Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Catholic News

Home

Home
Catholic
Religion News
Can Christians survive the ‘dirty games’ of Middle East politics?

Can Christians survive the ‘dirty games’ of Middle East politics?

Last updated on: January 30, 2015 at 11:19 pm by CNA Daily News

Can Christians survive the ‘dirty games’ of Middle East politics? 2015-01-30T23:19:00+00:00 CNA Daily News

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Amman, Jordan, Jan 30, 2015 / 04:19 pm (CNA).- Christians have lived in the Middle East since the time of the apostles, but political machinations by world powers and other groups put these communities at risk of extinction, a Jordanian priest fears.

“Who are the main players in these ‘dirty games’? Behind the scenes?” Father Rifat Bader asked journalists at his church near Amman on Oct. 28. “I think many nations are involved in dirty games.”

“But the thing that I cannot understand really: Why do the Christians have to go out of the game?” he asked. “Why, we are part of our societies! So let us be considered as part of the game! Not out of it.”

Fr. Bader, the general director of the Catholic Center for Studies and Media, is pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus Latin Rite Catholic Church in the Jordanian capital.

The priest cited Chaldean Patriarch Raphael Sako’s September 2014 comments about “dirty political games” in the Middle East.

Fr. Bader noted that the early 20th century actions of Western powers in the region, such as the Sykes-Picot Agreement the United Kingdom and France secretly contracted during World War I to divide the territory of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the war. He predicted similar action in the Middle East in the 21st century.

“Now we have a new Sykes-Picot, with new divisions,” he said.

Fr. Bader was also sceptical of United States policy in the region. In his view, religious minorities “are not a real concern for the U.S. government.”

The aftermath of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 has been hard for many, particularly for Iraqi Christians and other religious minorities. Iraq’s Christian population declined from about 1.4 million people to only 400,000. The rapid expansion of the Islamic State group in 2014 only worsened their plight, as the group captured historically Christian towns and cities with large Christian populations such as Mosul, and imposed an extreme version of Islamic law.

The Islamic State's rise has compounded the crisis in neighboring Syria, where a civil war continues to rage between the government of President Bashar Assad and several rebel coalitions, including the Islamic State. The political backers of the Islamic State are a topic of intense speculation in the region.

Fr. Bader said that the Islamic State was “fiercest” first against the Christians. “And then came the Yazidis, and then the Kurds,” he said, listing the militants’ other targets.

“The first part of this dirty game was against the Christians,” he said. “They didn’t have time to think.”

Fr. Bader’s church has hosted several dozen Iraqi Christian refugees who fled the Islamic State hours before its soldiers occupied their towns and cities. As of late October, they lived in a building converted to shelter them, with assistance from the Catholic humanitarian agency Caritas Jordan and the U.S.-based Catholic Relief Services.

Many of the refugees are determined never to return.

“No, we will never go back,” Taif Hanna, an engineer from Mosul, told reporters. “ISIS tried to kill us.”

The militant group offered three choices: conversion to Islam, payment of a tax, or death.

“So we all fled Iraq,” Taif said.

“I will leave all my history there. Because of the terrorism,” lamented Taif’s father, Maan George Hanna. “We have no trust in the government or anything. Never, forever.”

While Fr. Bader praised the Jordanian monarchy’s actions to help Christians, he voiced strong concern that so many Christian refugees were leaving the Middle East entirely.

“When they leave Jordan, they leave the Middle East. This makes us more sad. We want to keep them in the Middle East, but we cannot,” he said, questioning why other Arab countries were not welcoming more Christians.

The priest also criticized aspects of the meeting of US presidnet Barack Obama with leading Christians of the Middle East, which was linked to the In Defense of Christians summit in September 2014.

In Fr. Bader’s view, the meeting neglected Christians and their patriarchs in the Holy Land itself.

He contended that the meeting depicted Islam as the only challenge to Christians in the Middle East and ignored the challenge posed to Christians by Israel.

According to the priest, some in the Holy Land suffer “as Christians” from the Israeli occupation and “the lack of religious freedom.”

Fr. Bader thought there was a double standard in how the U.S. government treats Palestine and Israel.

At the same time, he saw the need for “one Islamic voice in the Muslim and Arab world” to condemn the Islamic State’s actions.

The majority of Jordanians are against the Islamic State, and Fr. Bader said it is wrong to think that such a caliphate is good for all Muslims.

“They do not want such a form of a violent, cruel, massacr(ing) state.”

He added that many Muslims who do want a religious state at most want it to resemble the papacy: speaking on behalf of human beings and human rights, and not against them.

Fr. Bader praised Muslim assistance for Christian refugees. When Muslims heard Iraqi Christians were coming to stay, he reported, veiled Muslim women came to help them.

“Really that is a great image of Jordan.”

The country has taken in about 1.4 million Syrian refugees, increasing its population by about 20 percent. Despite the significant strain on national resources, the country appears to be politically stable.

“We thank God for the stability in Jordan, that we can at least have a safe country which hosts all these people from Syria and from Iraq,” Fr. Bader said.

“Before that, it was from Palestine.”

He said it is important to distinguish Arab countries in which Christians are persecuted, from countries in which they are not.

Fr. Bader had high praise for Jordan’s King Abdullah II. The priest noted the king’s remarks at the United Nations and at a meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative which emphasized Christians’ 2,000-year history in the Middle East and their past, present, and future role in Middle East societies.

“When the king says this, we are proud of what he is saying, because he is frank, and he is really always defending the Arabic Christians.”

The king has also been patron of a conference about the challenges facing Middle East Christians.

Fr. Bader also praised the Catholic Church’s support for many projects, noting that coordination teams of bishops come every year from the U.S. and from Europe.

“They come, they visit Gaza, they visit the hidden sufferings in Jordan and in Palestine.”

The Jordanian priest noted that Caritas Jordan helps both Muslims and Christians. Religious differences are not a barrier to aid and cooperation, the priest said.

However, Caritas Jordan is also facing a great burden in trying to aid the refugees.

“That’s why Caritas needs more help from the partners outside,” the priest said. “They have to help Caritas because we don’t foresee when this crisis will end.”

Fr. Bader stressed the importance of Arabic-language Catholic news, especially after the reaction to Benedict XVI’s 2006 speech in Regensburg, Germany about the role of faith and reason in Christianity and Islam.

Media coverage focused on a passage in which the Pope cited a 14th-century Byzantine emperor who criticized Islam’s Prophet Mohammed. The media coverage at times provoked reactions that turned violent.

“Nobody could read the speech,” Fr. Bader said. “They were just attacking the Pope and the Church without reading the content of it.”

Middle East - Africa

Previous Post

January 30, 2015

Woman bishop challenges future of Anglican-Catholic dialogue

Next Post

January 31, 2015 How one Catholic school takes a hammer to the cycle of poverty

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Americas Asia - Pacific Europe Middle East - Africa Uncategorized US Vatican

Select a Month November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

True or False: Jeremiah was thrown into a cistern for prophesying against Jerusalem.

Select your answer to see how you score.

TRUE FALSE