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Joel Shrum was seen to many as a “very professional employee who highly respected the Islamic religion,” but others thought differently. As an American teacher through the International Training Development Center, Shrum was always seen as a devout Christian. He was from Pennsylvania, has a wife and two kids, and was raised by a family with “strong Christian roots.” Although he spoke openly of his strong faith, friends and acquaintances deny him ever proselytizing. In Yemen, an almost complete Muslim country, extremists saw Shrum to be "one of the biggest American proselytizers" living in the nation. Since in Yemen’s constitution freedom of religion is not considered a right, apostasy can result in the death penalty. Sources say that Yemen was known for saying that churches of other religions deserve to be destroyed. Although Yemen is firmly conservative, Christian charity organizations from all over have been entering the country since the 1970’s. To some, as long as they are practicing discretely, they could care less about another’s religion; but to members of the extremist group Al-Qaeda those who go against their faith are as good as dead. It is not the first attack on Christian aid workers that has turned deadly, but the incident has officials worried. As Yemen is undergoing changes throughout their government a return of stability is not yet in sight. As the government’s control has begun to deteriorate, militant groups have actively been taking advantage of the lack of authority. At the end, a Yemeni political analyst, Abdulgani al-Iryani, tells of the fear the extremist bring. Although this could be an occasional case that won’t happen again for years, it might also be the very beginning of many. In class, the topic of discussion is the Holocaust. The Holocaust occurred during WWII and involved the death of over 1 million people. Those in charge were known as Nazi’s and lead by Adolf Hitler into one the largest genocides ever. While in control, many Germans treated Jews with absolutely no respect and placed them in dehumanizing camps and ghettos. Hitler preached his way to the top by claiming that Jews were inferior to the Germans and were to be treated as such. They were blamed for the war and the issues in the government. With different religions, views, and physical features it wasn’t hard to pick out the minority. Jews were discriminated against and because of this many lives were taken. In Yemen today, Christians are seen as the minority by extremists like the Nazi’s. Killings are occasional but raise plenty of publicity. Recently, an American Christian aid worker was killed due to his religion. He was working in the Arab nation as an English teacher but was accused of encouraging conversion from Muslim to Christianity and for this, he was murdered. Just as in the Holocaust, each side of the story was captured with significant controversy. To the Nazi’s, Jews were the underdogs. They were sneaky, manipulative, and all around horrible people. Extreme Muslim’s see Christian’s in the same light. On the other side of the fence, Christians and Jews were known to be quite modest. They respected the other’s religion and tended to keep to themselves. Once no more could be taken from the Nazi’s or Al-Qaeda members, retaliation came fast and deadly. The theme this week is Religion. In this article all of the controversy and tension rose from the differences in beliefs. As an American Christian teacher was murdered by Al-Qaeda extremist, it is not hard to tell that the main problem is their religions. Christianity in Yemen isn’t too rare, but yet, rather unwanted. Al-Qaeda extremist practice Islamic beliefs but take the pride and support to an extreme level. Killings, harassment, and discrimination can all result from extremist behaviors. Because of his strong Christian confidence, Joel Shrum was targeted by the local extremists. After being shot to death by two motorcycled gunmen, the responsible killers openly admitted to their crime. As a part of the Al-Qaeda organization, members are so proud of their religion that they are willing to do anything to ensure that Islam is superior. Had Shrum not been a zealous believer in Christianity, his fate would have been much more promising. Without religion, this article would have never been written. There would have been no reason for the death of Joel Shrum and he, most likely, wouldn’t have even been in Yemen.
 * Summary**
 * Relevance**
 * Relation to Theme**


 * Questions**
 * 1) What was the reasoning behind Joel Shrum's death?
 * 2) What is Al-Qaeda and what do they believe?
 * 3) Why is it so much easier to get away with crimes in Yemen right now?
 * 4) How are Al-Qaeda members and Nazi's similar?
 * 5) Was Shrum's death because of his own mistakes?
 * 6) Was the killing unreasonable? Based off of US standards, based off of Yemen standards.
 * 7) What does it mean to be an extremist?

Baron, Adam. "US teacher killing: How religiously open is Yemen? - CSMonitor.com." //The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com //. N.p., 19 Mar. 2012. Web. 29 Mar. 2012. 
 * Works Cited**