Iraqi Christians
I don't want to belabor the Iraqi situation, so this will be my last post on the topic for a while. But I wanted to quickly address the issue of professed Christians in Iraq.
Since the start of the war in Iraq, I have often heard people pray for our troops along these lines: "Be with our troops who are fighting for the freedom of the Iraqi people, so that some day they may be able to worship you and come to Christ." The problem is, since Saddam was toppled, the plight of those who call themselves Christians has only gotten much worse. This has been documented over and over and over again.
I suppose this confusion is due to a simple assumption: Saddam was bad; persecuting Christians is bad; therefore Saddam must have persecuted Christians. But the reality is that he was relatively secular in his orientation, and while he did not treat those who claimed Christ as well as he did Arabs, he did allow Christians to worship.
And as bad as Saddam was, Iraq has only become a far more dangerous place for Christians with him out of power. Ironically, many of those thousands who have fled have sought refuge in Syria, another country on the wish-list of those egging on war with the Muslim world.
Since the start of the war in Iraq, I have often heard people pray for our troops along these lines: "Be with our troops who are fighting for the freedom of the Iraqi people, so that some day they may be able to worship you and come to Christ." The problem is, since Saddam was toppled, the plight of those who call themselves Christians has only gotten much worse. This has been documented over and over and over again.
I suppose this confusion is due to a simple assumption: Saddam was bad; persecuting Christians is bad; therefore Saddam must have persecuted Christians. But the reality is that he was relatively secular in his orientation, and while he did not treat those who claimed Christ as well as he did Arabs, he did allow Christians to worship.
And as bad as Saddam was, Iraq has only become a far more dangerous place for Christians with him out of power. Ironically, many of those thousands who have fled have sought refuge in Syria, another country on the wish-list of those egging on war with the Muslim world.
posted by Shane at 9:51 PM
3 Comments:
Again, good insight. I think there are three main misunderstandings that make it hard for American Christians to think about religious freedom and Christianity in Iraq in an objective manner...
1) Pure ignorance- most American Christians didn't know and still don't know that Iraq has one of the largest Christian minorities in the Arab world (0.65-0.8 million depending on who you ask, or ~3%).
2) We don't accept Iraqi Christians, be they "Chaldean, Syrian, Latin, and Armenian Catholics, or members of a variety of Orthodox sects" as real Christians because they're not like us, not evangelicals, not the product of American missions, etc. (google 'Iraqi Christians' and you get some good news pieces on this)
3) The assumption that all people in the world, if given voting rights, will inevitably prefer completely secular, Western-style democracy. But really, how likely is that? Even American Christians are fighting to keep church and state mixed, so why would we expect Iraqis or Afghans to keep their religion separate if we won't even keep our religion out of government?
Hi Brett
Thanks for the comment. A similar point could be made about those who name Christ in the Palestinian territory.
Tariq Aziz, Saddam's Deputy Prime Minister, was a member of the Chaldean Church of Assyria (in union with the Roman Catholic Church since around 1980, I think).
I thought Brett made excellent observations (as did you, Shane) on this issue. Tariq Aziz wrote letters last year, pleading to be able to see his family and receive their mail, which he claimed was being blocked from getting to him in an undisclosed prison.
Has Aziz done some bad things, or at least been accomplice to them? It appears that is likely. But the situation for those under Saddam is not at all simple. American Christians would not, by and large (at least those of a more conservative bent) ever afford Aziz the title of "brother in Christ." He is too different, politically and religiously.
I'm reminded of the bumper sticker I saw yesterday: "Christians and Conservatives: At risk of being annihilated." That was right next to a big sticker supporting our president. It is frightening, to me, to see "conservative" and "Christian" thought linked so stoically and epically as this. Christians simply cannot see themselves as being Christians by being conservative.
As Derek Webb's song says, "My first allegiance is not to flag, or country, or a man...or democracy or blood; it's to a King and a Kingdom."
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