IRAQ’S DWINDLING CHRISTIAN POPULATION FACES BLEAK FUTURE
The Times, UK
March 10, 2013 Sunday 6:52 PM GMT
Churchgoers are fleeing the country in droves as Islamic extremists
step up deadly attacks
by Greg Watts
The slaughter of 52 people at a church in Baghdad last Sunday evening
when security forces stormed it in an attempt to rescue more than 100
worshippers taken hostage by al-Qaeda-linked terrorists is a reminder
of the deepening crisis facing Iraq’s dwindling Christian population.
The attack at Our Lady of Salvation Syrian Catholic church, which
also injured more than 60 worshippers, was the first on a church in
Baghdad since July 2009, when seven churches were bombed.
The Syrian Catholic Archbishop of Mosul, Georges Casmoussa, who was
kidnapped in 2005 and later released, said: “A few months ago some
families began returning to Baghdad. But now more Christians will
start to leave Baghdad to try to start a new life abroad.
“Shortly before the attack on Sunday there were more than 20 explosions
in the streets of Baghdad. The Government is not in charge of the
situation. The Government ended the siege at the church, yes, but at
what price?”
Since the US-led invasion of 2003, Islamic extremists have targeted
more than 60 churches across Iraq. In addition, several priests and
bishops have been killed. In 2008, after celebrating the stations
of the cross at the Chaldean Catholic cathedral in Mosul, Archbishop
Paulos Faraj Rahho was murdered when gunmen ambushed his car, snatching
him and killing his driver and two companions.
This wave of violence against Christians has badly damaged the close
relations that traditionally existed between Christians and Muslims,
said Archbishop Casmoussa.
“We have two kinds of relations between Christians and Muslims.
Relations between neighbours and families are good. But there is a
fear in the heart of Christians. We have had many official declarations
from Muslim leaders that we are brothers and share the same land. But
these speeches don’t create peace and tranquillity.
“We are not against Islam, but we are against those who manipulate
Islam for political ends. And many Muslims are against terrorism
and the manipulation of their religion. But there are extremists who
want to establish Islam as the state religion in Iraq. This is very
dangerous, not only for Iraq but also for the Middle East in general.”
Father Vincent Van Vossel, superior of the Redemptorists in Baghdad,
said: “Iraqi Christians are now terrified and in shock. They are
faced with a terrible dilemma: emigrate and save the lives of their
loved ones, or stay in the country and witness to faith, risking death.
“We are living something that is really terrible. There had never
been a massacre of such magnitude, all within a church during the
celebration of the holy Eucharist. I have visited the church and
listened to the testimonies of the faithful in shock. The terrorists
mercilessly killed women and children. The community is traumatised.
The church looked like a cemetery.”
Before the Gulf War in 1991 there were thought to have been about
1.5 million Christians in Iraq, most of them concentrated in and
around Baghdad and Mosul. Today estimates put the number at 400,000
to 500,000.
“In 2003 there were around 75,000 Syrian Catholics and 75,000 Syrian
Orthodox in Iraq. Since then, more than half have left. Many have
gone to Jordan, Syria, Lebanon or Turkey. Others have gone to the
United States, Australia or England,” said Archbishop Casmoussa.
According to the UN, 4,098 Christians fled Mosul between February
20 and 27 this year after the murder of eight Christians. These
attacks led Pope Benedict XVI to call on the international community
to do everything possible to give Iraqis a future of “reconciliation
and justice”.
The Pope has expressed alarm at the exodus of Christians not just
from Iraq but also from Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt and elsewhere
in the Arab world. This was why he held a Synod of Bishops for the
Middle East last month in the Vatican. The first event of its kind,
it ended just days before the massacre on Sunday evening. During the
two-week-long meeting, some Iraqi bishops had spoken of a deliberate
campaign to drive them out of their country.
Iraq is part of the land of the Bible, tracing its roots to the ancient
kingdoms of Mesopotamia, Assyria and Babylonia. The Book of Genesis
describes the Garden of Eden as being between Iraq’s two great rivers,
the Euphrates and the Tigris.
There has been a Christian population in Iraq since the first century.
Most Iraqi Christians are Chaldeans, Eastern-rite Catholics who are
autonomous from Rome but who recognise the Pope’s authority. The
Assyrian Church, which broke away from Rome in the 5th century,
is the second-largest Eastern-rite denomination. Other communities
include Syrian Catholic, Armenian Catholic, Latin Catholic and Syrian
Orthodox and Greek Orthodox and Evangelicals.
More than 70,000 Iraqi Christians have fled to the semi-autonomous
Kurdish-controlled region of northern Iraq, some settling in villages
abandoned or destroyed in the late 1980s, during attacks on Kurds by
Saddam Hussein.
A report in December 2009 by the Kurdistan Regional Government UK
Representation estimated that some 20,000 Christian families from
Basra, Baghdad and Mosul had settled in Dohuk, Erbil and in the
Ninevah plains, and thousands more in Suleimaniah.
The region is also home to Babel Catholic College of Theology and St
Peter’s Seminary, which the Chaldean Patriarchate transferred there
from Baghdad in 2007 in response to the growing threat to its members.
Suha Rassam, the author of Christianity in Iraq, and a founder of the
UK-based charity Iraqi Christians in Need, said that while the Kurdish
area is much safer, life is still difficult for Christians there.
“Pushing Christians to the safe haven in the north of Iraq is not
the answer. Many Christians don’t want to live there. They come from
large towns and have had professional jobs. There’s no work for them
in the north. There aren’t enough jobs or resources.”
Looking to the future, Archbishop Casmoussa admitted that if the
carnage and chaos continues, prospects for Christians in Iraq look
bleak.
“It’s difficult to be optimistic. We are called to hope and to build a
future together, but the Church is powerless when families are living
in fear,” he said plaintively.
“What do you say to a family which has had two or three of their
members killed?”