Filipino Christian Soldiers burning the ISIS Flag
While the Philippines are more than 80% Catholic, the southernmost island of Mindanao is almost entirely Muslim and is rife with terrorism and violence from the jihads. Muslims have regularly attacked Catholics in the area for centuries, and since the 1950s the Muslims have become increasingly more demanding in their calls for a separate Islamic state and brazen in their atrocities. The biggest Muslim terrorist group among the many which operate is the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and has made international news many times, most famously with the 2007 Basilan massacre in which 11 people were captured and later beheaded.
In light of reports that ISIS has moved into Mindanao, Filipino Catholics have responded with a militia of their own to fight the Muslims before they begin committing even more atrocities in that region than they already do. The group, called Red God’s Defenders, is training in Mindanao to do battle with ISIS, and in their first public media message they released video of them burning an ISIS flag. Via the UK Daily Mail:
The militia, who call themselves Red God’s Defenders, formed in the mountains in the restive south of the country where the terror group is taking a stranglehold.
Pictures show group burning the black flag of ISIS while fighters raise their weapons in celebration in a symbolic counter-offensive to the jihadist’s propaganda machine.
It comes less than a month after the jihadi group released its first video of a terror training camp in the Filipino jungle and a week after ISIS militants attacked Jakarta.
…
It also comes after eight members of a criminal gang that pledged allegiance to ISIS were killed in a firefight with the military in the southern Philippines last month.
The hour-long battle took place in Palimbang, a remote town in the south – home to the predominantly Catholic nation’s Muslim minority and the scene of decades of conflict.
The bandits were from Ansar al-Khalifa, a small group that declared its support for ISIS in a video circulated on the Internet last year, regional military spokesman Major Filemon Tan said.
The larger Abu Sayyaf group has also pledged its allegiance to ISIS and is holding at least four foreign nationals hostages.
Christian soldiers ready for battle with ISIS
Because of the Catholic and Spanish history in the Philippines, St. James the Apostle, who is patron saint of Spain, is depicted in many places throughout the country. One of the most famous Spanish depictions of St. James comes from the Battle of Simancas (sometimes called Clavijo)[1] in 929, where Catholics has a vision of St. James leading them into battle to victory against the attacking Muslims. This vision is known as Santiago Matamoros, or St. James the Muslim Killer, where St. James is depicted on horse trampling the corpse of a dead (or soon to be dead) Muslim. This image can be found throughout Spain and the Philippines, such as this one in the Philippine National Museum:
Santiago Matamoros, oren por nosotros!
[1] In my book Lions of the Faith: Saints, Blesseds, and Heroes of the Catholic Faith in the Struggle with Islam, I noted that Simancas and Clavijo, while considered separate events, are very likely the same battle by different names.
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