Jerry Johnson, president of the National Religious Broadcasters, played a clip of Egyptian television’s coverage of a Christian who was beheaded at a conference of Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox church leaders in Washington recently.
“They should not have their head cut off, they should not be stoned, their houses and their churches should not be burned, and when they are, we must speak up and tell these stories,” he said, according to a report by Religion News Service.
The number of Christians in Iraq has dropped from a high of 1.5 million to about 200,000. The situation is equally bad in Syria. Egypt is no better. Remember this region is the birth place of Christianity. Christians in this region have a history of 2000 years. Remember their plight. They are being persecuted because they are followers of Jesus.
"Today, there is no future (for Christians)," Iraq-born Fr Bazzi, pastor of Saint Peter Chaldean Catholic Church in El Cajon, Calif., told Catholic News Agency on June 18. "These people, they hang, they behead people who don't believe in their faith," he lamented. "Our village had 15,000 Catholics when I was there. Would you believe today there are how many: only 150 families."
According to CNA, he explained that Christians in Iraq are targeted for the faith, as well as caught in the midst of fighting between Shia and Sunni Muslims. "Our church is in trouble today. As long as Iran exists, Shia exists. And they are the majority in Iraq. And as long as Saudi Arabia is there, and the Emirate, that means Sunni has to exist ... (But) those people go against each other because of their faith. And as Christians, we are always caught in the middle."
The sad part is that there's a deafening silence about the persecution of Christains in the Middle East. Christians in developed nations are just watching the butchery on their television sets and doing nothing about it.
“What we are seeing here is ecumenical cleansing,” said Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, who called the region “the unsafest place in the world for Christians.”
“It’s an ecumenical cleansing that is forcing people who are Christians, by whatever label, out of countries where their roots are from the beginning.”
In an interview with Spanish-language magazine "La Vanguardia," Pope Francis said he is "deeply concerned" about the persecution of Christians today, which is "stronger than in the first centuries of the Church." But Vatican can do little about it. It can't do much except unleash a global campaign against persecution of Christians.
The carnage unleased by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria Group (ISIS) in Iraq is virtually eliminating Christianity from the region. The militant group aims to establish a Sunni state within Syria and Iraq, which is a majority Shia region. ISIS launched its offensive in Iraq in early June, overtaking its second-largest city of Mosul on June 10. ISIS now controls most of north and north-central Iraq, including the city of Tal Afar, says CNA.
Civilians who choose to stay in ISIS-controlled areas must follow an extreme interpretation of Islamic law. According to the BBC, ISIS has offered Christians in seized areas three choices. They can either convert to Islam, face death or pay a jizya tax in exchange for their safety while observing certain conditions. Those conditions reportedly bar Christians from public prayer and display of religious symbols. Christians are also reportedly banned from making renovations to churches, and women must wear the Islamic veil.
According to CNA, Fr Bazzi said that when he was younger, his village was entirely Catholic and he attended Catholic school. Then, his community started growing as strangers began moving into the region. "People we never met, people we never knew: Muslims," he said. "They started to settle and people were just in trouble with their traditions, with their religion, with their faith."
Fr Bazzi said the new neighbors aimed "to root out Christianity from Iraq," and he began to be treated as a "second-class citizen." He described being looked at "as a second-class person, as not normal," and viewed as "a blasphemer, an infidel." This second-class treatment developed into persecution, which eventually inspired Fr. Bazzi's vocation to the priesthood. He said he was eager to teach young people in his region how to defend their Catholic faith, CNA said.
At the Washington conference of church leaders, more than 180 clergy, seminary professors, authors and activists signed a “pledge of solidarity and call to action” that advocates for the special envoy in addition to a regional review of US foreign aid to ensure recipients uphold principles of pluralism and religious freedom. They also seek assurance that religious minorities receive fair access to US refugee assistance, RNS said. “The current trajectory, marked by political violence and, in the cases of Iraq and Syria, full-blown war, risks a Middle East largely emptied of the millennia-old presence of Christians,” read the statement, citing cases of executed Christians, demolished churches, kidnapped clergy and forced conversions.
The rampage in Iraq and Syria are continuing. The Sunni militant group's persecution has further decreased Iraq's dwindling Christian community. Many Christians have sought refuge in neighboring countries or the autonomous Kurdish region in the north. Countries and people across the world must unite against this annihilation of Christians in the Middle East region.
