Report: Iraqi Christianity Could Be Extinct in 5 Years - Jessilyn Justice

Muslim persecution of Christians in the Middle East could eradicate Christianity in the region in the next five years. (Reuters)

Report: Iraqi Christianity Could Be Extinct in 5 Years

10/14/2015 JESSILYN JUSTICE  charisma news

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A report released by an English charity reveals Christianity in Iraq is on the fast track for extinction: The religion could be eliminated completely from the biblical heartland within five years.  

Aid to the Church in Need (ACNUK) presented their report to the U.K. House of Lord's recently, igniting a renewed desire for religious safety in England. 

"No believer should have to live in fear, and this is why (the British) government is committed to promoting religious freedom and tolerance at home and around the world," English Prime Minister David Cameron says. "It is also why the work of organizations such as Aid to the Church in Need is so crucial. This report serves as a voice for the voiceless, from their prison cells and the places far from home where they have sought refuge." 

The number Christians fleeing for their lives from Middle Eastern nations—including Iraq, Pakistan and Syria—is escalating at a rate at which countries awarding refugee status cannot match. The Iraqi Christians, commonly called Assyrian Christians, are one of the most persecuted groups by the Islamic State.  

In the United States, the Obama administration denied nearly two dozen Iraqi Christians religious asylum. These men and women face two options: Flee or suffer death at the hands of ISIS.  

"It is genocide—and the world seems largely silent about it," says evangelist Franklin Graham. "Genocide perpetrated by the Islamic State against Christians, Yazidis and other religious minorities of Syria and Iraq. And their methods are unimaginably cruel and heinous." 

Charisma News previously reported that, according to the Pew Research Center in 2013, Christians were the largest group of immigrants to the U.S. However, the percentage of Christian immigrants dropped from 68 percent to 61 percent over a 10-year period. Meanwhile, the percentage of immigrating Muslims grew from 5 to 10 percent over that same time.  

The Iraqi Christians are going through one of the worst periods in Christian history, according to the Philos Project, with an extensive lack of Western support. 

According to the Gatesone Institute, though, Western nations are not just ignoring the Muslim persecution of Christians in the Middle East, they are actively supporting it by sponsoring "moderate" rebels who in reality are as "radical" and anti-Western as the Islamic State.

The Assyrian Christian plight is so uncertain, even the New York Times questions if the mass exodus is the end for Christianity in the Middle East.  

''How much longer can we flee before we and other minorities become a story in a history book?'' Nuri Kino tells the NYT. Kino is a journalist and founder of the advocacy group Demand for Action.

Rev. Sargon Zoumaya echoes Kino's sentiments.

''We're afraid our whole society will vanish,'' Zoumaya says. ''It's too much pressure on us, more than we can handle."

And without an emergency intervention from the outside world, Zoumaya is right, according to ACUNK's report. Five years may be more time than these brothers and sisters have.

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Remarkable Pictures of Extinct Jewish Communities, Part 3 - Israel's History - a Picture a Day (Beta)

Remarkable Pictures of Extinct Jewish Communities, Part 3 The pictures from the University of California - Riverside Archives Posted: 13 Jan 2014 Original caption: "Jew Tailor in his Booth on a Street in Old Cairo" (Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of Photography at UCR  ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)  We present Part 3 of a series of vintage pictures on the Jews of the Middle East.  Like the communities in previous features -- Baghdad, Mosul, and Constantinople (Istanbul) -- the Jews of Cairo, Alexandria, and Damascus are on the verge of extinction.  Some of the pictures presented here show both the poverty and the wealth of the various Jewish communities. Egypt Cairo:  In 1948, the Cairo Jewish community numbered an estimated 55,000. Pogroms and imprisonment caused almost all of the Jews of Egypt to emigrate. Zaoud-el Mara (Jewish Quarters) Alexandria,  Egypt.  A Library of Congress photo dates this picture from 1898. Alexandria:  According to a Jerusalem Post article from 2008, Alexandria "is said to have boasted a community of tens of thousands of Jews of both Ashkenazi and Mizrahi descent, but some were expelled as French or British citizens during the Suez Canal crisis of 1956. Others were expelled and/or imprisoned for up to three years during the Six Day War. Some, too, left on their own accord, feeling that there was a brighter future for them as Jews in countries like Israel, America and Australia." There are believed to be around 40 Jews living in Egypt today. Syria - Damascus  "Beautiful shaded court of a Jewish Home in Damascus, Syria." Look at the details of the picture. (Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of Photography at UCR  ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)  The Damascus Jewish community numbered an estimated 15,000-17,000 in 1918.  Riots, government discrimination, and imprisonment caused almost all of Syrian Jewry to flee. Today, perhaps a few dozen Jews live in Syria, but the savage civil war has also engulfed old Jewish neighborhoods and ancient synagogues. At the start of the 20th century, several wealthy Jewish families lived in Damascus, and photographs of their homes are presented here. Enlarging the photos disclosed  several interesting details.  The matron of the home?  Children of the home?   Grand Mosque and Damascus from the Jewish  Quarters, Syria. Three women on a balcony  overlooking city.  Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum  of Photography at UCR ARTSblock, University  of California, Riverside)    Court of a Wealthy Jew’s Home in Old  Damascus, Syria. See also here. Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of Photography  at UCR ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)  Click on pictures to enlarge.  Click on the caption to view the original photo. Subscribe to www.israeldailypicture.com to receive features by email.   Enter your address in the box in the right sidebar.