Two trials, same disease

So it turns out that Alexander Wiens, the Islamophobe who has recently been found guilty of the murder of Marwa al-Sherbini, is appealing his life sentence at the Federal Court of Justice. Let's hope this court has enough strength of character to reaffirm the sentence.

Meanwhile, the trial of Radovan Karadžić has been postponed until 1 March. Karadžić, of course, has been charged with the murder of 7,000 Muslims in Srebrenica and 10,000 people, most of them Muslims, in Sarajevo, among other crimes. So far, he has been able to obstruct his trial by boycotting it and continually asking for more time to study the charges against him. It seems, though, that, once the trial is well and truly under way, Karadžić should receive a life sentence if even one of the more serious charges against him is proven. Anything less would be a travesty of justice.

The difference between Karadžić and Wiens is simply one of degree. Unquestionably, there is a significant minority of Europeans that believes that there is no place for Muslims in Europe. While most such right-wing extremists spread their views non-violently (see picture), there are those, like Karadžić and Wiens, who evidently believe that European Muslims should be physically exterminated. It is thus reassuring that Wiens received his life sentence, and also reassuring that Karadžić is behind bars, despite the lack of progress in his trial.

The European and international justice system have so far been able to demonstrate that the brazen murder of innocents in Europe will not be tolerated. Thank God for that. However, an almost equally serious problem, in my view, is the seemingly growing political clout of openly Islamophobic movements that, while stopping short of calling for violence against Muslims, do their best to depict European Muslims as enemy aliens.

Among such groups I would count the British National Party (BNP). Last May, on a visit to England, I saw a BNP flyer which said, which no apparent shame, that Turkey should be prevented from entering the EU so that "70 million Muslim Turks" would not be able to flock to British shores. I would have thought that such open attacks on a particular group based solely on their religion would be illegal. But apparently not. Take a look at this poster, which makes it clear that opposition to Muslims (not Muslim extremists or whatever, mind, but all Muslims) is a central plank of the BNP's platform. Or look at this poster. Or this one.

Then, of course, there's the Swiss People's Party and its anti-minaret referendum, or Geert Wilders and his call for the Qur'an to be banned in the Netherlands, and for new Muslim immigrants to be kept out of the country. Lighter shades of Islamophobia are evident in Nicolas Sarkozy's campaign to legislate the clothing of Muslim women in France.

While anti-Semitism is, thankfully, on the decline in Europe, it seems that Islamophobia has very quickly taken its place. As Nick Griffin has admitted, this replacement of anti-Semitism with Islamophobia is, often, intentional. It's simply what sells these days.

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Now playing: "Concerto for Two Violins and Strings in D Minor: Largo ma non tanto" by Johann Sebastian Bach.

Football fracas

A football anthem is proving controversial in Germany because of joking references to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The song, chanted during matches by the fans of FC Schalke 04, is called "Blue and White, How I Love You", referring to the club colours. The lyrics of the anthem include the lines "Muhammad was a prophet who understood nothing about football / But of all the lovely colours he chose blue and white".

The song was written in 1924, but has aroused controversy only recently, after reporting on it in the Turkish media. Aiman Mazyek, who heads the (German) Central Council of Muslims, has asked for "an explanation" of the "background" of the song. The club, meanwhile, is seeking expert advice on whether the song can be considered offensive to Muslims. The police of Gelsenkirchen, the city where Schalke 04 is based, is also following the matter in order to protect the rights of Muslims who may have been offended.

I personally think the best solution would be to replace the name of the Prophet with something more innocuous. It's all a bit of silly fun for the non-Muslim fans, but this sort of off-hand remark does sound pretty offensive to a Muslim ear.

[This post was written in Perrysburg.]

Pope breaks wrist

Pope Benedict XVI, who is holidaying in the Aosta Valley, has broken his right wrist after a fall in his chalet.

After managing to eat breakfast and celebrate Mass without medical intervention, the Pope, 82, went to the hospital in Aosta, where a surgery was performed on his wrist. The operation was reportedly successful.

[This post was written in Istanbul].

Murder in Dresden

Egypt has recently witnessed a wave of demonstrations over the Islamophobic murder in Dresden of Marwa el-Sherbini, a 32-year-old Egyptian pharmacist who had been living there with her graduate student husband and her son.

