Muslims should be offended when people worship Jesus as a god, and wishing someone a “Merry Christmas” is a worse sin than murder, a Canadian Islamic cleric has said during a sermon.

Sheik Younus Kathrada was preaching to the Muslim Youth of Victoria in British Columbia ahead of Christmas when he said that congratulating non-Muslims on their holidays means approving them.

“If a person were to commit every major sin – committing adultery, dealing with interest, lying, murder… If a person were to do all of those major sins, they are nothing compared to the sin of congratulating and greeting the non-Muslims on their false festivals,” Kathrada said, according to the video posted on the organization’s YouTube page.

He later added that “this doesn't mean that we treat the non-Muslims in a bad way or that we deal with them unjustly. I’m not saying, and I’ve never said, go out and just kill them, and do this to them… No!”

Canadian Cleric Younus Kathrada: Congratulating Christians for Christmas is Worse than Murder pic.twitter.com/1S73XPjfRk

— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) December 24, 2018

https://www.rt.com/news/447388-christmas-worse-sin-muslim-cleric-canada/

The US is trying to send a message to Tehran, with its aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf, that even though it is leaving Syria, this doesn’t mean lifting any pressure on Iran, professor of political science Hamed Mousavi said.

A US aircraft carrier entered the Persian Gulf for the first time since 2001 last week accompanied by a fleet of warships in what Washington is calling a “show of force” against Iran.

Tehran is now threatening to block the Strait of Hormuz, the only exit from the Gulf, where a third of all oil trade passes through.

https://www.rt.com/usa/447367-us-iran-aircraft-carrier/

Etna Christmas

https://www.rt.com/news/447393-syria-damascus-air-targets/

13:18 GMT

Pope Francis urges people to see differences as asset, not danger

Pope Francis, in his Christmas message to the world, has urged people to see differences as a source of richness instead of danger and called for reconciliation in places torn apart by conflict. Francis delivered the traditional papal “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) message to tens of thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square on Tuesday from the same basilica balcony where he first appeared as pontiff shortly after his election on March 13, 2013, Reuters said. Francis called for “fraternity among people with different ideas, yet capable of respecting and listening to one another.” Francis alluded to polarization over migration and said that “our differences, then, are not a detriment or a danger; they are a source of richness.”

https://www.rt.com/newsline/447369-pope-christmas-differences-asset/