A businessman in Netherlands is building an ark that will be identical in size to the one that was built by Noah in the Bible.

Johan Huibers, 60, has for the last few years been building an ark like the one described in the Bible that Noah built and rode on with his family during the great flood.

The ark is the exact size as the one in the Bible—300 cubits (450 feet) long and 30 cubits (45 feet) high, similar to a three-story structure. It is 50 cubits (75 feet) wide.

Huibers told The New York Times that a cubit is about 18 inches (the distance from the finger tips to the elbow).

He used Swedish pine, noting that some versions of the Bible describe the wood God told Noah to use a “resin wood.”

Visitors to the ark have described ark as having a rich fresh pine smell and cavernous decks.

Dutch safety standards

There are some differences however, due to Dutch safety standards.

For now, a special anchor was installed so that the ark, which weighs 2,970 tons, could qualify for the time being as a building.

The ark is being built on 25 steel barges that were put together to serve as a basin. It is kept rigid with a heavy steel frame.

Huibers told The New York Times, “It is much easier to make a wooden ark.”

Safety standards also require a triple-coat of varnish that is fire retardant. Noah only used pitch which only served to make it waterproof, according to The New York Times.

Irony

Ironically, the site where the ark is being built, in Dordrecht city, Netherlands might be a good place for it. The city, which has a population of 118,000, has often been flooded, including the devastating 1995 flood, and falls below sea level.

Dordrecht lies at the confluence of three rivers, and with global warming, water levels have gone higher. Rather than build higher dikes, the farmlands east and south of the city, called Forest of Bulrushes, have been returned to the waters.

Alderman Piet Sleeking told The New York Times, “It’s called the room for the river project. Instead of building the dikes higher, we are giving the rivers and canals more room.”

Neighbors

Some neighbors have grumbled over the project. Gerrit Kruythoff, 65, told The New York Times, “We used to have a view all the way to the river. You could see the ships passing by.” Bas Keyzer, 46, said, “It’s not very nautical; it’s top heavy. But it certainly looks like the ark.”

But Annie van der Luytgaarden disagrees. She told International Herald Tribune, “It’s beautiful inside and out, the stairways, the doors. I’ve already asked if I can join on the maiden voyage. I’ll do the dishes.’’

Huibers had been thinking of an ark since 1992. By 2004, he built a smaller ark 225 feet in length, which sailed through the Dutch canals. People paid $7 to ride on it, and after three years he’d had some 600,000 customers making a hefty profit of $1.2 million, The International Herald Tribune said.

But Huibers said the ark goes beyond making money. He told International Herald Tribune, “It is to tell people that there is a Bible. And that, when you open it, there is a God. It’s a simple meaning. A lot of things in the boat lead you to think.’’

Usefulness

The city officials see the project as a way to generate tourism and generate employment. Alderman Sleeking told The New York Times, “There could be hundreds of thousands of tourists, so for the city it would be a good thing.”

The ark is conceived to also engender teaching, with panoramas depicting the story of Noah, and live animals on board. As of now, there are hens, roosters and birds in cages, but more animals will be added. There are also two conference rooms which can accommodate up to 1,500.

Huibers also wrote to Boris Johnson, mayor of London to request that the ark could be brought there for next summer’s Olympic Games. Visiting Texas investors have also encouraged him to bring the ark to Galveston, The New York Times said.

A doctor in the U.K. might lose his job and his medical license because he talked about his Christian faith with a patient.

Dr. Richard Scott is one of six partners at Bethesda Medical Center, Margate. All the partners are Christian, and they have been open about this. Scott received a formal complaint from the General Medical Council because he told a 24-year-old patient that praying to Jesus could help him out of a difficult condition that he is in, NY Daily News said.

The complaint was filed by the patient’s mother, who has accused Scott of taking advantage of her son’s vulnerability by trying to push his religion on him, the NY Daily News said. The GMC is charged with regulating all British doctors.

Scott, 50, is a former missionary. His record as a doctor has been unblemished—until now. He said the conversation about Jesus only came as the consultation was coming to a close, and he did so with the permission of the patient.

Scott told NY Daily News, “I only discussed mutual faith after obtaining the patient’s permission. In our conversation I said that, personally, I had found having faith in Jesus helped me and could help the patient. At no time did the patient indicate that they were offended, or that they wanted to stop the discussion.”