Last year, in a dispute over a swing in a public park, of all things, the murderer, a Russian immigrant from Perm named Alex W., yelled out "terrorist" and "Islamist whore" at Marwa, the reason being that she was wearing a headscarf. She took him to court for the insults, and, in November 2008, Alex was fined €780 (TL 1,687 / US$ 1,087) for his actions. There are different versions of what happened next. According to the Guardian, Alex appealed the verdict; according to Wikipedia, it was the public prosecutor who lodged the appeal, since he considered the penalty meted out to Alex to have been too light.

Then, on 1 July, the appeal was heard. Marwa was called to the witness stand to testify, following which the 28-year-old Alex grabbed a knife, approached her, and stabbed her 18 (!) times, killing her on the spot in front of her three-year-old son. When her husband, Elvi Ali Okaz, ran over to help his stricken wife, a policeman shot at him, critically wounding him. Apparently, the policeman couldn't tell which one was the husband, and which the attacker. Marwa was three months pregnant when she was killed.

The most mind-bogglingly unbelievable fact in this tragedy is that Alex was not prevented from bringing his knife into the courtroom, even though he was the defendant! You'd think that, at an appeal, a defendant could possibly have a grudge against the plaintiff, wouldn't you? You'd think that the state would want to ensure the plaintiff's safety, wouldn't you? Well, in this case, no such thing was done. The result is a family destroyed.

The second thing is this. Even after such a clearly horrific case of murderous hatred against an innocent Muslim, the only motivation being that she was a Muslim, the German government is reluctant to treat it as such. According to the Guardian, Thomas Steg, the vice-spokesman of the German government (apparently, the spokesman is too important to be making a comment on this matter) said that "In this case... the circumstances are not sufficiently clear enough to allow a broad political response. Should it be the case that this was anti-foreigner [and] racially motivated, [the government] would condemn it in the strongest possible terms."

So there you have it. IF it were to be proved that Alex hated Marwa for being different, ONLY THEN would the government condemn her murder "in the strongest possible terms". And do notice how Steg mentioned the hatred of foreigners and people of other races as potential (though apparently unproven) motivating factors, but did not say a word about the actual cause, proven by Alex's words: the hatred of Islam and Muslims, that is, Islamophobia. Alex had been taken to court not for calling Marwa a "dirty foreigner" or a "dirty black" or anything of the sort. No, he called Marwa (who was actually quite fair-skinned) an "Islamist whore" a few months before killing her. The fact that the Merkel government refuses to admit this simple fact is unconscionable.

The lack of clear, unequivocal condemnation of the murder not only by the German government, but also by other German politicians, as well as the German media, has led Aiman Mazyek, the secretary general of the Central Council of Muslims (of Germany) and Stephen Kramer, the secretary general of the Central Council of Jews, to issue a joint statement calling for more attention to be given to the murder.

Marwa has been dubbed Shahidat al-Hijab (the Headscarf Martyr) in Egypt. Some people have scoffed at the title, saying it's divisive and not reflective of reality, since Marwa's life should not be reduced to her clothes. Personally, I think "Headscarf Martyr" is, in fact, a very appropriate title for her. She was a woman with a diverse range of interests, but she was killed for one thing: for being a Muslim who was not afraid to stand up for herself. She was killed for wearing a headscarf and refusing to bow to fear. And that makes me proud to be her brother in faith.

That is not to say, though, that anger should be allowed to carry the day. At Marwa's funeral in Alexandria on 6 July, mourners chanted things like "Germans are the enemies of God." That is going way too far. I can understand the distress that something like this brings, but we should always distinguish between people with blood on their hands and the society those people come from or live in. Just as the existence of Muslim murderers does not make everyone in Muslim countries the "enemies of God", so equally the existence of a German or, in fact, a Russian murderer does not make Germans or Russians into God's enemies. This much should be obvious.

However, just as many in the West call for introspection in Muslim societies (and sometimes rightly so) when a terrorist calling himself a Muslim kills innocent people, so should Germany and Russia, Dresden and Perm, take a deep breath and think for a minute about where things have gone wrong, and what could be done to improve them, starting, perhaps, from trying a bit harder to see your neighbour for the human being she is.

[This post was written in Istanbul.]

