The War is Driving Iraq Christians to Extinction

1. 0

   DrDeanCrosbyposted 13 years ago

   Here is a terrifying report that appeared in Christian Today.As you read it keep in mind the biblical verses describing those who started and supported the $742,121,828,765 (as of 11/14/10) war in Iraq:
   
   Matthew 7:15-16 (New International Version)
   
   
   15 Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? 
   
      A Muslim leader is calling on the Iraqi government and US-led forces to step up their efforts to protect the Christian minority in Iraq from extinction.
   
   
   Navaid Hamid, Secretary of the South Asian Council for Minorities (SACM) and a Muslim, said the deadly attack last weekend on a church in Baghdad was a heinous crime that should be strongly condemned by the international community.
   
   With the murderous attack, the safety of Iraq's Christian minority has become critical and it is the prime responsibility not only of the regime in Baghdad but also that of the allied forces led by [the] US to restore confidence and provide safety because never in the history of Iraq, minorities were so vulnerable he said."
   
   
   Around 58 people are believed to have died when al-Qaeda linked militants stormed the Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad and opened fire on the congregation.
   
   Hamid said Christians in Iraq were paying a high price for their faith and living in fear because of the unprecedented levels of violence against them.It is a fact that they are on the verge of extinction in Iraq,he said.
   
   
   An estimated 400,000 Christians have left Iraq and sought asylum in the US and Europe because of the persecution they face in Iraq.The biggest victims of the US-led invasion of Iraq, Hamid said, were its minorities.[They] have become easy target  for terrorist attacks in their own country,he said.
   
   
   Earlier this week, Christian and Muslim leaders issued a joint statement condemning the attack on the church in Baghdad. Signatories of the letter included Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal of Jordan and representatives of the World Council of Churches.
   
   They said the attack was an inhumane act that contradicts all religious teachings and Middle Eastern culture that enabled people to coexist for many centuries.
   
   They called on the UN Security Council and Iraqi officials to put an end to terrorist attacks aimed at degrading Iraqi people  and defiling Christian and Islamic sacred places.
   
   
   The Islamic State of Iraq, the group which claimed responsibility for the attack, has threatened to continue targeting Christians. It says it attacked the church in retaliation for the supposed detention of two women converts to Islam by the Coptic Church in Egypt.
   
   
   
   
   

   replyreport
   1. 58

      Beelzedadposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      When there are two factions of religious zealotry trying to live together in which each faction is declaring their belief system the authority over all others, both sides drawing irrepressible lines in the sand of righteousness, only fear,  conflict and violence can ever be achieved from such division, destroying any hope of cooperation and benefit.
      
      
      
      There has never been a coexistence in the ME of Christian and Muslim cultures, there has been nothing but retaliations for previous atrocities committed in the name of their gods and it will continue for as long these religions threaten mankind's existence.

      replyreport
2. 62

   CASE1WORKERposted 13 years ago

   Rather a severe retaliation.
   We prayed about the situation in Iraq last week in church and for all those christians who are being persecuted for their religious beliefs

   replyreport
3. 76

   lovemychrisposted 13 years ago

   The IDF have bombed the hell out of Palestinian Christians in Palestine....why is there no equivocal  outrage?

   replyreport
   1. 62

      CASE1WORKERposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      there is in my heart- for anyone who is a victim especially today which for the UK is rememberance sunday

      replyreport
4. 93

   thooghunposted 13 years ago

   Of course, this may seem like news to people who were only awoken by the recent kidnapping and murders of Christians in Iraq. But where was the church when Saddam "ethnically cleansed" the Assyrians (who are for the most part Christian) in 1988?
   
   Persecution of Christians was just as bad, if not worse under Saddam's reign. I don't understand why people think it has just begun.

   replyreport
   1. 73

      Jeff Berndtposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      In 1988, Saddam was still the US's counterbalance to Iran. Of course we're not going to make a big deal about his atrocities. At least, not until he stops being useful, which wasn't until 1990.

      replyreport