Scott told NY Daily News that if the patient complained at the time, “I would have immediately ended the conversation.” He has decided to fight the GMC censure. In doing so he may lose his medical license, and this would spell the end of a 28-year profession, according to The New American.

In recalling the conversation Scott said the patient was “in a rut and in need of help.” Scott said the medical consultation was lengthy, during which he discussed various possible interventions, all of which the patient had already tried, The New American said.

The patient had requested consultation with other medical professionals, and Scott promised he would follow up those requests, The New American said.

The GMC complaint said Scott “harassed a vulnerable patient.” Scott said, “Absolutely not.  I’ve offered a needy patient a way out of his situation,” according to The New American.

Niall Dickson, chief executive of GMC said doctors must not proselytize or talk about religion with their patients, “unless those beliefs are directly relevant to the patient’s care. They also must not impose their beliefs on patients, or cause distress by the inappropriate or insensitive expression of religious, political or other beliefs or views,” the NY Daily News reported.

Scott decided not to accept the complaint as it would remain on his record for any future employer to see. “What’s happened to me is an injustice and I want to stand up for Christians who have been getting hammered in the workplace.” The Christian Legal Center is taking charge of his case, The New American said.

Andrea Williams of CLC said Scott, “acted within their own guidelines, and his unblemished record should not be tarnished — even by a letter [in] his file,” The New American reported.

Laura Sandys, MP for South Thanet told BBC News, “[M]onitoring and then sanctioning doctors on conversations with patients, that do not relate to their medical condition, must be a matter between the individuals and dealt with locally. The GMC has over-reacted and needs to put an end to misplaced activism that is putting a respected doctor’s profession on the line.”

Other Christian doctors have also rallied behind Scott. Dr. Peter Saunders of Christian Medical Fellowship told NY Daily News, “All good doctors try to treat their patients as whole persons, not just biochemical machines. That does sometimes include spiritual matters, dealing with questions of meaning and purpose.”

The White House said recently that it was regrettable that an Evangelical leader would make absurd claims on Easter Sunday about issues that had long been belied.

Jay Carney, White House spokesman, said remarks by Evangelical leader Franklin Graham suggesting that President Barack Obama may have been born in a country other than the U.S. are unbelievable and sad, the New York Daily News said.

Carney said, “I think it’s unfortunate that a religious leader would choose Easter Sunday to make preposterous charges,” according to the New York Daily News.

Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse, was responding to a question from Christiane Amanpour, who asked the son of Billy Graham if he was bothered by questions that have been raised by “Birthers,” Christianity Today said.

Graham replied, “Well, the president, I know, has some issues to deal with here. He can solve this whole birth certificate issue pretty quickly. I don’t—I was born in a hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, and I know that my records are there. You can probably even go and find out what room my mother was in when I was born. I don’t know why he can’t produce that. So, I’m not—I don’t know, but it’s an issue that looks like he could answer pretty quickly,” Christianity Today reported.

Graham told Christianity Today that the ABC program where he questioned Obama’s birth had actually been taped one week before Easter, and that his statements were merely in response to questions he had been asked.

Graham told Christianity Today, “I’m not going out making speeches about where the President was born. I could care less. I’ll continue to answer reporters’ questions.”

His statements however reflected that of Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn) who also suggested that Obama should produce a birth certificate. A few days afterwards, George Stephanopoulos of ABC presented Obama’s birth certificate to Bachmann. She replied, “Well, then, that should settle it,” Christianity Today reported.

Obama had actually released his birth certificate as early as 2008 when he was campaigning for the presidency, the New York Daily News said.

Despite this, rumors of Obama’s birth continue to float with some saying he was born in Kenya, and others saying he was born in Indonesia or the U.K. According to the president’s birth certificate, he was born in Hawaii, New York Daily News reported.

The “issue” of Obama’s birth has been noisily banded about of late by Donald Trump, who is posturing to run for the presidency as a Republican candidate. Graham told Christianity Today that he sees Trump as a viable candidate.

Graham told Christianity Today, “Donald Trump, when I first saw that he was getting in, I thought, well, this has got to be a joke. But the more you listen to him, the more you say to yourself, ‘You know? Maybe the guy’s right.’”

Other candidates that get Graham’s nod are Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin. Graham told Christianity Today,
“We’ve got to have some new leadership, new Republicans, more Tea Party people.”