Russian neo-Nazi beheading video appears to be genuine

According to Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for the Investigation Committee of the Russian federal prosecution office, a video showing the murder of two men by Russian neo-Nazis is not fake, as was previously claimed (Газета.ru).

The video, which first appeared on a blog run by a neo-Nazi called Viktor Mil'kov on 12 August 2007, showed a Tajik and a Dagestani being executed by neo-Nazis in a forest. Prior to the execution, one of the victims is heard saying "We were arrested by Russian national socialists." Two men in camouflage then give Nazi salutes, and murder the victims, one by decapitation and the other by shooting.

The family of a Dagestani man named Shamil Udamanov, who has been missing since August 2007, is claiming that the Dagestani shown being executed in the video is none other than Udamanov. The Russian prosecution started examining the case in earnest after Shamil's father Artur Udamanov wrote a letter to ex-President Vladimir Putin asking him to intervene.

The case is currently under investigation by the Russian Interior Ministry and German police.

Meanwhile, Mil'kov is serving a one-year prison sentence for initiating the distribution of the video on the Internet.

A previously unknown group which calls itself the Combat Brigade of the National-Socialist Party of Rus took responsibility for the execution in August 2007. In a statement sent to a Chechen separatist website, the group declared "armed war against black colonists" and "bureaucrats of the Russian Federation" who help non-ethnic-Russian immigrants. The terrorist group promised to "deport all Caucasians and Asians from the territory of Rus" (Rus being a medieval state whose successors today are Belarus, Russia and Ukraine).

The whole thing is thoroughly sickening. I wonder what the German connection is.

US Evangelical magazine predicts European invasion of America

The Philadelphia Trumpet, a magazine published by the Philadelphia Church of God, based in Edmond, Oklahoma, is claiming that increased German investment in Latin America places the US in greater danger than "Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Osama bin Laden and Vladimir Putin combined". The magazine argues that the recent spate of investment builds on groundwork laid by Nazis who took refuge in Latin America, and that "Germany’s takeover of Latin America would put European forces directly on the southern border of the U.S. and present an ideal scenario for a full-scale invasion of America".

Now being grumpy at "Old Europe" is one thing, but this is really out there. I know one shouldn't draw conclusions based on what one Evangelical church is saying, but the question is: to what extent will this sort of extreme nativism catch on?

Visitor profile, 15 January to 14 February 2008

Welcome to the eleventh installment of Notes on Religion visitor profiles!

This month (15 January to 14 February 2008):

This month, Notes on Religion received 75 visits, that is, 20% less than the previous month. The average number of visitors during this period was two a day.

Visitors came to Notes on Religion from Asia, Europe, North America and South America. The majority of visitors (59%) came from Canada, and the United States came second with 21%. Germany came a distant third with 5%.

Within Canada, 39% of the visitors' ISPs were in Quebec.

The largest number of visitors this month (35%) came to Notes on Religion directly. The most common Google search term that brought visitors to the blog was 'pope coming to quebec'. He's probably not coming here this year, though.

The most popular browser this month was Firefox (61%). 85% of the visitors were Windows users.

Since the founding of the blog (15 March 2007 to 14 February 2008):

The total number of visitors during these eleven months was 1,261. The average number of visitors was four per day.

The largest number of visitors (40%) came from Canada. The second-highest number (29%) came from the United States. The United Kingdom came third with 5%.

Quebec accounted for 60% of the visitors' ISPs within Canada.

The biggest proportion of visitors (46%) was referred to the blog by Blogger. The most common search term entered by visitors who were referred to Notes on Religion by Google was 'ishaq nizami'.

The most popular browser was Internet Explorer (50%). 92% of the visitors were Windows users.

Afghans oppose the Taliban, want NATO to stay for now

The results of a poll conducted in Afghanistan between October and November 2007 indicate that Afghans oppose the Taliban and support both President Hamid Karzai and his American backers, along with their NATO allies. The poll, commissioned by the BBC World Service, ABC News and the German network ARD, involved interviews with 1,377 Afghans from different parts of the country.

Some results (taken from this PDF):

54% of Afghans believe their country is headed in the right direction. The biggest factor in this view is "good security". For those who believe Afghanistan is headed in the wrong direction, the biggest reason is problems with the economy.

According to 30% of Afghans, the biggest problem currently facing Afghanistan is "security/warlords/attacks/violence". According to 26%, the Taliban is the biggest problem.

