The religion of peace hits a new low.  Representatives of Iraqi Christians told a parliamentary committee in Ottawa yesterday that Islamists are crucifying children to intimidate Christian parents into leaving the country.

Since the war began in 2003, about 12 children, many as young as 10, have been kidnapped and killed, then nailed to makeshift crosses near their homes to terrify and torment their parents.

One infant was snatched, decapitated, burned and left on his mother's doorstep, the committee was told.

Filham Isaac, speaking for the Nineveh Advocacy Committee, told the human rights committee that Iraqi Christian churches were bombed, clergy murdered and unveiled Iraqi women raped or scarred with acid.

Ottawa Citizen reporter Jennifer Green, who filed the above story, has more to say at her blog:

My stomach clenched again yesterday as I heard more testimony on religious persecution.

One man told members of Parliament in passing that it's quite normal in Iraq to crucify children (who may or may not already be dead) near the homes of their Christian parents.

Some militants are cleansing the area of Christians; some are trying to raise cash for insurgency by kidnapping children and demanding ransoms, and others just want to grab the homes and businesses that the terrified families leave behind as they flee.

In Pakistan, impoverished families are lured into forced labour camps where even toddlers become indentured servants. If they try to escape, their fingers are chopped off. They can sell a kidney to buy their way. Or they can convert to Islam.

Chaldean and Assyrian Christians are descended from Mesopotamians who became followers of Christ in the first century, making them one of the oldest Christian groups in the world.  Targets of a long-running ethnic/religious cleansing campaign waged by Muslim fanatics, hundreds of thousands have been forced into exile.

Previous related posts: