The Persecution Continues

It's never been easy to be a Christian in the Middle East, but today it's become particularly difficult, especially in nations where Islam is the dominant religion.

Plight (and Flight) of Iraqi Chrfistians. In Iraq, for example, attacks on Christians show no sign of abating and send the message that Christians either leave the country or die.

Just this week in Mosul a deacon was shot and seriously injured and a Christian college student was kidnapped by another Islamic group. On Christmas eve another Christian was gunned down in front of his home in northern Mosul.

The killings of Christians has continued to increase as have attacks on churches and convents -- all part of a well-organized program of ethnic cleansing targeting Iraqi Christians, according to Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk. In October the archbishop wrote, "In Baghdad and Mosul, Christians are living in fear. Families don't know where to go—they feel isolated, without protection. Despite it all I urge Christians, especially the young, to be patient and stay, resist despair, assume their responsibilities towards the country and the Church, take part in political life to rebuild the country, make life together stronger, promote a culture of life, peace and security worthy of mankind." (The above photo shows the Church of the Holy Spirit burning in Mosul.)

The various ethnic groups in the Mosul area -- Arabs, Turkmen and Kurds -- all blame each other for the attacks while the government appears powerless to act. And so the killings continue. Since 2003 over 2,000 Christians have been killed and their  numbers have been cut by nearly 50% as Christians depart for safer parts of the country or simply leave Iraq.

Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans and head of the synod of the Chaldean Church, recently stated:


"The situation in some parts of Iraq is disastrous and tragic. Life is a Calvary: there is no peace or security, just as there is a lack of daily necessities. There are continuing shortages of electricity, water, gasoline, telephone communications are increasingly difficult, entire roads are blocked, schools are closed or always in danger, hospitals are on short staff, the people are afraid for their safety. Everyone is afraid of kidnapping, frightened by the intimidation. And what can be said of the unjustifiable kidnappings that take place on a daily basis, harming entire families and often depriving them of their loved ones, even though they have paid tens of thousands of dollars for a release that never happens? Not to mention the increasing number of deaths caused by car bombs and suicide bombings."

Down and Out in Saudia Arabia. One of the worst places on earth to be a Christian is in Saudi Arabia. Approximately 200,000 Filipinos work in the Saudi kingdom, most as domestic workers. Not only are they poorly paid, but they are also treated with contempt by the employers because of their Christian faith.

For example,Norma Caldera, a Filipina domestic worker in Saudi Arabia recently escaped after seven months of harrassment and persecution, all stemming from her Catholic faith. "My life in Saudi Arabia was like a prison and the anguish of those moments was unbearable. Every day I got up early to pray, and every time my colleagues and employers saw me they began to insult and mock me for my Christian faith." When her employers learned that she was a devout Catholic, they immediately cut her pay by 30%. They forced her to fast during Ramadan and to sleep on the kitchen floor. Attending Mass was, of course, out of the question.

The Saudi government turns a blind eye to the persecution of Christian workers and seems even to collaborate in it. Recently another migrant worker from the Philippines, Sylviane Hugilon Baser, died in mystrious circumstances. Saudi authorites have so far provided no explanation of her death and have refused to return her body to her family.

Pakistan leads the way in persecution. As bad as things are in Saudi Arabia and Iraq, it's even worse in Pakistan where a small minority of Christians -- 4 million out of 160 million -- are subject to constant and horrendous persecution. One cause is Pakistan's outrageous blasphemy law which legislates prison or the death penalty for anyone who insults the Quran or Muhammad. Since its enactment in 1986 nearly a thousand people have been arrested and several hundred put to death. It has also led to a form of mob rule in which Christians are assumed to be guilty of violating the law simply because they are Christians. (Above photo shows a Pakistani Christian family after their home was destroyed by a Muslim mob.)

As a result at least 50 Christians have been tortured and killed for this crime and many villages and Christian churches destroyed and burned. Recently thousands of Muslims attacked Christian homes and churches for a false accusation of blasphemy and killed 7 people, including women and children, burning them alive. These killings take place without trial, the result of a rough justice dispensed by angry crowds, incited by their imams or by corrupt prison guards.

This is the sort of justice you can expect from Sharia Law.

Pray that the world listens to the prophetic words of Pope Benedict XVI who, in the talk Regensburg, asked fundamentalist Islam to renounce violence as irrational and contrary to God. At the same time he asked the Western world to once again look at God and religion not as an impediment to reason, but as its completion.

And pray for the brave Christians who live in the midst of persecution.

God's peace...