Where the Rubber Hits the Road

Open Doors NGO reports sharp increase in anti-Christian violence - Vatican Insider

Number of Christian Martyrs Increased Sharply in 2013 | Daily News | NCRegister.com

I post this as a companion story to the one before. I find it bizarre that on the one hand someone can be granted an exemption from having to work with women (while it's not stated I assume that he was a Muslim) but this baker is ordered to provide a commercial service for a gay couple. It put me in mind of the Duck Dynasty brouhaha where everyone was screaming about his 'homophobic' (aka biblical) comments but virtually no one raised the fact that he also spit out some incredibly racist comments about African Americans at the same time. I guess the 'constabulary' of this new age of morality believe that consistency is 'the hobgoblin of a small mind'. Christian Baker Files Religious-Freedom Appeal in Wedding-Cake Ruling | Daily News | NCRegister.com

Iraqi Catholic leader asks West: 'If they kill us all, will you do something then?' | National Catholic Reporter

The Mexican priest has been convicted of the crime of "proselytism". I looked it up in the dictionary and here is the definition of proselytism: Noun: a person newly converted to a religious faith or sect; a convert, esp a gentile converted to Judaism Verb: a less common word for proselytize So the priest has been convicted of promoting the faith of the Church with the aim of converting people to the Catholic faith. And this is a crime in Mexico???     Every priest should be so lucky as to all be convicted of this 'crime'. Mexican priest to appeal charge from Federal Electoral Institute :: Catholic News Agency (CNA)

There continues to be an enlightening and educational exchange of ecclesiology between 'Small Town Guy', 'Paul' and 'Cliff', the latest in a recent cross-post (Scripture Sola). Cliff posted the following today: "There is one thing that is quite evident amongst all our disagreements, and that is we need to strengthen, clarify and unify the Christian position. The Church, both Protestant and Catholic is under siege by the enemy. We cannot let our emotions run rampant and abandon reason. We need to remember there are faithful, dedicated, sanctified believers in every tradition. Respect and understanding of each other must be priority. After all it is "love" that will prevail. 1 cor 13."    I was moved by his comment when taken in light of some recent posts and cross posts here about the slaughter of Christians in various corners of the Muslim world to offer the following. I would be most interested in your thoughts on the topic. Cliff: You...