There are Christians, mainly Catholic or Orthodox, in the Middle East. They are a tiny and very much embattled minority amongst millions of Muslims and, in Israel, Jews.
The Jews generally don't kill the Christians, except occasionally as "collateral damage" in their attacks on the Muslims. But the militant Muslims persist in their jihad -- "holy war" -- against their Christian compatriots.
This is true all over the Middle East, including Iraq, the cradle of civilization. Iraqi Muslims make war on each other, but are united in their persecution of the Catholic community.
Jules Mikhael Al-Jamil, Auxiliary Archbishop of Antioch (Syria), says this is not a matter of politics. The persecution of Christians was not peculiar to Saddam Hussein. Rather it is ultimately rooted in a culture inspired by the Quran.
Speaking at a press conference organized by the Italian Chamber of Deputies, Archbishop Al-Jamil said the Iraqi Christians are victims of a religious -- not political -- persecution caused by a social system that is inspired by a view of the Quran, according to which Islam and its followers must dominate and regard believers of other religions as citizens with fewer rights.
The archbishop, an expert in Arab culture and literature, explained that according to the Quran, Islam is a religion that is above all others. This attitude is found wherever Islam is the religion of the state. Indeed, in the Arab countries, Islam and the state are one.
That means that in places like Iraq, Libya and -- the worst offender -- Saudi Arabia, the Christian minority does not enjoy the rights and freedoms which we stupid westerners guarantee to the Muslim minority.
Visit Saudi Arabia and you will look in vain for a Christian church. You will not find a Bible in your hotel room night table. And you will not see anyone wearing or displaying any symbol of Christianity, such as a cross or crucifix.
But here in North America the Muslims are free to build mosques (has your neighbourhood got one yet?), wear the hejab or niqab, and preach against our wicked value system, all the while complaining about discrimination and persecution. You want to see persecution? See what they do to Christians in their own countries.
According to Archbishop Al-Jamil, in a democratic country, which Iraq says it is and wants to be [really?! ed.], Christians should enjoy the same rights as the rest of the citizens.
The prelate told ZENIT (a Catholic news agency) he is not in favor of a proposal to protect the rights of Christians by creating a Christian enclave in Nineveh, where there is a Christian majority. Christians are part of the social fabric of the whole country, he said, and should not withdraw into a ghetto.
Click here to read the complete ZENIT report.
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