Posted on 09/29/2014 5:23:20 PM PDT by markomalley
The ancient city of Nineveh in Iraq, one of the world's first Christian enclaves, has been emptied of its Christians. Islamic State terrorists have driven off or murdered the entire city's population of Christians. Across Iraq other Christians have fled en masse. Canon Andrew White, the only Anglican Vicar in Iraq told the Telegraph "Last week there was no communion in Nineveh for the first time in 2,000 years. All are closed, all their people have run away."
Despite the extreme dangers, Christians are permitted to live in the Islamic State, but only if they pay a punishing tax. All who could flee did so. Christians in other parts of Iraq have also fled, lacking confidence in that nation's security forces. According to Canon White, only the poor remain, without the means to flee or pay any taxes. Should the Islamic State resume its advance, these people will simply have to choose between conversion and martyrdom.
Canon White expressed skepticism to The Telegraph that airstrikes would stop the Islamic State, and that he, along with many others, thought that troops would have to be on the ground to defeat the terrorists. He also acknowledged that nobody would want casualties, so he understands why no troops have been sent.
It isn't just Canon White who is pessimistic about the future of Christianity in Iraq. A priest named "Father Nawar" was on record in the Christian Post as saying "Christianity is finished in Iraq."
(Excerpt) Read more at catholic.org ...
The priest told CP that Christians were dying for lack of food and resources, and that there were precious few resources to care for the estimated 200,000 Christians displaced by the Islamic State.
The displacement of Christians is exacerbated by refugees from other populations as well, all fleeing the Islamic State. Most have retreated into Kurdish territories, some have crossed borders. A few lucky individuals have made it to Europe or other parts of the world, but most people are simply destitute, living in cities such as Kirkuk.
Those still in Iraq and in the Kurdish regions are absolutely dependent on outside aid. These people were forced to flee, leaving everything behind, including money and other valuables. Most have been provided with aid from sympathizers and international relief organizations, but the relief provided to them is minimal at best.
The Catholic Church has been instrumental in distributing aid, collecting donations from around the world to save Christians and others who are fleeing the Islamic State.
Pope Francis has sent a special envoy to help aid these Christians and aid is being collected for those in need. Despite all efforts, Christians have been eradicated from places they have known for two millennia. This is genocide, plain and simple. Even in spite of airstrikes, there seems to be no going back.
Just like Obama planned.
There is always hope. Christ said that “The Gates of Hell will not prevail against her.”
Prayers for the people in Iraq.
Remember when the world said “never again” after the last holocaust?
Then came Cambodia, Rwanda, etc.
The entire community should be granted visas immediately and brought to the US as religious and political refugees. This government has admitted tens of thousands of Muslims with jihadist backgrounds. It’s time to bring the Christians here.
The enabler in office knows what he’s about.
There is always hope. Christ said that “The Gates of Hell will not prevail against her.”
I wonder if the Pope regrets kissing that Koran.
It’s be a refreshing moment if these Christians caught a break once in a while. It’s difficult not to believe they’ve been kicked to the wayside for whatever reason.
I believe that was a different Pope, JP II. I don’t think this one has had much interaction with muzzies ....
You can thank George of Arabia for the Christian disappearance in Iraq. Him and him alone.
Alone? I think not. In part, probably so, but then there are a lot of parts.
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The invasion of Iraq after 9/11 will go down in history as the worst foreign policy blunder of the last 100 years. Saudi Arabia is the country we should have taken over. And taken every drop of their oil.
My vote was iran
That may be. In another 90 years we’ll know.
However, your statement was that George W. was alone responsible for the destruction of the Christian church in Iraq. That is not true on its face.
Hyperbole seldom helps an argument.
It’s only genocide if whitey does it
Some results of the 2003 war:
As of 21 June 2007, the UNHCR estimated that 2.2 million Iraqis had been displaced to neighbouring countries with a large majority of them Christians, and 2 million were displaced internally, with nearly 100,000 Iraqis fleeing to Syria and Jordan each month.[11][12] A 25 May 2007 article notes that in the past seven months only 69 people from Iraq were granted refugee status in the United States.[13]After the 2003 invasion of Iraq, violence against Christians rose, with reports of abduction, torture, bombings, and killings.[14] Some Christians were pressured to convert to Islam under threat of death or expulsion, and women were ordered to wear Islamic dress.[14] In August 2004, International Christian Concern protested an attack by Islamists on Iraqi Christian churches that killed 11 people.[15] In 2006, an Orthodox Christian priest, Boulos Iskander, was beheaded and mutilated despite payment of a ransom, and in 2008, the Assyrian clergyman Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho of the Chaldean Catholic church in Mosul died after being abducted.[14] In January 2008, bombs exploded outside nine churches.[14]
In 2007, Chaldean Catholic priest Fr. Ragheed Aziz Ganni and subdeacons Basman Yousef Daud, Wahid Hanna Isho, and Gassan Isam Bidawed were killed in the ancient city of Mosul.[16] Ganni was driving with his three deacons when they were stopped and demanded to convert to Islam, when they refused they were shot.[16] Ganni was the pastor of the Chaldean Church of the Holy Spirit in Mosul and a graduate from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum in Rome in 2003 with a licentiate in ecumenical theology. Six months later, the body of Paulos Faraj Rahho, archbishop of Mosul, was found buried near Mosul. He was kidnapped on 29 February 2008 when his bodyguards and driver were killed.[17]
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