Why won't the media acknowledge that the Sri Lanka massacre was an attack on Christianity?
Nightly news broadcasts avoid mentioning that Christians were targeted by the attacks. Muslim scholar Dr. Qanta Ahmed responds.
The mainstream media's aversion to mentioning Christians when reporting on the Sri Lanka Easter Sunday massacre that killed 321 is "unacceptable" and "very troubling," a Muslim scholar told Fox News.
Dr. Qanta Ahmed, the author of "In the Land of the Invisible Women," told "Fox & Friends" Tuesday morning it's an "afterthought" for the media that provides "a very troubling lack of context."
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During Monday's nightly network news coverage of the Sri Lanka Islamic terror attack, there was hardly any mention of "Christian," "Christians," or "Christianity." ABC World News Tonight didn't mention them a single time, and CBS Evening News and NBC Night News mentioned the term once. That was it.
"This was an assault on Christians, not only in Sri Lanka but all over the world," Ahmed said. "It was marked during the holiest day of the Holy Week, Easter, and some of the attacks went off during the thanksgiving service themselves," Ahmed said. "There is a general reluctance to examine Christian persecution globally. In Asia, one in three Christians is subject to extreme persecution. More Christians are persecuted in more countries than any other group in the world. 144 countries now persecute Christians. A decade ago, it was 107, and now Asia is the site of tremendous Christian persecution."
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The Muslim scholar points out that extreme Muslims see Judeo-Christianity as a conspiracy against Islam, which she calls a "falsehood" because the Virgin Mary and Jesus are a part of Islam, too.
"We believe in Jesus and his message. We have to accept the gospel," Ahmed said. "That is anathema to radical Islamists, and not talking about the persecution of Christians in this attack or in Asia, in general, is unacceptable."
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A Washington Post headline read, "Christianity under attack? Sri Lanka church bombings stoke far-right anger in the West."
Ahmed responded: "I'm sure that's what Islamists would like to do, but every decent person of whatever faith, is abhorring this attack. We saw the kind of innocent people who were lost in worship but understand the magnitude. This attack was six times greater than Christchurch, where my co-religionists - Muslims - were killed. Fifty nine Muslims were killed in New Zealand. This is 310 people passed away, possibly more coming, yet the magnitude of that assault is not reflected in the global media and saying so does not stoke any anger, that is an admission of honesty."
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The Muslim scholar points out that 45 Sri Lankans went to join ISIS in 2015 with scores reportedly coming back in 2017. Indian intelligence knew this attack would happen, Ahmed said, and warned Sri Lanka, which failed to do anything about it.
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Ahmed adds that ISIS, which took credit for the Sunday bombings, is very active in Southeast Asia.
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