"Security from crime and violence" was the biggest priority for the largest number of Afghans (28%). "Getting U.S. troops out of Afghanistan" was the topmost priority for only 3% of Afghans.

15% of Afghans rate work done by the current Afghan government as excellent, and 44% rate it as good.

26% of Afghans rate work done by Karzai as excellent, and 37% rate it as good.

8% of Afghans rate the role of the US in Afghanistan as excellent, and 35% rate it as good. 21% rate it as poor.

84% of Afghans want the current government to continue ruling the country. 4% would rather have the Taliban rule.

52% of Afghans believe that the Taliban is the biggest danger to the country. 10% think the US is.

Asked their opinion about the 2001 US invasion which toppled the Taliban government, 35% of Afghans rated the intervention as very good, and 40% rated it as mostly good.

20% of Afghans strongly support the presence of US troops in Afghanistan today, while 51% support it somewhat.

25% of Afghans strongly support the presence of NATO and ISAF forces in Afghanistan today, while 42% support it somewhat.

1% of Afghans strongly support the presence of foreign "Jihadi fighters" in Afghanistan, while 13% support it somewhat.

1% of Afghans strongly support Taliban fighters, while 4% support them somewhat.

Asked whom they blame the most for the violence seen in Afghanistan today, 36% fo Afghans named the Taliban, 22% named al-Qaeda and "foreign jihadis". 16% named the US or George Bush, and 3% blamed NATO and ISAF member-states.

42% of Afghans think the Taliban have grown stronger over the past year.

60% of Afghans believe that the government should negotiate a peace settlement with the Taliban.

74% of Afghans think that attacks against US forces in Afghanistan are not justified.

77% of Afghans think that attacks against non-American NATO or ISAF forces are not justified.

91% of Afghans think that attacks against the Afghan police or army are not justified.

94% of Afghans think that attacks against officials of the Afghan government are not justified.

42% of Afghans believe that US forces should leave the country only after security is restored there.

43% believe that non-US NATO and ISAF forces should leave only after security is restored in Afghanistan.

Only 3% of Afghans think the Taliban have a "very strong presence" in their area, while 7% think they have a "fairly strong presence".

By contrast, 11% of Afghans think that US/NATO/ISAF forces have a "very strong presence" in their area, and 39% think they have a "fairly strong presence".

3% of Afghans think that "foreign jihadis" have a "very strong presence" in their area, and 11% think they have a "fairly strong presence".

35% of Afghans are very confident and 47% are fairly confident that the Afghan government can provide security in their area.

1% of Afghans are very confident and 7% are fairly confident that the Taliban can provide security in their area.

12% of Afghans are very confident and 40% are fairly confident that US/NATO/ISAF forces can provide security in their area.

2% of Afghans are very confident and 10% are fairly confident that "foreign jihadis" can provide security in their area.

69% of Afghans believe the Pakistani government allows the Taliban to operate from its territory.

62% of Afghans believe the cultivation of opium is "unacceptable in all cases".

84% of Afghans think their government should "kill off" the poppy crop.

69% of Afghans have a very unfavourable view of the Taliban, while 15% have a somewhat unfavourable view of them.

76% of Afghans have a very unfavourable view of Osama bin Laden, while 11% have a somewhat unfavourable view of them.

48% of Afghans have a somewhat favourable view of the US, while 17% have a very favourable view of it.

38% of Afghans have a somewhat favourable view of the UK, while 11% have a very favourable view of it.

49% of Afghans have a somewhat favourable view of Germany, while 22% have a very favourable view of it.

38% of Afghans have a somewhat favourable view of Iran, while 14% have a very favourable view of it.

63% of Afghans have a very unfavourable view of Pakistan and 16% have a somewhat unfavourable view of it.

Former Nazi camp guard next door to Holocaust survivor

Polish-born Nathan Gasch, who survived the Sachsenhausen and Auschwitz camps during the Holocaust, found himself living next door to a former Sachsenhausen camp guard in a retirement home in Mesa, Arizona recently. Gasch realised that his neighbour, the Romanian-born Martin Hartmann, had a troubled past when he saw a picture of Hartmann in an SS uniform. Gasch chose not to reveal his finding to anyone. As he puts it, "I figured we were living in a community here. I just let it go."

