Thanks, Tonkin!
Posted on 09/24/2003 3:58:09 PM PDT by Ragtime Cowgirl
Iraqi Christians hold first post-Saddam conference
Kuwaisinjaq, Iraq Press, September 23, 2003 – Iraqi Christians are holding what they say is a decisive meeting to unite their disparate sects and denominations.
The five-day conference in this small and quiet Kurdish town, a short drive from Arbil, is Iraqi Christians first such gathering since the ouster of the former leader Saddam Hussein.
Delegates from across the country are deliberating what role the Christian community can play in the post-Saddam government.
Such gatherings were not possible under Saddam Hussein as meetings with a political nature were banned and organizers were either executed or sentenced to long jail terms.
Shortly after Saddam's downfall, different Christian denominations vied for representation in the interim Governing Council and the cabinet.
But the organizers of Kuwaisinjaq meeting say their aim is to bring the divisive Christian communities together so that "we will put up a united front in the struggle for a democratic, secular and tolerant Iraq."
Iraqi Christians have welcomed the creation of the US-backed Governing Council, saying it is a first step towards restoring democracy in the country.
The council includes 13 Shiite Muslims, 5 Sunni Muslims, 5 Kurds, 1 Christian and 1 Turkmen.
Initially, several Christian denominations objected to the Christian member in the council, saying he belonged to a sect whose members are a minority when compared with other factions.
The Christian representative, Younadem Kana, is from the Assyrian Democratic Movement.
An engineer who served as a transport official in the first Kurdish regional assembly, Kana belongs to the Assyrian sect whose members still follow the old Nestorius Church.
The largest Christian group in the country are the Chaldeans, who split from the old church in the sixteenth century and embraced the authority of the Pope in Rome.
There are also the Syrian Orthodox Christians and Arab Christians.
There are no exact figures on the number of Christians in Iraq but at least more than half of them are Chaldeans.
Christian clergy say at least 4 per cent of Iraq's 24 million people are thought to be Christian.
After decades of discrimination, the Christians want to have a say in the creation of the new Iraqi government and a role in running the country.
Tens of thousands of Christians fled Iraq during the 35-year-long reign of Saddam Hussein's Baath party.
The clergy say there are now perhaps more Iraqi Christians in diaspora than at home.
Under God, ping!
If you want on or off my Pro-Coalition ping list, please Freepmail me. Warning: it is a high volume ping list on good days. (Most days are good days).
1. Forgive any of the "Comrade Bishop" types who collaborated with the Hussein regime, if they ask for forgiveness. Remember that street demonstration footage with hundreds of Christians carrying anti-American signs and a big banner that said, "Security only in the shade of Islam"? Yeah, those guys.
2. Having forgiven them, watch them closely, and give them no power. It is those who will die for the Faith who can be trusted.
That isn't true. More Iraqis are coming forward daily to share horror stories with about their Ba'athist neighbors with our troops. They were afraid to do so before, unsure of whether we would stay. The neighborhood Ba'athist thugs would do things like burn babies alive in front of parents to coerce cooperation from dissenters. Years of living under that terror takes more than a few months to overcome.
Saddam loyalists are not welcomed by the majority of Iraqis. Those who come into Iraq to force an Islamist state on the Iraqi people are not welcomed by the Iraqi people, nor are terrorists who think they're helping the Iraqis by coming in to kill the "occupiers".
Tenuous months ahead, but our troops are spread out across Iraq, working closely with the Iraqi people, winning hearts and minds - and not hiding their faith.
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