The Easter as a religious event:

The Easter is a religious belief and an event of the Christian community. Christians believe that Jesus came back to life on this day. They celebrate this day in a traditional and cultural way, just before the Easter they celebrate Good Friday. The Easter marks the end of fasting for about 40 days according to the Christian religion. In Christianity, the Easter is celebrated after the full moon on Sunday.

What does the bible tell us about the Easter?

The biblical account of Jesus’ death on the cross, or crucifixion, his burial and his resurrection, or raising from the dead, can be found in the following passages of Scripture: Matthew 27:27-28:8; Mark 15:16-16:19; Luke 23:26-24:35; and John 19:16-20:30.

There are a lot of activities that Christians do on the eve of the Easter. It is said that the name of this event ”the Easter” is actually derived from the word Easter (the season). April is considered as the month when the true Easter start so the month of celebrating this event is from 20th march to 25th of April, but mostly they celebrate it in April.

Some different names of the Easter:

Paques in French

Pasqua in Italian

Pascha in Greek

Pascua in Spanish

Some activities Christians perform on the Easter:

Christians do a lot of interesting activities to celebrate the Easter. Christians start their Easter activities with special prayers, which are performed in the church. They decorate the church with candle lights and flowers. Music performances are also arranged in the church. Without music, their religious activities are incomplete. Ringing of the Church bell is an essential element for praying. Children are served with Easter baskets, which contain cookies, chocolates and snacks. These baskets are decorated with flowers. Arrangement of family meals are essential parts of the Easter festival. Different types of pastries, cookies and cakes are baked to celebrate Easter. These food items are filled with nuts, fruits and honey. Salads and sausages are also prepared.

Moreover, Christians buy new clothes to celebrate the Easter. Before the celebration Dramas and plays based on Easter story are prepared and performed later on the day of the Easter in front of a crowd. These plays and dramas are appreciated by the audience. They help the needy people and tell the people how to spend their lives in a peaceful way.

Easter eggs are vital for making your day a complete one. Other than Easter eggs, there have been many more things that can make your day memorable like Easter balloons, baskets and costumes. According to a philosopher, it is important for the Christian community not to celebrate the Easter with alcoholic drinks as it could ruin their event. They must spend quality time with friends and families and worship God for such a beautiful life.

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America is largely a Christian nation with 77 percent of adults identifying themselves as Christian, according to a Gallup survey, while only 0.6 percent identified as Muslim.

"The United States remains a largely Christian nation; more than 9 in 10 Americans who have a religious identity are affiliated with a Christian religion," reported Gallup on Dec. 24. "There has been little change in this portrait of religious identity in the U.S. from last year."

Gallup interviewed more than 326,000 Americans between January and November 2012 and found that 77.3 percent identified with a Christian faith: 51.9 percent Protestant/Other Christian; 23.3 percent Catholic; and 2.1 percent Mormon.

Another 1.7 percent identified as Jewish; 0.6 percent identified as Muslim; and 2.6 percent as "Other/non-Christian."

The number of American adults who said they had no religious identity was up over last year, from 15.0 percent to 15.6 percent.

CNSNews.com, 26 December 2012

This is the same CNSNews.com that published a comment piece in 2010 titled "Is Obama a Muslim?" It concluded that while the president was not in fact a Muslim he might just as well have been, since "he does support the islamification of America that is taking place".

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Rev Alan Clifford backs British National Party leader Nick Griffin in 2004A minister whose ban by a council sparked the English Defence League to organise a march has denied having links to the right-wing group.

The EDL plan to march through Norwich on Saturday November 10, to protest at the city council barring the Reverend Alan Clifford from a stall on Hay Hill, where the council believe he was promoting leaflets against Islam.

But the EDL, whose marches are often marred by violence, believe the ban infringed freedom of speech and organised the protest to demonstrate against it. They said: "The English Defence League will be showing their support for the church and protesting at Norwich City Council's actions against the church and everyone else's freedom of speech."

But in a statement to the Evening News, Mr Clifford, from the Norwich Reformed Church, denied having any links to the group. He said: "I have no connection with either the EDL or the BNP. My objections to Islam are ideological not racial." But he added the EDL "rightly" endorsed his views on Islam.

An alliance called We are Norwich will hold a counter-demonstration on the same day, which they said would celebrate Norwich's diversity.

The Norfolk and Norwich Muslim Association (NNMA) also condemned the planned march. Trustee Dr Muhammad Abu-Elmagd said: "We strongly believe that the EDL's intention is to cause disharmony among the residents of Norwich. However, we hope that the people of Norwich will stand firm together and refuse to allow any attempt to divide our fine city."

No route has yet been planned for the protest, although EDL organisers have told Norfolk police of their intention.

Norwich Evening News, 2 October 2012

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Sheila Musaji notes that many of Congress's leading Republican Islamophobes are members of an evangelical Christian organisation called Capitol Ministries. She writes:

"Looking through information on Capitol Ministries, it seems that they are not only anti-Muslim, but also anti-gay, and anti-Catholic. However, they seem to focus more of their venom on Muslims....

"How is it that of the 46 Congressional sponsors on Capitol Ministries list, at least 23 of them have been involved in anti-Sharia, anti-Muslim, Islamophobic activities? That's at least 50% of the members of this group who seem to believe that it is a 'Christian' value to bash Muslims....

"These are people who have political power, and are using it to demean and demonize members of a minority religion."

The American Muslim, 20 July 2012

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A key figure in the opposition to the Gungahlin mosque is a Christian fundamentalist activist who lives at least 15 kilometres away from the proposed site.

The secretive participants in the campaign against the mosque have consistently told media and government that they are concerned with local planning issues including traffic and noise.

