There is widespread persecution of Christians going on in Iraq, not only from the Islamists but ordinary Muslims who are trying to gain from the persecution of Christians. The persecution is so widespread that there are few areas of refuge for the Christians. They have been forced to remove the crosses from their churches, conceal their Christian names, and women now wear the hijab.
Before being executed, they were informed that they would be spared on the condition that they converted to Islam. All refused. Ganni was one of many Iraqis killed since 2003 for no reason other than their Christian identity. Additionally, thousands of Christians have been expelled from their homes, extorted, harassed, beaten, raped and ordered to covert to Islam, spawning a frantic and ongoing exodus. As a result, Iraq's Christian community stands on the verge of extinction.Go read the rest to get the full picture of the plight of the Iraqi Christians.
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The violent and anarchic period following the invasion has proven disastrous; some estimates indicate that in the past four years, the Christian population of Iraq has halved. Although bombings of churches receive media attention, assassinations and kidnappings go largely unnoticed. Recently, however, expulsions and large-scale harassment of Christians, such as those under way in the southern Baghdad neighborhood of Al-Daura, have been reported. "The Islamic State of Iraq," a Sunni terrorist umbrella group which includes Al-Qaeda, ordered Christian residents of Al-Daura to pay a jizya, the Islamic poll tax historically imposed upon non-Muslims. The money would go to financing the very activities that threaten the future of Christians in Iraq. Seventy percent of the neighborhood's Christians subsequently fled.
It is crucial to understand that Christians in Iraq are not simply suffering from the general violence and anarchy plaguing the country, but are being targeted as Christians by Islamists as well as criminal gangs. While Islamist terrorists openly aim to rid Iraq of all "infidels," criminals seek to exploit the perceived wealth of Christians. Thus, many Christians who were middle-class are now destitute, having paid exorbitant ransoms for kidnapped loved ones - some of whom were killed nonetheless.
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Christians are targeted by both Sunni and Shiite violence. Though some have sought sanctuary among coreligionists in the Kurdish-controlled north, for many there is no option but to leave Iraq altogether. Women are especially vulnerable. Theological justifications for the rape of non-Muslim women and their forcible betrothal to Muslims are widespread - Mandaean women have been specifically targeted - as are rulings permitting the summary murder of all non-Muslims who violate Islamic law. Violations can be selling liquor, dressing "immodestly," refusing to pay a jizya, expressing a political opinion, or even just professing one's faith openly. In the worst circumstances, the very act of being non-Muslim is perceived as an offense; many Islamist militias simply present non-Muslims with the choice of converting to Islam or being killed.
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Eventually, the violence in Iraq will subside and a modicum of security will return. Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds will arrive at a modus vivendi, however imperfect. In attempting to forge some semblance of unity, a nationalist historiography will likely blame the occupation forces for Iraq's post-Saddam violence. And this will be the second crime perpetrated against Iraqi victims of Islamist terror. After all, there can be no greater insult to the murdered than to exonerate their murderers. For the Christians of Iraq, indeed, for all Iraqis who have been killed or otherwise persecuted for their religious affiliation, this would mean exonerating the Islamist purveyors of holy war, Sunni or Shiite, who incite against one another and against non-Muslims. It would mean "moving forward" without ever confronting the Islamist theologies of murder, rape and genocide, whose adherents have forever disfigured Iraq.
Please join me in praying that the Iraqis will be able to bring order to their country and that they can deal with these issues once the area has been pacified. That those who persecute Christians and others will be brought to justice. And that God will give the Iraqi Christians the ability to witness the love of Christ to those around them even during this time of persecution.
