Joe Loconte at Trinity Forum highlights a new study from Christian Solidarity International about the fate of converts to Christ in Islamic countries. Indeed, the pages of Lives of the Saints contain stories of many converts to Christianity in lands under Islam where after baptism and Communion, martyrdom is next. I suppose that governments are not executing some of them is progress.
If you have not read http://islamdom.blogspot.com/ , a blog written by an Anglican missionary in Islamic lands, he's a great source for similar information as well as in-the-field reporting.
Posted by: Kevin J Jones | July 09, 2008 at 11:45 AM
If you look at www.islamdom.blogspot.com on this issue, have a look as well at www.stfrancismagazine.blogspot.com. And also on the quarterly www.stfrancismagazine.info
Posted by: John Stringer | July 10, 2008 at 06:48 AM
I'm very fond of two web sites:
Jihad Watch (http://jihadwatch.org//)
Middle East Research Institute (http://www.memri.org/)
The latter is particularly valuable because it provides translations of Arabic documents from Middle Eastern government, Jihadist organizations and ostensible "humanitarian organizations" that are not available elsewhere, or whose "official" English versions do not match the original text (because these organizations say one thing to their followers, and another thing to us, in order to maintain the illusion that "Islam is a religion of peace").
Posted by: Stuart Koehl | July 10, 2008 at 09:07 AM
Even volunteer fire departments are organized along military lines, with companies, battalions, and in some instances, brigades. This custom goes back to the Romans: Caesar Augustus organized a citywide fire department cum police force called the Vigiles (they also served as a paramilitary counterweight to the Praetorian Guard--see Tiberius' overthrow of Sejanus, for instance), with one company for each of the city's fourteen districts. It's no accident, then, that in 19th century America, big city fire departments also had their own militia organization, and when the Civil War began, many of these were federalized as United States Volunteer Regiments, the most famous of which was the 11th New York Volunteer Infantry, known (because of their origin and their uniform) as the "Fire Zouaves".
Posted by: Stuart Koehl | July 10, 2008 at 09:51 AM
Oops. Wrong thread.
Posted by: Stuart Koehl | July 10, 2008 at 09:52 AM