The testimony of Christians presented by the researchers was impressive. The presentations on suffering, for instance, were divided into three areas. First, the status — including constitutions, laws and practices — of Christians in the Middle East in the various countries were addressed. The second area discussed was the demographic reality of those Christians. And finally, they addressed their expectations for the future.
While discussing the status of Eastern Christians, it quickly became apparent that all Christians of the region suffer from fatal discrimination — in terms of the provisions in their constitutions as well as laws and practices. All the constitutions in the region\’s states — with the exception of Lebanon — include a clear clause that says something to the effect of \”Islam is the state religion\” or \”the primary religion of the state is Islam.\” Furthermore, these constitutions specify that Sharia is a source of the state\’s legislation, laws and regulations. From this primary discrimination emerges a never-ending series of distinctions, persecution and suffering.
via Do Christians Have a Future In the Middle East?
Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East.
Copts, Assyrians, Armenians, Oriental Catholics and Orthodox, and recently protestants … 2000 years later, Middle East christians keep struggling for survival, being in most cases the ones who represent moderation and peace in their nations.
As it’s said in the article:
There is one shared trait among them all: They are victims of a slow and masked form of genocide, one that has been ongoing for some time now. This genocide is on the verge of becoming more clearly detailed today, however. More than one million Christians have disappeared from Iraq, where there were fewer than 2 million Christians to begin with. Half a million Christians have left Syria, where there were once around 2 million. Copts in Egypt have persevered, however at tragic costs to their community. In Lebanon, the retreat has been clear. The conditions, current events and different climates are causing what appears to be a comprehensive transfer. They are all embarking down the same path as Palestinian Christians, as one of the participants from Jerusalem exclaimed. He spoke in a tone marked by a mix of desolation and sadness, “Only around 40,000 Christians remain in our country. In Gaza, where Sharia has prevailed for several years now, there are only 1,300 Christians. Even in Jerusalem, the city of the resurrection of Jesus and the cradle of Christianity, there are no more than 4,000 Christians.”
Islamists such as the Muslim Brotherhood, among others, were at the conference. They listened, but they did not comment except for a few words on issues that specifically concerned them. Why is this? Was it out of a sense of responsibility for this tragedy? What are the possible ways of dealing with what has become one of the greatest humanitarian catastrophes of our time?
This mossarab has them always in mind. And will keep. Wallah!
Al-Must'arib (the vocational Mossarab) 