Rev. Franklin Graham expressed sympathy for some 20 victims, six of them dead, from a gunman’s attack in an Arizona Safeway store–even as he cautioned against hastily concluding political motivation.

Graham referred to the crazed shooting by 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner at US Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and 19 others during a constituent meeting, The Christian Post said.

In a statement Graham said, “My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families in their time of loss and great suffering. [I pray] that they would sense His presence and comfort in their lives,” according to The Christian Post.

Graham cautioned against blaming politics saying, “If something horrific happens to a person, it does not mean those who hold differing views are responsible for the actions of a disturbed individual,” The Christian Post reported.

Those killed by Loughner include Federal District Judge John Roll, a nine-year-old child, and four others. Giffords, who was shot through the left lobe of her brain, is in a medically-induced coma and in critical condition, The Christian Post said.

The attack sparked national debate on the motivation for the shooting, with liberals blaming Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck and conservatives, Politico said, even as conservatives blamed liberals and the media.

A Sarah Palin campaign map in September last year, which showed bulls-eye marks on Democratic districts as targets for the Republican campaign, was blamed, New York Magazine said.

Gifford told MSNBC last year, “We’re on Sarah Palin’s ‘targeted’ list, but the thing is, the way she has it depicted, we’re in the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district. When people do that, they’ve gotta realize that there are consequences to that action,” New York Magazine reported.

YouTube videos

Loughner posted many YouTube videos and a YouTube profile online, but he never spoke about the Tea Party or the health care bill. He was not on the Tea Party email list, nor was he a member of the Tucson Tea Party, Politico reported.

His reading choices were not rightist, but more liberal and leftist including Siddartha, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (which Politico said were “hippie cult books”) and the leftist The Communist Manifesto.

Troubled, nihilist

The Christian Post said he was “a high school dropout, military reject and loner” who posted YouTube videos suggesting that people create their own languages to avoid mind control.

Former professor Kent Slinker from Pima Community College (where he was expelled) said Loughner’s “brains were scrambled. His thoughts were unrelated to anything in our world,” The Christian Science Monitor reported.

In 2008 Loughner was cited for graffiti, UPI reported. He told a policeman that his tag is “Christian” referring to a ‘c’ and an ‘x.’ The Christian Science Monitor said Loughner suspected the government was controlling Americans through grammar.

New York Magazine said Loughner seemed to nurture a three-year grudge against Giffords when he asked her in a previous event, “What is government if words have no meaning?” To which Giffords answered in Spanish.

Mr. Pitcavage of the ADL, who is a hate crime expert, told The Christian Science Monitor, “It’s a pattern we see sometimes with hate crimes and sometimes with crimes against the government…that personal factors may be the primary mover to violence, and it’s the ideological component to their belief system that often will help them choose the target when they do decide to strike out.”

No time for political opportunism

Influential blogger Erick Erickson called efforts by the left and media to tie the Arizona shooting to conservatives “craven” and “irresponsible” adding, “[It] may very well incite violence to the right,” Politico reported.

Rev. Franklin said, “This is not a time for political opportunism. What frightens me is that our country has accepted murder, violence and rape as entertainment that we see portrayed every day on TV, movies and video games,” The Christian Post reported.

Franklin added, “I agree with Sheriff Clarence Dupnik when he alluded to the fact that this country needs some serious soul searching. If we as a nation are not careful, we could see the destruction of the foundation upon which this nation was built,” according to The Christian Post.

A 20ft. cross made from thousands of coat hangers will be the centerpiece of a show of biblical scenes that will be on exhibit at the City Art Center in Edinburgh, U.K. to mark the 400^th anniversary of the King James Bible.

The cross and other biblical artwork are made by Scottish artist David Mach, in preparation for Precious Light, slated for July 30. The cross will also be exhibited in Gloucester Cathedral in Easter, according to The Telegraph.

The art show will also include a coat-hanger depiction of Calvary, and numerous collages, an art form that Mach has become famous for, The Telegraph reported.

The King James Bible was written from 1604 to 1611 when it was published under the reign of King James I of England, The New American said. It is considered the most influential English translation bible, and is a landmark in English language history.

King James was king of Scotland for 36 years before he succeeded Queen Elizabeth I to rule England. He set about not only uniting the two countries, but also uniting all the Protestants under this bible, The New American said.

