The Woeful Plight of Iraqi Christians

[Bradley in DC]

According to Bishop Ibrahim N. Ibrahim, a Chaldean Catholic in Iraq, "The current situation [in Iraq] puts Christians in the hazardous position of being perceived as being allied with the foreign occupiers, but the Americans provide no special protection for them.... even with the 'surge' in U.S. forces already in place, there is no security in Baghdad. Things are worse and worse and worse..., even for the Americans. The best thing is to withdraw, and then let the [internal factions] attack each other."
The Woeful Plight of Iraqi Christians

http://www.newoxfordreview.org/note.jsp?did=1107-notes-plight

[Wendi]

Considering how Christians are often treated *here,* I'm not surprised that our gov't seems to not care about the plight we have created *there.*

[ChooseLiberty]

I'm always amazed at how little concern the "Christians" in US seem to have for Arab Christians that are slaughtered - in Palestine, Iraq, etc. or the ones that were slaughtered with American support in East Timor.

Maybe they consider them not to count since they aren't white bible thumping evangelicals zionists? Can I get a witness? Hallelujah!

[SovereignMN]

Among the Arab countries, Iraq was the most favorable towards Christians. Hussein actually had a member of the Eastern Orthodox Church in his cabinet. The number of Christians in Iraq before the war was estimated at 700,000. I've heard reports that possibly as few as 70,000 may remain. Sad.

[Corydoras]

Here's a long article that gives a sense of what life is like for the Chaldeans in Iraq.
http://www.chaldean.org/Home/tabid/36/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/197/Chaldeans-Under-Attack-in-the-North-of-Iraq.aspx

It has continually disgusted me how so many American Christian groups ignore the ordeals of indigenous Christians in the Middle East.

[sparebulb]

Thanks for bringing this up.

I've been saying the same thing for years and all I get is stupid looks from people. Protestantism in this nation seems to be sold on the Israel-first policy and they have no empathy at all for Christian Palestinians and other native Christians in the Middle East. And they are really lost on the concept of being decent and fair to ALL people with regards to our foreign policy. That would be real Christian behavior.

[Nefertiti]

Thanks for bringing this up.

I've been saying the same thing for years and all I get is stupid looks from people. Protestantism in this nation seems to be sold on the Israel-first policy and they have no empathy at all for Christian Palestinians and other native Christians in the Middle East.

The passive disregard they have for them today is nothing compared to the attitudes they had 100-150 years ago. I've read books by Protestants who went to the Middle East in the early 20th and 19th century and they would just rip the Orthodox Christians to pieces as a bunch of ignorant idiots as if they were little more than pagans. They also were proselytizing among them because they really couldn't manage to convert the Muslims.

[Corydoras]

Yes, the Protestant attitude of the nineteenth century toward Orthodox was, to paraphrase, "They're certainly not decent like us Protestants, why, they're so degenerate they're not even Papists!" And they weren't much more polite to Eastern Rite Catholics either, like the Maronites and Chaldeans, because they were taking their cue from the Vatican, which looked down on them, too.

You would think that twenty-first-century evangelicals would learn to be more respectful of indigenous peoples whose religion (frankly and with all due respect all around) predates the Muslims. I mean, when Qana got bombed, very few realized that it was the same town as Cana, location of the New Testament water-to-wine-at-wedding thing.

[freelance]

Yes, the Protestant attitude of the nineteenth century toward Orthodox was, to paraphrase, "They're certainly not decent like us Protestants, why, they're so degenerate they're not even Papists!" And they weren't much more polite to Eastern Rite Catholics either, like the Maronites and Chaldeans, because they were taking their cue from the Vatican, which looked down on them, too.

I'm an Eastern Orthodox Christian, and trust me, we're still the stepchildren--at least here in the US. Funny isn't it, since we are the originals! :eek: I just love that the Pope "reached out to us," to try to bring us into the fold. Pigs'll fly first.

[Corydoras]

The media play their part in supporting the war by suppressing information about what Middle Eastern Christians are undergoing-- I bet a lot of American Christians don't even know that there are native Christians there. I think if more American Christians understand that indigenous Christians are suffering terribly across the Middle East, support for us being in the Iraq fight would drop (and, separately, support for the Palestinian people would rise).

[weatherbill]

I have a very powerful flyer for churches, for flyering church parking lots....

PM me your email to get it....

[OptionsTrader]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzIPSGhooP4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hCKZmkF0VU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSnuexdIAYE