Religious Apartheid

A man loses his children for exercising his freedom of conscience and becoming a Christian.

It has been more than a year since Allabe Kaku Chibok lost his three daughters because he became a Christian – paradoxically, he lost custody of them only after his ex-wife died.

An Islamic court in this city in the northern state of Borno granted custody to Chibok’s wife’s Muslim relatives after a chain of events that began in November 2004, when he allowed his daughters to attend the funeral service of their mother; she had divorced him when he left Islam.

A member of the Church of Christ in Nigeria in the Gambaru area of Maiduguri, Chibok told the police commissioner that his efforts to rescue the girls had met with the blunt assertion that he was no longer capable of being their father because he had become a Christian.

Why is it that the so-called progressives are almost universally silent on matters of blatant discrimination like this?

Update - While we're on the topic of Nigeria and progressive silence in the face of Islamic fascism.

An Islamic court in northern Nigeria has banned a play written by a civil rights activist which satirises the implementation of Sharia law in 12 mainly Muslim states, court papers show.

The upper Sharia court in the Tudun Wada neighbourhood of the northern city of Kaduna issued an order restraining Shehu Sani from selling or circulating his play, "Phantom Crescent".

So, come on libs/leftists/progressives- got anything to say about a play being banned? There was no outrage over the Mohammed cartoons, so I'm not expecting much over a mere play either. I mean, free speech has to stop short of offending people- especially if they're Muslim and their offence might turn to violence, right? Wait, it's a religion of peace you say? Perhaps you'd better explain that to them.

Militant Islamists in this city in the northern state of Borno have sent three letters to a church warning that members would be attacked in the next few days, raising tensions where 50 Christians were killed and 57 churches destroyed last year.

Mosque calls to prayer were sounded at 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. last night, hours when Muslims do not usually observe prayers, putting police and security agencies on alert. By 6 this morning, police armored tanks were patrolling the streets to thwart any plans to attack Christians.

Most of Muslim converts to Christianity in the city, Mbaya said, have been threatened with death from family members and other Muslims.

“Recently, we had one Muslim convert, Hussaini Mohammed. But, because of the threat to his life, we were forced to take him to another state in order to protect him,” he said. “We also have another convert by the name Musa Mohammed Tukur, who has been disciple and has to be taken into hiding because of the threat on his life.”

Whenever Muslims convert, the church takes them into hiding because it is not possible for them to return to their families, he said.

“Becoming Christians means permanent separation from their families if they must remain alive,” he said. “If they return to their families they would certainly be killed.

Killed for their beliefs, for exercising their right to freely engage in the religion of their choice. And the only thing progressives seem to have to say about it is that pointing this out is somehow Islamophobic.