The Silence of Our Friends by Ed West

Read recently about the horrifying reality of living as a Christian in the Middle East and about the shocking silence of much of western media and churches about the persecution so many of them face daily.

Quotes from the book:

Christians face persecution as they have alwasy done, with between 78,000 killed every year for their faith, according to the best estimates. The Pew Forum states that Christians face discrimination, either de jure or de facto, in 139 nations, three-quarters of all countries.

The epicentre of persecution is the Church's cradle in the Middle east.

The 20th Century was a disaster for Christians in the M East. A Century ago they comprised 30per cent of the region's population, and 20 per cent of its Arabs, but starting with the 1915 genocide against armenians, Syriacs and Greeks, that figure has declined to a low of 5 per cent. the most optimistic forecasts suggest the Christian population of 12 million today will fall to 6 million by mid-century.

Ninevah:
A chapter on persecution in Iraq.

No ethnic or religious group has been so devastated in its homeland in recent years as the Iraqi Christians, most commonly called the Chaldo-Assyrians. Between 2004 and 2011 the population fell from over a million to possibly as few as 150,000 a great deal of those who remain elderly. Yet during this tragedy, while the US government empowered at first a violent Shia leadership and then its equally combative Sunni rivals, it has deliberately refused to protect the country's minorities, not just Chrstians but Yazidis, Shabaks and Mandeans.

Quote:

The first Iraqi contact with Christianity came very early. Within Mesopotamia was a small vassal state called Orshoene, its capital at Edessa, modern day Turkey, the population of which was largely Aramaen. Legend has it that the incurably ill Abgar V, King of Osrhoene, heard of Jesus and wrote a letter offering to let him stay in the country, as he was being persecuted at home. Jesus replied that he coudn't go but he would send over his apostle Thaddeus, who arrived after the Crucifixion and cured the king of his disease. Offering asylum to the Son of God gives the cpuntry a certain moral status, but the historical reality is that Christianity had reached Edessa very early , most likely in the first century, and in the second century its King Abgar VIII converted. Edessa would remain Christian for another 18 centuries before the entire community was killed or driven out in the First World War.

Iraq had had a considerable Jewish population streteching back to Exile, and Jews comprised a thrid of Baghdad's population on the eve of the First World War. Today there are 8 Jews left in Iraq.

Baghdad:
Persecution in the capital of Iraq

Since the removal of Saddam life for Christians in Iraq has become considerably worse with one church leader describing it as 'a Calvary'. At least 71 churches have been bombed since the invasion including 44 assaults in Baghdad and 19 in Mosul as well as attacked on two convents a monastery and a Christian orphanage. In Jan. '08 nine churches were bombed. Up to 1000 Christians have been murdered because of their faith, including 17 priests and one bishop.

The killing of Ragheed Ganni:

Close to the Plains, Mosul was also becoming increasingly dangerous for Christians. Fr. Ragheed Ganni, a popular young priest with an easy smile, was at seminary in Rome when the september 11 attacks happened and the build-up to war in his home country began. Studying at the Iraqi college, he became known as Paddy the Iraqi, and would spend summers by Loch Derg in County Donegal. Fr Ragheed said that he must return to Iraq to serve as a pirest, despite friends warning that he could be killed.

The atmosphere in his native Mosul had become terrifying. On one occasion Fr Ragheed had to comfort scared children in the basement of the church during their First Holy Communion as gun battles raged nearby, telling them it was just a fireworks display.

In October 2006 Fr Ragheed wrote to a friend: "Ramadan was a disaster for us in Mosul. Hundreds of Christian families fled outside the city, including my family and uncles. About 30 people left all their properties and fled, having been threatened. It is not easy but the grace of the Lord gives support and strength. We face death every day here."

Fr Ragheed had begun to receive threats from Islamist groups, which in Iraq took the form of text messages or bullets. On June 4, 2007, after Mass ended, he was leaving his church in <osul along with three sub-deacons, when gunmen approached.

The wives of one of the sub-deacons, who witnessed the scene, said: 'Then one of the killers screamed at Ragheed, 'I told you to close the church, why didn't you do it? Why are you still here?' and he simply responded, 'How can I close the house of God?' They immediately pushed him to the ground, and Ragheed had only enough time to gesture to the me with head that I should run away. then they opened fire and killed all four of them."

The killing of 56 Christians in Baghdad:

The worst single atrocity took place on October 31, 2010, when gunmen attacked the Syriac Catholic cathedral of Our Lady of Salvation in Baghdad at the end of Mass, killing 56 worshippers. The five-hour ordeal began when terrorists wearing suicide belts came through a hole they'd blown in the door, chanting 'God is great'. Um Raed, who lost two of her sons, one a priest, told Sunday Times journalists Hala Jaber and Christine Toomey that she saw 27-year-old Fr Wasim Sabieh pleading with the terrorists to stop: 'They shot him through the moutg, then again in the chest, shouting 'we've killed an infidel'.' She then turned around and saw her own son stumbling on the altar, gasping 'God, to theee I commend my sould'. She said: 'I saw his blood spill across the floor. I feel to my knees and started rubbing my hand through his blood. they shot me too. They shot my hand in my son's blood." the terrorists then shot her other son, who was with his wife and child. Among the congregation was three-year-old Adam Udai, who had begged one of the terrorists to 'please stop' and was summarily murdered.