Church bombings make many Christians doubt their future in Iraq
They saw their brethren murdered during Mass and then were bombed in their homes as they mourned. Al-Qaida vowed to hunt them down. Now the Christian community of Iraq, almost as old as the religion itself, is sensing a clear message: It is time to leave.
The Columbia County News Times
Service to recognize oppressedChristiansThe Columbia County News Times
Those around the world who can't openly celebrate Christmas will be honored as part of a candlelight service Thursday. The annual Columbia County Community Candlelight Christmas Service will pay tribute to people throughout the world who are unable to worship freely. Mosaic Untied Methodist Church is the host of the event.
All Headline News
Levant Christians Face Increasing Dilemma to EmigrateAll Headline News
Dismissing calls to leave the region amid increased sectarian attacks, Christians in Syria are heeding their clerics and are holding fast to their communities."Life here in Damascus is more than perfect," Father Gabriel Dawood, a priest at the Syriac Orthodox Church in Damascus told The Media Line. "The good atmosphere here isn't fake like in other places. Here people are united as one."
The National
The National
Damascus. Even when his young grandchildren were injured in a bombing four years ago, at the height of Baghdad's bloodshed, Neysan Jibro Hermes had refused to leave Iraq, preferring to stay in the country of his birth than to exist as just another impoverished refugee elsewhere.But, last month, he and his family arrived in the Syrian capital Damascus, finally the refugees they had hoped never to be, and part of a growing number of Iraqi Christians fleeing their homes in the face of sectarian violence.
Washington Post
Irbil, Iraq -- They saw their brethren murdered during Mass and then were bombed in their homes as they mourned. Al-Qaida vowed to hunt them down. Now the Christian community of Iraq, almost as old as the religion itself, is sensing a clear message: It is time to leave. Since the Oct. 31 bloodbath in their Baghdad church, Iraqi Christians have been fleeing Sunni Muslim extremists who view them as nonbelievers and agents of the West. At a time when Christians in various parts of the Muslim world are feeling pressured, Iraqi Christians are approaching their grimmest Christmas since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003 and wondering if they have any future in their native land.