However, after an investigation that took two years to complete, Hartmann was discovered by Office of Special Investigations of the US Department of Justice. It turned out that Hartmann had been a member of the SS Death's Head Guard Batallion, composed of volunteers, during the Second World War. He came to the US in 1955, and later became a US citizen under false pretences. Last month, Hartmann, who is now 88 years old, was stripped of his US citizenship and deported to Germany (BBC).

I think Hartmann ought to stand trial in Germany, but somehow I doubt that's going to happen.

German police pursues ten terror suspects

After arresting three Muslim men accused of plotting terrorist attacks on several targets in Germany, the German authorities are looking for ten more people suspected of helping the three with their planning.

According to Monika Harms, a German federal prosecutor, the three men, who include two Germans and a Turk, had trained in Pakistan, and obtained 700 kg of explosives. They were allegedly planning to attack locations used by Americans, including the Frankfurt Airport (BBC).

As it is, many Germans don't have a very high opinion of Muslims. And now this. What were those three thinking (if indeed the accusations have some merit to them)? It is precisely this sort of thing that gives ammunition to those who would restrict the civil liberties of minorities, so these three people, as well as the other ten, if they are guilty, were endangering innocent people in more ways than one.

Korean and German hostages in danger in Afghanistan

The Afghan government has denied the Taliban's claims to have executed two German hostages it was holding, saying that one of them was still alive, while the other had died of a heart attack.

Meanwhile, the Taliban has kidnapped upto 23 South Korean Christians, who came to Afghanistan to preach and provide aid. According to Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, the movement would start executing the South Koreans unless 23 Taliban prisoners were released (BBC).

By kidnapping civilians, the Taliban is making it that much harder for those in the international community who advocate a negotiated end to the war in Afghanistan. It seems they are not interested in finding a way out of the conflict, but are instead trying to live off it. This strategy may backfire if Afghan civilians eventually tire of their suicide bombings, kidnappings, and other violations of common decency.

Happy national holidays to Canada, Belarus, and the US

Early July features the national holidays of three countries to which I am connected in one way or another: Canada, Belarus and the United States.

Canada celebrated Canada Day on 1 July, and a long weekend continues here today (for some). This was the 140th anniversary of Confederation. Belarus is due to celebrate its Independence Day on 3 July, which is the 63rd anniversary of the liberation of Minsk from German forces during World War II. Finally, the US is due to mark its Independence Day, the 231st anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, on 4 July.

Happy national holidays to everyone from these countries!

American Muslim demographics and views of religion

The recent Pew Research Center survey of American Muslims indicates the following demographic profile for this population:

While 52% of adult Americans overall are female and 48% male, 54% of adult American Muslims are male, while 46% are female.

American Muslims are a younger group than Americans in general. 30% of adult American Muslims are aged between 18 and 29, while only 13% are aged 55 or more. On the other hand, 21% of adult Americans in general are aged between 18 and 29, and 30% are 55 or older.

60% of adult American Muslims are currently married, as opposed to 57% of adult Americans as a whole.

The racial composition of American Muslims is different from that of the overall American population. Only 38% of American Muslims are white, as opposed to 77% of Americans as a whole. Blacks account for 26% of American Muslims but 11% of Americans. Asians make up 20% of American Muslims and 5% of Americans in general. 4% of American Muslims are Hispanic, as are 13% of Americans as a whole.

In educational attainment, Muslim Americans are very similar to Americans in general. 10% of American Muslims have gone to graduate school, as have 9% of Americans as a whole. 14% of American Muslims have a bachelor's degree, as do 16% of Americans as a whole. However, as many as 21% of adult American Muslims have not graduated from high school, while the figure for Americans as a whole is 16%.

Income-wise, Muslim Americans are also very close to the overall American population. While 16% of American Muslim households have an annual income of US $100,000 (Canadian $108,000) or above, the same was true of 17% of American households overall. Again, while 35% of American Muslim households earn less than US $30,000 (Canadian $32,400) a year, so do 33% of American households overall.

However, in home ownership, American Muslims are far behind Americans as a whole: 68% of adult Americans own a home, but only 41% of American Muslims do.