A number of common-used English phrases today come from the King James Bible including “fire and brimstone,” “at his wit’s end,” “eye to eye,” and “powers that be,” according to The New American.

Phrases from Bob Dylan’s song Highway 61 Revisited, and Martin Luther King’s speech, I Have a Dream, were derived from the King James Bible, The Scotsman reported, adding, “Our culture is permeated by the King James Bible-both the phrases themselves and the morality and civilization they promote.”

Epic stories

Mach, who is not religious, told The Telegraph that the bible is rich in epic stories of struggle, mayhem, sex, pestilence, famine and violence, making it rich in artistic possibilities. He had wanted to do the show long before, but when he approached a number of contemporary galleries that featured his past work, they all turned it down.

Noting the secularism of England Mach told The Telegraph, “It’s like a weird subject they don’t want to touch.” Now, he has five floors of the City Art Centre to fill for Precious Light, thanks to the commission from The King James Bible.

Mach employs 30 people to help him prepare for the 10-week exhibit. The Telegraph said included among the pieces being worked on is a piece showing pairs of animals heading towards Noah’s Ark in front of Table Mountain, and another of hell, boiling up and positioned to burst under the Eiffel Tower.

He was called Father Oprah, Father Cutie, and Father What-a-Waste when he was an internationally popular Catholic priest with his own TV shows, radio shows, a newspaper advice column and a bestselling book.

Then a Mexican magazine released photos of him kissing a divorced woman (now his wife) on the beach, and Father Albert Cutié (pronounced Koo-tee-ay) eventually left the church and in due time was ordained as an Episcopalian priest, Miami New Times said.

His autobiographical book is a tell-all about his experience in the priesthood, what it was like to be “Father Oprah,” his spiritual commitment to God, and joining the Episcopal church, among other things, the National Catholic Register said.

Poder 360 said that the Cuban American served for 14 years with the Miami Archdiocese. According to his website, he married Ruhama Canellis, who recently gave birth to their child, Camila Victoria.

In his book, Cutié says the Catholic church is hypocritical about homosexuality and describes it as misogynistic, adding that it is an “institution that continues to promote old ideas,” according to Miami New Times.

Cutié wrote, “There are so many homosexuals, both active and celibate, at all levels of clergy and church hierarchy that the church would never be able to function if they were really to exclude all of them from ministry,” Miami New Times reported.

One way the Vatican helped to augment its waning numbers was to form an ordinariate to accommodate traditional Anglicans or Episcopalians who were disillusioned with their church, so that they could convert to Catholicism (see http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2010/08/traditional-anglican-bishops-may-convert-to-catholicism-13307).

In light of this, Cutié’s move to the Episcopalian church gains particular irony. In his book, he blames the Catholic doctrine of celibacy as the root of clergy sexual abuse and questions the tradition. Time Magazine noted that Cutié’s book will doubtless bring celibacy back to the table for debate.

The National Catholic Register takes issue with Cutié’s press release which it says depicts him as a victim. It notes that prior to publishing his book, Cutié once said he didn’t want to be known as the “anti-celibacy priest.”

Poder 360 said that Cutié slammed the Catholic double standard in turning its eye away when priests have affairs, whether with men, women or children, as long as these are kept secret and do not attract media attention.

Breath of fresh air

Time reported that as Father Oprah, Cutie was a breath of fresh air to his fans because he focused more on being a counselor than talking about rigid Catholic doctrine.

But now, Cutie says the Catholic church “is disconnected from the very people it was meant to serve.”  Miami New Times questions if there are other priests who may secretly harbor disagreement with celibacy adding, “They certainly wouldn’t be the only Catholics to doubt some of their church’s most controversial teachings.”

When some 3,000 birds fell from the sky in Beebe, Arkansas on New Year’s eve, it spurred a deluge of internet searches to see if there was a link to the apocalypse and/or end times.

According to GodDiscussion, their article alone, on the rain of dead birds upon a 1.5 square mile area in a town with a population of 5,000, got more than 15,817 views in just 18 hours.

The search terms included “dead birds bible,” and “dead birds dead fish revelation” (as some 100,000 dead fish were found washed up in Arkansas’ riverbank almost simultaneously), and other terms related to the apocalypse, GodDiscussion said.