“They should not have their head cut off, they should not be stoned, their houses and their churches should not be burned, and when they are, we must speak up and tell these stories,” he said, according to a report by Religion News Service.
The number of Christians in Iraq has dropped from a high of 1.5 million to about 200,000. The situation is equally bad in Syria. Egypt is no better. Remember this region is the birth place of Christianity. Christians in this region have a history of 2000 years. Remember their plight. They are being persecuted because they are followers of Jesus.
"Today, there is no future (for Christians)," Iraq-born Fr Bazzi, pastor of Saint Peter Chaldean Catholic Church in El Cajon, Calif., told Catholic News Agency on June 18. "These people, they hang, they behead people who don't believe in their faith," he lamented. "Our village had 15,000 Catholics when I was there. Would you believe today there are how many: only 150 families."
According to CNA, he explained that Christians in Iraq are targeted for the faith, as well as caught in the midst of fighting between Shia and Sunni Muslims. "Our church is in trouble today. As long as Iran exists, Shia exists. And they are the majority in Iraq. And as long as Saudi Arabia is there, and the Emirate, that means Sunni has to exist ... (But) those people go against each other because of their faith. And as Christians, we are always caught in the middle."
The sad part is that there's a deafening silence about the persecution of Christains in the Middle East. Christians in developed nations are just watching the butchery on their television sets and doing nothing about it.
“What we are seeing here is ecumenical cleansing,” said Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, who called the region “the unsafest place in the world for Christians.”
“It’s an ecumenical cleansing that is forcing people who are Christians, by whatever label, out of countries where their roots are from the beginning.”
In an interview with Spanish-language magazine "La Vanguardia," Pope Francis said he is "deeply concerned" about the persecution of Christians today, which is "stronger than in the first centuries of the Church." But Vatican can do little about it. It can't do much except unleash a global campaign against persecution of Christians.
The carnage unleased by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria Group (ISIS) in Iraq is virtually eliminating Christianity from the region. The militant group aims to establish a Sunni state within Syria and Iraq, which is a majority Shia region. ISIS launched its offensive in Iraq in early June, overtaking its second-largest city of Mosul on June 10. ISIS now controls most of north and north-central Iraq, including the city of Tal Afar, says CNA.
Civilians who choose to stay in ISIS-controlled areas must follow an extreme interpretation of Islamic law. According to the BBC, ISIS has offered Christians in seized areas three choices. They can either convert to Islam, face death or pay a jizya tax in exchange for their safety while observing certain conditions. Those conditions reportedly bar Christians from public prayer and display of religious symbols. Christians are also reportedly banned from making renovations to churches, and women must wear the Islamic veil.
According to CNA, Fr Bazzi said that when he was younger, his village was entirely Catholic and he attended Catholic school. Then, his community started growing as strangers began moving into the region. "People we never met, people we never knew: Muslims," he said. "They started to settle and people were just in trouble with their traditions, with their religion, with their faith."
Fr Bazzi said the new neighbors aimed "to root out Christianity from Iraq," and he began to be treated as a "second-class citizen." He described being looked at "as a second-class person, as not normal," and viewed as "a blasphemer, an infidel." This second-class treatment developed into persecution, which eventually inspired Fr. Bazzi's vocation to the priesthood. He said he was eager to teach young people in his region how to defend their Catholic faith, CNA said.
At the Washington conference of church leaders, more than 180 clergy, seminary professors, authors and activists signed a “pledge of solidarity and call to action” that advocates for the special envoy in addition to a regional review of US foreign aid to ensure recipients uphold principles of pluralism and religious freedom. They also seek assurance that religious minorities receive fair access to US refugee assistance, RNS said. “The current trajectory, marked by political violence and, in the cases of Iraq and Syria, full-blown war, risks a Middle East largely emptied of the millennia-old presence of Christians,” read the statement, citing cases of executed Christians, demolished churches, kidnapped clergy and forced conversions.
The rampage in Iraq and Syria are continuing. The Sunni militant group's persecution has further decreased Iraq's dwindling Christian community. Many Christians have sought refuge in neighboring countries or the autonomous Kurdish region in the north. Countries and people across the world must unite against this annihilation of Christians in the Middle East region.
