A desperate hour
Iraqi Christians need their own emancipation proclamation |
ICC Note:
Iraqi Christian leaders visited Washington, D.C. to “plead for the protection of their flocks” before U.S. Congressmen and the State Department.
By Mindy Belz
7/31/2010 Iraq (World Magazine) – On a warm and bright summer afternoon, while much of the planet gathered around screens to watch the World Cup final, worshippers in downtown Washington's New York Avenue Presbyterian Church gathered to pray for the church in Iraq.
"Almighty God, Father of our Transfigured Lord, bestow heavenly peace on the ancient and biblical land of the Tigris and Euphrates," read a clergyman from Baghdad's new Council of Christian Churches. "Grant [your people in Iraq] the spirit of the good fight of faith and perseverance in that endeavor; give the political leaders of our time the courage to work for the sake of the weak," he continued, pausing to allow the 100 or so attendees seated in wooden pews also to pray silently. Churchgoers in Baghdad that day also meditated on the same prayer.
Propping the church in the Middle East appears a losing battle. If centuries of decline under Islamic hegemony haven't been enough, a few years of sectarian fighting and terrorism in Iraq are proving near fatal. The Christian population there has dropped from 1.5 million in 1990 to perhaps as low as 400,000—and many of them are internally displaced. Extremists target Christians in what amounts to ethnic cleansing in major cities, where vibrant Christian communities have dwindled to remnants. In Basra handfuls of believers meet to worship in house churches now.
