Christianity Under Attack In Iraq.

[micatala]

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/vi ... mpaign=pbs



I am not usually one to rail about the persecution of Christians. At least in the U.S., the idea that Christians are generally persecuted is laughable.


But Iraq seems to be another matter.


Questions for debate:

Why are Christians in Iraq persecuted?

What can the U.S. or U.S. citizens or Christians in general do about it? What should we do about it?


These are admittedly probably poor debate questions in that they are too ambiguous and open-ended. However, I think this is a significant issue, and one that relates to our Iraq policy going back over 10 years. It is also likely to be a long term problem, in my view, and so will require a long term solution, more than simply spouting anti-Islamic rhetoric.

Iraq is not likely to be anything other than a majority Muslm country for some time to come. This persecution is not going to change unless behavior within the context of that Muslim nation changes.



As a third question for debate, and one that is more objective, how many Iraqis are involved in this persecution? How many are neutral and how many oppose it and if there are opponents, why are they not more effective?



Analogies to persecution of blacks in the 20th century in the U.S. would, it seems to me, be appropriate. Perhaps other minorities as well.

[Choir Loft]

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/vi ... mpaign=pbs



I am not usually one to rail about the persecution of Christians. At least in the U.S., the idea that Christians are generally persecuted is laughable.


But Iraq seems to be another matter.


Questions for debate:

Why are Christians in Iraq persecuted?

What can the U.S. or U.S. citizens or Christians in general do about it? What should we do about it?


These are admittedly probably poor debate questions in that they are too ambiguous and open-ended. However, I think this is a significant issue, and one that relates to our Iraq policy going back over 10 years. It is also likely to be a long term problem, in my view, and so will require a long term solution, more than simply spouting anti-Islamic rhetoric.

Iraq is not likely to be anything other than a majority Muslm country for some time to come. This persecution is not going to change unless behavior within the context of that Muslim nation changes.



As a third question for debate, and one that is more objective, how many Iraqis are involved in this persecution? How many are neutral and how many oppose it and if there are opponents, why are they not more effective?



Analogies to persecution of blacks in the 20th century in the U.S. would, it seems to me, be appropriate. Perhaps other minorities as well.

Arab Spring. Not much of a growing season last year. Death to Christians.

The news media was full of rubbish stating that the 'people' were fighting for freedom and democracy. That isn't what they got and that wasn't really what they were fighting for, but that's the crap we were fed and for the most part believed.

Democracy is not the Muslim way. Why? Western democracy is based upon the Biblical principle that man is made in the image of God. It logically follows, therefore, that man has the God given right to decide his own fate and his own governmental policy.

According to Islam, man is NOT made in the image of Allah. Man is simply a created being, higher in the scale of importance than the animals, but NOT god like or Allah-like at all. Allah stands alone and there is no one and nothing like Him. The idea that man is an image of god or the modern humanist/relativist idea that all men are god-like is heresy to the Muslim. Extend the idea a bit further and you see that Democracy is not a goal, not philosophically anyway. The preferred form of leadership is monarchy and bureaucracy. Failing a king, substitute some form of warlord or dictator.

So we see that nearly a year after 'Arab Spring' blossomed there is not a single sign of democracy anywhere. Not likely to find any blooming in the near future either. What is indeed apparent is Arab radicalism. The flag of Al qaeda flies over government buildings in Libya. A military dictatorship rules in Egypt. Iraq is tearing itself apart, working toward another version of a warlord like Hussein. Syria is perched on the edge of oblivion. Turkey tip toes along a tight rope like the ancient expert she always was. Iran, despite the appearance of a common front, has bitter infighting between the military and the religious factions. One hand doesn't know what the other is doing there.

In Afghanistan the pattern of Christian persecution is most obvious. A recent uS government report stated that not a single Christian church or school remains in the country. What remains of Christian fellowship and worship has been driven underground or out of the country.

There are two principle causes for this. One is the uS military and the other is the church in the west.

The western church is quite oblivious to what is going on in the middle east. It has turned a blind eye to it; to the causes of war, to the reasons for political turmoil and most criminally to the dissemination of the gospel. The western church is busy with real estate development and not spiritual development. In fact, most churches have no idea at all what spirituality means. They don't because their leaders don't. The leaders are too busy screwing hot babes, fondling boys, or swindling their congregations out of their checkbooks. The church is also responsible for the American wars. None preach against them. All encourage them and endorse them even though they are unjust, illegal, and plain wrong.

The uS military is a causal factor in the persecution of Christians in the middle east. Not by any design we know, but indirectly as a result of support for corrupt Arab governments by American force of arms and foreign aid dollars. Bottom line is that we meddle clumsily. It all goes to aggressive foreign policy in the area and the reason is oil. Pure raw energy.

Welcome to the twenty first century, a century of blood and oil.

The arabs don't care for democracy. The uS and the west need Arab oil any way they can secure it. Enter war. In the battle to secure Arab cooperation anybody in the way is eliminated. That means Christians. Ultimately it will mean Israel.

[East of Eden]

Anybody wanting to help this situation see http://barnabasfund.org/

BTW, wonderful synopsis above, richardP, of the fundamental differences between the Muslim and the Judeo/Christian worldview. It destroys the multicultural myth that all religions and cultures are the same.

[His Name Is John]

This reminds me of the Christian's being persecuted in Sudan. It barely even gets on the news.

To be honest, our leaders don't care about anything unless there is political gain for them. The invasion of Iraq seems so obviously not motivated by the good will of politicians but rather by other motives.