ChristiansChristianity looks set to disappear from parts of the Middle East: Report

Distribution of Metropolitan Sees in the Middle Easy // Source: wikipedia.org

Christianity looks set to disappear from key parts of the Middle East, according to a report issued Tuesday, 13 October, which highlights a worsening cycle of persecution.

Persecuted and Forgotten? A Report on Christians oppressed for their Faith 2013-15, compiled by Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, concludes that if the exodus of Christians from Iraq continues at existing levels, the Christians could all but disappear within five years, and that a faster rate of attrition is noted in Syria whose Christians have reportedly plummeted from 1.25 million in 2011 to as few as 500,000 today.

ACN reports that in a message read in the House of Lords on Tuesday, the day of the report’s launch, Prime Minister David Cameron states that “Every day in countries across the world, Christians are systematically discriminated against, exploited and even driven from their homes because of their faith.”

Cameron highlighted the U.K. government’s commitment to promoting religious freedom, describes ACN’s work as “crucial”, adding: “This [Persecuted and Forgotten?] report serves as a voice for the voiceless, from their prison cells, and the places far from home where they have sought refuge.”

The First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, also sent a message of support for the ACN’s report. She said: “Only by publishing reports such as this and identifying the extent and scale of the problem can we hope to take steps to address the persecution of minorities that sadly still exists across the world.”

At yesterday’s launch, another message was read out from the Vatican stating: “His Holiness [the Pope] deeply appreciates the efforts of all involved in producing this report and in keeping before the world the plight and suffering of Christians persecuted for their faith.”

The message continues: “[the Pope] prays that those in positions of authority will diligently strive not only to eradicate religious discrimination and persecution in their own nations, but also to seek ever more effective ways to promote international cooperation in order to overcome these offenses against human dignity and religious freedom.”

Assessing twenty countries where persecution is severe, the CAN report describes what it calls a “religiously motivated ethnic cleansing” of Christians by Islamist terror groups, especially in Iraq and Syria but also in parts of Africa. 

Examining countries of core concern in the Middle East and elsewhere such as China, Egypt, Eritrea, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Sudan, and Vietnam, the report draws on eye-witness reports and testimonies.

The report concludes that since 2013 the situation for Christians has worsened in fifteen of the nineteen core countries under review.

In ten countries — more than half — the persecution is ranked “extreme,” up four from the last edition of Persecuted and Forgotten? report which covered 2011-13.

Ranking Islamism as the greatest threat, the 2015 Persecuted and Forgotten? report also highlights growing problems caused by other extremist religious groups — militant forms of Hinduism, Judaism, and Buddhism — with attacks increasing in number and ferocity.

Totalitarian regimes, notably China, have put increasing pressure on the Church, according to the report, with severe threats facing Christians in Eritrea and Vietnam.

The report notes that in many cases Christians are persecuted not so much because of their faith but because of their perceived links with the West and a view associating the faithful with colonialism.

Describing the report as “a shocking read for shocking times,” the editor of the report, John Pontifex, said: “A cultural genocide of Christians is erasing the presence of faithful from large swathes of the Middle East, the very heartland of the Church.” He added: “Far from laying the entire blame for persecution against Christians at the door of extremist Islam, Persecuted and Forgotten? demonstrates that many of the problems stem from non-Muslim extremist — nationalist — faith groups and historically communist totalitarian regimes.”

The report states that the loss of Christians in the Middle East and elsewhere represents a blow to community relations as Christians have acted as bridge-builders in increasingly fragmented societies.

— Read more in Persecuted and Forgotten? A report on Christians oppressed for their Faith 2013-2015 (Aid to the Church in Need, October 2015)