They hate you because of me - There's a couple of different news sources that I came across today dealing with the same topic of the persecution falling upon Christians by Muslim extremists in Iraq.
AsiaNews.it has a report about threats being sent to Assyrian and Chaldean Christians telling them they must convert to Islam or get out of Iraq.
AsiaNew.it reports:
These threats, initially taken lightly, are now being taken seriously. Catholic bishop Louis Sako said Catholic and Orthodox churches have cancelled evening services in addition to night catechism courses organized for parish youth. Only daytime services are permitted.
Since the end of the war in Iraq many Christians have been mysteriously killed, among them a judge from the northern part of the country and liquor store owners in the south as well as various interpreters and coalition workers accused of “collaborating with the enemy”.
On Jan. 21 four female laundry workers were killed by unknown men while on their way to work at the coalition’s Aeronautical Military Base in Al-Habbaniyah in northern Iraq. Attacks were also carried out against the Bishop’s Palace of the Antiochan Syriac Church in Mossul and against a Christian school.
Along this same line of thought is an article by Bill Berkowitz of AlterNet.org who asks why more U.S. evangelicals aren't being vociferous about the attacks against Iraq's indigenous Christians in his article titled, War of Souls.
Berkowitz writes:
In the face of the increasing persecution of Iraqi Christians, conservative U.S. evangelicals have been silent, columnist Glen Chancy charged in September of last year. In a piece entitled "Christians in Iraq," Chancy wrote that evangelicals have not vigorously protested "the inability/unwillingness of U.S. forces to protect Iraqi Christians ... [and] their cause has not been championed by any of the televangelists." Evangelicals haven't made "Christian persecution in post-Saddam Iraq ... a centerpiece article in any of the Evangelical magazines," Chancy noted.
Berkowitz links to Glen Chancy's article, Christians in Iraq.
Chancy has a copy of one of the letters that had been sent out to Assyrian Christians. He also goes into detail describing the history of the Iraqi Christians and why conservatives here do not care about foreign Christians. His question and answer:
Why Don’t Conservatives Care About Christians?
The answer to this question is surprisingly simple. Conservative politicians and pundits care little for the welfare of Christians outside the United States for one primary reason.
The Evangelical Christian base of the Republican Party doesn’t care.
Here is a copy of the letter that was circulated to fellow Christians in Iraq:
By the name of God the most merciful and compassionate!
"Do not adorn yourselves as illiterate women before Islam." From the leadership of Islamic troops of "Al-Bader"To this noble family:
We hope that the head of this family will stand with the "brothers of Muslims" group and follow basic Muslim rules of wearing the veil and possessing honorable teaching of Islam that Moslems have continued from old epoch. We are the Iraqi people, the Muslim people that do not accept any mistakes.
If not – and the message will not be followed, we will take the actions of:
1. Killing.
2. Kidnapping.
3. Burning the house with its occupants or exploding it.
I'm not so sure I agree completely with the reasoning, but I do think that one reason that conservative Christians here in the U.S. aren't speaking out is because they don't know about the persecution; it just isn't being reported in the main media outlets.
Don't forget March 5!
The Great Separation continues.
