Christians in Iraq

"20 YEARS…MORE CHRISTIANS IN IRAQ"

These were the words that I could barely make out from the headline in the Guardian newspaper a woman was reading on the London Underground recently.
I could just about make out these words, through a sea of bodies in a packed train carriage, and I was intrigued to see the article.
So I bought a copy of the paper assuming that the article would be about the increase of
Christians in Iraq since coalition forces entered the country – thinking there would be
increasing routes for Christian groups to enter Iraq, offer assistance, and impact local
communities.
I couldn’t have been more wrong. When I opened the paper and read the headline clearly, I
noticed it actually read, "In 20 years, there will be no more Christians in Iraq". The quote
came from the new Iraqi minister for human rights, who is a Christian.
I read that on January 29 this year, following demonstrations by Muslims around the world in
response to the Danish cartoons, bomb attacks devastated seven churches in Baghdad, Mosul, and Kirkuk, killing 16. The article stated that, according to the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), "although Christians made up less than four per cent of the [Iraqi] population – fewer than one million people – they formed the largest group of new refugees arriving in Jordan’s capital Amman in the first quarter of 2006". Also, UNHCR said that in Syria "44% of Iraqi asylum seekers were recorded as Christians" since they began registrations in December 2003, and, according to the Catholic Bishop of Baghdad, half of all Iraqi Christians have fled Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion.
The Christian community in Iraq is facing killings, kidnappings and death threats, on a daily
basis, as they have been associated with the coalition forces or supporting the west.
The article concluded that "now Iraqi Christian leaders are bitter that the west has done so
little to protect them", and that this could have a detrimental effect on the future of the
Christian community in Iraq.
Recently, the Barnabas Fund reported that in Iraq during September 2006 there was a car bomb attack on a cathedral, killing 2 and injuring at least 17; two attacks on a church in Mosul, including a rocket attack; and a bomb attack outside a church in Basra. Although these attacks may be related to the now infamous Pope’s speech, it still demonstrates the devastating problems the Christian community face in Iraq. Of course, currently in Iraq such attacks affect the whole community, not just Christians, but these examples show that there are continued attempts to target Christian communities and places of worship in Iraq.

Aidan Liriano (CPF Co'ordinator)