But The Canberra Times has established that the spokesman for the group "Concerned Citizens of Canberra" describes himself as a pastor with Olive Tree Ministries and hosts fortnightly meetings at a prayer house in Yarralumla.

Irwin Ross, a Higgins resident who lives a 20-minute drive from the proposed mosque site, hosted last Sunday's closed meeting at Gungahlin Library, but it is unclear whether or not he organised the meeting. The meeting was held after the Concerned Citizens of Canberra distributed anonymous anti-mosque flyers to homes in the northern suburb.

A biography for Mr Ross posted on the website of Canberra's Christian radio station 1WAYFM says he has ministered in churches in Australia, the Philippines and Russia and has "a passion to teach and preach on the Hebrew roots of Christianity". Mr Ross hosts fortnightly Passover dinners for a group at the Canberra House of Prayer in Yarralumla.

The Canberra Times contacted Mr Ross yesterday and asked about his activities as a pastor of Olive Tree Ministries but Mr Ross said he did not want to comment.

Associates and acquaintances of Mr Ross in the Christian community said Mr Ross was known around Canberra's churches for his stridently pro-Israel views.

The Canberra Times attended Sunday's Concerned Citizens of Canberra meeting in Gungahlin, but was asked to leave after participants opposing the building of the mosque said media should not be present. After the meeting, one of the participants made threats of physical violence to a Canberra Times photographer.

A detailed document by the group has since emerged that instructs Gungahlin residents on how to lodge objections to the proposed mosque plans. The document asks the ACT government to take into account the long-term effect the mosque may have on social harmony, and states a mosque "seeks to dominate the area in which it is placed".

Submissions to the government in response to Canberra Muslim Community's development application closed yesterday.

"There are processes in place for people to have their say," Multicultural Affairs Minister Joy Burch said. "Everybody has a legitimate right to raise concerns about various projects, but to guise concerns about faith, religion or culture through other things such as traffic – that is not the way we do it here. To me, anything that is biased against developments based on culture or faith is unacceptable."

Canberra Muslim Community president Borhan Ahmed said the organisation had been transparent in its development plans and just wanted to be given "a fair go". He said the development application addressed planning concerns such as traffic and parking and any noise would be minimal because the mosque would not broadcast the call to prayer.

Mr Ahmed said Canberra Muslim Community was happy to meet with the Concerned Citizens of Canberra to discuss any issues they had with the development proposal.

"I would like to say to them, I don't know them, but we don't want any problem with anybody around us," he said. "We are a very peaceful community and we are prepared to have discussions with them if they are open and come to embrace us. We are always prepared to talk to people and address any concerns that they might have."

Mr Ahmed said he believed the group represented a minority of views and he had received "overwhelming" support from the Canberra community for the mosque.

Canberra Times, 7 July 2012

The Olive Tree Ministries to which Ross is attached is presumably the Australian section of this Minnesota-based Christian Zionist outfit. Its founder Jan Markell defended the killing of nine people during Israel's May 2010 attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla on the grounds that this was part of "a spiritual battle between God's people and the satanic forces controlling Israel's enemies".

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After covering the misconception wars between the East and the West, I have decided to tackle another problem, I’ll tackle it through mentioning my own experience. I’ll talk about how it is like to be a Christian in the Middle East or in Egypt specifically. I will not be bias to any side, I’ll tell my experience as it is, with its good and bad.

For starters, yes there are Christians in Arab countries, and despite being a minority, but we are not extinct, estimations say (not very accurate) that there is about 9 to 10 million Christians in Egypt, out of the 85 million (the whole population of Egypt). So here is some frequently asked questions regarding the situation of Christians in Egypt that I am going to answer, and if anyone has any more questions, leave a comment and ill respond.

Q: “Do you guys get killed, or are you in fear of your own life because you are a Christian?”

A: Of course not, I’m 22 years old now, and not once have I been threatened or have my life been put in harm’s way because of my religion. Besides that, but there are incidents, but these incidents are carried out by extremists. Like the bombing of the church on the 2011 New Year’s Eve, which was the most grossum one, then there was the year before it when a random drive by shooting took place in “Nag Hamadi”. So yes, there are incidents where Christians get killed because of their religion, but the people who carry out such actions are hated by Muslims before the Christians. They don’t get cheered or supported. All of my friends called me and offered their condolences after such actions.

Q: “Are Christians able to take up important jobs or huge political positions in Egypt?”

A: Sadly, no, which is a sad thing, but I promised that I will be bias and I will tell things as they are. In the appointed positions, the govt. chooses a few Christians to keep the balance, but any elected positions, it will not happen. I’ll break it down to you this way
- Governors: Yes, appointed.
- President: No, no way. But this was the same with the U.S.A a few years back, could anyone imagine an African American would become head of state? So I’m hoping for the best.
- Senators: Yes, very few and most of them are appointed and not elected.

Q: “Do Christians have the ability to open up their own business and succeed?”

A: Yes, for example, one of the biggest if not the absolute biggest businessmen in Egypt, “NaguibSaweras”, is Christian. He is the owner of big companies in many fields, construction, communication, etc…

After saying all of this, I must mention that in the places where the education level is declined, prejudice exists, this is why in places with no schools or a proper level of education, the prosecution against Christians tend to increase, and there are more than a several incidents of that case. Bottom of line, in the civilized areas, the majority of the people are peaceful and don’t have any prejudice against Christians, on the other hand, in other areas, it can be the opposite, as extremists can become the majority.

These 3 questions are the ones at the top of my head, so please, if you have any questions regarding this situation, don’t hesitate to leave it in a comment and I’ll get back at you and respond in no time.

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