https://www.clarionproject.org/news/breaking-cross-latest-isis-magazine-aimed-christians#"In a break in tone from previous issues the Islamic State's Dabiq focuses on tackling Christianity in particular and western ideologies in general.
DISCLAIMER: Clarion Project does not endorse the contents of the Islamic State's propaganda magazine Dabiq. We are sharing this information because we believe that to defeat the pernicious ideology of Islamism we need to expose and discredit it, which means revealing what the group says it believes and wants in full.
The fifteenth issue of the Islamic State's Dabiq magazine is called Breaking the Cross and is targeted at discrediting Christianity and Western secularism.
Unlike previous issues which were primarily directed at Muslim-majority societies, this issue is full of propaganda aimed at converting non-Muslims to the Islamic State's puritanical and bloodthirsty interpretation of Islam.
The foreword includes direct attacks on the ideologies of Christianity, feminism, secular liberalism and atheism, naming them individually and offering rebuttals. It also references the recent attacks in France and Germany and threatens further violent attacks.
The magazine puts forward a dual approach. On the one hand ISIS calls on the population of Europe to "abandon their infidelity and accept Islam, the religion of sincerity and submission to the Lord of the heavens and the earth."
On the other they threaten continual warfare against those who do not, saying "we call you to reflect on these questions as the bloodthirsty knights of the Caliphate continue to wage their war of just terror against you."
Sections include "Why we hate you and fight you" along with a conversion story "Why I came to Islam" from a former Christian woman from Finland. The piece focuses on the supposed inconsistencies in Christianity as opposed to the alleged purity and simplicity of Islam.
The main feature "Breaking the Cross" is an extended rebuttal of Christian and Jewish theology which sets forth the arguments to believe in Islam. The bulk of the theological arguments are fairly standard lines of attack about the alleged absurdity of the Trinity and the alleged corruption of scripture by Jews and Christians such as many imams might argue.
The leap from mainstream Islamic monotheism to the violent slaughter of anyone who disagrees with ISIS is not explained clearly.
The shift in emphasis to appeal to a European and Western audience comes at the same time as a shift in instructions to fighters not to attempt to travel to Islamic-State-held lands in Iraq and Syria, but simply to carry out terrorist attacks in their home countries.
Read the latest issue of the Islamic State's propaganda magazine Dabiq: Breaking the Cross.
Read all the issues of the Islamic State's propaganda magazine Dabiq, hosted on Clarion Project."
