{"id":461,"date":"2019-01-03T11:03:01","date_gmt":"2019-01-03T16:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/?p=461"},"modified":"2019-01-03T13:17:30","modified_gmt":"2019-01-03T18:17:30","slug":"christians-risk-extinction-middle-east-think","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2019\/01\/christians-risk-extinction-middle-east-think.html","title":{"rendered":"Are Christians at Risk of Extinction in the Middle East? Some Think So."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"barbed-wire-1876148_960_720\"<\/p>\n

The Christian communities of the Middle East, descendants of the first Christians, persevere in their faith in Christ. They live in an era with a constant threat of violence, unrest and persecution.<\/p>\n

The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, recently wrote of the plight of Christians in the Middle East, stating: \u201cMany have left. Hundreds of thousands have been forced from their homes.\u201d He warned that \u201cacross the region Christian communities that were the foundation of the universal Church now face the threat of imminent extinction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many do not think he is overstaing the problem. There is serious unrest in the Middle East, and many are worried it will only get worse for the Christians that remain.<\/p>\n

“In the last few years, they have been slaughtered by so-called Islamic State, and in many countries they find themselves squeezed between the upper and lower millstones of pressure on them within society and of conflicts that afflict the region.”<\/p>\n

“Many have been killed, enslaved and persecuted or forcibly converted. Even those who remain ask the question, ‘Why stay?’ The Christian population of Iraq, for instance, is less than half what it was in 2003 and their churches, houses and businesses have been damaged or destroyed. The Syrian Christian population has halved since 2010.”<\/p>\n

Even in countries like Israel, where Christianity is more secure, the tension \u201cmakes life difficult for them,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Despite the success of U.S.-led coalition forces against the Islamic State, Christians in the Middle East still run the risk of being persecuted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Christian population in Iraq has gone from 1.5 million in 2003 to just about 200,000 today, and the numbers in Syria are comparable, although more difficult to know exactly as a result of confusion in the context of war,\u201d said Tricia Miller, a senior research analyst and Christian expert for CAMERA stated.<\/p>\n

Amid their struggles, Middle East Christians and other religious minorities received a boost in recent weeks with the signing into law by U.S. President Donald Trump of the Iraq and Syria Genocide Relief and Accountability Act, which provides humanitarian relief to genocide victims in Iraq and Syria, and holds accountable Islamic State perpetrators of genocide.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy sincere hope is that through this bill, American assistance will aid those religious groups that suffered so horrendously under the Islamic State, and American and foreign authorities will go after those responsible for the horrors committed by the Islamic State,\u201d Pastor John Hagee, founder and chairman of Christians United for Israel, said.<\/p>\n

We want to know what you think.<\/h3>\nTake Our Survey<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Christian communities of the Middle East, descendants of the first Christians, persevere in their faith in Christ. They live in an era with a constant threat of violence, unrest and persecution. The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, recently wrote of the plight of Christians in the Middle East, stating: \u201cMany have left. Hundreds of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":600,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,137,220],"tags":[138,240,221],"class_list":["post-461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-news","category-christian-persecution","category-middle-east","tag-christian-persecution","tag-christians","tag-middle-east"],"yoast_head":"\nAre Christians at Risk of Extinction in the Middle East? Some Think So.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the land where Christianity was born, many are beginning to worry that the presence of the faith will soon be wiped from the Middle East.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2019\/01\/christians-risk-extinction-middle-east-think.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Are Christians at Risk of Extinction in the Middle East? 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