“There is now a real
danger that Christians in the Middle East, and in Iraq in particular, of
being exterminated, due to both persecution and large-scale
emigration,” this according to Dr Joseph Seferta, an Iraqi-born Chaldean
Catholic living in Birmingham, Britain, where he is a member of the
Commission for Inter-faith Dialogue of the Archdiocese of Birmingham.
He
gave an exclusive interview to AsiaNews about the difficult situation Christians face in Iraq and across the Middle East.
“I belong to the Chaldean Catholic Church, which makes
up the majority of Christians in Iraq. Others include Assyrians, as
well Syrian, Armenian and Byzantine Christians, both Catholic and
Orthodox. Christians under Saddam Hussein totalled some one million, but
now only half that number remains in the country, the rest having fled
and are living as refugees, particularly in Syria and Jordan.
The atrocity committed by Muslim fanatics, which
resulted in dozens of Syrian Catholics dead and dozens of others
wounded, was a big blow to the struggling Christian minority. It has
been followed by other assassinations of Christians in their homes and
shops. All these fanatics (known by various names) in the Middle East
and other Muslim-majority countries, are bent on imposing Shari'a
and running Islamic states that have no place for Christians in them.
Christians in the Middle East, of course, predate
Muslims by hundreds of years and go back to Apostolic Times. Since the
7th Century Islamic conquest, they have been made second-class citizens
with hardly any rights at all. They have undergone many waves of
persecution, which have greatly reduced their numbers and influence.
They suffer prejudice and discrimination on a daily basis, while
Muslim minorities here in the West enjoy full rights and have built
hundreds of mosques.
Tragically, Iraq's Christians had nothing to do with
the American invasion, but they always wrongly get accused of siding
with the "Christian" West. Now they feel both isolated and betrayed by
their own government as well as the international community. They have
always been model citizens, serving their country in every field, and
their only desire is to be left alone to live and worship in peace. But
they have become a soft target for extremists.
There is now a real danger that Christians in the
Middle East and in Iraq in particular, of being exterminated, due to
both persecution and large-scale emigration, unless something is done
urgently to stem the tide and save them.
Too many cannot bear their
suffering any longer and are sick and tired of waiting for someone to
come to their aid. People either do not know or do not seem to care
about them. Even the recent Middle East Synod convoked by the Holy
Father was a disappointment, due to lack of both unity and courage. It
is now high time that the United Nations seriously tackle this huge
problem, for otherwise we will end up with the catastrophe of an Iraq
and even a Middle East devoid of any Christians.
In October 2007, 138 Muslim leaders issued ‘A Common
Word between Us and You’, a substantive invitation to Christians to
dialogue based on the commandments to love God and love one another,
found in the Bible and the Qur’an. The problem is that no such thing
exists in the Qur’an.
While love is central in Christianity, it is hardly
relevant in Islam. The few Qur’anic verses that mention love mean
something that is totally different from the New Testament. In the
Qur’an, Allah’s love is conditional upon man’s blind obedience to his
laws. Thus, we read in verse 4:107, for example, “Allah loveth not the
impious and the guilty.”
Love in the Qur’an is just an attribute rather than a part of God’s very essence (as in “God is love”, 1 John
4:8). The concept of love of neighbour does not exist either. There is
only love for fellow Muslims, who, for example, are told in 5:59, “Take
not the Jews and the Christians for your friends”, and in 9:29, “Fight
those who believe not in Allah or his Apostle, even if they are the
People of the Book [Christians and Jews] until they submit”.
SIC: AN/INT'L