Yazidis

[theophilus]

Most people know that the Islamic State is persecuting Christians and many Christians have had to flee for their lives. But Christians aren't the only ones being persecuted. Here is a report from AP about a minority group called Yazidis who are also being given the choice between conversion to Islam and death.

Islamic extremists shot scores of Yazidi men to death in Iraq, lining them up in small groups and opening fire with assault rifles before abducting their wives and children, according to an eyewitness, government officials and people who live in the area.

The Yazidis are a centuries-old religious minority viewed as apostates by the Islamic State, which has claimed mass killings of its opponents in Syria and Iraq, often posting grisly photos online.

Many are praying for the Christians in the Islamic State. We need to also pray for the Yazidis and other religious minorities who are facing the same dangers the Christians are. They are in even greater danger than the Christians. A Christian who is killed by the militants will spend eternity in Heaven; a non Christian who is killed faces God's judgment. We should pray not only for their physical safety but that they will have the opportunity to hear the gospel and receive eternal life.

[Lonewolf]

The Yazidis ~> A Blend of Religions

Islamist deviants, non-Arab Medo-Persian Zoroastrianism, Kurdish Christianity or what?

From Wikipedia..According to some..their religion is linked to ancient Zoroastrianism and Sufism while other sources view their religion as a combination of Shia and Sufi Islam with indigenous regional folk traditions. They live primarily in the Nineveh Province of northern Iraq, a region once part of ancient Assyria and capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Additional communities in Armenia, Georgia and Syria have been in decline since the 1990s as a result of significant migration to Europe, especially to Germany. The Yazidis believe in God as creator of the world, which he has placed under the care of seven "holy beings" or angels, the "chief" (archangel) of whom is Melek Taus, the "Peacock Angel." The Peacock Angel, as world-ruler, causes both good and bad to befall individuals, and this ambivalent character is reflected in myths of his own temporary fall from God's favor, before his remorseful tears extinguished the fires of his hellish prison and he was reconciled with God. This myth builds on Sufi mystical reflections on the devil Iblis, who proudly refused to violate monotheism by showing humility towards Adam at God's express command. Because of this connection to the Sufi Iblis tradition, some followers of other monotheistic religions of the region equate the Peacock Angel with their own unredeemed evil spirit Satan, which has incited centuries of persecution of the Yazidis as "devil worshippers." Persecution of Yazidis has continued in their home communities within the borders of modern Iraq, under both Saddam Hussein and fundamentalist Sunni Muslim revolutionaries. In August 2014 the Yazidi were targeted by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIS, in its campaign to "purify" Iraq and neighboring countries of non-Islamic influences.