The Armenian Crisis in Turkey: The Massacre of 1894, Its Antecedents and Significance, With a Consideration of Some of the Factors Which Enter Into the Solution of This Phase of the Eastern QuestionGreene, Frederick Davis
History
The Armenian Crisis in Turkey: The Massacre of 1894, Its Antecedents and Significance, With a Consideration of Some of the Factors Which Enter Into the Solution of This Phase of the Eastern Question
Greene, Frederick Davis
Armenian massacres, 1894-1896; Armenian question
“The index list of the Bible lessons for 1893 is simply a table of
contents prepared by the British Sunday School Union. The censors
have refused to permit the publication of this index list, unless
some fifty titles are erased, or modified into a form at variance
with the matter of the lessons, or expanded to a degree impossible
in a brief table of contents, for example: St. Luke iv., 14–21,
‘Gospel liberty.’ The word ‘liberty’ must be erased. Jeremiah
xxxiii., 7–16, ‘Sorrow turned to joy.’ This title must be
suppressed. Haggai ii., 1–9, ‘Encouraging the people.’ This title,
which refers to the Divine encouragement given to the people in the
work of rebuilding the temple in the days of Zerubbabel, must be
erased.
“Psalm xxxiii., 10–22, ‘Wicked devices frustrated.’ This title must
be stricken out.
“Esther iv., 1–9, ‘Sorrow in the palace.’ This title must be
suppressed.
“Romans iv., 1–8, ‘Saved by grace.’ This title must be modified to
read ‘Saved from sin by grace.’
“Psalm xxxviii., 8–15, ‘Hope in distress.’ This title must be
suppressed.
“Joshua i., 1–9, ‘Fear not.’ This title can not be allowed.
“Romans viii., 31–39, ‘Rejoicing in persecution.’ This title must be
erased.
“Romans xv., 25–33, ‘A benevolent object.’ This title cannot be
allowed to stand unless the object is stated.”—_Foreign Relations of
the United States_, 1893.
We learn that four months after the complaint was made the particular
points specified above were arranged. But as soon as foreign pressure
was relaxed the activity of the Censor revived, and is now more
intolerable than ever. A gentleman of long experience and intimate
knowledge writing from behind the scenes within a month, states: “The
Censorship of the Press is so severe as to amount almost to a
prohibition. At Constantinople a most reckless and destructive
mutilation of books goes on; and, contrary to the expressed utterances
of the Porte guaranteeing religious liberty, Christian doctrines are
expunged or changed, so as, at times, to become ridiculous and false.
The men appointed as Censors of the Press seem to be utterly ignorant of
all Christian literature and history and their object is to make all
books conform to the doctrines of Islam.
“The religious weekly of the American Mission in Syria, which had been
published for thirty years, was suppressed for a whole year, no reason
being given; and when the permit was finally secured, it was accompanied
by puerile and humiliating conditions.”
Some special departments of literature, such as history and poetry, are
forbidden, wholesale, by the Censor. Many of the Censor’s decisions and
the grounds on which they are based would be most laughable, but for the
fact that they are part of an attempt to throttle and starve the hungry
and growing minds of millions.
APPENDIX E.
PARTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE SUBJECT.
HISTORICAL.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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