Two Iraqi Churches Bombed: Plus: Mr. Bean opposes British religious hate-crime bill, religious summit opens in Indonesia, Vatican condemns 'Christianophobia', Christmas dilemma, praying for the home team, and other articles from online sources around the world.

Opinion

Ted Olsen

Weblog

Two Iraqi Churches Bombed

Plus: Mr. Bean opposes British religious hate-crime bill, religious summit opens in Indonesia, Vatican condemns 'Christianophobia', Christmas dilemma, praying for the home team, and other articles from online sources around the world.

Compiled by Rob Moll

[ posted 12/1/2004 12:00AM ]

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In two separate attacks, gunmen emptied an Armenian and a Chaldean church today before setting off explosives, damaging both churches. Three people were injured according to the Associated Press. No one was killed.

"Smoke poured from the Armenian church and flames could be seen inside the Chaldean church … It was not clear how many people had been in the churches when they were attacked but the number was apparently not large," Reuters reports.

It has been nearly a month since the last attack on churches in Iraq. "At least eight people were killed in two church bombings in the capital on Nov. 8, and a car bomber attacked police guarding the hospital where the wounded had been taken."

Last weekend, Yonadem Kana, the leader of the Assyrian Democratic Movement in Iraq and a member of the Iraqi National Council, told the Associated Press that the Assyrian Democratic Movement would be sending 1,500 people to Baghdad to protect Christians from attacks.

"We do not want to transform our movement into a militia," Kana said. "But if needed, we can arm more than 10,000 people."

"We will not accept that our people's ethnic and religious background be used as a card in the hands of foreign forces to interfere in Iraq and to prolong the occupation," Kana said.

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Weblog

Launched in 1999, Christianity Today’s Weblog was not just one of the first religion-oriented weblogs, but one of the first published by a media organization. (Hence its rather bland title.) Mostly compiled by then-online editor Ted Olsen, Weblog rounded up religion news and opinion pieces from publications around the world. As Christianity Today’s website grew, it launched other blogs. Olsen took on management responsibilities, and the Weblog feature as such was mothballed. But CT’s efforts to round up important news and opinion from around the web continues, especially on our Gleanings feature.

Ted Olsen

Ted Olsen is Christianity Today's managing editor for news and online journalism. He wrote the magazine's Weblog—a collection of news and opinion articles from mainstream news sources around the world—from 1999 to 2006. In 2004, the magazine launched Weblog in Print, which looks for unexpected connections and trends in articles appearing in the mainstream press. The column was later renamed "Tidings" and ran until 2007.