What can we do about persecution of Christians in the Middle East?

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erinmitbaren

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It seems that many people are completely unaware of the ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Chaldeans, Assyrians, and Syriacs in Iraq. In addition to this, Christians are persecuted and killed for their faith in other places throughout the world. Is there anything that the Pope and other Catholic leaders are doing about this? What practical things can we do to help, in addition to praying for them? Also, how do we spread awareness that this is actually going on in today’s world?

I know back in 2007, Pope Benedict made Emmanuel Delly, the Chaldean patriarch, a cardinal in order to show solidarity with Iraqi Catholics. What are they working on together to try to end this persecution? Does the patriarch reside in Iraq or Rome?
 
I don’t know about actions you can take, but prayer is always a powerful start…
 
For starters we can start by telling the US government and it’s allies that we totally oppose any kind of future military action against pro-Christian Syria, and that we reject any terms that define the country as being part of an “Axis of Evil”
 
We can increase energy production across the board that will ultimately reduce the need to import oil and natural gas from the countries doing the persecuting.

The “we” is not just the United States, but also every other Western/Christian country … including Germany … which said it would shut down its nuclear reactors, which means it would have to import energy.

And the countries importing energy are not just the United States [which directly imports very little from the persecuting countries].

If we eliminate energy exports from the persecuting countries, they will no longer be able to afford the luxury of killing either foreign Christians [that would be us] or their own domestic Christians.
 
Syria is one of only four nations in the world that is officially designated by the U.S. Government as a State Sponsor of Terrorism. Syria was involved with the transfer of WMD from Iraq. Damascus has office buildings that house the headquarters of organizations such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and dozens more groups like Al Qaeda.

So we see it’s easy to talk about peace and governments, but how do you handle this situation? In fact, Syria is of course part of “an axis of evil.” It would be great if denying that made it not so and suddenly made them a peaceful country.

This are some facts is all, I am at a loss to suggest how to go further with Syria.
 
Monte_RCMS said:
We can increase energy production across the board that will ultimately reduce the need to import oil and natural gas from the countries doing the persecuting…(excerpt)
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This is a smart, logical explanation. But we are defeated by our own government. We have been talking about this since the 1970’s and the most “helpful” things Congress comes up with are gas-guzzler taxes and other likewise brilliant notions. They don’t seem to really care.

We cannot over-legislate or we’ll imperil one of our nation’s main industries that is already half dead. We must respect markets especially now when jobs are needed. Also, no way is every American going to agree to drive a Prius even if you give them a tax rebate of the full price!

How do we motivate Congress to come up with real plans? And how can Americans be made more aware of the implications of their energy use, whether in homes or cars? Most citizens also seem rather oblivious to this problem.
 
cemiller said:
I don’t know about actions you can take, but prayer is always a powerful start…
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A thousand times over, agreed. We should always keep persecuted Christians in our prayers and have faith that with God’s help they can be delivered from their perils.
 
US military action in Iraq ended up resulting in a disaster for the Christian community. The same may well happen in Libya, where the Jihadists are well represented among the rebels, who the US-NATO are providing aid to. In Syria, the Christian community has been openly fearful of the anti-Assad rebels, who include radical Islamacists in there ranks.
 
erinmitbaren said:
I know back in 2007, Pope Benedict made Emmanuel Delly, the Chaldean patriarch, a cardinal in order to show solidarity with Iraqi Catholics. … Does the patriarch reside in Iraq or Rome?
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Mar Emmanuel still resides in Iraq. 🙂
 
Seamus_L said:
US military action in Iraq ended up resulting in a disaster for the Christian community. The same may well happen in Libya, where the Jihadists are well represented among the rebels, who the US-NATO are providing aid to. In Syria, the Christian community has been openly fearful of the anti-Assad rebels, who include radical Islamacists in there ranks.
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That is, unfortunately, true in Iraq. 😦 There is great fear that a similar situation could develop in Syria for several reasons, one of which is that the political opposition is far from being well organized. There is, indeed, the real possibility that it could be hijacked by radical religious elements who would like nothing better than to do what their predecessors were unable to accomplish, i.e., eliminate the native Christians. 😦

Libya is a bit different, though, since (a) there is no native Christian community to speak of, and (b) the opposition is better organized. Also, the tribal structure is still pretty much intact which is not the case in Syria. Iraq is mixed bag with tribal structure: it does survive as can be seen from certain news reports where the tribal leaders generally stand against the religious extremists, but the problem is that the structure was severely weakened during the Ba’athist days and has only limited influence now.

