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Dear Parish Faithful,
Here is a strong elaboration from Ralph Sidway to a short article I sent out yesterday about the diminishing presence of Christians in the Middle East.
Fr. Steven
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Dear Father Steven,
Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!
I am very glad to see your meditation today, especially your closing reminder exhorting us to have unwavering faith in the providence of God which allows the persecution of Christians in the world. Our Lord told us that we would be persecuted if we followed Him (MK 10:29-31, JN 15:20), and that the time was coming when those who killed us would do so out of a belief that they were following God's will. (JN 16:2) It was true two thousand years ago, and it is just as true now, especially in Islamic countries.
In addition to what you have written, I would like to offer some corrections to the New York Times article, and a survey of muslim persecution against Christians not only in the Middle East, but worldwide, consisting of both an article by author and Islam expert Robert Spencer and a brief (6 min 29 sec) video on this topic by the David Horowitz Freedom Center. (See below also for link.)
Ethan Bronner, in his NY Times article, states that "Christians were attacked for working with Americans." As news reports show, greatly heightened persecution against Christians in Iraq and in other muslim countries can be traced to the late 1990s and into 2002, well before the US-led invasion of Iraq, and as a direct result of the jihad proclaimed by Osama bin Laden in 1998 and signaled by the attacks of 9/11/01. While the war in Iraq no doubt sparked further attacks on Christians suspected of working with the Americans, the essence of all persecution of Christians in all muslim-dominated countries in the Middle East and elsewhere is religious in nature, and is a manifestation of the Islamic resurgence we see worldwide.
Bronner also conflates and parses the causes of the Christian exodus, confusing several key issues in the process. In listing the forces behind Christian emigration from the Holy Land, he cites "political violence, lack of economic opportunity, and the rise of radical Islam." Instead, we must realize that what Bronner labels as "political violence" is actually violent religious persecution against Christians by muslims. Churches burned and destroyed, Christians threatened with death if they do not convert to Islam, and attacks on individual Christians are all part of a pattern here. "Lack of economic opportunity" is more accurately understood as economic discrimination against Christians by muslims; Christians under muslim rule have an exceedingly difficult if not impossible time of finding good jobs, running a successful business, and even keeping their own income. Christians under muslim rule are forced to pay a jizya (the poll tax mandated in Koran 9:29 that "people of the book" — Christians and Jews — must pay for the privilege of living in an Islamic state) so large that they cannot sustain their lives. Thus, what Bonner lists last as "the rise of radical Islam" is actually the cause of all the Christians' woes and persecution, some of it institutionalized, some of it at the hands of the growing mobs of zealous muslims, who are merely living out the true tenets of their religion.
As Islam continues its resurgence, we will see greater and ever more horrifying persecution of the last remaining Christians. They literally have no hope, in an earthly sense. Under Islam, Christians must submit (i.e. convert to Islam and renounce Jesus Christ), or pay the jizya (to have "protected" status), or flee, if they are able. Otherwise, they are likely to be harassed, persecuted and killed. Those Christians who do pay the jizya are relegated to dhimmi status, and are treated as inferior to muslims, second-class citizens. They cannot practice their faith in public, they cannot wear crosses in public, they cannot build new churches, they cannot even repair old churches falling into disrepair; they certainly cannot evangelize. While a muslim man may marry a Christian woman (indeed, several if he desires), a Christian man who tries to marry a muslim woman is subject to death, as several recent harrowing news stories from Pakistan and Afghanistan have borne out. The list of dhimmi limitations and discriminatory practices against Christians pervades virtually every dimension of life. The dangers are real: any muslim who converts to Christianity is subject to death. So is any Christian who tries to convert a muslim. Recent news stories about the atrocities committed by muslims against Coptic Christians in Egypt illustrate all these points and more. These are not aberrations from the so-called "Religion of Peace." Rather, these are truths about Islamic law (sharia law) which have been put into practice at all times and in every place that Islam has become dominant over the past thirteen hundred years. We must acknowledge these facts about Islam. Denial and obfuscation do not help us in understanding the enormity of the calamity and its importance for our times.
As recent events have demonstrated (seizing of church property by muslim authorities, etc.), the Ecumenical Patriarchate suffers these trials in a perhaps more demeaning way than other Christian bodies under Islamic domination. Perhaps it is time at last for His All Holiness to cede Constantinople to the muslim Turks, pack his bags, and leave the Phanar ghetto behind for the relatively safe (for now) United States.
Here is the link to Mr Spencer's article; the video is embedded in it:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/026126.php
Here is a link to the otherwise excellent full article by Ethan Bronner in the NYT:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/026108.php
I would be glad to provide further articles and sources upon request.
Please feel free to forward this to the parish if you see fit.
in Christ,
Ralph