Income disparities between Muslims and non-Muslims are much greater in four Western European countries than in the US. 45% of French Muslim households have an annual income of €17,500 (Canadian $25,400) or less, compared to only 27% of French households overall. 73% of Spanish Muslim households have an annual income of €14,500 (Canadian $21,100) or less, compared to 50% of Spanish households overall. 53% of German Muslim households have an annual income of €18,000 (Canadian $26,100) or less, as opposed to 35% of German households overall. 61% of British Muslim households have an annual income of ₤20,000 (Canadian $42,800) or less, compared to 39% of British households overall.

Interestingly, 23% of American Muslims live in households that contain both Muslims and non-Muslims.

59% of American Muslim households contain children.

50% of American Muslims are Sunnis, while 16% are Shi'ites. As many as 22% do not belong to a specific sect.

91% of American converts to Islam were born in the United States.

59% of Muslim converts in the US are African-American, while 34% are white. 55% of converts are Sunni, while 6% are Shi'ite.

49% of converts embraced Islam when they were less than 21 years old. 67% of American converts to Islam were Protestants before they became Muslims, 10% were Catholics, while 4% were Orthodox Christians. 15% did not observe any religion before becoming Muslims.

58% of American converts to Islam embraced the religion because of the beliefs and practices of Islam. 18% did so for reasons primarily connected with family and marriage.

86% of American Muslims believe that the Qur'an is the word of God, while 78% of American Christians think the same about the Bible. Only 50% of American Muslims think that the Qur'an is the literal word of God, while 40% of American Christians have this view of the Bible.

60% of American Muslims believe that there is more than one correct way of interpreting "Islamic teachings".

74% of American Muslims are satisfied with the mosques in the areas where they live.

41% of American Muslims report praying five times a day. Another 20% perform some of the five prayers.

48% of American Muslim men and 45% of American Muslim women believe that women should pray at the mosque "separately from men". 20% of Muslim men and 26% of Muslim women think that women should pray at the mosque "behind men, not separately".

78% of American Muslims report being "very happy" or "pretty happy" with their lives. The same is true of 87% of Americans as a whole.

47% of American Muslims think of themselves as "Muslim first", while 28% see themselves as "American first". On the other hand, 42% of American Christians think of themselves as "Christian first", while 48% see themselves as "American first".

51% of American Muslims are "very worried" or "somewhat worried" that "women wearing the hijab will be treated poorly". Curiously, only 44% of American women who always wear the hijab share this concern.

It seems that, overall, African Americans face more prejudice than American Muslims. For example, 26% of American Muslims say they were "treated or viewed with suspicion" in the past year, while the same is true of 33% of African Americans.

Muslim Americans who voted in the 2004 presidential election backed John Kerry over George W. Bush by a 71-14 margin.

Only 63% of adult Muslim US citizens are registered to vote, while 76% of adult Americans are overall.

55% of American Muslims think that the current US War on Terrorism is not "a sincere effort to refuce terrorism". This compares with 63% of Turkish Muslims, 66% of Moroccan Muslims, 52% of Jordanian Muslims and 59% of Pakistani Muslims.

While 78% of American Muslims believe that suicide bombing can never be justified, this view is shared by 64% of French Muslims, 69% of Spanish Muslims, 70% of British Muslims, 83% of German Muslims, only 28% of Nigerian Muslims, 43% of Jordanian Muslims, 45% of Egyptian Muslims, 61% of Turkish Muslims, 69% of Pakistani Muslims, and 71% of Indonesian Muslims.

61% of American Muslims think that a way can be found "for Israel and Palestinian rights to coexist". 67% of Americans overall, as well as 67% of Israelis overall, share this view.

This is the fourth (of four) posts in a Notes on Religion series on the Pew Research Center's
survey of American Muslims, released in May 2007.

Here are links to the other three:

[First post] [Second Post] [Third Post] [Fourth Post]

Christians celebrate Easter

Christians around the world -- Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox -- celebrated Easter yesterday, on 8 April. According to Christian belief, Easter commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ (pbuh) after his crucifixion, making this the most important of Christian holy days.

The BBC has compiled two photo series showing Christians in different parts of the world celebrating Easter. The first one focuses on Orthodox Christians, with pictures from Palestine, as well as Bulgaria and Russia.

The second series shows Christians celebrating in Belarus, China, Cuba, France, Germany, Iraq, the UK, Ukraine and Vatican City.