The Christian Science Monitor said that Beebe City Councilor Becky Short said residents jokingly wondered if it was biblical end times or a UFO crash that caused the inundation of dead birds.

GodDiscussion said the bible doesn’t link dead birds with the apocalypse.

According to the New York Daily News, scientists allayed fears that the 3,000 dead blackbirds and 100,000 dead freshwater drum fish may indicate a toxic threat. Early tests showed no signs the animals were poisoned, the Christian Science Monitor said.

Fireworks, storm

The most likely cause for the bird deaths are the New Year fireworks, The Guardian said, quoting revelers who began to see dead birds fall around them at midnight as the fireworks went off.

One of the red-winged blackbirds hit a woman who was out with her dog. Others fell on pavements, rooftops, fields, yards, driveways, and one landed on a police car, The Guardian said, adding that it was difficult for people to drive on the street.

The Guardian quoted scientists who said the fireworks likely scared the birds and so agitated them that they crashed into each other, homes, cars, or dove straight at the ground.

Ornithologist Karen Rowe of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission told The Guardian, “The blackbirds were flying at rooftop level instead of treetop level” due to the explosions. “Blackbirds have poor eyesight, and they started colliding with things.”

Another possibility is that the birds may have become confused due to storms. John Fitzpatrick, director of ornithology at Cornell University told the New York Daily News, “This is a well-known phenomenon.”

Fitzpatrick said that birds often gather in groups, some up to 20,000 banding together. During a fierce storm, their feathers can get waterlogged and they can be whirled about as though they were in a washing machine, the New York Daily News said.

As for the fish, Keith Stephens of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission told the New York Daily News that the most likely cause is disease, “because it just affected one species. We have fishkills from time to time, it’s not unusual.”

Stephens told the New York Daily News that he saw no connection between the fish and bird deaths. In 2009, some 15 million dead batfish were found on Lake Elsinore, California, killed due to oxygen deprivation.

Environmental cleaners wearing protective clothes and masks rounded up the bird carcasses, and dozens were sent to two different labs for further study, the Christian Science Monitor reported.

Red-winged blackbirds are the most plentiful specie of birds in North America at up to 200 million, and are often bothersome for droppings that sometimes reach up to the knee, the New York Daily News said. Officials often use cannons and shotguns to drive them away.

Iran authorities arrested recently dozens of Christians who were former Muslims, raising concerns about stepped-up persecution of Christians in the Islamic world.

Gov. Morteza Tamadon of Teheran said the Christians were arrested during the Christmas holidays either for converting to Christianity from Islam, and/or for trying to convert other Muslims, the UPI said.

Tamadon said, “Just like the Taliban who have inserted themselves into Islam like a parasite, (evangelicals) have crafted a movement in the name of Christianity.” The UPI reported.

The UPI said plainclothesmen raided Christian homes during the Christmas season and searched for religious items. Iran forbids Christians to possess bibles, nor can they say mass in Persian.

Stepped up attacks

This is the latest among stepped up attacks against Christians from Muslim-majority countries. Last October extremists occupied Our Lady of Salvation church in Baghdad leaving 52 dead and 67 wounded. (See http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2010/11/iraqi-cardinal-condemns-bloody-ruthless-attack-on-landmark-church-14305).

Stepped up attacks led to planting bombs on the grounds of nine Christian churches and most recently, lobbing bombs at some 14 Christian homes during the Christmas season, The Sydney Morning Herald said.

In Egypt 23 Coptic Christians were killed 30 minutes into the New Year and 79 were injured when a bomb was lobbed at Al-Qiddissin Church in Alexandria, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

In Nigeria, 32 were killed and 74 wounded in a series of Christmas eve bomb attacks at churches in Jos. (See http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2010/12/pope-condemns-church-bombings-in-nigeria-philippines-14909). In Pakistan, most recently, moderate Muslim Gov. Salman Taseer of Punjab was assassinated for opposing the blasphemy law.

Pretext

The attacks on churchgoers in Iraq and Egypt were done on the pretext that two Coptic Christian women in Egypt allegedly converted to Islam, but are now ‘imprisoned’ in a Coptic monastery.

The Sydney Morning Herald said, “These seemingly absurd sparks ignited two of the higher-octane bonfires in a new wave in the persecution of minority Christians across the Islamic world in recent days.”

