Persecution Irak

Persecution of Christians in Iraq
>>> July 2014

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Mosul
Mosul, Iraq.2014. The Church on the right is no more.
It has been taken over by the terrorists along with all Christian's homes and properties.

For the first time in 1600 years, no Mass is celebrated in Mosul. At the same time, Mass attendance in the West continues to go down due to lack of interest. Pope Francis, in a prophetic way, just previous to this tragedy, had said:

"The prohibition against Worshipping God is a sign of a "general apostasy". It tries to convince Christians to take "a more reasonable and peaceful road", by obeying "the tenets of worldly powers" who try to reduce religion to "a private matter". (Pope Francis is here reflecting on the temptations of Christ in the desert (Luke 21:20-28). Note that Peter also tries to convince Jesus to take a more "reasonable" path and Jesus rebukes him.)
Pope Francis continues: "When Jesus speaks of this calamity... he tells us that it will be a profanation of the temple, a profanation of the faith, of the people. It will be an abomination. It will be the abomination of desolation (Dan 9:27). What does this mean? It will appear to be the triumph of the prince of this world, the defeat of God. It will seem, in that final moment of calamity, as though he has taken over the world" and has become "master of the world". (Nov 28,2013).

Iraq's Christian population has gone from 1.5 million (5% of Iraq’s population) in 2003, to fewer than 450,000. The city of Mosul was home to 35,000 Christians but they dwindled to some 3,000 before the radical ISIS militias expelled them all.

In the summer of 2014 ISIS militias took by force the ancient Iraqi Christian homeland of Nineveh. “Mosul is being purged of Christians,” said Edward Clancy, director of evangelization and outreach at Aid to the Church in Need. He explained that ISIS’ terrifying reputation for brutality was well-established in Syria. “They’ve been known to be beheading and crucifying people in Syria,” he said. All 30 churches and monasteries in Mosul have been confiscated. They have converted the Syriac Orthodox cathedral into a mosque, according to the Assyrian International News Agency. They’ve also imposed the jizya, a crushing tax on Christians under their rule, who don’t want the alternatives of death or conversion to Islam. Other minorities are also persecuted.

“What we’re looking at will be the dying echoes of Christianity in Iraq,” said John Allen Jr., author of The Global War on Christians and associate editor at The Boston Globe. “We all ought to be extremely concerned about that.”

Allen pointed out that the U.S. government has failed to make protecting Christians and other minorities a priority. Failing to support them, Allen said, will reveal “whether or not we took the responsibilities we brought on ourselves, when we went to war, seriously.”

“Without passing any moral judgment on the legitimacy of the U.S. wars in Iraq, the plain fact of the matter is that it was those wars which created the situation in which Christians are walking around with bull's-eyes on their backs,” he said.

But if Christians are eliminated from Iraq, Allen said the region will have lost one of its best chances to facilitate peace among Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds.

“In terms of realpolitik, they don’t pose a threat to anyone; therefore, they can talk to anyone,” Allen said, adding that Christians in the Middle East can also provide a bridge between the West and Islam, avoiding the clash of civilizations.

“If they’re driven out, we’re in a world of hurt.”