BAD IDEA OF THE WEEK: Destroying churches

A Sudanese government force destroyed a church yesterday, ignoring the wails of nearby residents in an attack which came a day after authorities sent a letter saying they would demolish the church. The 70-strong force arrived at the Alizba slums near the capital, Khartoum, around 10am local time. Some were dressed in plain clothes. This is not on. The threat of violence has caused Sudan's churches to empty, and complaints about the predominantly Muslim country's lack of religious freedom are already under the international spotlight after Mariam Yehya Ibrahim, a Christian mother of two, refused to renounce her faith and was sentenced to death. After an international outcry, she was freed and reunited with her American husband, but the church is still contaminated with terror. This sort of nonsense is why the predominately Christian regions in the south became their own country.