The Christians of the Middle East

Are fewer than they once were.  Excerpts:

...many Christians across the Middle East...fear that the Arab Spring may turn into a Christian winter.

Recent history illustrates it’s not a hollow concern. In Iraq after Saddam Hussein fell, in some ways it's become open season on Christians. According to the Hammurabi Human Rights Organization in Iraq, some 900 Iraqi Christians were killed between 2003 and May 2012, while 200 were kidnapped, tortured and ultimately released for exorbitant ransoms. While there were 1.5 million Christians in the country prior to the First Gulf War in 1991, today the high-end estimate is 450,000.

Many Christian leaders in places such as Egypt and Syria worry it may be their turn next – that the fall of a dictatorial regime will not usher in vibrant democracy, but rather chaos and a rising fundamentalist tide, with Christians bearing the brunt...


Greiche complained that the Muslim world rises up whenever anyone insults Muhammad, yet Christians in Egypt appear to be open season.

“After the fall of Mubarak, the Salafis and the Muslim Brotherhood have filled the newsstands and shops with newspapers, magazines, books that contain entire passages against Christians each week,” he said.

Magdi Cristiano Allam, an Egyptian-born convert to Christianity who's a prominent Italian figure and member of the European parliament, recently said: "If we are to assess the 'Arab Spring' by its fruits, we must conclude that it is not a good tree," claiming it has emboldened Islamic terrorism.

In Syria too, many Christian leaders worry about the aftermath should the Assad regime implode -- in part because some elements among the rebel forces have reportedly adopted the motto, "Christians to Lebanon, Alawites to the grave!"

Jesuit Fr. Samir Khalil Samir, an Egyptian who teaches in Rome and Beirut, and whose views on Islam carry weight in the Vatican, recently declared that the Arab Spring is "no more," claiming that it's been hijacked by Islamist groups, including in his homeland...