One cannot leave mention of Egypt out of this discussion either. The opposition there is reasonably well organized but the “Brotherhood” is far better so and has, in its way, taken the lead. For example, the true opposition wanted a new Constitution, including the elimination of the “State religion” clause in the constitution (I forget which article it’s in), but of course the “Brotherhood” did not agree, and wanted only some modifications to the existing Constitution, including the preservation of the “State religion” clause. The referendum a few months back went, as we know, according to the “Brotherhood’s” script. 😦 All of that said, it is, I suppose, still possible for the true reformists to prevail down the road. There is always hope. :gopray2:
 
Christians in Lebanon have also been all but eliminated by killing and by their fleeing for their lives.

The author of “Because They Hate” has written and spoken extensively on the subject of the plight of Lebanese Christians.

I looked the book title on Amazon … she has written two books on this subject.

Here is the author’s profile:

Brigitte Gabriel (a.k.a. Nour Saman, born October 21, 1964) is the pseudonym, of a Lebanese American journalist, author, and activist. Gabriel says that Islam keeps countries backward, and that it teaches terrorism. She frequently speaks at American conservative-leaning organizations such as The Heritage Foundation, Christians United for Israel, Evangelicals and Jewish groups. Stephen Lee, the publicist at St. Martins Press for Gabriel’s second book, called her views “extreme”.

There is also a Web site … www.bethlehemcarvings.com [that Web site went away, but I found this one … http://bethlehemhandicrafts.com/ which supports local Christians around Bethlehem and the area. But they are being persecuted out of existence. I bought a crown of thorns from them when they visited my local parish. It’s in my bookshelf and is a reminder of our past and maybe our future.
 
I wouldn’t put too much stock in Brigitte Gabriel. She lists herself as a Maronite, but has alot of ties to groups that are fanatically pro-Israel. Has she ever acknowledged that as late as 2006 that Hezbollah had an 80 pct approval rating in the Christian community in Lebanon ? Just as many Americans may see Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, I’m sure that just as large a number of Lebanese, including Christians, view Hezbollah as a legitimate resistance movement, who have vigorously defended the country against attacks by Israel, who many people in the Middle East would likewise consider a terrorist state.
 
Seamus_L said:
I wouldn’t put too much stock in Brigitte Gabriel. She lists herself as a Maronite, but has alot of ties to groups that are fanatically pro-Israel. Has she ever acknowledged that as late as 2006 that Hezbollah had an 80 pct approval rating in the Christian community in Lebanon ? Just as many Americans may see Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, I’m sure that just as large a number of Lebanese, including Christians, view Hezbollah as a legitimate resistance movement, who have vigorously defended the country against attacks by Israel, who many people in the Middle East would likewise consider a terrorist state.
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It’s time the US stops supporting the terrorist state of Israel. That would be a good start.
 
Seamus_L said:
I wouldn’t put too much stock in Brigitte Gabriel. She lists herself as a Maronite, but has alot of ties to groups that are fanatically pro-Israel. Has she ever acknowledged that as late as 2006 that Hezbollah had an 80 pct approval rating in the Christian community in Lebanon ? Just as many Americans may see Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, I’m sure that just as large a number of Lebanese, including Christians, view Hezbollah as a legitimate resistance movement, who have vigorously defended the country against attacks by Israel, who many people in the Middle East would likewise consider a terrorist state.
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The number of Lebanese Christians who share the phony “legitimate resistance” view of that group is actually very small. The vast majority consider it to be just what it is: a group bought and paid for by Iran that is hell-bent on imposing Shi’a theocracy in Lebanon.
 
ciero said:
It’s time the US stops supporting the terrorist state of Israel. That would be a good start.
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I have to say that it’s higher time to stop playing the “petrol-rules” game. That didn’t play out too well in Iraq, did it?
 
From the first century to till date christianity is under persecution in asia. But even under the persecution christianity is growing. It is the continent that all the events in salvation history happened. It is in the soil of Asia christ shed his blood for the salvation of humanity.This continent blessed by the foot prints of Jesus.All appostoles, virgin mary and prophets are Asians. But when ever christianity grows , the enemies tries to destroy it by persecution. But one day church will rise in Glory. There are now more than 300 Million christians in Asia.
 
Malphono
Here it is from the Maronite Christian president of Lebanon, Emile Lahoud [spiegel.de/international/0,1518,428391,00.html](http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,428391,00.html) Lahoud was also endorsed by Hezbollah.
 
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