on the street

In the midst of pushing and shoving, a banner the worshippers were carrying reading "United for a Grand Mosque of Clichy" was torn down.

The rival groups were then separated by police officers who made a human barrier.

While the protest drew towards a close, Mayor Muzeau promised of the fact that demonstration will return back next week. The worshippers, who clapped in celebration after performing their prayers, also vowed to come back.

Hamid Kazed, president of the Union of Muslim Associations of Clichy, who headed the prayers, said, "We will certainly continue until there's a discussion for a defined location."

"That's their ambitions. To split the citizens," he said. "We typically are not fundamentalists. We are for Islam in France."

Despite the fact that Islam is certainly the second religion, the nation has a serious lack of mosques for its approximated 5 million Muslims. This has resulted in Muslims in various towns turning to praying on the streets, creating the anti-immigrant sentiment of far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen.

Muslims praying in a street in Clichy, near Paris

Clichy Muslims have been renting a prayer hall from City Hall. However, the key town's mayor thought they would turn that space into a library for the town's 60,000 residents, and the prayer hall was closed in March after a court battle.


City Hall says Muslims can worship a new Islamic cultural and prayer centre, previously utilized by many hundreds when the town inaugurated a year ago. But a majority of Muslims say the new facility is way too small, distant and will not meet safety standards.




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Christian Aid Group: "from Christians through Christians to Christians"

Hundreds of Middle East Christians Rescued and Resettled in Australia, Thanks to Christian Aid Group

Iraqi Christian children being greeted by their new friends

 Even though many countries have opened their doors to Muslim migrants coming from the Middle East, the path is actually not as simple for Christians looking for new homes after fleeing from intense persecution from their own countries. Nevertheless, an aid organization that offers help precisely to Christians is wanting to change the impression.

The Barnabas Fund, an international and interdenominational group that seeks to meet the practical and spiritual needs of believers by channelling aid "from Christians through Christians to Christians" offers a program which enables Christians coming from the Middle East to resettle in Australia.
Ghassan along with his family are some of those that the agency, through its Operation Safe Havens, has helped to relocate to Australia.

Ghassan said they ran to Lebanon in March 2014 to escape the war in Syria. Through the help of a relative, they were able to find somewhere to rent. However, they might no longer afford the costly living in Lebanon, hence they made a decision to give Australia a shot and applied for a humanitarian visa.

Their visas were approved. Ghassan along with his family members flew to Australia, and Barnabas Fund shouldered their airline tickets.

"We love our new country and wish that someday we are able to thank those who were the first to support us and taught us the important lesson in the human life that is to give love and do the good to others as per Christ's teachings," Ghassan said. "We pray to the Lord that he protects Barnabas Fund and its supporters."

Syrian Christians arrive in Australia, sponsored by Barnabas Fund

By May 2016, Operation Safe Havens has rescued as many as 1,071 Christian refugees globally, and 823 of these are now living in Australia.

On the other hand, these figures are smaller compared to how many Muslims refugees which have been taken into Australia. With Christians in the Middle East being the particular target of extreme persecution and genocide, there may be still a considerable way to go.

While in the U.K., the number of Christian refugees taken was below 1 percent, especially from July to September 2016. As reported by the Barnabas Fund, only 13 of the 1,583 refugees from Syria were Christians. This implies only 0.8 percent of the Syrian refugees who entered the U.K. for that particular period of time were Christians.

"It is actually well established that Christians, Yazidis, and Shi'a Muslims are encountering genocide in Syria - however, these will be the very groups that are widely underrepresented in the united kingdom and US refugees admissions - even if they were not being targeted for genocide," the Barnabas Fund said.

A recent study reported that Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world. In 2016 alone, 90,000 believers were killed because of their faith, with a third of them dying at the hands of Islamic militants.

The study, released by the Center for Studies on New Religions, also said that at least 600,000 believers worldwide were suppressed from practising their faith.



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Prayer Requests

Today's Prayer Requests

Liz | Thank You to those who prayed for my Mom. I sent out a prayer request last OCT. 2016. She has recovered but been to ICU this July 2017 and many hospitals after. The Lord has been merciful, she is now recovering well. God gave us the wisdom on where to bring her as her doctors said there is no hope. Now she is gaining so much strength and slowly getting off the wheelchair. Thank God! and Thank you very much to all who prayed. I am praying for all of the requests here. God Bless.

michael rotimi | Please help me to pray for the gift of the Discernment of spirits and more insight into the world of God

Brenda | My husband is cheating and wants a divorce. He is moving in with the mistress. He tells me he knows this isn't right, but still prays to God to bless this Union. Please pray that God gives me the guidance, strength and endurance to get on with my life. Please also pray for him that God will give him the courage and guidance to end this adulterous relationship permanently. Thank you

vijay aggarwal | Plz pray for money in abundance for a comfortable life

Michelle Celillo | Praying for peace and to sell our home as we make our final move. God bless. Thank you

VERA BANKSTON-JONES | FATHER GOD, KEEP ME AND GUIDE ME THROUGHOUT MY DAYS!.......SELAH



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'So Help Me God' : Atheist Immigrant Sues America Government

Atheist Immigrant Sues Gov't to Remove 'So Help Me God' in US Citizenship Oath

A French national and green card holder who resides in Massachusetts has filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. government over its citizenship oath, which ends with "so help me God."

In her lawsuit, Olga Paule Perrier-Bilbo, an atheist as well as a resident of Scituate, claims she would like to become an American citizen but she can't do so for the reason that oath demands her to say those four words, according to MassLive.com.

"By its very nature, an oath that indicates 'so help me God' is saying that God exists," says the lawsuit. "Accordingly, the present oath violates the initial 10 words of the Bill of Rights, and to take part in a ceremony which violates that key element of the United States Constitution is not supporting or safeguarding the Constitution as the oath demands."

