IRAQ – The Church is disappearing
27/04/07
Believers who remain there experience God's grace
Christian children in Iraq are growing up in an increasingly threatening environment
Iraq's Christians, whose heritage stems from the early church in New Testament times, see their numbers dwindling as churches close, car bombs become commonplace, and kidnappings reach the northern Kurdish area, which until now has seen relative peace.
On 22 April, a group of Islamists executed 23 members of the Yazidi sect on the road linking Mosul to Ba'ashika, a majority Christian village. On 23 April, a car bomb exploded close to a school in Tell-el-skop, a Christian village, killing nine and injuring 60.
A nearby convent of Dominican nuns suffered major damage.
Archbishop Dr Sako signed a declaration denouncing militant groups in Baghdad which threaten Christians with armed violence unless they convert immediately to Islam or consign their property and leave the country.
"The same thing happens in Mosul, but with a different 'choice': pay a monetary tribute to the Jihad if they want to avoid their death," reported AsiaNews.
"We can no longer be silent; we have to remind the world of the importance of the Christian presence in Iraq, for the good of Iraq," Dr Sako stated by phone to AsiaNews.
"Christians are one of the oldest constituents of the Iraqi people. ... Everybody witnesses their loyalty, honesty, wisdom and their desire to live in peace and brotherhood with others.
"Christians have long lived with Muslims, whether Sunnis or Shias, in mutual respect and shared the good and the bad days together with them. They have been part of the Islamic culture for the last 14 centuries, generally without problems. Today they want to continue this existence in the spirit of love and under the charter of human rights."
The rugged landscape of northern Iraq reflects the harsh realities of life for believers in this nearly lawless land
"This unfamiliar behaviour contradicts Iraqi, humanitarian and Islamic morals.
"Let everybody realise that emptying Iraq of Christians will be disastrous not only for the Christians but for all Iraqis! ... Forcing Christians to leave their homes indicates a deterioration in the concept of conviviality and furthermore it destroys the cultural, civil and religious mosaic of which Iraq is considered to be the very cradle."
Kidnapping
One of the recent kidnap victims is Fadi (last name withheld), a 30-year old Christian youth worker from the Alliance church in Baghdad, who was abducted on 7 April whilst driving by taxi from Kirkuk to Bagdad. An Open Doors co-worker in Iraq confirmed Fadi's release: "This morning (14 April) I shook his hand and we thanked the Lord for his release."
Many kidnapped Iraqis are killed even after a ransom has been paid for their freedom. The source said the Alliance church, along with all evangelical churches in Iraq, had been praying and fasting for Fadi's life to be spared.
A member of his congregation said Fadi managed to call a friend on his mobile phone from the boot of the car, to say he had been captured. The driver of the taxi taking him from Kirkuk to Bagdad was also captured on 7 April, but was released on 10 April.
After a substantial ransom was paid, Alliance World Fellowship reported that Fadi was released on Friday, 13 April at around 3:00pm Baghdad time.
Although tired and overwhelmed by everything that happened to him, Fadi looked fine when the co-worker met with him. Fadi was unable to do an extended interview, but was very thankful to be free.
Open Doors supplies Arabic and Kurdish-language Bibles to believers and Muslim enquirers in Iraq
However, he was not allowed to change clothes and was not given much water.
Fadi said, "I sensed God was with me and talked to me all the time."
Still, the psychological pressure was hard to endure.
A ransom was raised by people who knew Fadi. When the ransom money was delivered to the kidnappers, they showed the messenger the blood of many other people they had killed.
Alliance World Fellowship reported that shortly before Fadi's release, the hostage takers gave him a bag filled with identity cards and told him they belonged to people they had killed. He was ordered to look for his ID, and they told him "we don't know why, but we will not kill you."
At the time of the kidnapping, Fadi was returning from an evangelical church in Kirkuk where he had helped with an event which included sport for youth and children and some Bible study with time between activities for Fadi to preach.
"We have thanked the Lord for his release," Open Doors co-workers reported. "We brought him to the airport in Erbil, so he could fly to Baghdad to be united with his family and friends."
A phone call later to a pastor in Baghdad who was at Fadi's house with family and church members confirmed the group was singing and praising God, giving shouts of joy for Fadi's release.
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