Syrian Christians Flee Asylum in Sweden Amid Harassment From Muslims Who Force Them to Hide Their Crosses
Syrian Christian refugees living in Sweden say they were forced out of their asylum house by Muslim refugees who demanded they hide their crosses and banned them from using communal areas in the home they shared.
"They dared not stay. The atmosphere became too intimidating. And they got no help," said a Swedish government migration agency rep responsible for the center they were staying in to Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter. "They chose themselves to organize [a] new address and moved away without our participation because they felt a discomfort."
The Christians, comprised of two families, were seeking asylum after fleeing from the Islamic State in Syria. And the place they were staying at housed around 80 people with many being Syrian Muslims.
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While Swedish police said they weren't notified about the harassment, immigration officials visited the residence to outline the government's rules for those who continue to live in asylum housing.
The number of Syrian Christians facing persecution in their own country has reached "biblical proportions" during the last year, according to Christian persecution watchdog group Open Doors.
"Christians, not just in their hundreds, Christians in their tens of thousands [are] fleeing Iraq and Syria with little more than the clothes on their backs because of increased pressure from the Islamic State," said Mike Gore of Open Doors Australia during a webcast in November of last year.
ISIS has captured a number of cities in Syria and is on a mission to establish an Islamic Caliphate in the nation, which has led to the alienation and intense persecution of Christians.
"It is heart-breaking to witness the continuing devastation as a result of the war in Syria. Entire religious communities are being wiped out. In single attacks, Christian villages and centuries of their history has been destroyed," said Todd Daniels, the regional manager for the Middle East brance of International Christian Concern, an organization dedicated to helping persecuted Christians.
"It is not just the past that is being lost, but the future as well as an entire generation is growing up displaced by this conflict. We strongly support the call for an end to the hostilities in such a way that creates a Syria where all of its citizens – including Christians – are able to freely live and carry out their faith. We urge world leaders to act quickly, and decisively to make this a reality," added Daniels.
The violence of ISIS against Syrian Christians and other citizens who refuse to obey Islamic law knows no bounds.
Last month, two young boys were reportedly crucified and killed for not fasting during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
These two boys were younger than 18, and were later displayed with placards hung around their necks to show their alleged "crime" in the town of Mayadin.
During Ramadan, Muslims cannot eat food, drink or have sex from sunrise to sunset. However, children are not required to participate.
ISIS seems to have no regard for children, and has used them for suicide bombings in Iraq and Syria.
"We have had reports of children, especially children who are mentally challenged, who have been used as suicide bombers, most probably without them even understanding," said committee expert Renate Winter, at the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child in February. "There was a video placed [online] that showed children at a very young age, approximately 8 years of age and younger, being trained to become child soldiers."
