Are US Christians Keepers of IS Christians?

As the ‘Islamic State’ … also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) … continues to pose a menace to religious minorities in Iraq and Syria, Christians from the region have spoken with horror about what the terrorist group is doing to their communities.

 

Auday P. Arabo, lay spokesman for the St. Thomas Chaldean Catholic Diocese, told the New York Times that Iraqi’s Christians are calling it “a slow-motion genocide.”  “It’s unfortunate people don’t feel it until it hits home.  But I guess it’s human nature that you only see what’s happening in the mirror,” said Arabo.

 

Bishop Francis Y. Kalabat, who was appointed by Pope Francis to oversee a Michigan-based community, told the New York Times that recent actions by ISIS against Iraqi’s Christians was the worst yet.  “The bad things we look back at now — the Iran-Iraq War, the first Gulf War, the embargo, even six months ago. … We’d take all of that over today,” said Kalabat.  “We wish to scream, but there are no ears that wish to hear.”

 

Over the past few months, the ‘Islamic State’ has garnered international attention for both its conquest of territories in the Middle East and its strong penchant for violence against civilians and prisoners of war.  Among its victims include Christian communities in Northern Iraq … many of which date back to the earliest centuries of Christianity.

 

Earlier this month, the Christian persecution watch-dog group Open Doors reported that in territory it controlled ISIS performed “outright targeting of all non-Sunni Muslim groups.”  “This has resulted in a mass loss of life, forced conversions and seizure of homes for Iraq’s minority Christians, Shiite Muslims, Yazidis and Turkmen,” noted Open Doors.  “Since then, Islamic State has steadily moved north of Mosul into the Nineveh Plain – a predominantly Christian area.  In total, more than 100,000 people have had to flee the villages and towns of Qaraqosh, Mosul and the Nineveh plain.”  The attack on Christians in Northern Iraq represents the most recent series of violence against the Middle Eastern country’s Christian minority.

 

Since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, Iraq’s Christian population has decreased dramatically as large numbers have fled the nation due to escalating persecution.

 

In late 2007, the Rev. Canon Andrew White, Anglican chaplain at St. George’s Church in Baghdad, told CBS that “things are the most difficult they have ever been for Christians; probably ever in history.  They’ve never known it like now,” said White.

 

Jesus said we are to be our brother’s keeper.  What does that mean for our Christian brothers and sisters halfway around the globe?  Do American Christians have a responsibility?  If so, what are we to do?

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel