Mark Durie — a theologian, human rights activist, pastor of an Anglican church — offers a response to ISIS’ “message to the nation of the cross” as well as an analysis of the Islamic imagery in the video showing the murder of 21 Christians in Libya. An excerpt:
The Islamic State video, a polished production, depicts 21 Christian men, hands bound behind them, being led one-by-one along a beach in Libya to a point where they are forced to bow down with their heads in the sand, and there they are beheaded, crying out Ya Rabbi Yasou ‘Lord Jesus!’, some reciting the Lord’s Prayer.
The whole event was meticulously choreographed and rehearsed. The video’s obvious purpose is to humiliate and terrorise Christians, whom it derisively calls, ‘The Nation of the Cross’. It is indisputable that the whole script of this video is intensely religious. It is packed with references to the Qur’an and the Hadiths of Muhammad.