Perrier-Bilbo was handed the chance to use a modified oath or take part in an exclusive citizenship ceremony, but she insists the inclusion of "so help me God" is an unconstitutional government endorsement of religion.

"By putting a religious statement (to which Plaintiff does not adhere) into the Oath of Naturalization, and then forcing Plaintiff to make use of a replacement oath (so that she must feel less than a new citizen), Defendants substantially burden Plaintiff in her exercise of religion," the suit says.

The legal action is unlikely to alter much, Erwin Chemerinsky, a First Amendment expert and dean of Berkeley Law, was quoted as saying. "Courts usually have not been open to this in the context of the Pledge of Allegiance."

Atheists routinely bring cases challenging alleged government endorsements of religion.

A Washington, D.C.-based secularist group, American Humanist Association, a week ago filed a response brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in its litigation against a Texas school district's prayer policy at public board meetings, expecting to appeal a lower court's decision ruling in favour of Birdville Independent School District.

"The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that school districts may not subject their students to prayer and has never made an exception to this rule for school board meetings," Monica Miller, senior counsel for the AHA's Appignani Humanist Legal Center, said in a statement. "Forcing students to select from attending board meetings to be able to receive school credit or recognition for academic achievements and not attending only to avoid personally offensive religious rituals runs afoul longstanding constitutional principles."

In August 2016, U.S. District Judge John McBryde ruled in favour of the school district, citing the Supreme Court decision Town of Greece v. Galloway, which made it possible for Christian prayers to be given at county commission public meetings.

UK Christian Student Expelled Over Facebook Comments

UK Student Expelled Over Facebook Comments Outlining Biblical Stance on Homosexuality Loses Appeal

LONDON - A student at a well-known university in the UK who was expelled over comments which he made on Facebook explaining the biblical position on homosexuality has lost his appeal right before the Royal Courts of Justice.

Although Judge Rowena Collins-Rice found out that the “right to express the information of deeply held religious viewpoints is worthy of respect in a democratic and plural society,” she said that the issue came down to “how [the student’s comments] could possibly be accessed and read by people that would perceive them as judgmental, not compatible with service ethos, or an indication of discriminatory intent.”

“That was a problem in its own right,” she wrote. “But whatever the actual intention was, it was the perception of the posting that would cause the damage. It was reasonable to be concerned about that perception.”

As previously reported, in September 2015, Felix Ngole, 39, checked his Facebook account and saw a news story in his feed regarding Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, who had gone to prison for declining to personally sign same-sex “marriage” certificates.

As a number of commenters were speaking against Davis, Ngole decided to chime in and note that “the Bible and God identify homosexuality as a sin.” When he was asked where the Scriptures state that homosexuality is sinful, he provided the citations, including the biblical law of Leviticus.

However, nearly two months later, Ngole’s remarks were brought to the attention of administrators at the University of Sheffield, which touts itself as a “world top-100 university and number one in the U.K. for student satisfaction in the 2014-15 Times Higher Student Experience Survey.”

Ngole, who was a second-year Master’s student studying to be a social worker, then became the subject of a “Fitness to Practice” hearing, as he was advised that he “may have caused offense to some individuals” and had “transgressed boundaries which are not deemed appropriate for someone entering the social work profession.”

Following additional meetings, the Sheffield committee concluded that Ngole’s beliefs would negatively affect his “ability to carry out a role as a social worker,” and was consequently advised that he was “excluded from the further study on a program leading to a professional qualification.” The school recently informed Ngole that he is “no longer recognized as a university student.”

“Your student record will be terminated shortly and your library membership and university computer account withdrawn. You may wish to contact your funding body for advice on your financial position,” it wrote.

Ngole appealed the decision, but last April, he received a letter from the appeals office at the University of Sheffield stating that his post was “inappropriate” in light of the professional conduct standards outlined in the Health and Care Professions Councils (HCPC).

It was additionally asserted that Ngole had not “offered any insight or reflection” on the “potential impact” that his comments might have had on his Facebook friends, or how it would reflect on the social work profession.

With the assistance of the Christian Legal Centre, Ngole took the matter to the Royal Courts of Justice. However, while finding the university’s punishment of Ngole to be “indeed severe,” Judge Collins-Rice agreed on Friday that his words could negatively affect his social work.

“Public religious speech has to be looked at in a regulated context from the perspective of a public readership,” she wrote. “Social workers have considerable power over the lives of vulnerable service users and trust is a precious professional commodity.”

The Christian Legal Centre has expressed concern over the ruling, opining that while homosexuals are coming out the closet, Christians are being shoved into it.

“Rulings like this show that society is becoming increasingly intolerant of Christian moral values. Christians are being told to shut up and keep quiet about their moral views or face a bar from employment. Unless the views you express are politically correct, you may be barred from office,” Chief Executive Andrea Williams said in a statement. “This is very far from how a free and fair society should operate.”

Ngole plans to appeal.

“My passion is to love everyone regardless of their race, sexuality or gender. I want to love everyone just as Christ loves them, but also to proclaim His truth. This is what I was doing during the Facebook discussion that I took part in,” he said in an article published by Premier Christianity. “I was convinced I had done the right thing by answering a question from someone who wanted to know if homosexuality was a sin and what the Bible said about it.”

“It is because of love and not hate that we share the word of God,” Ngole continued. “I don’t think I have lost the case at all because right now this very important issue is being discussed throughout the world for His glory. The word of God was also read in court, and as a result, it has been recorded for future reference. The body of Christ continues to unite in prayer in one accord because of today’s verdict. Clearly traditional Christian beliefs are being censored by our government.”



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