ISIS Converts Historic Church into Jihadist Mosque

By Abigail Robertson

CBN News Reporter

Thursday, June 11, 2015

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The Islamic State is converting one of the largest churches in Mosul into a mosque almost a year after the city fell to ISIS.

Christian Today reports that notices of the conversion have been posted on streets throughout Mosul, a city that was once the heart of Iraq's Christian population.

Most Christians fled the city since the jihadists forced them to either convert, flee, or be killed.

According to the Vatican's news service, the church being overtaken is the Syrian Orthodox Church of St Ephraim. ISIS fighters have already removed Christian symbols from the building, including the cross on the church's dome.

Iraqi media says the church has already been draped with the nortorious black and white flags of the Islamic State.

Nuri Kino, president and founder of A Demand For Action, told Newsweek the church conversion is proof of the Islamic State's intentions with Iraqi Christians.

"A year ago they said 'convert, pay or die.' Then it turned out to be a lie, that even if you pay you will not be able to stay," Kino said

"If they changed a church to a mosque it is further proof of their cleansing, something that many call a genocide," he added. "They destroy our artifacts, our churches. and try to erase us in any way they can."