Newt Gingrich
by Stephanie Samuel
Newscast Media HOUSTON, Texas –Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said the Arab Spring and the Muslim campaign against Catholic University are symptoms of a growing anti-Christian climate, and pledged to defend religious freedom around the globe.
Speaking at a South Carolina fundraiser Saturday, Gingrich criticized the Obama administration’s involvement in the Arab Spring – the Middle East grassroots uprising that has overthrown longstanding authoritarian leaders such as Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi and Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak – arguing that such involvement is creating an atmosphere of hatred towards Christians.
“People say, ‘Oh isn’t this great, we’re having an Arab Spring,’” he said. “I think we may in fact be having an anti-Christian spring. I think people should take this [assertion] pretty soberly.”
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom’s 2011 report states that while “the Egyptian government engage in and tolerated religious freedom violations” before Mubarak stepped down in February, sectarian violence targeting Coptic Christians have grown unchecked following the Arab Spring.
The transitional government, the report noted, “has failed to protect religious minorities … during the transitional period when minority communities are increasing vulnerable.”
Additionally, persecution watchdog group Open Doors reported last week that Libya’s Christian minority are “keeping a low profile” since Gaddafi’s death at the hands of rebels.
Open Door USA President and CEO Carl Moeller said, “It is not very likely that the situation for the Christians will change quickly. The new government will likely be an Islamic government and for now, Christians will continue in the same way that they were used too.”
http://www.newscastmedia.com/arab-spring.html
