By Julie Roys
“I am a Christian and if you want to kill me because I am a Christian, do it.” Those were the words uttered by Sarkis el Zakhm when Islamists stormed his house in a Syrian village and warned everyone present to convert to Islam. The militants then slaughtered Sarkis, his grandfather and cousin in cold blood.
Unfortunately, these kind of murderous rampages against Christians are becoming common around the world. Last weekend, Islamists murdered 85 churchgoers in Pakistan, marking the bloodiest attack on Christians in Pakistani history. The same weekend in Kenya, Islamists gunned down five-dozen non-Muslims at a popular shopping mall. In Egypt last month, Christians experienced the worst anti-Christian violence in some seven centuries. In just three days, 38 churches were destroyed and 23 vandalized; 58 homes were burned and looted; and six Christians were killed and seven kidnapped. And just two weeks ago, in Northern Nigeria, Islamic militants burned 100 houses and slaughtered 142 people in a small Christian village.