The Sydney Morning Herald compares such retribution to that which was generated when the head of a 50-member Florida sect planned to burn copies of the Qu’ran in front of their property.

Safer under Saddam

Iraqi Christians were safer under Saddam, Father Rony Hanna of the Iraqi Chaldean Archdiocese said. “This is what we miss most now—being protected,” he told The Sydney Morning Herald.

The Sydney Morning Herald said Christians post-Saddam make easier targets, noting that in the initial post-Saddam years violence was focused between Sunni and Shiite Muslims. It shifted to Christians amid harsh public criticism and because both sides are well armed for counterattacks.

Christians lack militias and political clout. Also, they are viewed by extremists as Western surrogates. The attacks prevail because the Iraqi government is not powerful enough to control them, The Sydney Morning Herald said.

Egypt

Egyptian analysts suggest the New Year church bombing in Egypt is the work of locals who are disaffected with Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak, rather than Al-Qaida, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

Discovery News, however, blamed the persecution on the fact that moderate Muslims do not speak out. When they do, as did Egypt’s Grand Mufti Dr. Ali Gomaa, (who denounced the New Year bombing), the media doesn’t cover it.

Pakistan

The recent assassination of Taseer for opposing the blasphemy law and supporting Christian prisoner Asia Bibi, is a signal to moderate Pakistani Muslims to put their politics on the shelf, The Sydney Morning Herald said.

Discovery News said the exploitation of the blasphemy law for personal vendetta or material gain is so accepted in Pakistan that the government dares not repeal it, nor introduce court interpretation to curb whimsical arrests.

Analyst Ahmed Rashid told The Sydney Morning Herald, “We have a very, very severe polarization in the country—we have a small minority of extremists and a small number of liberals speaking out, but the very large silent majority are people who are not extremists in any way, but are not speaking out.”

It’s all about power

Christian persecution is more often about “raw political power and social control,” The Sydney Morning Herald said, which is done either by autocratic governments, fundamentalist breakaway groups or extremists, including Al-Qaida and imitators.

Discovery News said Christian persecution is increasing even in formerly tolerant Islamic countries such as Morocco, adding, “This really is the scandal of modern Islam and demands action from within the Islamic community.” It adds that media fails to give Christian persecution due attention.

Discovery News said perhaps Western elites ignore Christian persecution because “secularism of the West is…ambivalent towards Christianity and seeks ever increased infringements on religion[.]”

As some 1,000 Coptic worshippers in Egypt concluded their New Year’s Eve midnight service, a powerful bomb exploded, killing 21 and wounding 79 others.

The blast followed warnings from al-Qaida in Iraq that Christians in Egypt would be attacked. Police initially blamed the Saints Church in Alexandria attack on a parked car. Later, the Interior Ministry said it was likely a suicide bomber, The Guardian said.

The Ministry, in a statement said a number of cars were destroyed by the blast adding, “It is likely that the device which exploded was carried by a suicide bomber who died among the others,” The Guardian reported.

Both methods are commonly used by al-Qaida. The Egyptian government defeated a militant Islamic insurgency in the 1990s, and has long said there is no militant Islamic presence in the country.

However, there is a growing sector of Islamic hardliners who may have become more radicalized as sectarian tensions between Egypt’s Muslims and Christians heightened, the AP said.

Bloomberg reported that the blast occurred at 12:30 a.m. on the first day of the New Year. Father Mena Adel, a priest at the service, said it occurred while people were leaving. He told The Guardian, “I was inside the church and heard a huge explosion. People’s bodies were in flames.”

Marco Boutros, 17, who survived the attack, told the AP, “The last thing I heard was a powerful explosion and then my ears went deaf. All I could see were body parts scattered all over—legs and bits of flesh.”

Another witness told The Guardian, “This is a scene from Baghdad.” People mentioned the burned chassis of a wrecked car, and several body parts and dozens injured nearby.

Within hours of the explosion President Mubarak, on state TV, vowed to catch the perpetrators saying, “We will cut off the hands of terrorists and those plotting against Egypt’s security…terrorism does not distinguish between Copts and Muslims,” the AP reported.

Bloomberg reported that Suleiman Awwad, presidential spokesman said, “the president, while expressing his condolences to the victims’ families, urges Egyptians, Muslims and Coptic Christians alike, to stand united against terrorism.”

