Beheading infidels

Syrian priest Francois Murad was martyred on June 23. Militants in Syria attacked a monastery then staged a public beheading. While I think there are situations of justified killing such as warfare and capital crimes, there is no evidence these people were combatants. The militants stated they were applying the law of Allah—presumably against who they considered infidels.

What seems somewhat ominous to me is the preoccupation with the act of beheading (often applied to Christians).

From the Vatican

On Sunday, June 23 the Syrian priest François Murad was killed in Gassanieh, in northern Syria, in the convent of the Custody of the Holy Land where he had taken refuge. This is confirmed by a statement of the Custos of the Holy Land sent to Fides Agency. The circumstances of the death are not fully understood. According to local sources, the monastery where Fr. Murad was staying was attacked by militants linked to the jihadi group Jabhat al-Nusra.

A video recorded on a cell phone can be seen here, about 9 minutes. It seems legitimate. Warning, viewing is highly distressing.

 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. (Revelation 6:9-11)