Bishop Armia, a senior aide to Pope Shenouda III said, “This attack targets Egypt’s security as a whole. God will protect us,” the AP reported.

Tensions rising

Sectarian violence has worsened in Egypt, where only 10 percent of the populace of 80 million are Christians in a Muslim majority country. In November, a number of Christians were killed in a clash with police after they halted construction of a church, Bloomberg said.

The AP called it the New Year explosion the deadliest attack on Christians since 1999 when clashes in a southern Egyptian town led to the 20 people dead, mostly Christians. From 2004 to 2006, Islamic militants were responsible for three major bomb attacks in three Red Sea resorts that killed 125 people, the AP said.

The government blamed the attacks on local extremists but the AP said it may have been a ruse to draw attention away from fears of the al-Qaida, which would affect the country’s tourism industry.

No faith in government

Christians do not believe Egypt’s government is doing enough to protect them. After the church explosion, Christians clashed with police, and some forced entry into a mosque across the street where Christians and Muslims threw books, stones and bottles at each other, the AP said.

Later in the afternoon Christians waving kitchen knives again took to the streets. A Christian woman at Saints Hospital, which is affiliated with the church, shouted, “Now it’s between Christians and the government, not between Muslims and Christians.”

Christians are doubtful a full investigation of the blast will be launched. Archbishop Arweis, a leading cleric in Alexandria, said police want to blame the blast on a suicide bomber so that they can say the attacker acted alone.

Al-Qaida in Iraq has been relentlessly attacking Christians in Iraq since October when they held siege on a church which resulted in 44 deaths, on behalf of two Egyptian Christian women who allegedly converted to Islam, the AP said.

The women have been kept in hiding by the church, and many hard-line Muslims believe the church is imprisoning them. The church has denied this, but al-Qaida in Iraq had pledged to escalate attacks on Christians until the two women are released, the AP said.

Two Christians in Baghdad were killed yesterday, and 13 others were wounded from a seemingly coordinated series of bomb attacks in all parts of the city, targeting the homes of Christians.

According to the Guardian, at least three Christian homes were hit by grenades and homemade bombs in the southwest, eastern and western parts of the city within a span of two hours. However, the AP reported that authorities confirmed at least seven homes were hit, while unofficial reports raised the number to 12.

Last week, al-Qaeda issued threats of impending violence against Christians, which led to many of the faithful to celebrate Christmas more quietly, canceling mass and Santa Clause visits, The Guardian reported.

Major General Qassim al-Moussawi, Iraq’s military spokesman, confirmed the two deaths, Al Jazeera reported. He also mentioned a bomb that landed near the fence of a home in Southern Baghdad that also belonged to Christians, but gave no information about casualties.

Al-Moussawi said, “The aim of these attacks is to prevent Christians from celebrating the New Year’s holiday,” Al Jazeera reported.

Iraqi Christians have lived under constant fear amid heightened attacks since militants attacked Our Lady of Salvation cathedral in Baghdad, which ended with the deaths of 68 churchgoers, the AP reported.

Father Mukhlis, a priest from the landmark cathedral, said there were as many as 12 violent attacks against Christian homes across Baghdad, the AP reported. According to Al Jazeera, the explosions hit the outside and the yards of the homes.

Al Jazeera’s Rawya Rageh said, “Some grenades were even lobbed into yards of these homes. They were simply homemade bombs. When the police arrived at the scene they found unexploded bombs still lying there.”

According to the AP, in the worst attack, two people were killed by a bomb that exploded outside their home in eastern part of the city. Three others were injured. In four other bombings in different parts of the capital, six were wounded, while in Dora district in the southern part of the city, three were injured. Downtown, a rocket hit a Christian home injuring one other.

Hospital officials, who requested anonymity, confirmed the casualties to the AP. Father Mukhlis called the attacks “direct oppression” against Iraqi Christians, The Guardian said.

Groups linked to al-Qaeda had claimed responsibility for more lethal attacks in the recent past that left dozens dead, but Al Jazeera said that so far, no one has claimed the recent blasts.

Maj. Gen. Ahmed Abu Ragif, deputy interior minister blamed the attacks on “terrorists who expressed hatred of Iraq in general and of Christians in particular,” the AP reported, adding that the attacks were intended to “prevent our Christian brothers to celebrate the New Year.”